In mid March, we went up to Mt Rainier for the weekend with Shunka and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He was playing and running around as usual. But when we got home, we noticed he was drinking a lot of water and had little interest in his food. This was a bit strange because if you know him, he is highly food motivated. But we decided to monitor him for a couple of days to see if he would bounce back. After a couple of days, he didn’t show any improvement in his appetite, was still drinking an abnormal amount of water and his overall energy level was lower than normal. Thankfully we were able to get him seen at the vet quickly. They did a physical exam and did blood work and a urinalysis. He appeared mostly alert so the vet initially thought he was experiencing mild GI upset. Unfortunately, that was not the case. His lab work showed really high liver and kidney values which none of us expected (including the vet) because he did not appear to be really sick. She recommended some supplements and subcutaneous fluids for a few days and then follow up with more bloodwork and xrays to determine a diagnosis. His 2nd round of blood work didn’t show any drastic changes and xrays didn’t detect anything worrisome. This was all even more frustrating and confusing. but the vet encouraged us to continue his current care plan and schedule an ultrasound. The soonest we were able to get in was 3 weeks. After a few more days, he still wasn’t significantly improving and started showing signs of jaundice. We took him to the emergency vet (internal medicine specialist) and thankfully we were able to get an ultrasound. But the news we received was not positive. We were told that he is likely suffering from copper associated hepatitis which is a rare disorder that causes abnormal buildup of copper in the liver. Although there is some damage to his liver, the biggest concern is his kidneys which are no longer functioning properly. The internal medicine specialist said that his prognosis is uncertain but she is hoping we caught this early enough that he may be able to recover. His appetite has been sporadic and if this doesn’t get better, he may need a feeding tube. We were not quoted on the cost but can only imagine we’ll be paying an arm and a leg. This might seem extreme but we want to give him a chance. This has been difficult to process especially since this all unfolded so rapidly. He was a normal dog 2 weeks ago and now we are here. We have a long, difficult road ahead of us but we are not willing to give up on him yet. Hopefully with medications and constant monitoring, he will improve. Our world has been rocked and we are completely devastated. This dog is our entire world and we can’t imagine our lives without him especially since he is in his prime age. Our expenses are continuing to accrue so anything you can offer is appreciated more than you know.

Xoxo

Irang, Taylor & Shunka