Andy's Story
(warning:  bring tissues - photos are graphic)

 
Left: Andy in late February 2004.  Right: Andy mid-May 2004. (shaved patch on hip)
Andy actually appears better in right photo than he actually is - you can see thigh bones.

In February of 2004 I noticed that Andy's left eye had a little yellow goo coming out. Not much and it didn't seem to bother him too much. Since I was having teeth cleaned at this time, I thought perhaps he had a tooth infection and would send him in for a teeth cleaning. At 10 1/2, he was in terrific shape. In December he had been out lure coursing.

The teeth cleaning was uneventful. The only thing I noticed was that he would holler and actually growl at me when I tried to give him his antibiotics. (very unusual, Andy has NEVER in all his years growled at me). But I wrote it off as an old man, sore mouth.

Two weeks after the teeth cleaning and off all the medications, I noticed puffiness around his joints. At this time I also noticed an overall lack of enthusiasm and energy, but wrote it off as old age. The puffiness around his joints wasn't a big concern given his age. But I made an appointment at the vet for him just in case.

Andy had had blood work done, nothing to be really too concerned about. He did have a slightly elevated white cell count, but nothing to be concerned with as it was insignificant. His body temperature was 103.0 not that high and indicated a low grade infection most likely, possibly attributing to arthritis, old age or any number of things. He was placed on Baytril for 14 days and Rimadyl. No improvement.

At this point, he had gone down slightly again, blood panel showed no changes to the previous numbers. The only difference was that Andy was a big more decrepit in his movements and gave off an "ouchy" look. Even his feet were starting to swell. At this point, it was thought that he may have had a tick borne infection. 21 days of Doxicyline and Pred. There was a nice improvement to Andy, but nothing dramatic. I was concerned about his weight as he steadily dropped weight.

21 + days later we wean him off Pred. Symptoms came ROARING back and he could barely stand up. At this time, we put him back on Pred and then about a week later started to alternate Pred with Imaran. No improvement at this point.

Meanwhile, his annual eye CERF exam was scheduled so we took him in. At the END of the exam, I casually mentioned to the eye vet about how this all started with a very slight discharge from his left eye. She turned the lights back out, put a stain in his eye and started to look around. Lodge deep under/behind/somewhere in his eye was a piece of what looked like wood. How it got there no one knows. But according to the eye vet, it had to be extremely painful for him. She was puzzled that he never once pawed at his eye.

After this, I never really gave the eye thing a thought again.

Meanwhile, he kept going downhill -- steadily. Nothing was working.

At this point, the vet pulled him off all immune suppressants. The WBC (white blood cells) were steadily climbing, his weight kept slipping. While he wasn't swollen in the joints anymore, his energy wasn't returning and he wasn't eating well. I could barely get him to eat anything. Various antibiotics were tried, all without success.

Little things kept popping up. He had a massive infestation of hooks. Those were no sooner solved when he had Tapes show up. His immune system was shot.

This normal, healthy 15 lbs dog was down to around 10 lbs and dying right in front of my eyes. There was an infection somewhere, but no one knew where. I suspected sinus area. He had had a snuffling, almost head cold sound. Behind his eyes had shrunken in and his eyes themselves seems larger, almost as if pressure were behind his eyes.

Finally, IV antibiotics were used in a last ditch effort to save this dog. He spent several days at the vet office. He at first seem to rally, but then rapidly declined again. This week, he was back in for more IV antibiotics. Good news, it seemed on Monday was that after all this time, a slight decrease in WBC was seen. Something different! On Wednesday, the vet had pulled another blood panel and this time the results were much different. His WBC had INCREASED, up to 41,000. Discouraging news.

The vet wanted to do a test for leukemia as we were out of options as to what was happening. This test was schedule (will know results on Wednesday).

By this time, I'm around $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 into his treatment (I haven't gotten his final bill yet). I asked his breeder (and my best friend) if she could take him this weekend as I had previously planned on a  trip to go visit Anne Marie Shute and my friend Kim Bott. He was at least stable and we thought it would be okay for a few days for me to leave.

Paula picked him up on Friday and called me. She said she was very worried. No one had seen him have a bowel movement in the past 4 days, he had thrown up at the vet office and he was down to around 8 lbs. Skin over bones. Not even muscle left. He wobbled, could barely stand and had no interest in eating.

By Saturday morning, she called me to tell me to come home. Andy was dying. He had thrown up all over the night before. He was laying in his own vomit. Crying, panic and upset, of course I immediately headed home. Along the way, placing calls to the people who needed to know. Andy was dying.

I started to remember all the wonderful things about Andy. He's a very special dog. As a show dog,  he had been one of my fastest finishes - 9 shows. At the age of 10, we took him to the IGCA 2003 St. Louis Nationals, where he made me cry ... winning his class and then going on to Best Opposite in VETERAN Sweeps. The old man was so proud of himself, he strutted with pride. That same day, he went lure coursing for the first time and won the first leg of his JC! He is one of the oldest IG to ever accomplish this. Some of his children and grandchildren live here and grace my life. His son, Azure, is almost a carbon copy of him in looks and personality.

Andy coursing in 2003!

I even called the vet to schedule euthanasia. My heart was breaking.

When I arrived at Paula's house, she warned me to be prepared, Andy didn't look good. Much to her surprise and mine, Andy saw me and got up. More surprising, he began to wag his tail, happy to see me. Walking him out to potty I got another surprise. He sneezed and slung this white stuff all over me. He wagged the tail, did his business, walked over to me to be picked up and sighed. Ready to go home.

One of the first things I noticed was that his body wasn't its usual furnace. He was cool to the touch. I also noticed how alert he was. I took him home and he trotted out, pooped; peed and ate an entire bowl of dog food.

The next day, for the first time in months, he went to check out the goats! He walked down to see them, stood there with his ears perked forward watching them. He's eaten several times and has slept a lot, but is much more aware than he's been in a long long time.

Dr. Anne Marie Shute tells me that she believes he's had an encapsulated infection (most likely in his sinus cavities is my guess); and for what ever reason it's broken loose and is draining now (hence the dramatic improvement). Paula tells me that she believes it's the power of prayer and asking the Lord for help. I believe it's a little bit of both - any way you look at it, a miracle that I'm eternally grateful for.

I hope this means we are on the road to recovery. The photos are pretty graphic to give everyone an idea of just how far down poor Andy went. Please understand - those that have seen him this will be a SHOCK. You may not want to look any further. But what I do hope is that his story will give someone else a little hope should you find yourself in similar situations. Sometimes a little faith, a little prayer, good friends and a good vet can make all the difference in the world.

Many thanks to Andy's breeder, Paula Carroll for her faith, prayers and taking time to nurse him when I had to be away.   Thanks to Kim Bott of Infiniti IG's for her caring and emotional support.  Special thanks to Connie Dominy, Debby Grogan, Debbie Pupo, Yvonne Morgan and a host of other I may have forgotten to mention by name.  A big thank you to Dr. Anne Marie Shute for providing information to help me make sound medical decisions and to Andy's Vet, Dr. Borden for hanging in there with us.

The following photos actually make him appear BETTER than he actually is.

Notice lack of muscle and prominent bone in thighs-	Thighs are paper thin, notice ridge of back and concaved loin.  Neck is concaved in.
Ribs Showing	prominent hip bones.