greyhead

What does the vet have to say about her not eating? Does he have any ideas about cause or solution? Even a temporary stop-gap measure? (Tell him the check is in the mail but you need him now! ) Seriously, I think he should step the heck up. And if a tech gives you tude, ignore it and remember the luv of your GT friends and Happy instead.

Come on, Beau, just be having an off day! Prayers from here!

So it sounds like pancreas issues can involve either not enough digestive enzymes or too many! As if life weren't confusing enough! Happy to hear Happy is doing better. Hoping for a good update today too!

Yup, FT4 done and looks pretty persuasive. I don't hold with those who demand evidence of symptoms with numbers like this. An under-functioning thyroid is a miserable thing, not all symptoms are visible, and our dogs can't tell us about the non-visible ones (e.g., joint/muscle aches, reflux, etc.)

A wonderful tribute, Devon. I'm sorry you'll be missing that paw resting on your arm.

Whew, sounds a little better anyway! Looking forward to hearing how things stand after the vet today. Continued hugs and prayers.

When Spencer still had SIBO, his breath was so bad you could have called it death breath. He still has paint in his muzzle hair that his breath/saliva dissolved when he laid his head on the painted hearth! It occurs to me that it may not be IBD. Or it might not be just one thing; it might be that and some form of SIBO. I would really check that out, Xan, and all you have to do is take in a poop sample to be analyzed for bugs. You just have to make sure they don't just check for E. coli and Salmonella and call it good. There are lots of other bugs. A culture adn sensitivity needs to be done to find out which a/b's will kill the particular germ. If she has an infection like that, an immunosuppressant will just hurt her by weakening her immune systems ability to fight it. And the wrong antibiotic won't help her. Maybe you should back off the budesonide until you rule out infection. I think that's why Spencer lost so much weight on pred and tylosin didn't help. Even Flagyl didn't help because we didn't do it long enough, and it wasn't the first-choice a/b for his bug. We first gave those meds as a shot in the dark, not knowing what he had except for malabsorption for some then-unknown reason. As I've said elsewhere, I think in his case the progression was from SIBO to malabsorption to IBD. No pressure, hon, just ideas I think worth considering. Hugs to all concerned!

You have our support in whatever you decide.

I know it's hard, Xan, but keep the faith. Spencer started budesonide in early May, like the 5th or so. Below is an excerpt from a post I made on the 23rd. He's up to 81 lbs now. It's a slow process. Which makes it very hard on you. If it were me, I'd give her another B-12. Won't hurt, might very well help! Spencer got two a week for the first few weeks because the effect on him was too demonstrably good to play by the rules (i.e., once a week). I could see him slip back three days after the shot and perk right up again two hours after the next one. The vet said it was okay to be governed by my own observations on this, so that's what I did. (I'll share the timetable we used to decrease frequency later, when it's more relevant.) One thing I try when Spencer's appetite is off is giving him just the kibble moistened with water. At those times he'll reject it when moistened with gravy made from canned meat and water. It's like the smell is too rich and off-putting. If I redo the kibble with just water, he often goes for it. He never wanted anything to do with duck in any form but I hope it helps Happy. I know how desperate it can get when they're all bones, but try not to switch around too much if you can help it. Our vet recommended a minimalist approach and it worked for us: one protein, one carb if tolerated (sweet potato for us), raw if it works, kibble if it works, canned if it works, no dairy, no probiotics (cuz they make some IBD dogs worse), no enzymes (sufficiently provided by raw food), no added vitamins except injected B-12, and his meds. If his tummy got swollen and very rumbly, we gave Gas-X (simethecone) and you can actually give a lot of it at one time. If you can hold to a plan like this, hard as it can be, it should start to pay off in a few days. We're crossing all fingers and toes here, sending white light and much love, and praying for all we're worth that Sunday is a better day. And you'll notice we're staying up late! Tell Happy that mom's on the case and confident even if concerned. And Happy, sweetie, a little faster please! Dave Matthews is doing a song for you on SNL right now and saying, "I ain't waitin' for the world to change, baby. Gonna change the world for you."

If I'm not mistaken, budesonide and Entocort are the same thing.

You'll want to take him up on it! This guy knows A LOT and is a great guy to know!

Yikes on the budesonide $$! Our vet phoned a rx into a compounding pharmacy in AZ, where it costs about $1/pill or so for the 2mg pills. We get 60 at a time.n (They also send a little free gift with each order -- usually something well-sized for a Pomeranian!) Roadrunner Pharmacy, 711 E. Carefree Hwy, Suite 140, Phoenix, AZ 85085 toll-free: 877-518-4589 local: 623-434-1180 Shipping is free and they'll overnight the first order!

Went back to your first post and read: "Last week, she had eaten very little for 4 days. I took her to the vet on Monday. She's down from just over 60 lbs to 51.7. The blood tests came back indicating she's 'been starving for awhile'." Did the vet say this test indicated intestinal malabsorption? Because if it did, Happy not only really needs B-12 injections, but it will HUGELY improve her appetite and everthing else about her. She will be better able to fight the UTI, the IBD, etc. I emphasize that it's easy to think the food is the problem and to keep changing foods when it's not the food as much as it's her biology that's the problem. And if she does have IBD, frequent food changes now will likely make feeding her much harder down the road. Mere vitamins can be shockingly powerful. I'll bet you already know that. So let me offer you hugs and sympathy for the information overload you're struggling with! It's overwhelming, so make sure you get your rest too.

My vet's researches for our IBD dog led her to the conclusion that everyone ends up on Budesonide, so we started with that. (Spencer just lost a lot of weight fast on pred.) It's side-effects are very limited since it targets the gut. It's working very well for us. Spencer also had intestinal malaborption. There's a special test for that. The treatment is B-12 injections under the skin, for life. Helps with appetite, mood, muscle issues -- everything! And it helps a lot. Good luck!

Spencer's LS is treated with acupuncture and chiropractic, which began a year ago. That's when he was diagnosed but he undoubtedly had the condition at a lower level before that. He's doing very, very well on this program. He goes every six weeks. We were also using Chinese herbs for a while but had to stop when his SIBO and IBD arose. Not that the herbs were bad, but you have to eliminate anything "extra" from their diet. He can't even have multi-vitamins! We figure we'll save the drug therapy until he worsens and needs it. I believe I've heard that the benefits from meds taper off over time, so we'll postpone starting them as long as we can. Good luck to you! ETA: Oops, just realized the OP was posting last February and I've just butted into someone else's conversation! Pardon

You and she had greyt good fortune together. I'm sorry for your loss.

Happy birthday, Lewis! You are much loved! Btw, that's a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge in your siggie. Makes me homesick!

Spencer has been on 1,000mg/day metronidazole for six months for his IBD and we've seen no ill-effects. We do put each pill into a capsule (size 00) and put that in a meatball so he doesn't have to taste it. This is for his IBD. Previously he took it for SIBO caused by Clostridium perfrigens. That's not something they regularly test for, as most dogs show C. difficile. If you want to rule SIBO in or out, ask for the poop to be tested for bacteria.

C.C. had quite a life. My sympathy for your loss.

Gentle hugs to you and Rascal.

Thanks for all you do!

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry for your loss.