Monday's are usually "not so good" around here ... but this one has hit an all-time LOW.

Neka got sick this afternoon. Everything was fine and She and Patchs were playing like normal over the noon hour. But about 2pm Neka became very quite, and had tweo un controled bladder releases so I called the vet (within 15 mins) and rushed her in. At about 3:30 she went into a coma and at 5:15 she was gone.

I dont think it has fully hit me yet as I am just kinda numb. The next few days might be pretty bad. Wish me luck!!!

Wait what? I'm so so sorry to hear this Mike, I can't imagine what you are going through Do you know what happened?

Man this is really sad.....

Steven_L wrote:

Wait what? I'm so so sorry to hear this Mike, I can't imagine what you are going through Do you know what happened?

Man this is really sad.....

They had a bunch of medical words to explain (I'm sure you would understand them better that I did), but basicly it comes down to the fact that they did a full blood work, pumped her stomach and did several xrays. The only thing they found wrong was that she had 72% and then an hour later she had 77% red blood cells (2X what she should have had) in her blood stream. They said that this made it harder and harder for her heart to pump and it finally failed. They had her on I-V's but it didnt help.

We are still kind of in shock, but we are getting past it. We are just glad that she didn't have to suffer to much.

I've never really heard of elevated RBC count and what it could be...high WBC would indicate infection but the other I don't really know. The only thing I can (amaturely) think of is something wrong with her marrow or kidneys (they regulate rbc production)...but I'm sure that is a thought the vets had too.... it could be that the procedure/test to verify a problem in the latter two places would have been too expensive as a pose to a blood panel.

I'm sorry for the late reply, as you may have noticed I don't have too much time for forums at the moment, but I do feel for you, I did swing by K9mania to see if you posted updates on that thread, I didn't post though and thought to give you my condolences on here.

Steven_L wrote:

I've never really heard of elevated RBC count and what it could be...high WBC would indicate infection but the other I don't really know. The only thing I can (amaturely) think of is something wrong with her marrow or kidneys (they regulate rbc production)...but I'm sure that is a thought the vets had too.... it could be that the procedure/test to verify a problem in the latter two places would have been too expensive as a pose to a blood panel.

I'm sorry for the late reply, as you may have noticed I don't have too much time for forums at the moment, but I do feel for you, I did swing by K9mania to see if you posted updates on that thread, I didn't post though and thought to give you my condolences on here.

I appreciate your reply and condolences. The kidneys were normal. They were also suspecting marrow but were not 100% sure. They said that this is not very common and is almost always fatal if not detected during a normal blood screening. The problem is, that the test is not a part of a "normal" blood test. It is usually only done when they know it is in the bread-line. Since Neka was a stray, there was no way of knowing it was part of her DNA.

Betterdog4u wrote:

I appreciate your reply and condolences. The kidneys were normal. They were also suspecting marrow but were not 100% sure. They said that this is not very common and is almost always fatal if not detected during a normal blood screening. The problem is, that the test is not a part of a "normal" blood test. It is usually only done when they know it is in the bread-line. Since Neka was a stray, there was no way of knowing it was part of her DNA.

Ah I see... Well I hope you are coping alright, I'm sure having Patches around is helping.

Steven_L wrote:

Ah I see... Well I hope you are coping alright, I'm sure having Patches around is helping.

Yes, Patchs has been a great help, and Ive focused all of my efforts on her training.