Coping With Pet Loss

Lola was a brilliant and lovable dog, who thought she was human. At the age of four, she had an annual check up and they found she had a very high liver enzyme count, almost ten times the normal amount. They did tests, put her on supplements and prescriptions to try and bring the count down. Nothing seemed to work. They then discovered through one of the tests it was actually her gallbladder, which can make your liver over produce enzymes. She was then on medication for that. Later she was vommitting clear/white mucus. And the bone on her head was growing. The vets (she had multiple because no one could seem to agree with what was wrong with poor Lola) said that the bone on her head could not be growing and they didn’t know what was wrong.

After months of her vomitting, her bump growing larger, her being on IV’s to rehydrate her because she kept getting aspiration pneumonia and me spoon feeding her so she would eat, I took her to a new doctor who said within five minutes of seeing her, “How long has her bump on her head been showing like this?” and “I think I know what may be wrong, but I’ll have to do some tests.” He did some x-rays and blood work and found she had Myasthenia Gravis; megaesophagus comes with this disease which is why she was vomitting mucus. Lola’s esophagus was about four times the normal size. She was producing excess mucus to try to either push food up or down.

By this time, it was too late for Lola. They may have been able to help her had the first four doctors working together diagnosed her a year earlier. Lola was one of the best dogs, and she was only allowed to live for five and one half years. Her healthy weight was 72 pounds. When she died, she was only 36.

I only write this to tell people, get a second opinion. No one person (or four) knows everything.