What happened to my Shih Tzu

[Loumack]

This morning I let my little dog outside to do her business like I have a thousand times before.  She always goes about halfway down the driveway and then veers off into the pasture down below our house.  This morning she went halfway down the driveway, turned and looked at me, and then proceeded to keep going.  I started calling her to come back, she just kept going.  Pretty soon she's at the road and she never stopped.  I got in my car and started after her.  I stopped and got out of the car twice to get her, whenever I approached her she would take off running.  She acted like and looked like she was scared to death of me.  She ended up at the neighbors house a ways up the road.  Their property is protected by gates so I couldn't follow her.  She kept going until she got up to their house and then disappeared behind a barn.  I haven't seen her since.  We have a lot of pasture land where I live and a lot of coyotes.  I fear she will not live through the night.

I am crushed by the way she acted towards me.  I have never mistreated her or abused her in any way.  My daughter thinks she ran off to die.  I recently had her to the vet for a growth on her eyelid.  He told me it was a tumor and needed to be removed.  We scheduled surgery but her pre-op bloodwork came back showing a high calcium level.  He told me that two things cause that, either cancer or kidney failure.  He cancelled the surgery and I was to take her back the end of February to repeat her bloodwork.  Please tell me what you think might have happened to her.  Did she go mental on me or did she sense something else.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

This is a very tough question!  Does your vet have any idea what kind of cancer she may have?  If her kidney enzymes (Bun and Cr) are not elevated, than a slight elevation in calcium is unlikely due to kidney disease, so the more likely cause is cancer.  

If the cancer is something that may be malignant it could have metastasized to her brain and could cause aberrant behavior.  Or, dogs and cats do occasionally wander off to die.  They have an innate sense and know when it is time.  Or, your dog may simple have developed cognitive dysfunction as a coincidental finding.  A course of Elderpryl or Anipryl helps with cognitive dysfunction.

There is another cause of high calcium that your vet did not mention; it is a hyperparathyroid problem evolving from a pituitary tumor or pituitary disease.  These tumors are often benign, but since the pituitary is located in the brain it can still cause damage, and mental aberration.

I might start with the Anipryl or Elderpryl since there are very few side effects, and I would walk her on a leash if possible from now on.

[arachnaphob]

It's great your dog is back.  I will be interested in the Drs answer. My little girl gets the oddest behaviours out of the blue. Sometimes I think she must dream something and then when she wakes up, she thinks it's real.
at the moment, she seems to think that if she hops out of her basket, she's going to be attacked or something. She will sit in the basket and whine and try to get out but, something stops her. Also, she doesn't like going past the side board in the lounge room, she runs past looking at the stereo and then, when she's passed by she will stop and look at the stereo just to make sure it isn't following her.  She also won't go over a certain point on the tiles on the laundry floor. The ironing board is a real problem, she goes outside, when I do the ironing.  She has taken a sudden dislike of my cats water bowl which I keep by the laundry door and takes a big detour to avoid it, and she acts really frightened of the broom and runs out of the house.

This is getting worse as she's getting older.

She's very weird, but very loving and I wouldn't be without her for anything.

[Loumack]

Regarding "What Happened to My Shih Tzu"

My little dog is now safely home.  I cannot believe she survived the night.  She was covered in huge burrs embedded in her long hair.  A man found her on the railroad tracks probably a good 5 miles from home.  He picked her up and took her home and tried to make her more comfortable by getting most of the burrs off of her.  He fed and watered her and then called my daughter who had sent out a neighborhood email for help finding her.  

When she got home she ate and dranked a lot of water.  She appears to be completely exhausted and isn't walking very well but she's an elderly dog so I'm sure her journey took a toll on her physically.

I'm so glad to have her back but I can't help but wonder if she will do this again.