Thank you all so much for your quick replies! The acetone smell went away last night. He could have been running a fever…I suspect that his incision site is not really healing well. When the vet looked at it not too long ago she said it was fine though, and to just apply neosporin. The problem is, the neosporin only lasts about 3 seconds before Frankie furiously licks it off, and I don't want to keep applying more and have him ingest a bunch of antibiotic ointment. I think he is going to have to go to the vet this week, although I might try some more warm compresses and neosporin over the next few days and see if there is some improvement, since she didn't seem concerned at all the last time she looked at it.

Also, I bought some dual ketone and glucose urine strips last night and he was negative for both, although by the time I was successfully able to get his pee on the stick instead of all over my hand, the acetone smell had vanished. ;)

I know...I'm a paranoid dog mom, but I just don't want anything to happen to him, or for anything to be wrong with him and it go unchecked for any amount of time. Being an untreated T1 Diabetic will wreak havoc on a dog or human body, and from what I read, so will untreated Fanconi.

Anyway, sorry for my looong posts and thanks again for your feedback!

Molly

Hi. I adopted a dog about 2 months ago. At the time, the rescue had him listed as a Rat terrier/Chihuahua mix. I took him to the vet about 2 weeks after adopting him just for a check up, and to have them look at the incision site where he was neutered (he was neutered before I even adopted him, and yes, he was very young when they did it.) Everything appeared fine at the visit, but the vet tech kept mentioning that she thought he was part basenji. When I got home I looked up Basenjis and realized he most likely was part Basenji - not only did he have many of the physical characteristics (ears, curly tail, color and markings, whiskers), but he also showed many behavioral characteristics typical of Basenjis (standing up on his hind legs frequently, cleaning himself like a cat, grumbling or "yodeling", etc.) I'm not sure if he could be full breed or not, but I think he is likely a Basenji/Rat terrier mix. I am attaching pictures of Frankie for anyone who'd like to see.

Last night I noticed that Frankie's breath smelled like nail polish remover. I was freaked out and thought he had eaten something bad, but he wasn't acting sick, and I knew there wasn't any way he could have gotten to any nail polish remover, so I thought maybe he was just chewing on his new bed that smelled a little plasticy. Today my mom smelled his breath and announced that he had ketones. I am a type 1 diabetic, and I guess my mom had smelled the acetone smell on my breath in the past, so she was able to quickly identify it.

I tried testing Frankie's blood sugar with my glucometer, but I couldn't get enough blood and he was getting traumatized, so I stopped trying. I immediate thought of type 1 diabetes, but I remembered reading something about Fanconi syndrome so I looked that up. Obviously, with the exception of his age, Fanconi seems like a major possibility at this point. Ketones point to an inability to metabolize glucose.

I am going to go to the drug store immediately after posting this message to get some urine glucose test strips and I will test his urine for glucose.

My question is: is it even possible for a dog to get Fanconi at 5 months old? I know his age is correct because he just lost all of his baby teeth and he has been growing pretty rapidly. Has anyone ever smelled Acetone on their Fanconi-affected dog's breath?

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond,

Molly