Deanna's Petsitting Service

12/30/2024

Today, his ALT went down to 955, the bilirubin went down from 19 to 17 and the vasculitis looks to be 80% improved in 3 of the 4 legs 👏
For some reason, Odin's body must like keeping him sick because now his kidneys joined the party. 😢 His kidney function spiked up to 4.6 overnight. His red blood cell count is low and his white blood cell count is high.

Dr thinks his kidney function is high because they had to cut off fluids once his body started rejecting and wasn't absorbing them, causing him to become swollen from holding water. She started low fluids this morning since he had a good 24 hours without them and is hopeful that kidney number will decrease by tomorrow and the alt & billirubin will also continue to as well.
She did want to place a feeding tube in order to give him water directly into his stomach so his body can naturally process that since iv fluids were hard on him and she's afraid we will take a step backwards if he needs to continue with them since the swelling has improved. This way he can also get a good amount of the nutrients his body is being deprived of. They did that this evening.

We have pretty much exhausted all our considerable options, and it has been determined that he either has cancer or an autoimmune disease 😢
Steroids would be the long-term treatment for autoimmune disease and short-term help for cancer in conjunction with chemotherapy. If he does have cancer, we know for sure that his is very aggressive since it's literally trying to kill him, so it wouldn't assist in helping him feel better for very long at all.
The current plan (and probably our last one) is:
-To place that feeding tube in hopes to keep the kidneys as happy as possible with natural hydration and get him some much needed nutrition.
-Do a recheck ultrasound tomorrow to compare what everything looks like now compared to the images from last week since he has finally been pooping.
-Do a fine needle aspirate of the liver and enlarged lymph nodes to confirm if he has lymphoma or not and then after the sample is collected they can start him on steroids and hopefully his body will respond and begin to bounce back. They just didn't want to start the steroids beforehand or it would mask any traces of lymphoma.

With the holiday, that 24 hour turn around result will probably take about 4-7 days, but they are going to try and get a rush on it.
I'll happily take the autoimmune disease. Daily steroids and liver meds for life sounds good to me! 🙏💔☹️

This is very devastating and heartbreaking for my family since only 4 years ago we lost our last golden Brody to cancer related seizures during shelter in place and just 5 months ago we said our goodbyes to our cat Bryce.. 😭
It doesn't even seem real because he's only 4 years old and this shouldn't happen.
I've been trying to prepare myself for the realization that we could very likely lose our sweet boy and it's just not fair. If that was the outcome, we can at the very least know that it wasn't for lack of trying and we fought very hard to keep him with us and so many other's generously gave what money they could to help in that. In just a few days, we received so many donations for his care as well as countless texts and calls. He is just so very loved. ❤️ We will continue to be positive and will cross every bridge as they come before us.

They gave a light sedation to him yesterday evening to place a new catheter in his neck and he's still at bit sedate today because he's so sensitive to it.
I remember it took nearly 2 days for him to become himself after his neuter and his Dr said she was gonna note that he's a light weight in his file and to give less in future 😂
Probably not a bad thing at all for him to be in that state for a much needed rest and a break away from the discomfort for a day.
The dr was glad i told her that because she was getting worried for him not wanting to get up today .She gave him a reversal and he has been awake and on his feet since.

They said this is very likely all linked to the gi issues he's been suffering with over the years since he was a pup that we've never been able to get an actual diagnosis for. This poor guy. He definitely doesn't deserve this hand. He's such a special boy that has left an impression on every person he's ever met ❤️

My entire family and Odin thank you for your unbelievably generous help towards his vet care costs and continued prayers and well wishes.
The total donation amount this afternoon was at $3,300. 😳❤️🙏
Unless those steroids give him a miraculously quick turn around, I don't think he will be coming home in time to bring in the new year with us and will need some more days in the hospital ☹️ but we're hopeful.

Anyone interested in helping in our fight for Odin can call in a donation directly to vca or send via Zelle to me and I'll put that on the vca account.
Any amount helps as our most recent treatment plan brought our estimated charges to $13,600.

