Our six year old Vizsla may have a health problem

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Our Sophie started to drink much more water than usual. Three nights ago in a row she woke up between 3 -4 AM wanting to go out we thought, but what she really wanted was the water bowl. She had drained the upstairs bowl, and it just wasn't her normal behaviour. Our vet took blood and urine samples last Friday, and called tonight with preliminary results. The lab work indicates a possibility of Cushings disorder or Diabeties insipidus.

She will require additional testing, but first we have to deny her water for 12-16 hours, get 4 urine samples during that time period and will be hustling them to the vet after each collection. We will start that test starting at 7pm wed. night and I am not looking forward to this. She loves her water, and it doesn't make me feel better even though I know it has to be done.

Both medical conditions will require lifetime care, I'm ok with that, we have always taken care of all our pets. Not treating her is not an option, ignoring whatever is wrong will just shorten her life and certainly her ability to enjoy life. She's very active, loves tussling with her sister Ruby. I know (or hope) we can keep her comfortable and well cared for, but I still feel anxious and very sad that such a young dog might be sick. I suppose they can run all the tests and find a minor condition that can be easily treated.

I'll probably be more can-do tomorrow, but have felt numb since the vet called.

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[+3] - glitterbag - 03/31/2016Virginia Tech sent us results of the examination of the tissue samples. What Sophie died from was a sarcoma on her heart, that somehow affected her blood system creating clots. Dr. Reed said that...

@glitterbag,

Take it as it happens. Right now you are expecting the absolute worst, which it may or may not be. You will know what to do when the vet's test results come in. For now, hold on to hope.

Thoughts will be with you as you move through this.

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@Sturgis,

Thank you Sturgis, our vet has cared for 3 cats and 5 dogs we have had the pleasure of living with since 1984. Of course, not all at the same time, but I got this lump in my throat, and a dread that I will probably not lose tonight. Sometimes I need a few hours of "oh no" before I toss that off and get to work.
Tomorrow, I'll buck up. We love our dogs, and our grand daughter is nuts about the pups.

Sorry, I'm having a pity party. It will be over soon.

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@glitterbag,

When in a time of anxious waiting, a pity party is perfectly okay.

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@Sturgis,

Well we have 3 samples so far. The vet will be checking then all day to monitor the density. Hopefully, the 3 o'clock sample will conclude the test. She did much better than I thought without water. But I'll feel a lot better when we can resume normal water and feeding routine.

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@glitterbag,

Dog lover with his fingers crossed here.

I love Vizslas. One leans on me in the park until he almost falls over, while his wire haired girlfriend stuffs her nose in my coat pocket because that's where I keep the biccies.

I hope it's something trivial, and easily treated.

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@Lordyaswas,

You described Vizslas accurately. I have to keep my purse out of reach because Ruby (the younger) know how to unzip then confiscates all paper materials. They also call this breed the Velcro dog, because they will lean in so hard. I find it charming, but they are not for everybody.

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Our vet was satisfied by 12:30 that the samples ruled out diabetes insipidous. Whew, now the blood and urine samples will be used to determine Cushing's. I think there may additional tests to see what's up, but hopefully it turns up nothing serious.

The vizslas are an uber active breed. Very friendly and can jump in the air and lick you in the face. YouTube has some great clips various owners around the world have posted. Even though every dog has a distinct personality, there are common traits they all share. If you get a chance, check it out. Just list Vizsla in search.

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@glitterbag,

My Katy had those symptoms and it turned out to be a bad diagnosis - you know, glitter, that I'm there with you.

Meantime, I think Sophie needs an ear pet from New Mexico.

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@glitterbag,

Glad that the diabetes has been ruled out, now here's hoping the diagnosis on Cushing's and other tests show results which while concerning aren't overly serious and can be treated easily.

Must tell you I had not heard of Vizslas before this (or if it happened can't recall). Now with your thread and information I am popping around the internet getting familiar with them, they look adorable with very expressive faces and from your description of how they behave, I can imagine them being quite fun to have around. Thank you for the learning I've received here. Very Happy

Keep us updated as you progress through this matter.

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@glitterbag,

glitterbag wrote:

The vizslas are an uber active breed. Very friendly and can jump in the air and lick you in the face.

The two I know both do agility training, simply because they are so easy to train for this type of thing. They absolutely love it!
I don't have any film footage of those two, but here's a clip of Trooper, who wins competitions all over the place in California, by the looks of it.

