Lilian is a lovely Dobergirl who came out of a shelter a year ago June, and was just a pup of about 3 months then. The shelter vet gave me a sulfa antibiotic to give to Lilian for whatever bugs she was taken with her when leaving. Well, that was my introduction to allergic reactions some Dobies have to sulfa. Lilian had only two of those pills, but her reaction was severe. She had an acute arthritic reaction in her back knees. They swelled up to the point where she could only drag herself, unless I stood her up. Though I told the vet we were seeing that her knees seemed to be swelling, she didn’t see it. And she didn’t see it until the disorder progressed to the point where she couldn’t help but see it. Lilian also had pneumonia, and it was a difficult puppyhood for us all. It wasn’t till several months later, when I took Lilian to an expensive specialist for another problem did I find out that Lilian’s swollen knees were due to the sulfa.

Click here for a website written for veterinarian’s, about the reaction Lilian had.  The disorder is Immune Mediated Polyarthritis, as it’s symmetrical the specialist pinpointed this – from sulfa drug. 

The visit to the specialist was for ectopic ureter I thought Lilian had because she will start to urinate suddenly, and not seem to help it. This was a $700 + vet visit with the result that she said it was behaviorial. I asked her how she knew that, and besides blood and urine tests, she said she watched her. She watched her? It doesn’t flow out of her 24/7. This specialist told me to come back if the problem continues. She was probably banking on that. The problem continued, and I went elsewhere.

From a simple dye test, the vet Lilian saw this month concluded that she does have an ectopic ureter. Did I mention, too, that Lilian is an 8 on the Von Willebrands scale? That is very low. Just spaying her took a very skilled vet. The specialist wanted over $2,000 to spay her because of it. The vet that ended up doing it, did it for a routine price of well under $200. Watch your vets, and get referrals.

The surgery for an ectopic ureter is only about 50% successful. With Lilians VW factor of 8, it would be very risky, so now I enter another journey with a lovely Dobie who has a leaky faucet.

Meanwhile, Lilian loves to eat grass and quilt batting and little things she shouldn’t eat. So we don’t have stuffed toys unless they are played with under supervision. Yet, Lilian finds things to ingest that she shouldn’t. I know that because she will get impatient waiting for it to come out the other end, run past the opened back door and onto the sofa. She’s managed to do that more times than I care to recount, so I’ve tried hard to watch her in process, and slam the back door shut before she gets through.

Today, she got through. I had just gotten back from grocery shopping and was putting things away. I said to everyone, “Something stinks!” Then I saw Lilian jump off the sofa, something swung off her hind end, but as she ran out the back door, there was still something hanging out.

Eww kay. I cleaned the sofa, and as I did, I swear, that was the worst smell, though I didn’t actually find the thing that swung off her rear parts. That made me think I didn’t see what I thought I’d seen.

I went outside and helped dislodge the rest of Lilian’s troubles with a paper towel. Grass was the culprit this time. Eegads, she must have eaten it as if it were spaghetti.

When I went back inside, I found the smell was still there, and others of the family noticed it too. You know that look they get on their faces when SOMEBODY ELSE has done such a dispicable thing as to soil THEIR house? That’s the look I was getting. I probably had it on my face, too.

One of my babies pointed with nose under a crate on wheels. I saw something odd under there. It looked like half of a dead mouse with prickly grass blades sticking out of it. I carefully rolled the crate by the thing so the wheels wouldn’t run it over. Good God! It was Lilian’s missing terd!

I cleaned it up and the smell left too.

I did not take pictures of this event being I was in the middle of unloading groceries, and such things, but I do have a couple from a day we all were wooed. It was Lilian’s biggest ever dislodgement. Luigi explains…

Don’t click if you don’t want to see a bigger image of the beaut from Lilian’s bowels.

It’s much easier to keep sulfa drugs away from Miss Lilian than soft, fuzzy desserts that keep us guessing as they evolve.