VCA Hospital 630-963-0424
Zelle: 630-520-5231

12/29/2024

Hospital day 5.
Odin is being a trooper but still has a big battle ahead. :(
The leptospirosis test result came in tonight around 8 pm and is negative. We are still waiting on the titer result. Sadly, we were kind of hoping it would be lepto so we would have an actual answer to why this is happening but the mystery continues. A few other options have been mentioned like autoimmune, a light mention of lymphoma as it's low on their list with his age and other factors in his response to treatments, among a few others. The team will discuss it and let us know their next steps.
On the plus side, he is becoming more alert and active each day, especially with our twice a day visits, and he even ate quite a bit of chicken today.
His spirits seem higher for sure and he even carries the toys we bring for him around and likes to show them to the techs throughout the day and night. He sits up for a lot of the day now and will even paw at the cage or talk to them in his cute growly way when they walk past to get their attention. He does get tired quickly after getting excited or a little playful, but his body is still weak from many days of not eating in addition to the toll his body has been through.
The alt is down today to 1,100 but the bilirubin went up again from 16 to 19! 😫
With him eating decent today and finally pooping, we're hoping the gallbladder will start contracting and empty and we will see that number go down and him starting to feel better. 🙏
He also has developed vasculitis really bad as a result of the high bilirubin and all the iv placements with him pulling them out and the regular blood draws aren't helping that. It looks so extremely uncomfortable but the drs have said that once the bilirubin starts to go down, so will that swelling. This poor guy. 😢
They removed the iv catheter and have placed it in his neck so they can give his poor legs a break to heal. The added benefit to this is that they can access an iv line and a blood draw line in one place so he won't continue to have to be a pin cushion daily causing further irritation and most dogs don't mind or even realize it's there. He will be getting water massage therapy on his legs to help relieve irritations from the vasculitis and promote good circulation.
Another new symptom as of yesterday is that they've detected a heart murmur. The Dr said this isn't necessarily anything to be too concerned about since this could happen when organs are stressed and with anemia and it often will go away once that all gets better, but it's something they are monitoring.
He was eager to eat this afternoon and also finally pooped a few times afterwards, so we are hoping to see a decrease in the bilirubin tomorrow since the gallbladder had the chance to wake up and do it's thing. 🙏
All in all, we are making some progress and Odin is tolerating everything really well and seems to really like that all the attention is on him and there's no cats around that can take it away from him. 😂

I was informed by the front desk gal that they've had several calls come in with donations for Odin's care. 🥰🙏
The total amount donated as of 3 pm Saturday afternoon was at $2,237! 😲😳😭❤️🥰🙏
We are extremely grateful and can't thank you all enough for being a big part in helping us continue to give our 4 year old baby and his very complicated case this much needed ICU care that is saving his life. Please continue to pray for Odin. He will continue to need ICU care for a few more days at minium 🙏

Donations of any amount can be called in to VCA directly 630-963-0424 or sent via Zelle to my cell 630-520-5231 which I will immediately apply to his account.

12/27/2024

This post is coming out a little late but I wanted to be sure I had more info before putting it out there.
Christmas was a bit different for our family this year as we had to hospitalize Odin for supportive care with IV fluids and IV antibiotics on Christmas Eve. 😢
He's had on/off issues since he was young with sporadic gut issues & acid reflux and started these signs on Friday last week so we did our usual treatments for it at home. Through the weekend he wasn't eating and just looked really sad so we took him to see his dr on Monday. With everything pointing to the suspected IBS we got a few meds and brought him home to see if things would improve. On Tuesday morning we noticed he had eye draining and it was puffy underneath. He also had signs of jaundice in the eye whites. He seemed a bit uncoordinated walking and the right side looked to be more effected with that. It seemed almost like a neurological thing and we immediately got him to his vet again and did bloodwork, which later came back that his ALT (liver function) was 3600, which should be around 50, so the Dr suggested we hospitalize him asap as his liver was at risk of failing and we didn't know why so we brought him to VCA in Downers Grove.

On Christmas day, the VCA dr called and said he was doing good but he still wasn't eating and the bilirubin level increased to 10. Everything else on the labs went down some which is a good thing.
The alt is now at 1700 instead of 3600, which is still very high, but an improvement. 🙏
The plan was to do an ultrasound on the 26th when their internist is in. With him still not eating, being so weak and so having the puffy swollen face, we knew he would likely not be coming home by Thursday.

