Tibetan Terrier Drinking Heavily With Painful Tail Bumps and High Calcium
Reader Question
Three days ago we went to the vet to check on my Tibetan terrier health problems: he is urinating a lot, thirsty and drinks like crazy, sleeps a lot, has skin irritations and recently developed a bunch of inflamed bumps on almost every vertebrae of his tail. He cries a lot, complaining, sleeps on my bed only and pies inside, which he didn't do before. The vet did blood sample on him, plus a test of the bump cells. It showed an infection. Blood test showed increased calcium accumulation. There is
no cancerous cells shown there. I believe it looks like he has an adrenalin gland disease. What should I do if his pain medicine and antibiotics do no obvious relief to his sufferance?
no cancerous cells shown there. I believe it looks like he has an adrenalin gland disease. What should I do if his pain medicine and antibiotics do no obvious relief to his sufferance?
Answer from Our Team
Heavy drinking and urination with high blood calcium is important to follow up. High calcium can damage the kidneys and is caused by certain cancers (especially lymphoma and anal sac cancer), parathyroid disease, kidney disease, Addison's disease, vitamin D poisoning or some fungal infections. Cushing's can also cause heavy thirst and skin infections.
Ask your vet to recheck the calcium (ideally ionized calcium) and to look for its cause, and to culture the tail infection, including for fungi, if antibiotics aren't helping. Tell them how painful he is so pain relief can be adjusted.
See Cushing's disease in dogs.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.
