Monday Monday

 I tried to wake Lightning up to do a photoshoot with me yesterday, but he just wanted to sleep.

Now do you see why I want to keep sleeping, Timber?

What's that all about, Lightning?  What happened to your tummy fur?

Let's let Mom do the explaining.

Mom here.  So we haven't been posting or commenting much for a while.  The past month has been a bit overwhelming for a variety of reasons.  Today we will share Lightning's story, and later we have more to share - but one thing at a time.

So for about six weeks, there has been a nighttime urinating problem at our house.  Initially I was blaming poor Timber because he always seems to be very good at playing the role of the guilty one; he would hang his head and hide in a corner when I asked who had done that on the floor.  He was tested for a UTI at the end of April.  The test was negative other than a few white blood cells in the urine. He had a round of antibiotics as a precaution.  The problem continued and we blamed it on a behavior issue.  With everything else that was going on, the issue sort of took a backseat. Then a couple of weeks ago, the small accidents grew literally overnight into a major flooding of the kitchen.  After two nights of massive puddles, I separated the boys at night as I was becoming less and less certain that Timber was responsible.  Well, I finally determined who was peeing.  Lo and behold, poor Timber was totally innocent.  It was Lightning.  The urine had no color, just like clear water.  So we were off to the vet.  Blood work was done and a urinalysis.  The blood work was just OK with some elevated numbers in his kidney and liver values.  The bigger concern was that the specific gravity level for his urine was extremely low, very close to zero.  Lightning has gained some weight over the past few months, his coat has thinned a bit, his activity level is low, he has that eye problem - all pointing to Cushing's disease.  About a week ago he had a low dose dexamethasone suppression test, an 8 hour test to determine how his body would deal with injected cortisol.  It is a standard test for Cushing's disease.  We were all fully expecting a positive result based on the vet's thoughts.  However, the vet called and said Lightning threw him a curve ball - no evidence whatsoever of Cushing's.  So then the conversation turned to other possible causes.  Kidney infection, kidney structural issues, liver problems, diabetes insipidus, and the evil C, etc.  Saturday he had an ultrasound done and a urine culture. Results won't be in until the end of this week.  But the vet's initial interpretation of what he saw on the ultrasound (a lot of "definition" in the kidneys' area) points to chronic kidney failure.  Unfortunately kidney failure often doesn't show up until a lot of damage has already been done, usually when there is only about 25% kidney function left.  The ultrasound and urine culture have been sent out to a radiologist and a lab to get more definitive answers.  We won't hear until at least the end of the week, maybe not until next week.  There is little hope that it is simply a kidney infection.  We also withheld water overnight Friday to see if he was concentrating his urine at all - we got a first of the morning sample.  Unfortunately that sample showed very little concentration.  That was not a good sign either.  We will do that 3-4 more times over the next two weeks to see if there is any change.  Poor Lightning has been through so much over the past two years - he deserves better.  We will wait for the report and then do all that we can for Lightning.  The flooding continues, and we did try diapering him - he soaks through everything, and then I have to deal with bathing him. But it's all good, mopping and cleaning the floor every morning is a small thing to ask for me to do - he just can't help the peeing.

Sorry for the downer post.  We can use all the POTP you can send to Lightning.  My gentle giant and I thank you very much.  We will be back in a bit with more news.

Woos, Lightning, Timber, and Mom