He sounds like a text book Fanconi case. Please get him tested, and if your vet refuses, get a second opinion.
I agree something is wrong, please look into Fanconi.
http://www.basenji.org/PUBLIC/HealthInfo.htm
Now, maybe because Digital my brindlewonderkid is 13, but I don't think 10 is really that old for most basenjis. Dogs with hard lives or hard starts, tend to age quicker (think puppymill type dogs) and genetics does play a part as to how we all (humans and dogs included) age. But honestly when Digital was 10, he had his very best year of doing agility (judging by qualifying runs anyway). Even at 13, he's pretty active and loves to do some backyard agility. He's retired from competing because his hearing isn't very good (of course, being a basenji it's hard to tell) and some noises really bother/scare him, but he's quite active. Yes, he does sleep more and harder, but he still trots around the yard, enjoys flushing bunnies and playing with the 3 year olds - one basenji and one malinois.
It sounds like your boy flat does not feel good. Please let us know how things progress. Good luck with the cataract surgery. A friend had her dog done and said it was the best $ she'd ever spent.
In the meantime, is there any way you can keep him in an area that is tile, or wood for easy pee clean up?
Put his dog bed in there, and get some puppy pee pads.
Babygate the rest of the house off and let him stay inside.
It would be very hard on him to put him outside…
I totally agree with Sharron - please I beg you, don't put him to live outside just because he pees indoors. He can't help it I'm sure.
To disguise the smell (after clean-up) spray a little white vinegar on the spot.
Ivoss, Quercus - do Fancni affected Basenjis lose their sight? I know diabetes can cause loss of sight.
This boy had elevated blood sugar so is diabetic but that doesn't mean he isn't also Fanconi Affected. Even when treated, a Fanconi basenji will still have the polydypsia and polyuria symptoms.
Welcome and hello, My brother lives in Shawnee and has a 18 mo. old basenji, Hank and we are close to Topeka and have 2, Jonny and Hansel.
Testing for the fanconi is the way to start.
Ivoss - I wasn't actually querying the the fact that a Basenji could develop both but I was asking whether blindness is one of the Fanconi Syndromes? In my reading of Fanconi which I admit is quite lmited - (I've learnt such a lot about it too on this forum) I hadn't seen blindness mentioned. Perhaps you could enlighten me ? I'm particularly interested because a descendant of my dogs has tested possibly affected and I want to find out as much as possible. That is apart from my lifetime quest for more information on the Basenji!!!!
There are many things that can to go wrong with Basenjis that have Fanconi… but I have not heard of any that I can remember that have gone blind.
What concerns me is the excessive peeing and drinking.
I have never seen that go hand-in-hand with diabetes.
I agree with Lisa, he definitely sounds like he has Fanconi Syndrome.
You can get strips yourself and test him for that…
if you need help, check back here.
I have lived with multiple Fanconi Affecteds.
What you have described about Skeeter really sounds like Fanconi Syndrome.
How about a doggie diaper for accidents until the problem is resolved? Any other meds the dog is on? Certain meds can make them drink and pee more. My Katie has accidents when on prednisone or benedryl .
Another thought: are there any slippery floors between the carpet where he pees and the alternative, the back patio doors/back yard? Many blind dogs have a fear of slipping and falling (not unlike my elderly mother:)) They make a no skid, cut to size rug backer. It washes up easily and could provide a tactile path across slippery floors for your dog. Blind dogs do use nose and paw sensation to navigate. One slip on a wood or linoleum floor can create lasting fear, especially for a blind dog.
Best wishes and prayers to you. Keep us updated.
