Christmas train

Babs n Poon dig this

Diet/meds update

During the few days that Schatzi's protein intake was reduced to zero, so too her symptoms were sharply reduced.  This seemed to support the Skellenger hypothesis, that liver dysfunction was causing brain damage and therefore the weird behavior.

However, Connie conferred with Skellenger and another veterinarian and decided to reintroduce protein in small amounts.  Schatzi had thrown up one meal and there seemed no point in continuing what would have been a temporary experiment anyway (dogs require protein long-term).

So now Schatzi is off the antibiotic and Lactulose.  Her diet is low-protein.  She is also going to take Zonisamide, an anticonvulsant, for at least one month.

Happy Halloween!

Schatzi wishes you a spooky holiday today!

Schatzi's diet changed today, per vet's instructions

Dr. Skellinger called around noon on Saturday with new instructions on Schatzi's diet. For the next couple of weeks, Schatzi will be eating non-meatballs three times per day. Lactulose continues at one milliliter per day; neomycin continues per the label. Each non-protein "meat"ball contains one cup of cooked rice or potatoes, one teaspoon of brewer's yeast, one cup of cooked vegetables like peas, carrots, zucchini, or turnip greens mixed with a third of a cup of applesauce shaped into spheres. These are to be baked in the oven until they are cooked enough to hold together.

She gets one "vegetable ball" (don't know what else to call it) three times per day for a couple of weeks, so mid-November we are to notice if her symptoms have abated. 

Health and Halloween

Bruce and Poon came by yesterday (Tuesday) to give Schatzi a Halloween costume.

As far as Schatzi's health is concerned, she has good days and bad.  Over the weekend, her symptoms were very mild; she enjoyed a long walk to the dog park, where she found some other schnauzers with whom she could run and chase and play.

Monday and Tuesday were not as good: She craned and twisted her neck a lot, ran under the bed and wouldn't come up, etc.  She jumped up on a chair and cried and wailed for more than half an hour.

I wish I had video for this post

Schatzi is the first female dog I have owned, so I was pretty surprised when she started humping her dog bed today. Being ignorant about spayed bitch behavior, I would have associated humping with males and sexual expression. Apparently, that's just my error.

We keep a dog bed in her cage, which she dragged out into the middle of the room, growling and biting and shaking it. Then humping it! So it's been a big day, and educational too.

Spud's visit Saturday and Sunday

On Sept. 30th, Spud was still here.  And Poon!  And Connie!  Bruce had the maple syrup.  Schatzi didn't get any syrup. 

While the humans watch football on TV

Every post on this blog is dated.  To see what date pertains to the events you are reading about right now, look at the upper left corner of the screen and note the date (in this case, Saturday, September 29th, 2012).

The video below was recorded on 9/29/2012, while the bipeds zoned out in front of the lighted rectangle and Schatzi did some important chewing . . . .

Follow-up vet visit

Yesterday (Monday) we took Schatzi for a follow-up appointment, her first since Dr. Skellenger diagnosed microvascular dysplasia. Today, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2012, Shawn posted this update to her blog. The dates that posts appear are shown in the upper left corner of each post.

Since we changed her food to a low-protein brand, Schatzi's weird behavior had become less severe. Yesterday, in the veterinarian's office, she was acting so normal that it was almost as if she had no symptoms at all. But since we'd still seen some of the strange craning of the neck that is a symptom of Schatzi's illness, the vet suggested that we reduce her rations to just two-thirds of a cup per day, and increased the amount of Lactulose from two milliliters per day to four. He also gave her some antibiotics. Within hours, Schatzi was exhibiting the more severe signs again. Most notably, she cranes her neck up and back, several times per minute. Shawn shot this video this morning:

Other behaviors that we noticed becoming more severe this evening were:

• Schatzi runs suddenly from one room to another, then slams to the floor in a curled-up ball
• She dashes from one den to another, running from under a low chair to diving under the bed to under the computer desk, and so on
• She spins around rapidly before suddenly settling down and then becomes unresponsive
• She is more withdrawn and isolates in a distant room (usually Schatzi follows people around)

If you scroll down, you can review Schatzi's adventures on this blog. Each entry is dated, so you know when the events reported in that post took place. 

Schatzi, the Tiny Behemoth

There is a movie called "The Giant Behemoth." It was actually called something else in England, but the American release was titled "The Giant Behemoth." Obviously, the title is redundant, BUT it does provide inspiration for referring to Schatzi as "The TINY Behemoth," which suits her. If you ever watch the movie, you'll understand why!

Vet follow-up 8/27/2012

Schatzi was still looking up sharply every once in a while, but her weird behavior continued to improve on the low-protein diet. The vet added Lactulose to her daily diet. Lactulose is a synthetic sugar that reduces the amount of ammonia in the blood of schnauzers with liver disease. It works by drawing ammonia from the blood into the colon where it is removed from the body. Schatzi will probably be taking Lactulose with every meal for at least a year and maybe forever. The vet said she is not in distress as long as she stays on her diet and new medicine, but that her life span could be short (five years).

(Photo by Poon)

Signs of improvement?

After a couple of days of the low-protein diet, Schatzi does seem to be behaving more normally. There's not as much of the craning of the neck, looking up and around at invisible heebie-jeebies. She is still doing it a little bit, however.

Today, Sunday August 19th, Schatzi went to Poon and Bruce's apartment. P & B have a dog park just across the parking lot. It features a "chute" or long tube that Schatzi can run through. In today's video, this tube looks a lot like the movies of the esophagus that are made with endoscopes. We shot so much video that it's too long to put the entire epic in this post. Here's a short highlights reel:

We're scheduled to bring Schatzi back to the vet on Monday for a follow-up ultrasound and exam.

Diagnosis: Hepatoportal Microvascular Dysplasia

Her vet says Schatzi probably has a rare genetic defect that made her plumbing develop abnormally. He thinks this blood vessel mis-routing affects her liver function and therefore her behavior. If we are fortunate, changing her diet will correct this problem. If you want to read more about this, here's a link to PetMD.

Is Schatzi suffering?

Schatzi's behavior today begs the question: Is she suffering from mental illness?

Usually, Schatzi behaves like a normal dog, but today she is doing strange things. Most notably, she is constantly (more than once per minute) stretching her neck back and up, as if she is looking at things flying above her. You can get a sense of what this is like watching this short video:

This behavior is unusual for Schatzi, but not unprecedented. From time to time, Schatzi keeps looking up and around. These spells usually last for a few days and coincide with other uncharacteristic features.

Also noteworthy is that Schatzi shows no interest in play or patting/attention. She spent more than half an hour sitting by herself in the bathroom. She has never done that before.

Here's a thought experiment for you: What if Schatzi is afflicted with some kind of episodic hallucinatory dog schizophrenia? If she were seeing flying objects swooping at her head every few seconds, maybe she'd be looking up at them to track their movement. Maybe she'd run from one resting place to another, usually a den with a low roof (like running under the chair, or the bed, or into her cage), trying to get away from whatever was buzzing her.

If it's Wednesday, it must be Schatzi!

On this, the first day of August, Schatzi was excited by Spud's visit.  Bruce and Poon and Connie were all in on the deal also.  Here's proof; don't miss the cameo by Olympian Michael Phelps . . .

Nemo is in the house

Nemo came for a week-long visit, during which Bruce and Poon dropped by for dinner . . .

Obedience and agility training

On March 21st, 2012, Schatzi completed a six-week training course on agility and obedience. She learned a lot more about agility than she did about obedience.