[Dailydrool] Sweet (Peeing) Sarah

[Kay, Nancy K *HS]

We took Sarah to the vet yesterday to see what could be going on that's making her drink excessively and pee excessively.  It's a chicken-and-egg thing, she could be peeing too much which makes her really thirsty, or she could be really thirsty and that makes her pee too much.  She has started having accidents in the house, and has to go out once or twice overnight.

Yesterday, the vet did a urinalysis, and didn't find anything unusual.  However, her urine was extremely diluted, which goes along with the vast quantities of water she drinks.

They then did some blood work, and we got the results just a little while ago.  Again, there was not much that showed up.  Her kidneys are fine, her liver is fine, her blood glucose level is fine (no diabetes), her red and white blood cell counts are fine.  The only thing that's off is that her calcium level is elevated (normal is 8.9 to 11.4, and Sarah's is 12.1).  So she has "hypercalcemia".  The vet said the causes can be (in this order) cancers (particularly of the anal glands or lymph system), Addisons Disease (an adrenal gland insufficiency, the opposite of Cushings), or a parathyroid gland problem (this is rare).

So, now we're left with wondering what to do next.  Sarah will be 12 years old in a few weeks, she's terrified of going to the vet, and she seems to feel fine otherwise.  We have already decided if there's something "major" wrong with her, that we will not put her through a long-term, tough treatment (no surgery, no chemo, no weekly vet visits...)  The vet suggested bringing Sarah back for a more thorough palpation of her anal glands and her lymph nodes, and then maybe some xrays depending on what they find / don't find.

We'll be considering the options over the weekend, so if any of you has hypercalcemia stories to share, please post! :)

Nancy, owned by Sweet (Peeing) Sarah, and Frank the Tank