u/aliceswndrland

14.5 year old neutered pit, 50lbs. We're in the midwest. I have had him since he was 9 months. He has some messed up back legs from an injury before I adopted him. His gimpy back legs have never slowed him down though. He got lyme disease when he was 12 but it wasn't discovered until almost a year later. I chalked his symptoms up to his aging and his injury finally carching up to him. He was cleared with antibiotics.

At 13 years old, we put him on Carprofen. After 2 months his liver enzymes were too high to continue and we switched to Duralactin. He was on this for around 6 months, I can't remember exactly how long. When I got my tax return I wanted to do the best I could for him and decided to do Librela injections, $100/month.

The first month was fantastic, he was like a new dog. Things started slowing down a week before his 2nd shot. I thought it was like a cortisone shot, that closer you got to the next one, the worse the symptoms got. Things did not improve with his second Librela injection. He falls a LOT now. Way more than ever before. He has tremors, his legs will randomly shake. He has stopped eating his food unless there is something extremely high value in it (bone broth, meat, peanut butter). He drinks excessively and has started leaking urine.

$50 for a urine test came back inconclusive, urine was too diluted. $257 for a senior blood panel and sterile urine culture. Results came back Hypercalcemia (which can cause excessive drinking and incontinence) and "very mild ALP liver elevation which is most likely aging change".

Now the vet wants to do a Hypercalcemia panel for another $285 to find the cause. None of the causes of Hypercalcemia seem to be mild (cancer, primary hyperparathyroidism, kidney failure, or Addison's disease). It will be around $350 to put him down. As cold as this sounds, my funds are not unlimited. I love him so much, but I can't afford to run this test AND having to put him down.

Is this essential/urgent? Can I keep giving him more water to flush out excess calcium? Do I give it another month off of Liberla, maybe the injections are causing this? Keeping his age in mind, what is fair for him? If things seem promising, I might be able to pay with care credit. Please help, and please be kind I'm trying to do the best I can for my boy. Thanks in advance

Unless it's a Mango Strawberry, the answer is probably "yeah, I forgot"