Those with danes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

One thing I don't like about him is that if your cat comes up FIV+ he won't let you take your cat back, he puts it to sleep right then! I'm appalled by that.

---

How can he get away with that? If the owner wants their cat back, he lawfully has no right to euthanize it and can get himself into trouble if an owner pursues it.

Besides that, cats can live with FIV for years and be otherwise healthy.

at one time i had 4 danes in my house at the same time. probably the best breed i've ever had the pleasure to be around. german shepards are up there on my list as well (getting another GS pup next week). along with the beautiful lines, calm demeanor, and simple majesty of the breed does come some common health problems. what you're describing is not one of those common problems as far as i am aware. bloat, hip, and heart problems being the most common. but, i'm sure you already knew that. i can't really help with the problem, but i can say with experience that it is VERY hard to lose a dane. of the 4 i had, only one lived past 8 years old. and that one had to be put down because it got unpredictable around my kids.

so, i hope that everything ends up ok. but, if not, know that there are lots of past and present dane owners that feel your (and your mother's) pain.

She still hasn't heard from the vet last I knew about the test results. They did every test in the book! The bill was insane! I was able to go to the check up with my mom and sis. The vet thinks the cough is heart related, but doesn't know what is causing the seizures. He's had a total of 4 seizures now, last I knew :( I also found out that there have been four great danes in that town (of only 8,000 people) that died by the age of four, and one was only three! One was wobblers, two were heart related, and I forget what the fourth one was. So sad :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aahmn

How can he get away with that? If the owner wants their cat back, he lawfully has no right to euthanize it and can get himself into trouble if an owner pursues it.

Besides that, cats can live with FIV for years and be otherwise healthy.

---

I have no idea how that's legal. Luckily the dane's last check up was with the lady vet, they have never had her for a vet before, but she seemed to know what she was talking about. It infuriates me that he will put the cat to sleep if it's FIV+, hopefully if someone fought enough they could get their cat back. I'm well aware of all the people that have FIV+ cats and only adopt those cats. My vet she told me that if any of my kitties came up positive there was no reason I couldn't keep them other than they could infect my other kitties if there was blood exchange/fighting/etc. I'm really happy with my vet, she's very knowledgeable and kind hearted!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

She still hasn't heard from the vet last I knew about the test results. They did every test in the book! The bill was insane! I was able to go to the check up with my mom and sis. The vet thinks the cough is heart related, but doesn't know what is causing the seizures. He's had a total of 4 seizures now, last I knew :( I also found out that there have been four great danes in that town (of only 8,000 people) that died by the age of four, and one was only three! One was wobblers, two were heart related, and I forget what the fourth one was. So sad :(

---

I'm curious about what testing was done. I hope chest x-rays for the coughing at minimum was done. If the heart looked enlarged (due to heart failure), then an echocardiogram can pinpoint what is wrong specifically with the heart. Different medications can be used to manage various types of heart failure and help with the coughing, but it's concerning if they don't have a specific diagnosis on the heart condition. As far as the seizures, I'm guessing that they've done bloodwork to be able to rule out some metabolic issues, but that doesn't rule out a brain tumor...

I'm sorry to hear that you don't have answers yet. It's hard to know how to treat them if you don't know what's wrong.

They did 7 different tests! I couldn't tell you what each one was, but I know one or two were for the heart, some sort of blood test. I know they did a thyroid and glucose (I think). I can't remember the rest for the life of me. I spoke with my mom today and most of the tests have come back and they are all good. The vet said they can do more tests, but since nothing is obvious it can wait. When I was there to talk with the vet she seemed to think it was a stress related thing (seizures not the heart) since it was the Christmas season and all the extended family stays at my parent's home. The cough is concerning, but since the tests came back fine she didn't really want to do more. She said they could do more tests on his heart, but it's most likely not something they can fix. In a round about way she told my family that he's a dane, he's old, and they have heart problems. If anything gets worse the vet wants to try meds, but for now I guess it's still a waiting game.

I'll have to talk to my mom about the x-ray thing. I don't know anything about dog issues and they told the vet to do everything, I just assumed all the tests would have figured out the heart thing.

The first step for the coughing should be an x-ray. It's the easiest way of seeing directly whether the heart is enlarged, or whether there is a problem with the lungs that could be causing the cough. Yes, I suppose that it's most likely that it's a heart condition, seeing that he's an old dane, but other things should be ruled out.

The thyroid and blood glucose (for diabetes) would be done to look for sources of the seizures, but not the coughing. I'm still trying to think of what blood tests would be done to check the heart - I know one of the labs we work with was offering a new blood test that is supposed to help determine whether there is heart failure, but I don't remember what it actually tested. The heart work-ups we do at our clinic don't involve bloodwork (unless we need baselines for meds) and are always imaging (echo, x-rays if not already done) and EKG.

There was a weird blood test they did that had to have a special tube, was that the heart one? I'd have to see his bill to know anything for sure.