All About Stewart Edward

STEWART EDWARD ANDERSON

(RESCUED ON JANUARY 15, 1999)

(BORN APPROXIMATELY 1996

WENT TO THE BRIDGE ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Originally written to inform people of Stewart's background and why he appears to be pregnant but is not (especially since he is a male)

          Although not from a rescue organization, Stewart is a rescue dog.  On January 15, 1999, a dirty, unnamed, hungry but happy standard red headed dachshund boy came literally trotting into my parent’s floor covering store in La Mirada, California. 

One telephone call from my Dad to my Mom sealed the big boy’s fate with our family almost immediately.  Upon coming home from school, I found this big guy happily running and frolicking in our backyard, and I almost immediately fell in love with him.  Within an hour of being with him, my brother and I had bathed him, fed him and watched him happily play with Schnitzel and Heidi as well as roll on the grass and run around the yard.  Once he tired himself out he would come find me and sit next to me so he could nap.  Despite having his very own fluffy bed for him to sleep with he would either lay at my feet, next to me or on my lap. 

Even though I was falling in love with him, he was too loveable and cuddly to be just a stray and uncared for.  I figured some family out there was missing him and I felt I owed it to the little guy to find them if they were out there.  At this point it would have been really easy to just keep him, because I was in love with him.  But I knew that if one of my dogs had somehow lost her collar and gotten out I would want people to try to find us. 

I went and purchased several poster boards and made up signs.  We placed them on every other corner and between for up to two miles all the way around the store.   I contacted two different shelters in different counties (just in case) as well as scouring pet store bulletin boards and newspapers.  I placed three ads in three different newspapers with three different contact numbers.  I also contacted the police department because the same day the big boy showed up, there was a major car accident on the corner and my mom and I were afraid that he had been in the accident, especially since we started noticing he was limping from his back leg when he would often run.  Some days he would be fine others, he was running on three legs and it would keep him from running at all. 

After a few day of life with him, we all decided to give him a name, simply because we were tired of yelling “hey” every time we wanted to call him.  As a joke nickname we began calling him Stewart after Mad TV’s character Stuart and Edward after my brother Robby’s middle name.  Around the time we named him, we took him to our vet’s office.  He scanned him to for a microchip, it was unsuccessful.  Upon finding no chip, we had him examined by the doctor who kindly performed the examination for free for us.  Upon our direction he x-rayed his legs for us at a discounted rate, so we could figure out if it was seriously broken or sprained and if we needed to do something for him.  Upon review our vet found that Stewart Edward had a deformed leg.  Which was explained two ways:  one, he was born with the deformity or two, he was hit by or a car or had an accident and it never healed properly.  Either way, he was going to have issues with his legs for the rest of his life with arthritis etc, but otherwise Stewart was a healthy happy little approximately three year old. 

After a few days some employees of my dad’s started mentioning things that they saw the same day Stewart showed up, like the fact their was a stranger hanging around the store and the corner and the person was looking around nervously.  In hope we kept the signs up believing this person was looking for Stewart.  After over two more weeks, we all made the decision that Stewart was staying (even though it was decided along time before).  Both my family and I were very much attached to him and we could not bare the thought of him going away.  We felt that we had done everything within the three weeks of caring for him to find his former owners. 

Once we decided to keep him the vet was notified his vaccines were given and any other treatments that needed to be given to keep him healthy.  We went out and bought him a sweater, new collar, license, tags, harness, leash and let him pick out his own treats at the pet store.  He was already sleeping with me at night and after we had done everything for him, all fell into place and Stewart fell comfortably into his life with us.  Our vet came up with a theory that Stewart Edward had actually been released by the stranger hanging around our store, and that the many pictures that adorned my dad’s office wall was probably all the convincing the person needed to know that we were a good home. 

Approximately seven years ago, after coming home from work I was relaxing and reading a book with Stewart lying next to me when he began having a massive seizure, which I didn’t know at the time.  I called my mom and dad and after he had over three seizures and showed no signs of stopping we took him to the emergency room.  The next few days were very intense as he was having very violent clustered seizures and they were bad enough that we were informed by our vet that he was unsure of his prognosis since none of the medicines were working for him, at that point we were unsure if he would survive.  He would lose his bowels and bladder and a few times they were afraid he would stop breathing. 

