To Bud's Dad -
 
        Slow heart rate or no, if Bud tried to give up the ghost at your vet's -
you'd better go in and look at that pancreas.  My suggestion to your vet would
be to give atropine (which stimuates the heart rate) as part of the
pre-anesthetic, and closely monitor the heart rate during the surgery.  If it
goes down below 140, give some more atropine IV.
 
        But it looks like you need to get that pancreas looked at.  The
prednisone is only a stopgap measure, and doesn't seem to being doing the trick.
 It's just a matter of time till Bud goes so hypoglycemic tghat you can't get
him back.   Better to take a chance at surgery and not wake up, than to bow out
disoriented and comatose....
 
        Keep us updated....
 
       Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
       [log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
       (202) 576-2453/2454                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
 
[Posted in FML issue 0875]