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[countryliving]

Hi
Our puppy who is almost 9 months old was just diagnosed with blasto.
We took her in last Wed. because of a cough and quiet wheezing type breathing.( we thought she had a had something caught in her throat.)
She was also not herself, not playing and running around.
So wed. the vet gave her antibiotics and said if she wasnt better to bring her back in a few days.(He did mention tho if she didnt get better that he should do a blood test for blasto)
well friday we though she was getting a bit better, but on Saturday morning she was definately having a problem.
My husband called the vet and took her in right away Sat. morning.. he was back not to long after with no drugs and the diagnoses of blasto .. the vet had taken an xray and said it was in her lungs..
We have her home feeding her whatever she will eat.. she has been on medicine for 2 days now with no real improvement but at least not getting worse.
I have not noticed and open sores. So I am hoping this was caught real early?..
Do the sores have to be there to be blasto?

i am sorry about everyone's heartaches with their animals..
thinking of all you and your loved ones

[luvmyjacks]

Feeling sick for you.  This is a terrible stage and you will feel very helpless.  My Will had the same wheezing and lack of energy and he had no symptoms other than the snowy look on the x rays.  The first 7 - 10 days are the worst and you will find lots of info on this forum.  We have all gone through the same ups and downs, and have had the same fear clawing at us.  My vet said that the on and off fever was normal, to watch the number of breaths per minute and try to get him to eat - anything at all:  better any calories than no calories.  Jen, Evayola, Wilson3 to mention only a few have had a long, long run with this disease and if you go to their posts you will find lots of helpful hints as well as getting an idea of what to expect.  Their posts helped me get through this horror and each new person brings with them new information, support and in your case a chance for us to pay back for all we have received.  Good luck and feel all the love coming Oreo's way from this forum.  Keep asking questions, and be grateful your vet caught it early, others had to suffer through misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis before the right treatment was started. 
Lisa the administrator of this website is looking into the software necessary to create a spreadsheet of info on treatment, symptoms, timing, and lots of other things that we can refer to.  Hopefully this can be up and running in the next couple of months so we can all add our info.

[Jen]

So sorry to see you here, but hopefully she is young and strong, and being caught early is a huge plus. It seems that every case is different, sores, no sores, lumps, eyes, lungs...I haven't seen 2 alike here.  The treatment is hard the first couple of weeks or more, but it can be beaten.  I don't know if it ever goes away.  Dirtbike has been given a clean bill of health, but I still see it everywhere and watch her like a hawk.  I'm so thankful for her good health right now.
   Good luck, and feel free to vent and ask questions.  We do the best we can.
jen

[CLS]

Oh, I'm so sorry about your dog. My Lab X Sadie, 10 months, was diagnosed with blasto within  2 days, and was only found in her lungs too. Same signs your poor Oreo is showing. Sadie had Lyme disease first and was on doxycycline for 2 months, so she may have carried the blasto for some time before she started showing the signs, lameness, coughing, wheezing and the worst was she started not eating and throwing everything up.
Although my outcome with Sadie was a sad one, she faught the blasto for 2 weeks before finally passing on, we NEVER gave up hope. Always show your love and keep positive. This forum was a life saver for us during our time with blasto. It's been since September 16 since Sadie passed and its been really hard on my husband and I, but we realize now that we have to cherish all the time that Sadie did have for us.
The people on this forum are amazing, they KNOW and understand all the emotions you are going through. Lean on them. I did. And I keep checking up on everyone, because they became part of my family,even only by this forum.
Stay POSITIVE and good luck with Oreo. There are great stories of triumph on the site. Great advice too with doing everything you can for your puppy. Read all the posts. Keep us posted.CLS

[evayola]

I am sorry about your puppy. This disease is the worst ever. Marge has been through soooo much and her battle is definitely not over. Marge has been on treatment since June and we are sure that it will probably be a few months til we quit and even then I am so worried about a relapse. We deal with her blasto everyday! Her eye is still affected and her lungs. She had one or two sores but not anything big like Wilson so we were lucky with that. We are going today to see the vet to do some bloodwork again because the vet thought she was getting an ulcer and her white blood cells were down so we will see what they say today! She has been doing very good other than that! There are days when she doesn't want to eat and we have to coax her into it and it really freaks us out because we are always wondering if it is the blasto hitting her harder. We are all here for you to lend you our support and advice. I will be thinking about you guys! What treatment are you doing? What meds is your puppy taking?

[mhitesman]

Comet never had it anywhere but his right eye, which we lost after a long painful battle that ended when it ruptured and the decision was no longer ours to make.  The vet said it always enters the lungs first and that Comet probably fought it off there as there is no evidence in his lungs.  He never had lesions or any other signs.  I think we got it really early.  He is on Itraconazole.  I like, so many others here, fear the day when we are supposed to quit the meds even though our choice to keep him on the exact prescription is costing a fortune (there are other alternatives).  Keep the faith.  This thing can be beaten.  He is doing GREAT right now after a month on meds!