He was diagnosed with cluster epilepsy* secondary we found to Cushing's.  After several weeks of Stewart in and out of the doctor’s office and spending weeks a time at the emergency room at night for constant supervision they finally found a combination of medicines that worked for him. He went from having seizures every other day, to every other week, to every six weeks, to every now and then.  Occasionally he would have a seizure here and there and little tics, but often they would not be bad.  Soon, he went almost three years without having a seizure.  His most recent one was February 9, 2007.  Although it was a bad one, and it affected him the whole night, he went the next day with no problems.   

On top of Stewart’s epilepsy his belly began growing, he was starving, ravishing his food and driving several large bowls of water every few hours and then urinated constantly.  His belly was very swollen and distended and he was examined for tumors or abscesses.  He soon began diagnosing Cushing’s syndrome**, which was very ironic because not only did Heidi have Cushing’s, but they began diagnosing me with Cushing’s syndrome as well and I was exhibiting the same symptoms as Stewart and Heidi.  I began to have a new kind of empathy for animals at this point, because if we; both my dogs and I had the same syndrome, and they felt anything like I felt; then I truly felt sorry for them, because I personally felt horrible.  Although my syndrome was caused by medication, Stewart’s was due to a pituitary gland which caused the over active cortisone production and he had to be placed on medication to help him.   Stewart had good days and bad days and was continuously going to the vet every month or two for checkups.  He was doing very well up until about a year ago, when his blood tests started coming back irregular.  Stewart was found to have thyroid issues, but was placed on medication and that helped him.  Soon Stewart became very lethargic and weak and was just not the same dog even with the thyroid meds.  After more diagnostic tests it was found that Stewart had not only thyroid and epilepsy, but now had Addison’s disease which is the opposite of Cushing’s syndrome. We were happy that Cushing’s syndrome was no longer present but sad that he now had to deal with Addison’s.  Thankfully, though, Stewart is able to get a shot of special meds every 21 days and he is the same old dog that he has always been. The vet has given us many years with Stewart, and has done all that he can to help us not only emotionally but financially to help us here and there with all the visits and diagnostic tests. 

A lot of people think that we do too much for our animals and that we spend way too much money on them, but for us it is a child with fur.  We always ask people if they would take their child to the doctor if they were sick or would they let them be sick.  Would you not give your child medicine if your child could get better with the medications?  With some people it puts it in prospective, other people still say it is just a dog. 

But my family and I and any one who is close to us will never use money or sickness as an excuse to keep an animal from living his/her full potential. Stewart is a happy and loving boy.  Although not very healthy sometimes, with medications and treatments, he is able to live a full life and is a happy boy nonetheless.  He runs and does his circles when he is happy and no matter what his tail wags when he walks into a room, to show you he is a happy boy. 

I have always had a special place in my heart because he has a lot of problems that I have myself (thyroid, Cushing’s).  And I believe that my parents and rest of my family feel this as well.  Why would they put a dog to sleep like everyone says we should do, when I have the same problems?  I always tell people who say this about Stewart or any other of our dogs, that if someone is going to put a dog down for something that can be treated with a pill or a shot then I would have been put to sleep 10 years ago.

  We have loved Stewart Edward Anderson many years and plan on loving him for many more years.  Over the years he has gained the nicknames Bubba, Love Bucket, Love Bug, Poobert, and later in life Eeyore, due to his mannerisms the way he walks is so laid back and has always loved to lay out side on the grass and lounge and when he gets comfortable he hangs his head down like Eeyore.  Stewart got most of his nicknames from me.  As I stated before, I am unsure if it is because him and I have a lot of the same medical issues, or if it is just because I fell for him the minute I met him, it was like he was placed on this earth for me (and my family).  Stewart has shown his love and faithfulness to me in several ways over the years. 

