Thanks for checking in Michael.

I think Oscar is incrementally getting a bit better with every new day. Still "off" is good game, but his appetite is, dare I say, piggish once again, and he's looking a bit bored off his rocker, since we're keeping walks to a slow minimum. I've got him on a cruel schedule of business walks, warm meals, and excessively long naps on a massive soft bed... aside from the unusual food prep, I think he's actually back to feeling neglected - which is just like him.

My dad reminded me the other day that Oscar is simply "living in the moment", as dogs do, and has no concept of worry over pending test results, or hang-ups about his past crappy week in medical lock-down - he simply knows he's being cheated on walks TODAY, and will pout about it until I stop crimping his style. Fair enough - but I'm not caving on account of a frowny dog face...

I do catch him looking a bit sullen now and again, or standing in a funny, sort of deflated way, but I honestly can't tell how much of my observation is due to hypersensitivity, and how much is totally normal - he also has moments when he couldn't look more like himself...

My one concern is that his urine looks very dark again - I've got a call in to the vet, and we'll take a sample over if they ask, but it's looking like it did at the start of all this, when they were finding all manner of "undesirable" things in his system. I don't know if the antibiotics might have any effect on that, I think not, but I'm hoping I get a call-back soon.

~Natalya

We're thinking of you guys... I know waiting on test results is just brutal. Hang in there and think positive. His appetite certainly sounds like it has come back so that is a good thing.

Poor Oscar! He has the worst life.....the neglect.

Any news on the urine?

Is the smell gone?

 Quote: Sheila Buckley

Any news on the urine?

Just spoke with the vet and she advised that we bring over a sample in the morning...

She did say that the fungal antibody tests came back negative, so we don't have to worry about that. With the chance for lymphoma being pretty low, best guess is on a foreign body stuck somewhere in his lung. We'll continue antibiotics, monitor for signs of health declining again, and repeat chest x-rays in another 3 weeks to see if that lung mass is breaking up. His body may be able to repair the damage, but if the fever and inflammation resume, we look at removing the offending part of the lung.

~Natalya

So it's possible that a foreign body can remain and be kind of "ignored" by the system once the initial response has been tamed?

That's the gamble. It's possible, but I'm getting the feeling (from the vets and from reading) that there's a higher probability that because of the location (sensitive lung tissue), it'll continue to cause irritation until it's removed. We'll just have to wait this one out and hope for the best.

Here's a case study of an adult male Rott who inhaled a foxtail awn which resulted in multiple secondary infections, and eventual lung lobectomy:
http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/46/12/4099

The study is specifically noted for the rare type of bacterial infection that happened to pop up - probably picked up in the mouth when the awn passed through (this dog also had some preexisting factors that may have contributed to the persistence of the inflammation), but in the end, they cut out the part that wouldn't heal and the dog recovered just fine. It's not the path I wish for Oscar, but at least it had a good prognosis.

~Natalya

Deep sigh. None of us would wish this on your big guy either, but it is good to know the positive outcome. Surgeries, pain meds, therapies, etc... have come so far over the past years making what used to be horrible - very tolerable.

Paws still crossed Natalya.

They think that this may be caused by a foxtail type foreign body? Arn't foxtails & the like, only found on the west coast?

Sorry that Oscar ( & you) is having to go thru all this. Hopefully, they will be able to get this figured out soon.

 Quote: Anne Jones

They think that this may be caused by a foxtail type foreign body? Arn't foxtails & the like, only found on the west coast?

You're right Anne, foxtails are not nearly as populous on this coast as they are out west - I used the Rott case as an example... it could be anything in there, including a bit of bark from a stick... it's small enough that they just can't see it (assuming again that that's what's going on...). So mysterious and frustrating!!

~Natalya