The lovely, if talentless, Not-Stellahas had a couple of rounds of blood work come back showing elevated calcium levels. The vet suspects hyperparathyroidism, based on those tests and other symptoms (shivering and wobbliness, especially in the back legs). A test for hypercalcemia of malignancy was negative. The vet recommends surgery to remove the affected gland (or glands, there being four to choose from) followed by calcium supplements and medication until the remaining glands are maintaining normal blood calcium levels.
Can anyone here tell me about your dog’s experience with this condition and the surgery? Did your dog require any ongoing treatment after the surgery (besides pain management and wound care)? Did your dog return to being his/her old self again?
Not-Stella is indeed lovely. And I’ll bet she’s not talentless.
I don’t have any experience with parathyroid disease, but I wanted to say how sorry I am that this is happening–especially on the heels of your loss of Wonder Beagle.
Best of luck to you, and thank you for your input in Bear’s thread.
I hate it when people’s pets are sick, and the “fix” isn’t easy. I’m sorry your pup is unwell. I’m afraid I don’t have much experience with this condition, as I do mostly ER work and it doesn’t come up much in ER context.
I’ve found this website to be immensely useful both for myself and to use as handout information for clients. Maybe it can help you, too? Handout on hypercalcemia.
Thanks, Bob. I suppose her talent, or perhaps her finely honed skill, is inducing me to provide treats, walks, and head scritches at will (her will, not mine). It’s mostly the eyes, but she has this little thing where she pokes me in the leg with her nose while I’m sitting. Gets a head scritch every time. I haven’t been able to use both hands at the table in months.
Thanks! That’s a great article, and it’s given me a couple of questions for my vet. She’s never dealt with this before, either, so she’s been doing lots of research. If we move forward with the surgery, one of the other vets at the practice will do the cutting as he’s done it before.