Listen to the way he barks all the way round. He's in his element.

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@glitterbag,

Oh, I am so sorry. How much of a drama is Cushing's?

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@Lordyaswas,

On a straight course running free they are like greased lightening. Thanks for sharing the clip. These dogs are very vocal, I'll try to find this clip of a young vizsla running around inside a house, we call it ripping. They break into this run sometimes for no apparent reason, they run and make a growling sound and run this crazy scrambled way. Let me see if I can find it, it's hard to explain but very familiar to anyone familiar with these dogs.

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@dlowan,

Thanks dlowan, What I've been able to find out seems very complicated. The simplest way I understand it is an overproduction of either a hormone or another substance in the adrenal glands located near the stomach and kidneys. First the have to determine what elements exist, and some could be treated with medication. If it is caused by a tumor on an adrenal gland, that needs to be removed. If the tumor is cancerous, there's a possibility it may have spread. That would be the worst case, because that would make it inoperable. Ok, that's the darkest scenario.
They haven't diagnosed Cushings as yet, and we hopefully will hear something next week from the blood and urine tests. Sophie doesn't have any of the outward signs of a dog with Cushings. Normally, you would see hair loss, dull coat, bloated belly and she doesn't have anything like that going on.
I'm hoping its just a fluke and they don't find anything wrong. When she was able to have free access to water again, she seems to just drink normal amounts.

She seems normal now, but we want to make sure we've checked everything. She's only six and healthy vizslas usually live to 13 and if your lucky maybe 15.

Thanks to everyone who has expressed kind words for our rust colored fireball.

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@glitterbag,

I had similar feelings to yours, Glitterbag, when our little dog was diagnosed with Cushings over a year and a half ago. Raised liver enzymes, a benign growth on his pituitary gland, that was scary. Our vet’s reaction was reassuring – it was a preferable diagnosis to diabetes, which was the other possibility, and that with treatment, the symptoms would disappear.

In our case, he hasn’t been able to be treated, so far. For the induction phase of the treatment, for a week or so, the medication needs to be very carefully controlled and given very regularly, with food. One of the most common symptoms of Cushings is a voracious appetite, so that’s not usually a problem. Our little guy has an inflammatory bowel disease, as well, and is a very picky eater, so giving him the meds isn’t advisable because of that. So … we treat the IBD and wait for it to settle, then we’ll deal with the Cushings.

Even so, in the past year and a half, his symptoms haven’t worsened, his liver enzymes haven’t risen (they were checked last week) and he’s our usual peppy pup.

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@mckenzie,

Our vet provided us with other information, but this is a link I found quite helpful:

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/cushings.aspx

This comment was reassuring:

"The prognosis for pituitary-dependent Cushing’s disease with treatment is usually good. Some signs will disappear quickly and others gradually. Appetite and water consumption usually return to normal in a few weeks where as full return of the fur may take several months."

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@mckenzie,

Thank you mckenzie, I appreciate the information. But I'm so sorry about your pup. I was hospitalized with colitis about 2 years ago, I had other people mention it was painful, but I didn't figure it would be excruciating. I know that's not the exact same thing as IBD, but the poor thing must be miserable.

Thank you for taking the time to send me the link, it was very helpful.

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@glitterbag,

glitterbag wrote:

On a straight course running free they are like greased lightening. Thanks for sharing the clip. These dogs are very vocal, I'll try to find this clip of a young vizsla running around inside a house, we call it ripping. They break into this run sometimes for no apparent reason, they run and make a growling sound and run this crazy scrambled way. Let me see if I can find it, it's hard to explain but very familiar to anyone familiar with these dogs.

Don't worry....I have a 4 year old greyhound. When he gets a nutty on, it's the equivalent of someone presenting a 15 year old lad with a ferrari and saying "there you go, let's see what you can get it up to".

He runs loose with his vizsla mates and absolutely keaves them for standing for about four circuits, then he's knackered and they laugh at him, because they can keep it up all day.

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@glitterbag,

I was hospitalized once for the same thing myself, Glitterbag, and actually it is, both colitis and Crohns are IBDs. He's been quite stable for years, on sucralfate and famotidine, but is still a picky eater, even with his prescription diet.

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@mckenzie,

I remember that, and sorry to never ask how you're doing, figure you'll mention it if you want to. Just to let you know some of us noticed.

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Our six year old Vizsla may have a health problem

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