Mainly, he doesn’t really want to be with anyone but me, whether on my floor in my bed, he wants to be around me at all times.  On many occasions he would go with me usually once a week at least to work with me at my law office.  He doesn’t really listen to anyone but me, and often ignores my dad and brothers, and pays attention to my mom only during dinner time or when there are treats around.  Occasionally, my mom will get a love kiss or a happy circle or trot around her feet and during the day he will sit in the front room with her for a while but ultimately he always ends up with me, in my bed, laying back to back, and in the morning he likes to roll over and give me kisses and when he gets playful he gives me steals his kisses from me, we often play that game at night before we go to bed, but he does it occasionally in the morning and when comfortable with me at night he will purr like a kitty cat.  

But on four occasions, I believe he has shown his true bond to me when it came to my health and my life.  Please note that everything that happened was naturally and nothing was staged during this time, every act done by Stewart was done by Stewart alone upon his own free will.   

APRIL 1999

In approximately the third week of March 1999, I began having feelings of suffocation, but was dealing with a very bad cold that I had been battling since the beginning of March 1999.  I had a history of blood clots in my lungs prior to this where I had ended up in intensive care for five days and the cardiac ward for two weeks.  That was at the end of May 1998.   Not one day after I started feeling the feeling in my chest which was similar to the feelings I had when I had my first blood clot, did Stewart start with him placing his body across my bed so that he could lay his head on my chest.  He did this every night for almost two and a half weeks.  On April 5, 1999, I was rushed via ambulance to the hospital from my doctor’s office; they immediately started the diagnostics for a blood clot.  After four tests, they found nothing.  The doctor came in and told me that the tests were inconclusive because I was not stable enough to do the proper tests, but he honestly believed there were clots in my lungs again.  I told him I agreed because I felt the same and told him what my dog had been doing for the last two weeks with his head across my chest.  The doctor informed me that there a lot of medical studies out there where dogs and animals have shown that they can predict problems with a person.  Although he did state that the studies were still very inconclusive, with his feelings, my feelings and my new dogs behavior he was more apt to make orders for me to be transported to another hospital and undergo an exploratory test.  I was transported and within 20 minutes of the test being conducted they found the clots and I convalesced at the hospital cardiac ward for another 14 days.  When I got out, nothing else occurred.  Stewart never slept on my chest like that and has not done so since.  I have been clot free in my chest since 1999. 

DECEMBER 29, 1999

Soon after my blood clot problem,  Stewart began laying his head across my tummy.  Within a few months in December of 1999, I had to undergo an emergency total hysterectomy.  I had polycystic ovarian syndrome, and was internally bleeding for several months prior to the surgery which finally started releasing itself from my body but did not do it fast enough and was causing my body to have major infections and was causing me to be unable to eat or drink or hold anything down whatsoever.  Although I did not look it I was malnourished and very sick.  It was a complicated time in my life but it needed to be done.  I was torn up with being a 20 year old woman unable to have children naturally.  But after a long conversation with my parents and friends at the time, I took comfort in the fact that I could adopt a child that needed a home.  Plus I had my dogs in my life so I knew I would be okay for a while.  When I came home from the hysterectomy, I slept on my bed half sitting up like a hospital bed.  Stewart Edward made a point to sleep with his head across my lap every night until I was able to move around without difficulty. Once I fully healed he stopped laying his head across my lap and went back to sleeping back to back with me.  

MARCH 19, 2005

On my out to go to work early in the morning, I had several files and my laptop with me and while I was stepping over my dog fences, my right leg gave out and I fell flat on my butt and within a few minutes my legs went numb.  After a bit, I got up and went to work.  By 11 in the morning, I went to walk down the hall and fell forward.  I was rushed to the hospital and found that my discs had been collapsed and that they were crushing my nerve.  I spent several weeks in the hospital, where most of my days were often cheered up when Chris would call me to give me updates on the rescue fur kids and the ones she had adopted or the ones that she was working with to get them ready for adoption.  Even in the hospital I handed out cards to people and nursing staff who asked about my several pictures that surrounded my room of my little ones. After four weeks I was let out of the hospital and told to learn how to use a wheelchair.  Not accepting this as my life, I found a surgeon who underwent emergency surgery.  When I came home from surgery, I underwent a very long recovery process and Stewart Edward was unable to jump on my bed but would make sure that he would lay on my side of the bed where he could see me if I moved.  If I got up and moved around, he would get up and walk in front of me, almost like clearing a path for me.  When he was finally allowed into my bed, when I would lie on my side, Stewart would cuddle up next to me and let me use his body to help me keep on my side.  He would lay with his head down so that he could lay his head across my back where I had just had surgery, I believe as a protection mechanism so that I would not hurt myself any further. 

