Dbuzz

TP is 6.1 g/dl and reference range is 5.0 - 7.4. They did do a TLI and there aren't any issues with pancreatic function. So today he's down to around 67 lbs (roughly 14 pounds from racing weight - all in about 2 months give or take). really lethargic the past two days. He's on dexamethasone injections every night, vitamin b12 injections, and being fed zignature lamb (about 30% more than he used to/recommended by the brand). Because I thought it couldn't hurt we now are giving him Wonderlabs Vitamin b12 Pet Factor with Intrinsic Factor and folic acid. I am told that with malabsorption issues, having the intrinsic factor in this helps. It's also a methycobalamin rather than the cyanocobalamin which I also hear some dogs only absorb one or the other. Sort of on the fence with how much I believe all of this but we're running out of options. We're not too optimistic at this point. I'm tempted to take him off of the steroids as I feel his lethargy and constant peeing (yesterday may have been 15-20 times) seem to be worse than any other side effects. Vet keeps telling us to 'stay the course' as we'll be tampering with the variables too much and will never know what works or what doesn't. At this point though I'm doubtful that anything will work. We have an endoscope next wednesday scheduled (also very very frustrating piece of all of this - there is no sense of urgency with our internal medicine. They're always so booked. Some of the reason he's in this situation is because we've had to wait so long for so many things to happen. has anyone else experienced this? Our dog is literally withering away and they have the guts to tell us to our face we have to wait another week to just even get a test done???? He might not even be alive!!) There are risks now that he's lost so much weight with doing an endoscope but we really have no choices here. We need to know if this is either a really severe case of IBD or now possibly gastric cancer. If anyone has any experience with steroid treatment or what sort of greyhound specific issues develop from steroid treatment I'd be very interested to know. I know there is muscle loss right? And theoretically if muscle weighs more than fat could it be possible the majority of his weight loss is from muscle loss??Ugh. Very frustrating diagnosis. Awful.

Good points. So for the 'coughing to IBD diagnosis'. The internist suspected that the cough and the tiredness/weight loss were two separate things. At the time of consultation they said that it could be respiratory (bronchitis) and wanted to do a lung wash. With the GI issue they wanted to do an ultrasound then an endoscope. We really didn't feel the cough was 1. Severe enough 2. Common enough to do something as invasive (and also not that accurate from what I hear). With the weight loss being our primary concern we wanted to wait on any invasive tests and instead get an ultrasound done as well as the blood panel. Blood panel then showed low levels of folate and cobalamin. The internist still wanted an endoscope to be done (to confirm IBD/rule out cancer) but again, weight loss, anesthesia and the possibility of waiting another week for that to be done we went for the treatment of IBD. Not thinking he had a severe case (stool fine, no vomiting, diarrhea at all) we thought a non aggressive approach (budesonide+cobalequin) was sufficient. I believe he's still continuing to lose weight. Internist now suggesting injectables for both the prednisone and vitamin b12 as she believes that his IBD is SO bad that their not being absorbed orally. I did try to ask if there were any other issues causing those low levels i.e. dietary, worms, parasites. She didn't seem to think they'd cause such drastic weight loss which I'm beginning to believe as well. Allergies, diet, or even LP couldn't cause that much weight loss right? we're down approximately 10 lbs from racing weight. I'm almost thinking we don't even need the steroids and just use the injectable only.

Regarding the muscle mass weight loss - that seems to make sense here. So is there eventually a danger in losing too much? Do they bounce back? Now we're at roughly 10% weight loss I'd say, which is really getting to the point of concern. How long can they maintain this type of quality of life? Also with IBD I know that the cobalamin receptors that are supposed to capture nutrients are wiped out as a result of IBD. Would he do better on a Cobalamin injection perhaps vs the oral Cobalequin? Regarding the coughing from IBD, agreed. I doubt the two symptoms are caused by the same thing though at this point I'm much more concerned about the weight loss than the cough. Now especially since the cough is gone. Are there other causes of the cough that could have an impact on weight loss? Again, symptom-wise dog is the healthiest there is- stools perfect, no vomiting, appetite incredible, Just weight loss and lethargy. I am starting to think there is a dietary issue at play. I noticed his change in weight loss/lethargy first after his bad episode of diarrhea and when we switched foods from Purina One Focus to Zignature Venison (now lamb) (also using a bland boiled chicken/rice diet in the interim between the diarrhea and the switched food).

