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Submitted by admin on April 20, 2010 - 6:51pmDoes anyone have experience with this? Our vet has ruled out all the 'big' stuff that can normally cause this - heart, liver values, bloodwork all is good. Lasix briefly seemed to bring it down, but it came back up again and she's bigger than ever. We increased the Lasix dosage a tad last week, but the fluid still seems to be increasing.
The girl is happy as ever - eating and drinking fine. We initially suspected it was from surgical trauma (saroma?) As we had a so-called 'fertility vet' who basically did a butcher job on a surgical insemination, then stitched it up with dissolvable sutures (on an abdominal incision??). When those, not surprisingly, came open on both the outer and inner incision, her assistant vet only stapled the outside closed, resulting in a 4" hernia that our regular vet, an excellent surgeon, had to repair when he c-sectioned her to remove 2 dead pups. In repairing the hernia, he had to clear some adhesions that had formed to the bladder, and had to be very careful in stitching her up to place the bladder properly and not involve it with the stitches.
Anyway, I suspect that the bladder involvement may have resulted in a puncture, which might explain why lasix would be increasing the fluid in her abdomen. But - there's no infection, which I would expect to see in that case. Any thoughts??
Looks like we're going to end up doing exploratory surgery tomorrow - we talked about an ultrasound, but with the fluid needing to be drained and the fact that about 1" of her former hernia has reopened from the pressure, I think we're going to go the surgery route. I've got a very bad vibe on this, so please keep your fingers crossed.
Any thoughts?
Sharon
Thanks Sue -
I'm not sure why I'm such a nervous wreck over this one - maybe because it's been a Murphy's Law kind of year for us - having this happen to Gidget, losing Tish. Anyway, I'll let y'all know what they find.
Sharon
No familiar with this but....
I want to wish you all the best with your girl. I'm sure she'll be fine. Crossing everything for you. Please keep us posted.
Sue & Opal
Thanks Margaret -
The vet pretty much ruled out the 'big stuff' - and he took fluid out for testing, so I would hope they would have seen cancer cells if that was the problem. I'm going to ask him to look as closely at the bladder as possible - that's my gut feeling on this one.
Thanks for your thoughts -
Sharon
I would imagine she went to this vet because...
she trusted him or had been told he/she was good and he turned out to do a poor job on her bitch...what would you think..."I went to this vet b/c he was lousy" as an answer. Sometimes we trust vets who just have a bad day or are not as good as we think they are and then our poor babies suffer...no one, not even the vet, I'm sure, set out to do a poor job. I lost a bitch and an entire litter b/c a vet I had gone to for 19 years did not listen to me and wouldn't take the puppies the day I told him to...she died along with the pups...I did stop going to him...but he was pretty distraught himself...he made a really bad call and didn't trust me to know my dog...he did not mean harm...but I couldn't bear to go back there again.
Lorraine Eyth
It is really better not to post anonymously and being ascerbic doesn't get you heard or listened to...this is a supportive board generally speaking...all of us want what is best for our dogs and others' dogs. Hope you have a better day.
As usual, a nasty anonymous posting clueless
Well, Anonymous, while you're too cowardly to add your name to your nastiness, you obviously have no clue who I am or how hard I research my dogs, their medical information, or the vets I take them to. If you have any doubt about that, why don't you scroll through a couple of pages worth of this forum - you might see how often I chime in to try to help people who have medical questions - and I don't open my mouth unless I know what I'm talking about and can be supportive and helpful. Unlike you.
So, in an attempt to educate the ignorant - my husband and I just moved to this area last spring. We started researching bulldog vets the moment we got here. The fertility vet who did such a crappy job came highly recommended by several Bulldog Club of Denver members who meant well, but had formed their impression of this person when she presented some educational programs for the club. We did not realize they had not used her until after the fact. As the bulldog vets in the area were not experienced in fertility, we chose to pay for the specialist - to the tune of over $1000, so you can stick your 'pay too much' comment in the same place your head is currently lodged. After THAT vet screwed it up, we used the local bulldog vet (who is our 'regular' vet, and 'local' is an hour away), who's been doing c-sections since long before you started in bulldogs and came highly recommended by bulldoggers who would know in this area. He happens to be a phenomenal surgeon, which I personally observed, as I don't drop my dogs off and leave them, I stay and watch the surgery, and he did an excellent job. However, the sh@t happens rule kicked in, and she appears to be having some problems that MAY be related to the surgery.
Any more questions?
Sharon (who has never been ashamed or too embarrassed to claim her own posts, even when I do ask a stupid question or say something out of line). BTW - you might want to get spellcheck and learn punctuation rules. Your grammar is more obnoxious than your post.
Re: Why.
Here we go again. Let's all rush to judgement of another person. Anonymous, you have NO clue why this person did or didn't do what ever they did! But, somehow, you think that you have some unique ability to judge and cast aspersion on someone that you do not know. Where do people like you get off. Last I knew, the only one with the Judgement Seat assured, was certainly NOT you! Go be hateful someplace else.
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What a lot to go through, poor girl
Wow. With all of that, thinking about a possible bladder leak or ureter leak is reasonable, I think. Ascites(meaning fluid in her intraperitoneal cavity) can have many causes. Heart or Liver failure. Cancer cells in her abdomen from some intraabdominal source would draw it in there, too. I doubt that you would have infection necessarily if there were a bladder or ureter leak, unless there was a bladder infection also.
Best of luck with this.