Good Prognosis for Byrdie

Today we drove to the Taipei University Veterinary Hospital to get Byrdie checked out.  We had an appointment to see their Central Nervous System specialist, but luck would have it the doctor was in a meeting and they couldn't contact me since they had our old phone number in their records.  Anyhow, we saw a generalist which I wasn't too happy about, but what can you do... we've already made the 1 hour trip from Hsinchu.  

After checking her over, the Vet said that given how she is recovering from the stroke it's definitely not due to a tumor, but a blockage of some sort.  And recurrence is unlikely in the near term.  We ran some tests to rule out certain causes, so I do feel better having taken her to Taipei.  Byrdie is also a lot more energetic compared to the weekend, and is wagging her tail again.  She's not 100% yet, but she's getting better.

Byrdie isn't feeling well...

I noticed two days ago that Byrdie was definitely not herself.  Her tail was down, and she was eating out of one side of her food bowl.  She was also favoring one side, her left side, which means she always turned left, sometimes circling an area.  She also seemed disoriented, not wagging her tail or coming when her name was called.  Yesterday, I took her to the Vet and he said that these were symptoms having to do with the nervous system.  Her symptoms aren't so bad, he said.  Besides prescribing some vitamin B and steroids for if the symptoms got worse, there wasn't specifically anything he could do.  He recommended going to Taipei to run some tests.

Basically, I think Byrdie had a stroke and I suspect she can't see out of her right eye. It's hard to say what the cause was until we run the tests when I take her next week.  It could be anything from heart disease, fat deposits, to old age. Based on internet reading, dogs recover from strokes faster than humans.  And I'm hopeful that since her symptoms aren't so bad, that she still can walk around on her own, that she'll recover soon.  

Byrdie on the mend

 
We noticed Byrdie was sluggish and not herself this past week.  She didn't come to the door right away to greet Steve and seemed to lose her appetite which is a rare occurrence indeed.  After a blood test at the Vet, we found out her gall bladder count was abnormally high.  It ended up that the pack of peanuts Byrdie managed to get her paws on when she was home alone put too much stress on her organs. (salt and fat)  The doctor said at her age, this could be quite serious if her organs shut down.  It was no fun to see her sick.  After two days on the IV at the clinic, she was on the mend.  Byrdie usually rides shot gun, and this time she didn't curl up in the chair as she had the past week.  She perched herself on the armrest and I rolled down the window as she looked out the window.  Thank goodness, Byrdie's back.