[countryliving]

Good morning,
Thank you everyone for your posts and positive thoughts.  She is definately  showing improvement.
She is moving around more and laying on her back at times for some belly scratching.We are so happy that she is getting better. She is eating more and have not noticed any side effects (vomitting? is none)
she is suppose to be on meds. for 2 months then a xray to check her lungs.. hopefully then she will be
well again.
We are very lucky she was diagnosed so quickly.
hope everyone has a good day with their doggies

oh by the way I dont think I mentioned that oreo is a shitzu/terrior and sooo cute..

[Wilson3]

your right oreo is very cute!!!
glad to hear she is doing a bit better
hang it there you are all in my prayers
wilson3

[spadhawk]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update on Oreo.....I'm still worried, She seems to have stopped getting better.
Her breathing is still laboured and she coughs alot. I talked to her vet and he said she is on the max dosage of itraconizole for her weight. He said he thought we should maybe try giving her cortizone also. he also said we could take another xray to see  where we are at right now.
I just thought there should be more improvement in her breathing.
she doesn't eat well but she will eat some if you coax her. like last night she ate a half of a chicken breast.
she wont any kind of dog food....not even treats.

does anyone have any kind of timeline to share  with me.
very worried
Harry

[Wilson3]

harry
sorry to hear of your worries but so understandible
wilson took about 3 or 4 months for his breathing to really improve it did improve very slowly his breathing he still pants all the tiem now due to lung damage we went some time where i felt he wasnt improving any more then finialy he just did al his outside stuff u could see had healed so the inside stuff was taking longer it seemed but it did have you added any supplements? what did the vet say have you asked lots of questions to the vet keeps them on there tos and lokling for mure answers
wilson3

[luvmyjacks]

I just reviewed my notes on Will and based on your first post Oct 29th, you are now just close to the one month mark with this disease.  I remember that Will was just heading in to the Emergency hospital for his check up at that point and I was thrilled he could make it from the car into the hospital.  He wasn't eating anything normal for dogs and I was cooking him chicken, steak or hamburger never knowing which he would eat.  I had a container of each at the ready and offered again and again until he chose.  From what I read the Itra suppresses the appetite so in that respect Orea seems normal.  Will was still coughing, lethargic, sleeping lots and lots and even now a month later still sleeps long and hard after a little play time.  For Oreo, I think the timing for another X ray sounds normal and we found that our x ray for that period was only slightly improved.  He had a fairly solid mass plus lots of snowy bits and the mass was only just starting to show cracks at the one month mark.  As long as the blood tests are normal just keep on going and let the itra do its job.  This fungus is really, really tough.  Let us know when you have the results of the x rays, and good luck.

[Jen]

I can't really remember that well, but it seemed that Dirt didn't show REAL improvement for about a month after starting treatment.  She got much worse after starting Itra, then gradually improved.  I believe that a sort of timeline is on the 2nd page under "Dirtbike Day 7" or "2 months into treatment" something like that. 
 
It's a hard road, and patience is hard to come up with sometimes.  I always looked to Wilson, as he was in worse shape and took so much longer to improve - he's a trooper, and so is DB.
Love your girl and don't give up.

jen
millie
dirtbike
(Obie, our Black Lab, passed away today.  I can't say what he died from, but we'll just call it old age.  He'd been sick and sore for a while, but we knew that treatment for anything he might have would have been too much for him at his age, so we loved him and made him as comfortable as possible.  He is gone on, and Dirtbike knows.  She's pining for him and doesn't want to leave where he is. Very sad. We'll all miss him very much.)

[spadhawk]

Jen sorry to hear about Obie.

and glad to hear how well dirtbike is doing

Oreo is showing signs of improvement again But early this morning she threw up .
shes still very ill but i am trying to have some patience. she had some chicken breast for breakfast this morning and only what you can coax her to eat.
she has a bite of ice cream every morning to take her pill. its the only thing she will take every day.
I've been laid off for about a month now so have been able to spend alot of time with her coaxing her to eat any chance I have. so she hasn't lost too much weight (she was only 7lbs) since beginning of her treatment.
good luck to all

[luvmyjacks]

So glad to hear Oreo is still slowly improving.  when I don't see a name on the forum for a week or two I worry that there is bad news.  It sounds as if you are moving along at the same normal. painfully slow pace most of us have experienced but one day soon Oreo will have eaten a few days in a row and you will sit up and say to yourself that her eating is back to normal.  It just happens without you really noticing.  Will is now back on dry kibble with a little "people" meat on top to be sure he has something in his tummy when he has his Itra.  He is playful and chubby again and only coughs once or twice each day. 

[Jen]

It's good to hear that Oreo is getting better, but it is slooow.  I know that I expected results alot faster than they came.  I don't think DB ever threw up, but it may be that she never ate enough to yark on until she was better.

We haven't even told our daughter about Obie yet, this has been too hard a year for everyone.  DB sick, heart surgery for mom, dad died in August, Obie on Thanksgiving, and my stepbrother died 2 days ago (a young, non-smoking vegan and he died of colon cancer...go figure), and that's just the beginning.
 I'd say all bets are off for the rest of the year. 

Ennyway, ya-- at least we've got our dogs...!
jen