February 2005:
I run a small dog rescue and a commercial dog breeder asked me if I would take Penny, a fivee-year-old Westie female in his kennel because her health was deteriorating for unknown reasons. Her hair was falling out and she was losing weight. I took her to my vet who gave her a thorough exam and did blood work, all of which was inconclusive. He suspected food allergies and put her on a special diet, Science Diet Z/D ($52 for 18 lbs!).
Another possible cause for her condition could have been uterine infection or disease, so the next step was to spay her. He didn’t see anything unusual about her uterus or ovaries, so he did a liver biopsy when he spayed her. While waiting on the results, she starting looking better, and while the results indicated that she was producing excessive steroids that could be due to diseased adrenal glands, it is possible that a tumor in her ovaries or uterus could have been what was causing the excessive hormones.
Penny’s breeder/owner told me that Penny had become increasingly agitated about being confined and that he had to take extra precautions to prevent her from escaping her whelping quarters and roaming the neighborhood. My vet said that history supported his theory that a tumor in her reproductive tract was producing excessive testosterone, so we will wait two weeks to see is her condition improves. If it does, then the problem was probably in her reproductive tract. If not, the problem is in her adrenal glands and she’ll have to start treatment for that. As a precaution, we will also keep her on the special diet for now as she could also have food allergies as well.
Needless to say, the vet bills were mounting!! I’m an independent rescuer whose only source of income for the rescue is adoption fees, and Penny’s vet bills would far exceed her adoption fee, so I turned to WestieMed for assistance and they came to the rescue, covering her vet bills.
Pat Kellim
Small K9 Rescue Paragould (NE) Arkansas