My 4 year old intact male golden retriever was diagnosed with a weak positive blasto (urine aspiration) last September. His lungs and all internal organs were clear, but his right eye was extremely infected and he had secondary glaucoma blindness by the time we were to a vet that diagnosed correctly -- in the span of two weeks overall. We tried desperately to save his eye and even dared to hope that some vision would return as he is fantastic field trial competitor ... and we selfishly did this for us, i guess. I guess it takes a long time to settle in that we were fighting not for his vsion, but for his LIFE. Anyway, he was put on itra, which is indeed very expensive. His eye ruptured and required emergency surgery. Because of the blasto in his eye, he was not a good candidate for a prosthetic eye, so it was sewn shut. I think part of me was lost that same day, too. But I am so extremely grateful that we have him. The dogs often get much worse before they start to get better, and it is important to never give up hope, keep them as comfortable as you can, give them lots of love, and keep them drinking and eating == whatever that takes. Feed the pills with food. Fatty food. I removed the granules from the capsules and put them in a piece of bologne luncheon meat, which he loved.
Four months later Comet is off meds and starting to get his high energy back. He is happy and healthy, and his blasto retest last week was negative. Of course we are fearful it will come back ... Comet was on meds 4 months but some dogs are on much much longer. Comet's internal organs and skin were clear. Only one eye. The meds, themselves, have nasty side effects and can be toxic to the liver, so he was tested every two - four weeks while he was on the itra.
We chose to use the itra rather than another antiobiotic or a compounded itra such as is available at roadrunner. We paid about $700 per month for his meds. If we could not have afforded the itra (sporonox) we would have chosen the compounded itra from Roadrunner pharmacy, which is very affordable (like $90/month) over ketra.
Today the vet called to tell me she diagnosed another young golden yesterday -- affected in the eye as was Comet. The owner is looking for support and will call. When he does, I will refer him here for the wealth of info on this site as well as the wonderful support offered here.
The people here helped save my dogs life and also saved my sanity.
Good luck. Don't give up. Comet is a survivor, and he is not the only one. You can beat this thing!
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Topic: Support needed - newbie to Blasto... (Read 1021 times)