Dawn
Thanks for all the comments and thoughts from the group. It's very easy to see how important these dogs are to all their owners and how loved they are! The almost eleven years we?ve had Skeeter and Heidi has been mostly rewarding and even as they age things change and issues do come up, we would never falter in our responsibility of giving them the best we can for their whole lives. I remember when we decided to get a dog back in 2000, we had no idea what type or breed of dog to get. I just got on the internet and went to Dogs.com and just clicked through the pictures of all breeds. Ha, when the picture popped-up of a Basenji, I was instantly impressed. I knew absolutely nothing about them, but something about the looks, the tail, the ears, heck I dunno, I was just very impressed. So, I started reading and it was a little strange seeing all the references and warnings about owning a Basenji and trying to explain the good and the bad and making sure we knew we were sure, etc. It almost seemed like we were being warned and to really be aware of the issues, before deciding. I couldn?t imagine what could be so bad . . . but eventually I found out.
I did a little more research and found a breeder down in Warrensburg, Missouri, about an hour's drive from Kansas City. And again I was told by the breeder to read up about Basenji?s and make sure I knew what I was doing. So, my wife Dana and I drove down to take a look. Linda Ehlers was the breeder and she had a few Basenji?s that were just weeks old for us to look at. Out of a group of 4 or 5 we instantly saw one that was a chestnut red female and had a very nice pattern on her coat. She came right up to us and we knew right away she would be perfect. So, Linda explained how the father of these new pups came from Denmark (getting in some new blood) and the mother dog was hers. We met the mother and made arrangements to come back the next week to pick up our new pup. That gave us a week to pick a name and get supplies a crate and whatever we needed. So, we came back the next week, paid the agreed amount (gulp) and got some initial verbal training on what to expect. Linda gave us some pictures she had from the birth and early days and she explained we would get her papers after we had her spayed. We were instructed to get it done before the first time the dog goes into heat. She had some real fancy name on her papers, but I had picked the name Heidi and my wife liked it too. So, off we went with our newest family member, Heidi.
We have a fairly large back yard, but no fence so we were taking Heidi out with a leash a few times a day to go potty. For the first few nights we had Heidi in her crate to sleep. But we could tell she didn?t like it, so that ended rather quickly and she only goes into a crate now, if we?re leaving the house for more than a few hours. Within a few months we got a 6? privacy fence and things got a lot better. She was house broken very quickly and was quite an active girl. We had a patio and to this day Heidi loves to lay in the direct sun light. And if a squirrel or bird dares to land in our back yard she?ll be chasing after them. Her worst trait is chewing on material. We have a collection of sheets, blankets, underwear, socks and more than I can think of, she has chewed through over the years. I get upset for not keeping most of it out of her reach, but I know she'll never grow out of it, at this point. We were BRAT volunteers for a while and during a transport we ran into Skeeter and added him to our Family. We knew having a companion for Heidi would be good and he was her same age at that time 1.5 years old. Skeeter has the same coloring as Heidi but is much more laid back. Heidi is definitely the Alpha dog in this family! They've gotten along very well over the years and have never had a serious fight. After spending over 10 years with these guys, you really learn their idiosyncrasies. Their personalities are just as complex as a human. To this day we have never regretted adding these wonderful animals to our family!
So now you can appreciate how sad we are to see Skeeter going blind from Diabetes. We are going to do our best to get his Cataracts removed as soon as we can financially deal with it. My wife did say Skeeter was checked for Fanconi when we first took him to the Vets with Diabetes. At that time, it was negative, but I will certainly have him checked again as soon as I can. One comment said, drinking a lot of water is not a trait of Diabetes, but that is incorrect. I am a type II Diabetic myself and when you have a high blood sugar reading you do get very thirsty and my Vet agrees to that as well. As far as going potty in the house, we've noticed that even after going outside he will at times go potty inside within a few minutes, strange? In the past he would be prancing all around to let us know when he needed to go out and hold it until we let him out. Now, he seems to not even care? It's one thing to not want to navigate his way out, but why go again inside, after just being outside? Heidi doesn't seem to realize the situation and since Skeeter has always been laid back, nothing seems different to her.
Thanks again for all the feedback and support. I'll post any changes in the future, right here . . .
Jerry and Dana in KC
Has he been checked for a UTI? When they are spilling sugar in their urine there is a much higher likelihood of them developing UTIs. Alot of inappropriate peeing in housebroken adults is from UTIs.
