BLOG DISCLAIMER

**DISCLAIMER** Please note: I am not a veterinarian, and the purpose of this blog is solely to educate, provide resources, and share Reo's story. In this blog, I will present research and information on the theories of SARDS to which I subscribe, along with my own narrative. If you think your dog may have SARDS, or adrenal exhaustion/Plechner Syndrome, please seek veterinary care right away!

If you are just beginning your SARDS education, I suggest you start with the blog post from August 22, 2011 entitled "SARDS Resources". If you'd like to know our trials, tribulations, and joys from the beginning, start with "But first...Reo!" and click chronologically on from there.

If you would like to read my suggestions as to how I would approach treatment for a newly-diagnosed dog, check the November 16, 2011 post "If I had another SARDS dog" (and then read my blog more fully for appropriate context).

Though we have decided to suspend Reo's retinal protection supplements in September 2012 (see September 16, 2012 post "Decision for Reo") due to the fact that she had very little remaining vision, I am still strongly supportive of our treatment approach, and know that it changed Reo's health and longevity in a positive way. Feel free to comment and ask me any questions - I am happy to help if I can!

Update: Reo became an angel on October 21, 2014. She had a profound kidney infection, causing acute kidney failure, and she was unable to recover. The contributing factors to her decline are covered in my February 16, 2015 blog post "Farewell to Reo".

Though I do not regularly update this blog any longer, much of the information is still relevant (though some of the links may be out of date). Feel free to join the conversation at "SARDS Dogs United" on Facebook.




Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Renal panel - in the clear!

04/08/14 - Last week, we repeated the renal panel for Reo.  It took longer than I had anticipated because she kept having set-backs for a variety of reasons.  The big set-back was that our younger rescue puppy went after Reo over a crumb on the floor (hello dog-dog resource guarding issues - I was not expecting you!!).  Reo was fine - he just scared her very badly and knocked her over on the floor, poor sweet girl.  The stress of the incident brought on a pretty bad flare and she was miserable - lots of diarrhea, depression, inappetance.  We are back on track now, but we were very worried about her for a few weeks.

The good news is, Reo's renal panel looks great!  All the electrolytes have normalized, which makes me think that the initial changes we saw were a result of post-seizure activity, and not true kidney disease and/or her adrenal exhaustion/Atypical Addison's condition moving toward "true" Addison's.  The only thing slightly elevated was BUN, and we are not worried about that at this time.  Yay!  Very relieved that we don't have to make any other changes right now.

Reo seems quite stable for the moment.  :)