RobinM

Neosporin is fine. You sure he doesn't need stitches? my dogs didn't t like garbage pails when we first got them so we avoided them. Now, they don't care. I would walk around though, just because they could always blow over into them and have the same problem you did. Glad it;s not worse than it was. Hope he is feeling better.

I bought a slow cooker today so we could make whitefish broth / gravy to try to be more appealing. I hope that is going to work. I put the pred down his throat - then said, ok Beau- let's eat but it didn't quite work like that... That is pred # 2. He will get # 3 very late tonight, but if he doesn't eat tonight, I may just have a complete meltdown.

Beau has "severe" IBD. I am on the way to the vet to pick up pred for him. They don't want to overload him with the pred and will giving him 20mg bid. Hopefully that will increase his appetite and bring the inflammation down. IF nothing changes, we will up the dose. I will also pick up the wellness sweet potato and whitefish to be used as his sacficial protein for a while. Hopefully, he will eat that. Wish us luck. We are really going to need it. I just want my Beau feeling better.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Doing the hyrolized is one option. The other is as described above. I can not do a sub- q at home. Not an option. Beau's main source of protein all this time has been chicken with beef as the secondary, third salmon. And yet here we are trying to give him any of these in order to get him to eat until we have a final diagnosis. Sigh. Seems wrong, but to be changing foods yet again, isn't good either. By tomorrow, I have to come up with a plan for the food. I joined an IBD board so I have the question out there. The reports are due today or tomorrow.

Here's the problem with that... Beau has had small amounts of things like rabbit and veneson when I bought a million cans of them for Polli who didn't like it. So instead of wasting all the cans, I added a teaspoon into Beau's food (the others too) So, those are not novel anymore. In addtion, let's say we do the novel protein approach, we have to start with the sacrificial one. I am not sure he likes anything else. Then we would have to change it again because of the intolerance that could happen. That's when you change it to the permanent one. It;s this way or straight to the hydolized protein.h Morming update- no change, not eating. Very down and out.

Actually, HA and the Hills equivalent, ZD, are more on the order of a miracle for many IBD dogs. They're unique in that the proteins are preprocessed so that the body generally doesn't recognize them as allergens. Truly amazing and sometimes lifesaving as well. Reading the label sure does raise a person's eyebrows, but a fair number of dogs lead long and happy lives expressly because of these foods. I wouldn't worry over Beau not eating for a day or two after his procedure, as long as he stays hydrated. Sending hugs and crossed paws, fingers, toes that the prednisone helps him. yes, I 've been doing a ton of reading about IBD and I just hope he will eat it. So, Im not sure which path to take. The proteins or just straight to the hydolized food keeping in mind that the only processed ingredient is the protein, still have ot be concerne about possible carb allergies. I just want to get a IBD diagnosis (over the other diagnosis) and start the pred. (he only has had one)

Oh we tried everything in the house. While we can, we did and he wont'. A sacrificial protein is a "novel "protein that he has never eaten before to be used as a tranistion food once we start the pred and it starts working. The theory is that because you are transitioning from the foods that did cause the inflmmation, there is a higher probability of the new novel protein will also become intolerable. So, you use it as a transition, and switch him off before it becomes a problem to a new permanet novel protein. The other option if to go straight to a hydrolized food such as Purina HA. (and the Ha is for the laugh at what a joke the indredients are ) See how IBD educated I have becone in 24 hours. Yeesh. I wish I could remember dosage, but it has been a few years and the old vet records are filed pretty deep. He was on pred, flagyl and something that started with an M. His first protein was duck, mixed with sweet potato. He was on that food for close to a year before we reviewed his file with the vet and decided to attempt to transition him to a non-chicken based food. (Chicken is his protein NO NO). The pred started to work within two or three days, but we started the food transition as soon as he was eating. We went cold turkey on his old food and started him on wet duck and potato. He was fed half a cup six times a day to start and then we transitioned to more food at one time and fewer times per day. About ten days after we started the saga was when I could honestly say I was glad we had made this decision, and it was almost like a switch had flipped. Up until that day, I had thought he was going to be sad and mopey forever, even though his eating was improving, and his vomiting/diarrhea had decreased. He also quit looking like a skeleton, which was horribly scary. Max is not a very trusting fellow. He had a really rough time before he came to our house. He likes to be petted and he likes to be loved on....on his terms. He is not now, nor has he ever been, a lapdog kind of a dog. I realized how sick he was as we were waiting for surgery that day. He stood up and then put his paws on my lap. I pulled him into my lap and held him like a baby for almost 20 minutes. It was the only time he has ever allowed that type of contact. Give it time to work. Miracles, unfortunately, don't happen over night, but IBD is treatable and it isn't the end of the world. I know how scary it is to wait for bx results to come back and the impatience you have when you want to do something, anything, to make them better. Know that I am thinking of you and if there is anything I can do, just let me know. thank you.

