Helping the poor boy update
Posted: 14 Jan 2013, 13:13
Here is todays update.
big thanks to Ky for total dedication
No surprises to hear that his previous vets have a very sketchy record of him and he was not seen that often.
Long, long chat to vet, he has lost ALL body fat including from behind his eye sockets hence the sunken eyes, he has lost MOST of his muscle mass and what little he has is weak very likely because he has not had even a little exercise to keep it in trim this is why he has little coordination and trips up.
Vet and I had a long chat and we agreed we need a starting point otherwise we are going to lose him and further agreed there is no point doing one blood test this week and another next week as time is of the essence and so bloods were taken to test for epi, liver, etc etc etc He has seemingly had the epi test done but it is in 2 parts ( 2 samples each tested for a particular thing) one vet did one sample and much, much later another vet did the second sample hence the inconclusive diagnosis.
I have put him on a diet as if he has epi ( totally cereal free ). He is on a potato and fish kibble soaked to ease digestion, fresh lambs liver, duck eggs, and science plan id in a can, each food introduced one at a time and adverse effects watched for so far touch wood there have been no adverse effects. Having spoken to his previous owner he had permanent diarrhoea especially having eaten, he has not had this since he came here ( please see photo) . If you remember I weighed him on saturday and barely 16.5 kilos, I have just reweighed him ,he was empty as I starved him from last night for his tests, and he is 16.7 kilos a small but significant weight gain over just 2 days.
The good thing about that is if it was epi it would not clear up by change of food and certainly not so quickly as epi dogs do "cowpat" stools.
Results in about 3 days, in the mean time the vet has advised me to carry on exactly as I am with the addition of some probiotics given twice a day to help refurnish his gut.
Now the bad news and sorry, so far the bill is approaching £300.
Keep everything crossed for his results as we are a long way from being out of the woods yet.
That is all the information I have at present.
big thanks to Ky for total dedication
No surprises to hear that his previous vets have a very sketchy record of him and he was not seen that often.
Long, long chat to vet, he has lost ALL body fat including from behind his eye sockets hence the sunken eyes, he has lost MOST of his muscle mass and what little he has is weak very likely because he has not had even a little exercise to keep it in trim this is why he has little coordination and trips up.
Vet and I had a long chat and we agreed we need a starting point otherwise we are going to lose him and further agreed there is no point doing one blood test this week and another next week as time is of the essence and so bloods were taken to test for epi, liver, etc etc etc He has seemingly had the epi test done but it is in 2 parts ( 2 samples each tested for a particular thing) one vet did one sample and much, much later another vet did the second sample hence the inconclusive diagnosis.
I have put him on a diet as if he has epi ( totally cereal free ). He is on a potato and fish kibble soaked to ease digestion, fresh lambs liver, duck eggs, and science plan id in a can, each food introduced one at a time and adverse effects watched for so far touch wood there have been no adverse effects. Having spoken to his previous owner he had permanent diarrhoea especially having eaten, he has not had this since he came here ( please see photo) . If you remember I weighed him on saturday and barely 16.5 kilos, I have just reweighed him ,he was empty as I starved him from last night for his tests, and he is 16.7 kilos a small but significant weight gain over just 2 days.
The good thing about that is if it was epi it would not clear up by change of food and certainly not so quickly as epi dogs do "cowpat" stools.
Results in about 3 days, in the mean time the vet has advised me to carry on exactly as I am with the addition of some probiotics given twice a day to help refurnish his gut.
Now the bad news and sorry, so far the bill is approaching £300.
Keep everything crossed for his results as we are a long way from being out of the woods yet.
That is all the information I have at present.