Hospital day 3 was yesterday and the ultrasound results showed he had pancreatitis and inflammation in the gallbladder. That wouldn't be the cause of the liver disfunction though and the drs are all thinking that Odin may actually be dealing with a severe case of leptospirosis. We sent blood out for that test on Tuesday through his regular vet because she wanted to rule that out among other things, but the results take several days to come back so we are still waiting on that to confirm. VCA has been giving him the antibiotics needed to treat lepto just incase since the results take awhile and we've also added a lepto titer to that today after the drs there decided that more signs are pointing to lepto then not.
He has been vaccinated for that every year since he was a puppy, but that only protects from 4 of the 8 strains and I was told that they are seeing increasing cases of dogs vaccinated for leptospirosis in our areas contracting it. Thankfully, it is treatable but it takes a long time for them to fully feel better. If this is what our sweet boy has, his case is pretty severe with how the infection is attacking his liver so badly.
He will definitely be in the hospital for several more days at a minimum. ☹️

For those that aren't aware, leptospirosis is spread through wildlife urine and he could've simply chewed on a stick (he loves his sticks!), eaten grass, drank from a standing water puddle or something that was contaminated by a lepto positive rabbit, squirrel or other little critter while out on a walk, at the park or even within the comforts of our own backyard. There is really no avoiding these environmental contaminations from being anywhere like this, and we can only do what we can to protect them from it by vaccinating so it really sucks when we do everything we're supposed to as responsible pet owners and have these fluke things happen anyway. 😭

We went to visit him last night and he did eat some rotisserie chicken for us and was so happy to see us. He was very weak, tired, sad and had lots of bruising from the iv's he was tugging out and from some subcutaneous bleeding. The Dr said he did eat a little more for the tech last night after we left and again in the middle of the night but did not eat anything this morning for her. They were talking about adding a feeding tube in today but will hold off to see if he will eat more for us when we go back this afternoon and again tonight. 🙏
As of now, his ALT is around 1300 and we everything else looks to be going down except for the bilirubin. That went up again and is now at 16 and they aren't really sure why. They are going to have their sonographer do an ultrasound recheck on his gallbladder to be sure nothing was missed before he leaves for the weekend. Odin's situation is not a text book case since he had some "late in the game developing symptoms" and labwork results that are a little bit of a mystery to them.
The current plan is to continue supportive care, antibiotics, add in a pancreatitis medication, continue iv liver treatments and continue encouraging him to eat.

We were extremely surprised to find that donations were being placed on Odin's account at VCA to help with his hospitalization costs over the last several days and we would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love from your prayers, texts, calls, well wishes, and unbelievably kind donations, which have amounted to $816.😳
Words can not even describe how grateful we are for your help. Your kindness and love for Odin means more than you will ever know to us. 🙏❤️

Between the two vet visits Monday & Tuesday, his current hospitalization care plan from the 24th through tomorrow, radiology tests and the daily bloodwork, we are up to about $9,000 trying to save our boy.
A few other people have asked if they can send something to me or Tommy directly to help put towards these costs. I would normally never ask for any monetary donations but with us already being up to the amount we are and not knowing how much longer he will need to be in the ICU with this supportive care, we would certainly not turn away anyone's offer to help since we could honestly use all the help we can get to put towards his extensive care needs. 🙏
Donations of any amount can be called in and placed directly on Odin's account under Tom and Deanna Breen over the phone at VCA Downers Grove 630-963-0424. If you want to send a donation but doing that via Zelle or PayPal is easier, we will put that right on his vca account since we visit each day.

Zelle: 630-520-5231
PayPal: [email protected]

Your continued prayers and well wishes for Odin are still appreciated and needed. Thank you all for the texts, calls and well wishes for Odin. XOXO 😘

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12/26/2024

12/23/2024

Even Ralphie wanted to be part of our family baking party. 🍪😹 He loves his cousin.
Animals like to be included in everything. ❤️

12/23/2024

Poor Hank is such a scaredy-cat that he doesn't even trust this toy on the bed.🤭

12/23/2024

Kami is always watching 👀 from her princess tower like she thinks the couch should not be "reserved for the dog" 😂

12/22/2024

Cookie baking exchange today. Odin is sad he has to be the supervisor and not the cookie tester 😂

12/20/2024

There's snow doubt about it! ❄️ These are some happy dogs 🤗

12/20/2024

Playing hard!

12/17/2024

Boop!

12/13/2024

So nice to get out and stretch those legs on a bright and sunny day. 🐶🐾

12/13/2024

Teddy just realized something is missing, I think I'll sleep with one eye open tonight 😂

12/13/2024

🤣

12/11/2024

Waiting for Santa 🎅🎄

12/11/2024

Chillin on a chilly day. 🐶