Well, hopefully they did at least give him a glucose drip while he was at the vet, so he hasn't been totally without nourishment. Dogs can go without food longer than they can go without drink, like most mammals. Can you try him on chicken or beef broth? Cook up some chicken in a slow cooker or crock pot or pressure cooker - or even just boil it in lots of water - and just let him drink the broth. It will have some nutrients in it. Even if you cook some plain white rice in plenty of water and strain it so he can drink the starchy water, it will have some nourishment in it. No point in 'not changing his food' if he won't eat at all. Did they say anything about that? yes, he was on an IV drip until they discharged him. he won;t take a thing right now. Vet said don't change his diet, meaning starting him on a sacrificial protein or go straight to a hydrolized food until we get the bx back. I will continue to try every hour. It's still early. I have to be hopeful.

Oh Karen, how utterly fabulous. Monty deserves that diagnosis more than words can express. I too am trying tears of happiness for you and Monty.

He had an open abdominal procedure, and we second-guessed ourselves multiple times because it took him awhile to bounce back. You would never know it now, though, unless you happened to see his "spay scar" I'm sorry you had to go through this, but I am happy that I have someone who has been through the open adominal as Beau has yesterday. He is so down today. I understand why, it just breaks my heart and I understand the second-guessing as well. Better than you can imagine. As I dropped him off yesterday, I still wondered if I were doing the right thing. It didnt feel right, but Beau was beginning to get emaciated and I knew it was going to get worse. They only gave Beau one medium dose pred today beacuse we don't have the bx results back yet. What dose pred is/was your pup on and how long until the pred started to work? What food was he on and what did you use as your sacrificial novel protein? How long? What is he on now? OR did you just go to straight to hydrolized food? When you say it took a while to bounce back after the surgery, can you be more specific? He has not had a thing to eat for days and it's very hard to take. You would think I am used to this from Polli but this is actually worse. In addtion, we are not supposed to change the food yet until the diagnosis so I feel that everything I am giving him is prob the "trigger" foods and I am trying to make him eat all the things that are making him sick. This is making me sick. I just want him to get better.

She said to give him what he will eat. Won't change anything (food) right now until we know for sure the diagnosis. I hope we will have that tomrorrow. He had one dose of pred today, but other than maybe starting on the inflammation, I don't think it's gonna do anything for his appetite.

Beau has been home since 1:30. He is so sad, so loopy and so so so so so thin. Breaks my heart. He just kinda collapsed in the bedroom, never making it to a bed so I put pillows all around him. we will try and get some food into him later. He has not eaten in days. Its just terrible. I just pray we get a IBD dx, can give pred, get an appetite, get the food situtation stratighteded out and live happily ever after. I am working on it.

We use the CET tarter control toothpaste. We buy it online. But, if your dog is prone to bad teeth, unfortunately there is little you can do other than brush every day and add CET additive to their water. Polli had 17 teeth removed at 8.5 years old at her 1st dental. Since that time, she has had 3 dentals in 14 months and I do brush her teeth every day.

me too. Continued prayers

Sending good thoughts and prayers to Niles.

Hoping Jack has a good day today and a even better one tomorrow. Continued prayers.

oh no. Poor Rickie. Hope he is OK. Sending many prayers.

That IS wonderful news!

We brush Polli's everyday and she has had 3 full dentals in 14 months. Her teeth are terrible. At her first dental @ 8.5 years old, she lost 17 teeth. My others aren't so bad. If you go the rawhide route, there is a rawhide called C.E.T chews. They are pricey but they really work. You can do a search for the best price online. Just remember, never leave your dogs unsupervised while eating any rawhide type of treat.

Just got call from vet. She is doubling up the antibiotics this morning, I can get him at 1. I will be there with bells on my toes. As excited as I am to be bringing him home, I know we have a long hard road in front of us to get him stabilized and on the right food. It's very scary. He had lost 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks even with eating.

Thank you for sharing that. Did he have the scope or surgery for biopsy? Morming update: Spoke to the tech at 10 PM 2 AM and 6 AM . Beau was up and about in his crate, went pee pee in the run and curled up in a ball and slept basically the whole night without any pain meds. He was comfortable. We will be picking him up at 3pm today. They want to get his 2nd antibiotic in before he leaves. We will be there promptly at 3. We can't wait to get him home. I know BEau well enough to know he will be very happy to be home, but he will feel the need to punish us because if this. It's just what he does!!!!

Feel better Lucius.

Amber- forgive if I sound like a ignoromous. I don't know about DL nor do I want to learn about it first hand!!!! but you implied that the DL is undercontrol. If so, why would you feel it could be getting systemic? Re bx: We agnoized for weeks and drove our vet NUTs with phone calls, emails, articles, GT advice, you name it. So, I understand about not wanting to do invassive. After trying everything we could try, we had no more options left. Now, I wish I did it 2 weeks ago. As far as the vaccinations go, go with just the rabies if that is all you need to do M&G.

Poor baby. I am so sorry you are both going through this.