Max, the NDI Dog
by Denise Zywicki

I have a rott-lab mutt named Max. I rescued Max when he was about two years old, and after several months, had him neutered. He tested positive for heartworm the very same day. Needless to say I was devastated, not knowing what would have to happen next. When he had finished healing from his surgery, we started his heartworm treatments. After everything seemed fine and dandy, he wet my bed just out of the blue. He would sleep with me everyday.

The vet began test after test, none of which yielded definitive answers. We tried chlorothiazide and phenylpropanolamine, each by themselves. Each seemed to work for a little while. Max also tested positive months later, after his four days in the hospital for treatments, was treated with Heartguard chewables following and was cured.

His diagnosis after all of his tests appears to be nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, which is extremely rare and is believed to possibly have something to do with the heartworm. Maybe it festered too long in his kidney area?

I am just so confused and wonder why? Why such a beautiful dog? My best buddy! I just want him to be okay. We currently have him on phenylpropanolamine and testosterone shots (as often as they say he is allowed). They say the testosterone could have serious side affects. His dose of phenylpropanolamine is 75mg, three times a day, and his testosterone shot he currently needs a shot every week. They try to give it to him every two weeks, but even that isn't always enough, unless it was given at a larger dose the time before. It gets expensive: phenylpropanolamine costs $32 a month and testosterone costs $23 two or three times a month.

I plan to be married soon and have a family. My finance is now experiencing this with me, it's so frustrating. Every week or two we have to deal with him licking himself all night long, begging for water all day and extensive wetting. When all the drugs are working he's not overly thirsty and I can barely wake him up in the morning (he would rather sleep in). It just goes from one extreme to another. Giving ice cubes at times helps during his cut off times, usually around 8pm.

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