Starting just yesterday and continuing today, Skeeter has shut-down. What I mean by that is he is not eating solid foods and just drinking water when it?s available. So, I give him a drink of water, he gobbles it up and then usually a short time later he will throw-up what looks like bile. I guess that's all he has to kick-out is his drinks of water. And he doesn't want to go out or even move. So, there is obviously something more happening now.
I will take him back to the Vet tomorrow and ask him to check for everything. I have written down all the suggestions from this thread and I'll see what the Vet thinks. Gosh, I certainly wouldn't want him to die, hang in there Skeeter. I'll get you to the Vet first thing in the morning . . .
Jerry and Dana in KC
Oh, hugs..this sure doesn't sound good.
Jerry and Dana..I am so sorry to hear about Skeeter doing even worse today..Y'all are in our thoughts. I hope the vet knows what it is and has a treatment for it..
Please keep us posted.
Prayers to you and good thoughts to Skeeter. Best of luck.
So sad to read about Skeeter today.
But I did want to tell you that we're related by dog. All of my pups came through Linda. She has wonderful temperments on her pups!
My prayers and healing thoughts to Skeeter and you.
Our Vet is very caring and he said that it appeared Skeeter's pancreas had shut down completely. His glucose level had gone to over 400, even with his normal, twice daily shots of insulin. We even had to carry him in. So, we were instructed to leave him at the Vets for the day and they would get his blood sugar down through the day and he was fed intravenously, since he made no effort to eat.
The Vet called in the afternoon and explained that they did get it down some, but he felt that continuing the treatment even through the night was necessary. So, we were recommended an all-night animal hospital about 20 miles away, so we took him over there. They also seemed very caring and went over his ongoing treatment with us after being faxed everything from the Vet. We had to pick Skeeter up by 8:00 the next morning since this is only a night clinic. We brought him back to our Vet for another all day round of treatments and by the end of the second day the Vet felt he had made real progress. His blood sugar was close to normal, but he still would not eat on his own and was constantly shaking. He said we should take him back to the all night hospital again, so we did. Just as information, the two nights at the all night hospital cost over $800 and the Vet is running close to $1200, so far. We weren't prepared for the expense, but of course we never gave it a second thought. Getting Skeeter back to health is our only concern.
So, we went back to pick-up Skeeter this morning to bring him back to our Vet and the people at the hospital said something happened overnight and Skeeter took a serious turn for the worse. He was having Liver and Kidney problems now as blood tests through the night showed them and he was just lying in his bed not moving. So, they carried him out to our van and we drove back to our Vet. He wasn't in yet, but we got Skeeter in there and he just looked up at us with his sad eyes and was shaking. My wife Dana was crying and it was sad, but we went home to wait for the call. The Vet called shortly after we got home and he didn't waste any time getting to the point that Skeeter had reached a point that he was suffering and no further treatment would return him to any sort of normal life. We told him we would come right back to finalize whatever was best.
We went back and brought Heidi with us, since she hadn't seen Skeeter for a few days. The Vet said it's not an easy decision, but Skeeter had so many issues that it would be best to just say goodbye. I had always thought I could never do that, but the Vet was explaining the current condition of Skeeter and he was suffering. We asked the Vet if we could be alone with him for a while and we went into one of the exam rooms and brought Heidi in with us. When Skeeter saw Heidi, he even stood up, but just couldn't keep himself up and fell back down. She went over to him and sniffed him a bit, they were both whining. But, then she seemed to sense something was wrong and got back by us. We were in with him for about 30 minutes and it was so sad to see him trembling. So, we said our final goodbyes, apologized to Skeeter, wondering if there was anything we could have done differently and told the Vet to go ahead. After giving Skeeter the final shot he closed his eyes in about a minute . . . Thanks to all the Forum participants and I know you know how we feel right now.
Oh, one other thing . . . Skeeter's registered name was "Caesar Augustus" and he was born on July 12th 2000.
Jerry and Dana and Heidi in KC
