the short of it

We are taking him home to say goodbye

not looking good

Try 2 keep this short. He has brain pressure & they r afraid it will hemorage. No vision n lft eye. Waiting for mri as soon as they can get him n. Even that could cause hemorage. Mom and paw r a mess. Paw made it here a little while ago. We r at Purdue Univ. Met some nice people who really care. Prayers pls

Butterz update

mom is back at U of I vet (it's 10p now) waiting to see if they are taking brother to neurologist in aurora or in purdue, in. he has "an absent menace in the left eye and papilledema of the left eye. These findings are suggestive of a right cortex lesion." so they are concerned about the right side of his brain. does he have swelling? is there a cancer issue? these are the things we need to see neuro for. we do know he has lost vision in his left eye cuz of what they said above.
big thanks to Dr Kubier. she has been so awesome and thinks brother is "so sweet and special." look at him picking up chicks!

slumber party

well, brother is attending his first slumber party and mom forgot to take PJ's for him. he's spending the night at U of I Vet clinic. it was a long day for both brother and mom. they are gonna run a bunch more test and we hope to have him back home tomorrow. mom said the vets were very nice and brother really liked the first vet (of course she can't remember her name) and the 2nd vet, Dr Kubier, was very nice.

mom did get the cytology report back from our local vet this morning and everything came back good. they didn't find anything. they are gonna run another one while at U of I just cuz it doesn't hurt.

a HUGE shout out to everyone that emailed, texted, or called mom today to make sure she was okay too. she really appreciates that! and keep up the good thoughts for butters cuz we miss him already!

mom is really concerned now

as much as we'd like to look on the bright side, mom is having a really hard time after last night and this morning. brother is the most "out of it" she's seen him this whole time. his eyes aren't droopy but he's just out of it. he threw up all his dinner last night so mom made him some white rice to settle his tummy. he slept on the floor all night. he's never done that in the 6 years we've had him. so mom didn't sleep at all. mom had to actually carry him down the stairs to go to the bathroom this morning cuz he just stood there. wouldn't move. and you know mom has a bad back! and he's drooling a lot again. this is simply killing her.

we called the vet yesterday to see what was up with the blood work but they reminded mom that cytology tests can take a week or more to come back. she had to explain to me that cytology was testing for cancer. please pray for brother and mom!

ButterzMeter

mom asked me to add a Butterz Meter for daily monitoring since so many people have asked and have been nice enough to check in on him each day.

the last 2 days have been pretty good for him. mom says he was more of a 4-5. he trotted out to the yard for "business" and did the "burn out" after. he even played a little keep away with mom on Sunday. this morning he was a little slow, but we're not gonna worry too much, just give him plenty of rest and happy thoughts!

oh, and at my Tweet said, we talked to Miss Donna this morning (along with Rupert & Kelso) and she's gonna check into a masseuse for brother. get him some PT. lucky dog!

butterz - vet visit #5

first off, let me apologize for taking so long to post and update about brother. ma and paw were super busy this weekend and ma wanted me to hold off posting anything so she could stop being such a nervous wreck. the short of it, brother is fine but we still have no answers.

so they're getting to know brother better than ever at the vet. he's now visited their 2nd location. if he makes it to their 3rd office i think he gets a free wash! mom took him in Friday for his ultrasound. they didn't find anything which of course is good news. some things the vet said:

• no tumors, cysts, etc
• liver looks fine - a little small for his size but they are not worried
• kidneys look good - although 1 was hard to see cuz he'd eaten that morning (mom didn't know she wasn't s'pose to feed him)
• blood work is being sent off for testing and they'll have that back Mon or Tues (mom can't remember what all they're testing for - she's old)
• range of motion is good - the vet did notice the "wincing" but they could find nothing causing it and he doesn't seem to be experiencing any pain
• everything else looked good. they ran a bunch of test that they told ma about but she couldn't remember all of those either - she's not a medical-type person

BUT, ma was relived to know from all medical standpoints he seems to be fine and there doesn't seem to be any "terminal" issue going on. so she said she would try and relax and just let him be his slow self for now. maybe he just needs a vaca. she is giving us a multi-vitamin at night now and we still get our cosamine each morning.

paw said brother looked like he was better yesterday but ma wouldn't comment. she doesn't want to jinx it. but today, she admitted he seemed better. still more sleepy than normal in the morning BUUUUUT, he actually played a small game of chase with ma this afternoon and she even got him to chase a rock (brother LOVES chasing rocks). he was slow but he got excited about it; something he hasn't done this whole time. and when Miss Katie said "rock" earlier, he actually perked his ears up! so keep those positive thoughts coming. they are helping!!!!

to top things off, and ma thinks maybe it's all part of the turn around, when brother was at the vet getting poked and prodded Friday, ma ran into Stubby (brother's 1st dad). and Stubby said "i have some pictures for you out the truck". he'd been carrying them around for a while. he didn't even know brother was feeling down. and it turns out ma had been wanting a puppy picture all this time. see ma adopted brother when we were 3 so she doesn't have those pics. we'll here's brother as a pup. you can see he had a lot of ears to grow into.

thanks again everyone for the positive thoughts, and ma will keep you posted when she hears something Mon or Tues. our next step, if we decide to take it and/or brother needs it, is to go down to U of I and visit with a specialist. let's all pray we don't have to go that far and whatever this is, will pass! ma will settle for that at this point!

