Well, we got some good news from Scout's first round of tests -- her kidney, liver, and thyroid are all normal, so her problems aren't coming from any of those. The vet couldn't find anything unusual in her x-rays. He did find that she was dehydrated and had some blood in her urine, so all of this could be something as simple as a bladder infection (which would also explain her swollen lymph nodes).
So, our poor Beagle was left behind at the vet for yet another day, this time so that they could rehydrate her with IV fluids and give her antibiotics for the bladder infection that she may or may not have.
Unfortunately, they still can't rule out lymphoma (lymph node cancer) -- so the vet will also be inserting a needle into her lymph nodes and drawing out cells so that they can be sent off for a biopsy. Hopefully the biopsy will come back as a straight 'no', rather than a 'yes' or 'inconclusive', so that Scouter won't have to be subjected to more vet tortures -- if the hydration doesn't do anything, and the biopsy comes back as wishy-washy, it seems her next step is an ultrasound.
After we came back, Digory spent about an hour roaming the house, visibly disturbed that Scout hadn't returned with us. After he calmed down, I went outside to get the trash cans, and he walked around the house whining until I came back inside. Obviously nobody else is allowed to leave until Scout comes back! He's only been our dog for a month, but he's clearly already strongly imprinted on us and Scout being his pack.
Posted by Kevin at March 2, 2005 11:01 AM