I wish! He's a couch potato. We usually walk him once a day, no more than 20 mins. No runs, jogs.

Update: So we've taken him to the internal medicine specialist. After doing an ultrasound in addition to a blood panel, they found that he has low levels of folate and cobalamin (Vitamin b12). Their suggestion was to do an endoscope to 1. Rule out cancer and 2. Definitively find out what the issue was, however they also admitted that his case was likely not cancer (no other symptoms other than loss of weight and tiredness). Their preliminary diagnosis (without the endoscope) was IBD so we decided to go ahead with the steroid treatment. We were reluctant to do the usual path with steroids: aggressive at first then weened off. We were also concerned with all of the side effects. WE decided to put him on Budesonide (supposedly did not have the side effects) as well as the oral vitamin b12 (Cobalequin). After a week I noticed he really seemed to be looking quite thin so took him in to get weighed. Low and behold he was a mere 75.5 lbs (down about 6 lbs from racing weight). About 4-5 lbs loss in about a two week period. This had me concerned so I called the internal medicine and they then prescribed Prednisone on top of the Budesonide and Cobalequin. Today: He's now taking 2.5 mg of Budesonide (once daily-separate from Prednisone) Oral B12 20 mg of prednisone (once daily) Symptoms: Cough is gone. Weight loss seems to persist. Starting to get concerned about the weight loss. Does anyone suspect that we could be dealing with cancer? We haven't had him wormed/checked for parasites in about two months. I highly doubt that's the issue though maybe? We have him on a grain free Zignature Lamb food feeding him about 3.5 cups a day (about 1600 k/cals). No other symptoms: eats fine, poops fine, drinks more (because of steroids) but no vomiting, blood of any sort and no swelling of anything. Perfectly normal dog. Anyone have any suggestions. Certainly happy the cough went away but now we're dealt with a dog with perfectly normal behavior. perfect stools, perfect appetite but seems to continue to lose weight! Paranoia is rampant at this point.

Thanks for the comments. Just today he let out some pretty awful coughs/hacks. Just randomly sitting there. No running today. Hours after his walk (no pulling on leash or anything). Last meal was hours before this. About 55 degrees F outside today with a lot of rain/humidity. So I think I need to revisit his test history and visits to see what tests we did exactly to see what has been ruled out and what's still in play. I know that a few blood tests have been done, urine analysis, stool sample, and xrays. If he had LP wouldn't an Xray show that? This seems to be closest to his symptoms but it still just doesn't seem serious enough for this diagnosis. How do they diagnose LP? Sounds like a scope. I gave him pepcid AC for a few days but he still managed to cough and the licking/lethargy still seemed to persist so I stopped after about 3 days. Not sure if I should start back up again. How long does it take for pepcid ac to work? I'm also reading some things about storage/dust mites? though I don't seem to find any skin issues with him. He does tend to favor his one ear time to time and 'flap' his ears but I know that this is pretty normal for dogs/greyhounds. He occasionally licks his groin but it's maybe once a day/every other day and barely a lick sometimes. Again usually around meal time so not sure if this is just routine/habit. At one point we did notice some faint pink spots on his inner thighs but they went away the next day and we haven't seen any since. Could be the dry air inside. Wondering if another fecal analysis needs done but I know we just did that in January and came back negative. (coughing started TECHNICALLY last July). It doesn't seem to get any worse, per se, but man, it's hard to see his whole body trying to hack something up. It's usually *cough*...*cough*....*small hack*.....*cough*....*cough*....larger hack. I really expect like a living animal to jump out of his throat when he does this. I can't explain it. It's really awful to see/hear. Counting down to the internal medicine appointment. I'll be sure to have everything prepared/ready since I've had to wait 4 weeks for this appt (we're in pittsburgh, pa--apparently there are only 2 internal medicine specialists in this area. Very frustrating) His name is Kriss by the way (racing name was Mulberry Kriss)

