claire1976
Well-Known Member
As per my previous post about my crazy Dobie and her worrying behavioural changes.
The head vet called me this evening with the results of her blood tests. Her glucose levels are extremely low, should be around 3-7 in normal dogs and hers is 0.01, which is really low. It was so low the vet ran the test 10 times to check as he thought machine was acting up but the results were consistent each time.
Along with another dogdy result - can't remember what the test was for but she is also having problems with her body managing the waste.
The diagnosis, he is 90% sure, is something called an Insulinoma. This is basically a tumour on the pancreas which affects the blood sugar levels. These tumours are aggressive and spread fast. Due to her age the prognosis is not great.
It would be either surgery - which would delay tumour growth from between 8-14 months or steroids which will help short term but have side affects so would not be a long term option.
The best we can hope for with a combination of surgery and steroids is extending her life for max 2 years.
The diagnosis explains some of her symptoms - food obsessed (blood sugar levels plummeting), hysteria, panic attacks, pointless barking (stress) etc.
Its hard to gauge how much pain she's in - she certainly doesn't show any signs of pain.
Very upsetting but I'm glad I know whats behind it. She's back at vets tomorrow for more detailed blood tests then possible chest x-ray to see if there is a tumour visable.
Either way, I have to accept she may not be around much longer.
The head vet called me this evening with the results of her blood tests. Her glucose levels are extremely low, should be around 3-7 in normal dogs and hers is 0.01, which is really low. It was so low the vet ran the test 10 times to check as he thought machine was acting up but the results were consistent each time.
Along with another dogdy result - can't remember what the test was for but she is also having problems with her body managing the waste.
The diagnosis, he is 90% sure, is something called an Insulinoma. This is basically a tumour on the pancreas which affects the blood sugar levels. These tumours are aggressive and spread fast. Due to her age the prognosis is not great.
It would be either surgery - which would delay tumour growth from between 8-14 months or steroids which will help short term but have side affects so would not be a long term option.
The best we can hope for with a combination of surgery and steroids is extending her life for max 2 years.
The diagnosis explains some of her symptoms - food obsessed (blood sugar levels plummeting), hysteria, panic attacks, pointless barking (stress) etc.
Its hard to gauge how much pain she's in - she certainly doesn't show any signs of pain.
Very upsetting but I'm glad I know whats behind it. She's back at vets tomorrow for more detailed blood tests then possible chest x-ray to see if there is a tumour visable.
Either way, I have to accept she may not be around much longer.
