Mr. Henry - May 5, 2001 - January 18, 2007

About a week and a half ago, Henry started acting odd (odder then usual). Walking funny, tilting his head to one side and running into things. I took him to my vet - Monroe Veterinary Clinic on S. Monroe St., and the vet checked him out. He couldn't find anything wrong with him, so he did a blood test. The blood test showed up fine, but Henry proceeded to get worse. Eventually I had to carry him around. My vet decided to do another blood test (for whatever reason), again, it came up good. He suggested a specialist, but wasn't too helpful in explaining to me what was going on.
I decided to get a second opinion and took him to River Raisin Vet., on N. Monroe St. I was really impressed with their staff. They immediately hooked Henry up on an I.V., gave him steroids, covered him with blankets and surrounded him with warm water bags to bring his temperature back up.
The vet there explained to me that it could possibly be addison disease because of the low (or high - forget now), potassium level in his blood. She said she's seen dogs come in looking like how Henry did, and come right out of it with proper treatment.
She also said, he could have a major neurological issue. I think she was leaning toward this, because of his history with epilepsy. A possible brain tumor.

We agreed, that if by the end of the day, he wasn't showing major signs of improvement, that I would have to A) make a decision to transfer him to a neurological doctor, and prepare myself for thousands of dollars in medical bills - that may not be successful, or B) have him euthanized.

As of the afternoon, Henry hadn't really improved. His breathing was still erratic and he was still barely able to lift his head.

Without tests upon tests, we really won't know why this all happened, but I trust the vet, as she leaned toward the neurological side that caused his health to deplete so quickly.

Anyhow, I wanted to record this event, while it was still fresh in my mind - and, for those of you who got the chance to hang out with the crazy dude, to let you know ahead of time why he's not knocking you over when you walk through my front door.

But if you do come by, the rule to keep your hands above your waste remains in effect - Daisy still loves to chomp fingers. :)