So with L.P., I suppose he has some of those symptoms. I don't seem to see any connections between the temperature and his coughing. We've had a brutal winter here thus far and he still seems to cough. We keep the temperature at about 68 or so in the house (a drafty, cool 68 in the winter). He also doesn't seem to have difficulty breathing. The only connection I make there is that if he does get excited and runs outside the cough seems to happen. Sometimes a few coughs and then he's fine. No hacking. However it doesn't ALWAYS happen, AND he still coughs when he's been napping for hours (no running at all that day). The vet did mention at one point in time (2 years ago) that he had a very subtle heart murmur though our other current vet was very puzzled to hear that. They didn't hear one at all every time we've been there. In the X-Rays we've taken there have been no signs of anything - not even a comment to say "well you may want to keep an eye on that". The vet has always said "your dog is perfectly healthy according to the X-Ray" (same thing with the dental cleaning, stool samples, blood work, etc..) No fever or any other symptoms linked to the cough other than that it's inconsistent (at least very hard for me to try to see a pattern). I have also started to give him just a bit of honey twice a day. He coughed a bit yesterday (literally three coughs) followed by a subtle hack - almost just an aggressive groan. I'm brushing his teeth more often as I know the extra sugar probably isn't great for his teeth. But I've heard honey can help with immune system and help to sooth throat??? Not too committed to this but thought I'd give it a try. I think I can disassociate the GI issues as he seems to be completely fine with that - eating, drinking, and relieving himself normally. Which is a small step forward in light of all of the other things he's been dealing with the past few months. At any rate, thank you everyone for your posts/sympathy/tips/advice. Helps to throw these ideas out to some kind of community that understands. Our vet seems to be getting tired of my phone calls and 'DIY analysis' but when you spend two thousand dollars on vet visits and tests without any diagnoses or answers, you tend to get paranoid. Wish they'd understand that more.

This is a complicated one. Issue 1: So our greyhound is turning 7 this April. Hes 80lbs and pretty lean and tall. About 6 or 7 months ago he started this weird cough. Started as just a few coughs around mealtime and when we let him out to the bathroom. Sort of just seemed more like a nuisance than anything. Gradually this culminated into a dry hacking afterword, like something in his throat. Hes been doing this for the past 3 months now with the hacking. This is on and off. Some days he doesnt do it. And some days he does. Some coughs are subtle, other hacking can be violent (whole body seems involved). I study this to the point that I feel like some animal behaviorist. There is no pattern to it. Can be any time, anywhere, any day. Nothing ever comes up. Just dry, and sometimes violent hacking. Our vet had given him something for bronchitis (antibiotic I believe?) and something for his esophagus. Cant remember if they worked during that time, but to this day he still coughs and hacks. Hes had a dental cleaning and did not need any extractions. His teeth are fine now and I dont think that has anything to do with this (something I suspected earlier). Issue 2: About 3 months ago I woke up early in the morning to let him outside to the bathroom. I saw he went poo and looked like diarrhea. I went back upstairs and about 15 mins later he was back out again...diarrhea. Fast forward 12 hours and hes had about 7-8 dirrhea episodes, as well as a lot of peeing. To the point that he was peeing in the house (has NEVER done this before. Would sometimes hold it for up to 11 hours during th day). Took him to the vet, put him on wet royal canine food along with probiotic and he continued to have pretty bad inconsistent diarrhea for about 2 weeks after. I decided to take matters into my own hands and change his food to Orijen (still had diarrhea off and on) then finally to Zignature (venison). His stool seems fine now. Present day: he still has the coughing every once and a while with hacking. His stool seems to be fine, but now hes really lethargic (still excited to go for a walk, still runs a bit outside, still eats and drinks a bunch of water- about 3 bowls a day) but otherwise is on the couch sleeping. He used to play with toys and follow us everywhere around the house. Weve had lots of blood work done, urine analysis, stool samples tested, X-rays taken, etc.. all come back completely fine. the vet has now referred us to internal medicine which will be in three weeks. Im not too optimistic as I hear many people sink thousands of dollars into this with no great results. Has anyone had this experience? Ive read A LOT. Im almost positive its not heart disease, kidney disease, COPD, etc. he has no vomiting or diarrhea. He loves eating. No other symptoms other than tired (also licks his lips often but not smacking- more so seems like hes just getting comfortable. But he does it a lot) nothing comes up when he hacks. I suspect this is some allergy but why is he so tired? Possibly the food? Its grain free etc.. not sure if that zaps his energy??? Nausea? (We have him on Pepcid AC. Just started today. No progress yet)