Diagnosis: Behavioral or Medical?

For about the last two months, Ramona has continued to get sick to her stomach almost on a daily basis.  After much patience and advice (and some meds) from our WONDERFUL vet, Dr. Hess, we have tried almost everything to solve her problem.  It has now come down to running blood tests and potentially an ultra sound!  I now understand how people will go above and beyond for their pet- she is part of the family and when she doesn't feel well, we feel for her.

It all started in the beginning of April, Ramona started attacking our houseplant and when we took her out she was eating grass like she hadn't eaten anything in a year.  We basically had to carry her back in the apartment.  She was completely restless- so in turn, we were too.  It resulted in me spooning her all night and rubbing her belly.  The next day I took her to the vet where she got a shot and some meds.  Nothing showed up on her stool sample (she's very good at giving those!) so there was no cause for concern... just that she probably ate something that upset her stomach.

Since then we have tried:

• special diet dog food with yogurt
• rice and boiled chicken
• upped our training so she wouldn't eat off the ground outside
• Pepcid AC every night

It even got to the point where Josh thought she might be faking because she knew she would get to sleep in our bed!  The doc brushed that off pretty quickly, but she is a master of manipulation... who can say no to her adorable face?!   Behavior does have a lot to do with it because the more we stimulate her, the less she is likely to get into trouble... and trouble for a Beagle means eating anything that can be swallowed (for Ramona it's crawfish and crab shells and claws, chicken bones, Zest soap, already chewed gum- one of her favorites, bugs, and the list goes on and on).

Yesterday she went for a blood test and the results showed a high level in Potassium and low level in Sodium.  This could be a sign of Addison's Disease, which is a deficiency of a hormone in the adrenal glands.  So she is off for yet more tests at the end of the month to officially check for the disease.   If she does test positive, it is easily treatable with either a daily pill or monthly injection and she will live a long and healthy life! 

More to come...