greyhead

Just gorgeous, and looks very sweet! Welcome from Seattle.

Ellen, I'm so very sorry. That was a lovely tribute to a well-loved boy.

I'm so sorry that Monty had to leave you. Godspeed, Monty.

That was such a beautiful and moving tribute, Deb. It's totally clear how much you loved her and how she blossomed in your home. The siggie is perfect too. All that's left to say is how very sorry I am that you couldn't have been together longer.

Definitely! The vet's-office view of Shane's urine was that it was entirely normal in every way. Finally did a urine culture, when he became floppy and unresponsive, and found an E. coli infection that then took forever to cure.

It's not impossible that bacteria get transferred between the back end and the urinary tract, either by licking (most likely), or leaking, or even by bedding. So picking up a UTI after the intestinal bacterial overgrowth/imbalance isn't a total stretch.

This. Our last out is between 11 and 11:30. Our first out is around 6:30, give or take 30 minutes. One of our greys had a 12-hour bladder; that's just who he was, and I think it's a bit unusual. The other grey is completely different and will leak urine while sleeping if not accommodated. So much depends on the dog and its age, and what they need is not entirely up to them -- or you.

Garth had a great life with someone who loved him immensely. I hope that thought gives you some comfort in your loss, and I hope you can still feel him with you for a long time.

Hoping for a good update.

This sounds like a physical problem, the panting and pacing, the inability to settle. It could even be something as bad as bloat, which would require immediate attention. I think you should be posting in H&M.

That's the standard approach, Rachel, I think -- to do the cobalamin/folate first. And that's what we did. At that time (2008), the c/f test was only being done at Texas A&M. I don't know if there are now more labs doing it. Sure hope the Simplicef takes care of things! Here's the Google entry for the link, which isn't dead but isn't coming up when the URL with the ellipses is used. At least you can access it by the title if nothing else. Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth: Roles of Antibiotics, Prebiotics ... www.med.upenn.edu/gastro/.../Gastroenterologybacterialovergrowth.pdf‎Cached Similar Share View shared post by EMM QUIGLEY - ‎2006 - ‎Cited by 159 - ‎Related articles smithii.29 –31 However, in support of a role for bacterial overgrowth in symptom pathogenesis, studies have re- ported a parallel improvement in gastrointestinal ...

I did find and read through that thread, Rachel, which is why I decided to dig a little deeper on the subject. FWIW, I don't think it has to be diarrhea. Spencer rarely had diarrhea per se, just the orange soft-serve that smelled increasingly vile (because C. perfringens is an anaerobic bacterium). He started having some diarrhea when he moved into the IBD realm shortly thereafter. Wishing you the best luck figuring this out!

Spencer had a brief staph infection with his SIBO (orange poops), but I can't seem to locate his thread. Here's another where I mentioned it at post 12. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/287149-mystery-illness-for-almost-6-months/?hl=%2Bstaph%2C+%2Bspencer&do=findComment&comment=5261277 Meanwhile, I'll see if I can find anything about a possible connection between the two out on the web. ETA: www.med.upenn.edu/gastro/.../Gastroenterologybacterialovergrowth.pdf This is a very technical scholarly article addressing the question of whether SIBO infections (in humans) unleash bacterial infections in other systems and places in the body, including the skin. The answer is yes, though the mechanism(s) is(are) uncertain. But it may be as simple as chronic diarrhea itself spreading germs to the skin or as complex as the immune system becoming compromised and failing to do its job vis-à-vis protecting entire systems and organs. See the page with the section heading Bacterial Translocation and Sepsis, second column, for the most pertinent statement for your situation. (sorry, I couldn't see any page numbers in the pdf file.) And maybe your vet should read this? It's important to note that the bacterium involved in the SIBO is not necessarily the bacterium that shows up as a problem elsewhere. Spencer's SIBO, for instance, was due to overgrowth of Clostridium perfringens, while his skin infection was likely staph-based. (We got the skin lesion cured before needing to culture it.) To the extent you can tolerate reading it, this article should also convince one not to let a case of SIBO go undiagnosed or casually treated.

You're both in our thoughts and prayers.

Saw the vet yesterday and discussed our Trifexis experience. She said it should be fine to split the dose, as long as both halves are given within a 24-hour period. That is what we did, and Shane did much better that way. However, we decided to switch to Revolution for the future.

Oh my gosh, Robin, what a singular boy he was! This must be especially devastating when you were so looking forward to celebrating his gotcha day today and his 14th birthday soon after. I can't tell you how sorry I am.

It must have hit you hard indeed, dear Jan. But you must have known great love too, which you can't lose and no one can take from you.

{{{Ducky}}}! What a truly touching story. I'm so very sorry Possum couldn't have stayed with you longer, but he stayed as long as he could, and you were a blessing to one another. Godspeed, Possum the Apostle. You were a very greyt boy.

We had to have a urine culture to get to the bottom of Shane's repeated problems along these lines. The vet had "looked" at the urine in the office and didn't detect any of the usual markers for infection. Nonetheless, weeks later we demanded a culture (and sensitivity), and it turned out to be E. coli. So I always advise urine culture when there's any question. Also, that way the antibiotic can be customized to the germ so it clears up sooner instead of later.

Our vet said "we don't have heartworm here," though they used to think that about hookworm too. And they were right...until they weren't. Anyway, I'm not *as* worried about heartworm as about hookworm. Gave him half yesterday on top of food. He didn't want dinner, he was subdued, and this morning he vomited (after eating a little grass) a large mass of white foam, three-dimensional and shaped like a large fist (or a cream puff). Gave him a half Zantac, and he ate a small breakfast in due course. Then I fed him a big meal a couple hours ago, followed by the other half of Trifexis, and he's doing well so far and is asking for a walk. So I don't know how much we've sacrificed in effectiveness by giving the dose in halves, 24 hours apart. But in terms of side effects, I'd say he's doing a lot better than the other way. Next month he'll be taking something different, though. And who the heck decided that discontinuing Interceptor was a brilliant idea?!

Those records, edited or not, should be available, Jen. If not, the local veterinary board should find that most interesting.

It's good to know that at least someone's vet has approved splitting the dose! Cuz that's what I'm doing today. I gave him half after his brunch, and it sounds like I can give the other half tonight or tomorrow. Spencer's internist assured me it was chewable. I asked her if she'd ever smelled it. She hadn't. I said I had, and there's no way I could understand anyone with a working nose taking that thing voluntarily, lol!

Kathy, I mentioned it last time I was in. They just said they'd never heard of that lethargy happening with it. They do sell Revolution, but the table I looked at later didn't list it as treating hookworm. I'll check again. It looked like Sentinel treats hookworm, but it sounds like it's hard/impossible to get?