Sirius has, umm, issues with his bum. There's really no way to describe it without sounding juvenile or corny, but he has infected anal glands and a rectal tumor, which is likely the cause of his infected anal glands.
I've had him to the new vet a couple of times for lab studies and a general checkup, where she discovered the infected gland issue. We had no idea this was going on, since he gave no indication other than an occasional whiff of that signature anal gland smell, which is fishy, musky, and I don't know what else, but gross. All of our dogs have had that smell from time to time, and they go out and poop and that's the end of it. Well, his problem was pretty severe, and it took 14 days of two separate antibiotics to battle it. Return for follow-up and now that the infection has cleared the vet found the very bloody and vascular tumor, which she showed me (thank you very much for that, Dr. B, I can't unsee things, now can I?). Actually, being a medical person I wanted to see it so I could get an idea of what he has going on, and it is maybe the size of a walnut and is quite bloody, and seems to be made up of blood vessels, or at least the surface is.
I hope this is a benign mass or polyp, not terribly uncommon, but it is causing problems where it is and interfering with proper pooping, thus contributing to inadequate natural anal gland expression.
So far I'm about $500 in with the vet from the initial visit and the follow-up visit, and the surgery will run us $1400 or so. This is not good, because I don't have the money. We had to spend $3000 on a rebuilt transmission for the Ford Focus, which is a car we rely on heavily for R's work and for an alternative to the Ford Expedition, which is, of course, a gas guzzler. So, we're tapped out money-wise but we really do need to get this surgery done for the poor boy somehow.
Time to look around for something to sell, I guess (Not the kids! Shame on you!) and see how we can swing it.
In a related story, Sirius' evaluation for kidney problems continues. The vet is convinced there is some sort of kidney damage, as evidenced by his extremely low specific gravity in the urine, even the first urine of the morning. She sent out his urine sample to some lab for more specific protein testing that she can't do, and maybe we'll find something. I'd certainly like to nip a problem in the bud, or at least mitigate further kidney damage with diet or something, since we don't want things to progress without us knowing about it, like they did with Major. Two dogs with kidney issues is very suspicious, and we just don't know what the association could be.
This is a reminder to anyone considering a pet for the first time: they are expensive, and it is your responsibility to take care of them, just like human children. Big dogs like we have are even more expensive, since they eat more food, wear out giant dog beds quickly, their medications cost more, anesthesia for surgery costs more per pound, etc.
That's why I must slap myself on the wrist every time I glance lovingly at the Tibetan Mastiff Rescue page on FB where they have puppies needing fostering. I would ADORE that - what a stunning breed - but I just can't swing it these days. Hopefully I'll be able to resist. We have loose plans to reserve a bullmastiff pup that will hopefully be whelped sometime around Thanksgiving, but we're waiting to see if the breeding is successful.
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