Interstitial cystitis

FuzzyG · Post by **FuzzyG** » Sun May 08, 2005 2:23 am

Hi, we have a big boy who is nearly 10 now but for the last 7 years he has been passing blood with his urine - he has had numerous investigations and the vets think it is interstitail cystitis and have tried various treatments including amytriptiline and suggested castration (which we have resisted). For the last 18 months I have taken him off all medication and it has not made any difference (except in my pocket) - there are no signs and if you didn't see the blood you would not know there was anything wrong with him at all. He also suffers allergies but this does not appear to be contected.

Has anyone ever come across this problem and any suggestions greatly received.

Post by **Zhuyos mom** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:24 am

Sorry no one has been able to offer you advice on your boy's health problem. I just wanted to know how he is doing. Perhaps you should get him fixed. He's ten and if you aren't breeding him, it might help alleviate some of the problems. Just make sure the vet knows the proper kind and amount of anesthesia to administer to a chow. Please keep us posted.

Has your vet done a senior blood panel? Also, has he ruled out any kidney problems.

Take care,

FuzzyG · Post by **FuzzyG** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:52 am

Thanks for getting back to us - no change but he is in good health other than this and it really does not seem to bother him at all. We just keep an eye on his iron levels and keep feeding him liver every so often to keep it up. He attended the Veterinary School for almost 4 years and they have tried many things including checking his kidneys but to no avail. This is when the took biopsy from the bladder and the closest diagnosis they got was interstitial cystitis. Since then they have treated him as a big cat or a human as they both have recorded cases of this condition but few dogs. None of the treatment seems to make any difference. Other thing we need to watch for is crystals in the urine which are generally cleared by changing his diet to Hills CD for a few weeks.

The vet did suggest getting him done but my husband wasn't keen!

How many chows do you have? We only have the one at the moment - Fuzzy. He's great natured and all the kids just love him - he's a big softy and plays with our 2 year old. When he's had enough he just gets up and goes off to a quiet corner or sits at the door to get out.

Thanks for your interst

Gally Gal & Fuzzy Boy

Post by **Zhuyos mom** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:42 am

FuzzyG wrote:.....How many chows do you have?

Hi Gally Gal!

Currently we have 3 living chows. Zhuyo is the cream one in the picture. He's 13.5. Pooh Bear is the cinnamon one. She is possibly 9. I adopted her from the humane society last year (6/6/04). And LaoTzu is 10. He's a cinnamon boy. All together our family has lived with 7 chows. Our two originals were brother and sister. My brother brought them home around 1984. They both lived long and well. Then January 1992 my Zhu and his twin brother, Confuscious (who has passed); then fall of 1993 Lao and his triplet brother, Kubla (who passed last year); finally my little girl, Miss Pooh Bear.

.....The vet did suggest getting him done but my husband wasn't keen!

Wouldn't it be something if his problems were alleviated if he was fixed? I mean if a change in food helped.....Now if you don't have issues with getting your boy fixed, then perhaps you should have a talk with you husband again and explain that he's not the one going through the procedure and to not emotionalize the process. It's a health concern involving "family". At the former chowchow.org site, many of us posters have had our share of husbands who aren't keen about neutering. As mentioned previously, just always remember that if your boy does undergo the procedure that the vet knows that chows don't need as much anesthesia as other dogs - especially since he's a senior.

You should post a picture of your fellow! Not too many distinguised senior boys on the site!

Please join in on the other topics. Raising a 10 year old chow, I'm sure you have wonderful stories to tell and amazing advice to offer!

Take care,

Judy Fox · Post by **Judy Fox** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 6:42 am

Poor Boy - we have two girls Milly and Mabel. We live 'near you' as Lou from San Francisco says!

- down in Cheshire!

Our Mabel sometimes has blood in her urine - this hasn't happened for ages now, touch wood, but when it did happen it bothered her a little in that she needed to go and spend a penny often.

I would think getting neutered might help.

Good luck and as Lou says, let us know more about your boy.