Around this time, we found that he was diagnosed with Addison's disease*** and possibly Rocky Mountain Spotted Deer Tick Sydrome.  He is on continuous medication for thyroid, addison's, epilepsy and every 21 days he gets a shot of a cocktail of medications which finds him a very happy and healthy active dog, each and every time defying all the odds, as many dogs with Addison's do not make it.

NOVEMBER 2006

I had to undergo another spine surgery only this time it was an anterior spinal fusion, where they fused my spine through the front going through the same area as my hysterectomy was done.  When I came home, it took a couple of weeks with Stewart always sleeping on the side of my bed.  When I got up he would get up and lead the way, the stronger I got he stopped leading and would began to follow me around.  When he was finally allowed in my bed again, Stewart made sure his head was laid right across my tummy where I was cut from my surgery.   

2007

Sometime in 2007 we found out that on top of all he had a heart murmur, which caused him no miscomfort whatsoever...however, his prognosis, was at the time...60/40...we continued medication and he did well on it...he had few seizures but nothing out of the ordinary.  All meds were still doing their work and we had no issues with them...however...

2008

In the beginning of 2008, we found that his heart murmur was getting worse and he was retaining alot of fluids...he was on lasix off and on, and responded so well after words...that he was a totally different dog.  The doctor gave him a relatively good prognosis, and said we could have anywhere from a year to another five years with him, if he kept responding as he had been.  At this point, the doctor promised us all that he would tell us when it was time to let him go, when no more could be done, we agreed and moved on with our lives. 

In June of 2008, I had the first of three major spinal surgeries in two weeks.  I was hospitalized for several weeks, and ended up with a bad staph infection that i needed to be on IV fluids with when they finally released me from the hospital.  I was uncomfortable and miserable and Stewart knew it, he would lay on "his side of the bed" only down and to the right so that I could move around and be comfortable.  When i was especially uncomfortable, he would sleep on the floor, on the bed next to my bed, where he could get up and walk with me, in case i got up.  When he was in bed, he continued to try to lay his head across my side when he would allow himself to get close enough to me...in an effort to protect my back which was badly damaged.  (I am upset over the fact that I lost over three weeks of time with him...but have to move on i guess.) 

In September of 2008, he was his normal self.  We had to up some medications and change some stuff around here and there, but no problems here, we were all doing well.  He was thriving and had no issues. 

On September 14, 2008, Stewart Edward got up and walked around and then continued to run around and play almost like a puppy again...something that was rare but not unheard of with him.  He usually did it when he felt extra good...later that day, while taking a nap with his brother, he entered into a epileptic seizure which lasted over 4 minutes before he stopped and within a matter of minutes he entered another one, which could only be broken through several shots of medication when we took him to doctor...although this was rare, he had had very bad seizures like this before, and I was convinced he would spend a couple of days in the doctor's office, on meds, like he had done before, and come out and be back to normal, like he always had done before. 

He was placed in the ER and watched throughout the night, but the doctors were not optimistic.  On Monday morning, the 15th of September, after picking him up at the ER doctor and taking him to his regular vet, we had to have the discussion we did not want to have...the doctor said it was time to let him go...to read his memorial please visit the In Memoriam and Coping with the Death of a Pet.

All in all, Stewart is and will always be my baby and my protector all in one.  Although I love all my dogs equally, Stewart definitely holds a special place in my heart for all that he has done and continued to do to be my companion.  His presence in my life made me feel that nothing happens by accident, however he ended up a member of our family whether by accident or someone setting him free to us, does not matter anymore because he belonged with us and we all love him very very much.

