Diana Pintel

   Phoebe is still a swimming fool, and the only one of our dogs to always 
retrieve two balls in her mouth at the same time.  I know she is having a  good 
day when she rolls at least three times in the dirt before coming into the house. 
She knows if someone new is in the house, and she wants to be petted 24 hours 
a day.   She will knock their arms out of their laps over and over just for that 
petting.  The culmination to a good day is her snoring.  It rocks the house all 
night, and all guests complain.  I blameVictor for the snoring; sounds good to me. 
I don't want her to leave us. My pain will feel worse than hers will.  Please God, 
give her a place of  honor.  She gives us everything every day of her life. 

    We took Phoebe to the veterinarian because she was vomiting yellow bile 
and was barely able to walk.  The vet drew blood and found liver levels at 
2200, normal being about 100.  She was jaundiced and weak.  We decided 
on a program of intravenous fluids to flush the liver.  He said it was good 
because it was not the kidneys.  The liver can rebuild itself if rested. The first 
day I held her on the table afraid to let go.  We put two bags of fluid in at a 
slow drip.  It took about four hours.  My husband was frantic at home, but I 
did not want to let her go to call him, and the office telephone was off. 

     I was so frightened.  We had no idea if the liver had cancer, or if she had 
eaten something rotten that the liver could not handle.  She is almost eleven 
with many bumps and lumps.  During the first day she sat on the table all the 
hours barely moving.  She would vomit every 20 minutes large amounts of 
yellow bile and the rice I had given her earlier.  He said we had to stay until 
the vomiting stopped.  He also gave her a shot of antibiotics.  He had consulted 
with another vet to make sure this was going the right way.  He said we had to 
do this every day until the levels came down.  The liver had to rest.  She was 
to eat mostly rice, cottage cheese and a tiny amount of meat.  Her legs were 
sore from trying to hit veins, and they left part of the IV in for future use.  She 
did not sleep well that night, nor did she snore, and she tore off the bandages on 
her legs. The next morning she did not seem much better, but she held down 
water and her special small breakfast of rice and cottage cheese. 

    I left her at the vet that day, and they put in 4 bags of fluid.  When I went to 
pick her up, she was walking around the veterinarian's yard peeing her little 
heart out and wagging her tail.  I could see she felt  better.  The next day we did 
her blood test again.  It was still 1800, not much better.  All that week they 
flushed her liver.  The test on Friday was down to 900.  It was getting better 
slowly.  She was feeling better every day.  She was able to get in the car herself 
and came upstairs to our bedroom for the first time in many years.  She felt 
Gooood. 

     The last blood test came in at 400.  We decided to work with the diet and 
come back in a month.  The liver still had problems, but she was feeling good. 
The aging process in dogs is so rapid compared to ours that it is important to understand what you can and cannot do to help.  I suggest that we as owners 
learn how to read blood tests and keep copies of them.  It is wise to have a file 
with all medical records and keep it with you when you travel.  It is not possible 
for us to always see the same veterinarian.  Keep the telephone number of your 
local veterinarian in your wallet to help other veterinarians on the road.  Phoebe celebrated her progress with a nice long swim, and three or four rolls in the dirt. 
The celebration made us feel positive about her future.