Butterz - day 13

we got the thyroid test back from the vet yesterday and it came back neg/good/clean whatever you want to say. they don't think brother's test needs any additional picking/poking at so i guess they are not gonna send it on to Michigan State. i think mom is gonna ask about that today when she talks to them. she is trying to get him in for an ultrasound tomorrow morning. they can do it Tues here in Chilli, but if she can get him in tomorrow, she can take him to the Peoria office.

he was still "tired" last night but eating and bathroom all seem normal. still drinking more than normal - mom thinks. mom got a little worried at one point cuz he went in and laid on the bathroom floor and wouldn't come out. mom thinks it was cuz of the heated floor. but she was so concerned that she went in 3 times to take his pulse to make sure it was normal. he did finally come out and watched tv with me an mom (actually he watched the inside of his eyelids). but mom didn't have a problem getting him moving to go for bathroom breaks later in the night.

at bed time he decided for the first time ever to sleep on the floor at the foot of the bed. mom was pretty busted up about this but let him do it and didn't try to force him up into the bed. i liked having all that extra room but i missed him. he must have missed us too cuz he did get up and get in the bed some time during the night - we found out he left paw asleep on the floor though (see paw is concerned).

so we're still waiting it out and hoping it gets better and thanking everyone for checking in on us. mom isn't really talking about it much anymore cuz she so worried. so if she seems like she's avoiding it, she is kinda. don't be offended.

Update: Butterz has a 110p appointment tomorrow for his ultrasound

Vet Visit #4

Today's Guest Speaker: Ma

so this makes the 4th visit to the vet in just over a week. so far, nothing has changed. Butterz is still lethargic - most notable in the evening. but he is still eating & pooping normally. no vomiting. he does seem to be drinking more than normal.

when the vet called yesterday to check on him i told them all that. also told them about the particularly bad Reverse Sneezing episode Sat/Sun and really pushed the whole allergy angle. they said i could give him Benedryl twice a day and see if it helps but they still don't think it's allergies mostly because he's not showing other signs like redness in the ears, scratching, sneezing, coughing, etc. i'm trying not to panic and question too much, cuz (1) they do this for a living and know what they are doing and (2) they know my dog and care what happens to him. so i'm holding off on Benedryl for now. he finished his Rimadyl Sun night so we're off that and we decided to stop the muscle relaxer at the same time - we just don't think that was helping anything. so, for now, he's just on antibiotics.

last night was the best he's acted in over a week. actually trotted out to the yard and back for "business". but, as usual, later in the evening, same lethargy and drooping eyes. i'm just trying not to get to worked up about that.

so i took him in to the vet today and they drew blood. they did reiterate that from the blood draw Monday of last week that his white blood cell count was good, no heart worm, no anemia. basically everything looked good. they suspect it will be the same today but they will compare last Monday to today to see if there are any changes in any of the numbers. they also did a draw for thyroid. that test should be back tomorrow and they suspect it will come back normal at which time they will send it to Michigan State for more intense testing just in case. i did ask them to test for Lyme disease as well - i'm grasping - and they are keeping diabetes in mind but i don't think we're testing for that just yet. we're then planning on running an ultrasound either Friday or Tues of next week just to look deeper in case there is something we're missing.

and as usual, they are encouraging me to focus on the fact that he is eating normally and no vomiting or diarrhea. it was encouraging as well, that they felt like we are doing all the things we can in terms of paying attention to any behavior stuff and doing our homework, without overdoing it and freaking out! that's not been easy.

so i'll keep posting and am open (to a degree cuz i can't get all freaked out) to ideas anyone has.

Butterz update

so talked to the vet a little while ago and we're changing the focus. first, mom took Butterz off Rimadyl & muscle relaxer as of last night. we don't think it's helping and it's probably making him more lethargic. he had terrible Reverse Sneezing fits yesterday so mom did a little more searching and it can be caused "by irritants and even some dog allergies". mom is really hoping this whole thing turns out to be allergies. so we're off to get brother some Benedryl today and start him on that. we are going to leave him on the antibiotic in case there is something viral lurking. but, most importantly, mom is gonna take brother in first thing tomorrow for thyroid check. doc said it's easy to do and easy to treat if there is an issue. so keep the positive thoughts coming and we'll let you know what we find out on Wed!

update: big thanks to Miss Laura. she tipped us off to get children's benedryl.

Putting in the dock

helping paw get the dock put in yesterday!

mystery illness

well things are not necessarily better with brother. mom is no pinning hopes on his problem being allergies. the vet called yesterday and to check in on us and brother had a little more pep but not much. mom is gonna continue the meds until they run out which will probably be Wed or no later than the end of the week. but we don't think they are doing any good. the vet will call her again tomorrow for an update so she'll tell them nothings changed then and they may say just take him off.

for anyone who hasn't seen the post on BoxerForums, brother is just very lethargic. as Ms T noticed, you can see it in his eyes. they just don't look "normal". mom took a pic just now and this is what they look like when he's at his worst and you wake him up.

once you get him up and moving they look more normal, not as much pink but something still doesn't look right. brother is like me and normally has a ton of energy and he's quite the talker. but not much of that is happening this week. he's eating normally and no vomiting. bathroom breaks are normal. ma and paw think he's drinking more water than normal but he's a big drinker so it's hard to tell. the vet did take blood last Monday and they didn't find anything. so all we can do is wait it out at this point and hope whatever this is passes. happy thoughts for us please cuz mom needs it almost as much as brother!

welcome to the forum

mom wanted to give a big shout out to BoxerForums.org to thank everyone for the comments and suggestions while brother has been sick this week. we're still not sure exactly what is going on, but her post to this site was met with lots of well wishes and helpful suggestions. we plan to hang out there as much as possible!

HappyFeet