greyhead

OMG, "awful" isn't a strong enough word for what you and Avril have been through! We're keeping you tucked into our thoughts and hoping you both recovery quickly. They "might" drive around?! How reassuring.

On the issue of discomfort, I finally learned that one should apply the clippers to the top and bottom of the nail. If it's applied to the sides of the nail, squeezing of the nail results, and that can hurt. So having the blades at 12:00 and 6:00 should involve less discomfort than having them at 9:00 and 3:00, if that makes sense.

You gotta love a beautiful cat who snuggles with the greys and makes bed-making more fun! I'm so sorry, but I'm sure Aggador appreciates your decision.

How to diagnose IBD is a long story! We did it by symptoms and an ultrasound that showed structural changes in the intestine that to experienced veterinary eyes were consistent with moderate to severe IBD. In his case it was a no-brainer, given everything we saw. However, orthodox veterinary thinking is that IBD can only be definitely diagnosed by either an endoscopic or surgical biopsy, which will reveal what type of inflammatory cell(s) is(are) involved. Our dog was already so sick and had lost so much weight, and was an old 8 years old, that the vet and I agreed that putting him through that procedure wasn't worth it, especially because the knowledge gained wouldn't change the treatment much if at all. It's treated mainly with metronidazole, tylosin, feeding a novel protein exclusively, and an immunosuppressant (prednisone or budesonide). Hopefully, you won't need to go there! ETA: Eating poop, cat or otherwise, is likely to indicate nutritional inadequacy, perhaps because of something like Intestinal Malabsorption. With IM comes a loss of ability process B-vitamins in the gut and the need to give B-12 shots monthly for life. There is a simple blood test test for it. If it'spositive, you then have to ask what caused the IM, and then you're looking at possible intestinal infection or IBD as likely culprits. And all of this seems to develop more often in dogs with a history of hookworm, as near as I can tell, especially if the hookworm wasn't diagnosed promptly or treated aggressively.

Before you do anything else, I think you should have a urine culture. It can catch what urinalysis misses. In our case, it was E. coli. After that, kidney values should be checked. It's a bad idea to take Proin unless and until infection has been ruled out. And some would say even then it's a bad idea.

So very, very sorry for your loss. He was as handsome as he was good! :f_red

Kayla was blessed to land at your house, and the group was so wise to let her! I'm so sorry for your loss. Special scritches to Vernon. :f_pink

I'm very sorry Bandit left. What a beautiful and very special dog!

Not all neuro problems can be visualized. Something like B-vitamin deficiency seems likely after a year of inappetance and leads to loss of appetite and, as others have mentioned, defective communication between parts of the brain. Just a thought.

It sounds like you're looking for ONE thing when it might be one over-arching thing making him react to many things he eats. The over-arching thing could be anything from worms to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Most dogs should handle hard-boiled eggs okay, shouldn't they?

As mom to a dog with many of the problems tbhounds mentioned, my fingers and toes are crossed with you!

You're the greatest, Lindsay, and Chase was indeed lucky to be your perma-foster. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your stunning girl. Run free, Arlie, and find your friends.

Rascalsmom, our local lab normally cultures for E. coli and Salmonella, and they will culture a third thing. We requested it be for Clostridium perfringens, based on some research I'd done, and that's what it turned out to be. At the time, our dog was so sick, I said culture for everything possible! But it doesn't work that way. For what it's worth, Clostridium is one of the bacteria that's normally present in the gut; but circumstances can cause it to overgrow -- stress, antibiotics after a dental, whatever. Or they can pick it up from the soil! When there are way too many of a given bacteria, it leads to what's called SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It might be good for you to do a search in H&M here on GT or Google it, to see if you read something that rings a bell. The main article that rang my bell isn't on the Net anymore, but I'll come back and post a link to the other article. Your vet might be interested in reading it too. http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2002&PID=2580

It sounds like the fecal was just to check for worms. Perhaps a poop culture should be done to test for bacteria.

I'm so sorry that Dude didn't have more time. :

My sympathies to all who loved Hannah.

I'm sorry for the passing of such a beautiful life but glad that it graced yours.

Ouch, not the outcome anyone hoped for. But you did everything possible and let her go when it was time. Much love to you and your family, Judy.

Might any of these abnormalities be due to the TBD's, or would they likely be due to other causes. If the latter, would that argue against TBD treatment potentially? I'm just trying to understand where the obtained ultrasound info would lead. Thanks.

Thanks, Batmom. It might help if you could mention the kinds of things the ultrasound would be looking for and how discovering them might affect treatment. If it were me, that info would make my decision easier.

I don't know how to say this, but does anyone have any less expensive advice? An ultrasound plus PCR testing may be more than some people can afford. Should she just not do anything if she can't afford both of those? Her vet doesn't think the ultrasound is necessary; is she wrong?

Liza said the test results came back as positive for Valley Fever and Babesia. She's pretty lost. If you can check in with her new thread and help her out, she could use it. Btw, her vet says the ultrasound is no longer necessary.