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*Epilepsy-for information on canine epilepsy, please email the webmaster.

**Cushing's Syndrome-  Cushing's syndrome is a disease with very distinct clinical signs in your pet. It is also called hyperadrenocorticism. Two small glands, the adrenal glands, that lay just ahead of your dog's kidneys are responsible for this problem. When these glands over-produce the hormones, cortisones, hyperadrenocorticism results. All the symptoms of Cushing's disease are due to this excess of cortisone in the body. Cortisones relax the ligaments of the abdomen and causes enlargement of the liver. This is why dogs with the disease have a potbelly. Cortisones decrease the growth of hair and thin the skin. It increases appetite and thirst, which results in weight gain and excessive drinking and urination. Cortisone decreases muscle mass resulting in limb weakness and debility. The production of connective tissue that stabilizes the joints decreases. Cortisones also regulate the mineral content of the blood.

The adrenal glands are regulated by the pituitary gland situated in the brain. The pituitary produces a hormone, ACTH. ACTH stimulates the adrenal gland to produce cortisones. Occasionally, an ACTH-producing tumor will form in the pituitary gland. This is one form of Cushing's disease. It accounts for 85% of all cases. A second form of the disease occurs when a cortisone-producing tumor forms within the adrenal gland. A third form of the disease is man made. It occurs when a dog receives too much corticosteroid supplementation either in pill form or by injection. Sometimes this is the price of controlling some other serious disease.  (information found on http://www.petpages.com/article/treating_cushings_disease-639.html)

***Addison's Disease (Hypoadrenocorticism)

Addison's disease is also known as hypoadrenocorticism. It is an insufficient production of adrenal hormones by the adrenal gland. Since these hormones are essential for life, this is an extremely serious disease and it must be treated as such.

Adrenal insufficiency can be primary or secondary. Primary adrenocorticism affects salt/potassium balance in the body and glucorticoid as well. Secondary adrenocorticism usually only affects the glucocorticoids. It is not known why primary adrenocorticism occurs but it may be an immune mediated process. Secondary adrenocorticism probably occurs most often when prednisone or other cortisone being administered for medical reasons are suddenly withdrawn. It can occur as a result of pituitary cancer or some other process that interferes with production of hormones that stimulate the adrenal glands.

Most dogs with Addison's disease initially have gastrointestinal disturbances like vomiting. Lethargy it also a common early sign. Poor appetite can occur as well. These are pretty vague signs and it is extremely easy to miss this disease. More severe signs occur when a dog with hypoadrenocorticism is stressed or when potassium levels get high enough to interfere with heart function. Dogs with this problem will sometimes suffer severe shock symptoms when stressed, which can lead to a rapid death. When potassium levels get high heart arrythmias occur or even heart stoppage which also is fatal. In some cases, especially secondary Addison's disease, there are no detectable electrolyte changes.

This disease can be picked up by changes in the ratio between sodium or potassium by accident at times. When this happens it is still extremely important to treat for it. It is confirmed by an ACTH response test -- administration of this hormone should stimulate production of adrenal hormones. If this does not occur then hypoadrenocorticism is present. In cases in which the electrolyte levels are normal this is the only test for the problem and it will be missed unless it is looked for specifically. At times this disease can be hard to differentiate from renal failure because the symptoms and even the bloodwork can be similar ---- so the ACTH response test may be necessary to differentiate them.

Treatment for this disease is usually done by oral administration of fludrocortisone acetate (Flurinaf), salting the food, and administration of corticosteroids like prednisone. In a crisis situation this disorder must be treated more aggressively with intravenous fluids, IV glucocorticoids and correction of acid/base balances.

You have to pay close attention to a dog with this problem. Don't ignore any changes in appetite, GI disturbances or anything else that makes you think your dog is ill. If you work with your vet and are careful about following his or her directions this disease has a good prognosis when it is discovered before a crisis occurs. (Information found on http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/deaddisons.html).