Lymphangiectasia

[Guest terrysdad]

Hi all - In December, Terry came up lame on his back right leg. He first started limping, then screaming in agony. We took him to our local vet thinking he may have broken a toe or something like that. Our vet discovered that the leg was cold and suspected that it was a blood clot. They referred to the MSU vet hospital. We took Terry there (about an hours drive). They agreed that it was a blood clot, but there main concern was what caused it. They did some tests and suspected it was caused by Lymphangiectasia (an intestinal disease where the dog is not able to retain protein). They wanted to do a $2500 biopsy on his intestines, but we were not in a financial position to do this. They sent us home and told us that he probably did not have long to live.

 

Our Greyhound group referred us to their vet who were much more willing to work with us financially. They kept him for several nights until it seemed like he was on his way to recovery. The blood clot eventually resolved itself after many doses of heparin. They were concerned about the low blood protein levels. Our vet consulted with Dr. Couto, and got some recommendations on some tests that could be done to rule out various possibilities.

 

In February, Terry started having bad diarhea and retaining fluid in his belly and legs. The vet readmitted him and recommended a biopsy of his intestines, suspecting that it was either Lymphangiectasia (after all) or Lymphoma. The biopsy was inconclusive. They did not find Lyphoma, but they also said that since they were not able to take samples of his whole intestine, it could still be present in other areas. They decided that it would be best to treat him with the assumption that it was Lymphangiectasia.

 

He's been on Pred since then, along with Lasix and Metronizadole. He is on a Low Residue diet to help with the diarhea. We are also giving him protein powder (as much as he can stand) and four egg whites per meal per the vet's instructions. He was doing pretty well, but for the last week, it seems like he's started going downhill again. His blood tests showed that his protein levels were down again and he's starting to retain fluid again and he's starting to have diarhea again. We are going to switch his food to one that contains MCTs (Medium Chain Triglycerides) since this is supposed to help. Hopefully something will get him back on the track to recovery. Does anyone know of any greyts with this disease? We'd love to get in touch with folks and compare stories.

 

Thanks for listening.

[Scooby172]

My 11 year old greyhound, Flash just passed away Easter Sunday from gastrointestinal lymphoma. His main symptoms were, diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss. He did really well for a long time (7 months) gained some weight back, eating, he always had diarrhea. He was on prednisone on and off as well as metronidazole and sulfasalazine. He did not have any fluid retention during his illness and did not have any blood clots. Hope this helps some. I wish you the best of luck and many more happy days with Terry.

Linda, Keeva and Valor

[Burpdog]

I suggest you contact Dr. Couto at Ohio State asap again to see if he has any further advice. Copy & paste your post and send any pertinent blood work, etc.

 

greyosu@osu.edu

 

Sending prayers!

Edited April 11, 2007 by Burpdog

[tbhounds]

I have been treating a grey with IBD for about a year now. Like your dog he HAD low blood proteins. I did have an endoscopy performed ( to rule out GI Lymph) and after a few Dr.s opinions it was concluded that he has IBD. He was initially put on Pred but it just didn't help. He was since put on another steroid called Budesonide (3mgs/day). I truly believe that drug saved his life because like your guy he was very sick. He's still taking it although we were able to reduce the dosage now. Budesonide is a steroid that pretty much stays in the GI tract and therefore they don't get the usual side-affects that they would with Pred. (like drinking and panting). He also on a hypo-allerginic food (duck and potato) and extra fiber (Metamucill) is added. He CANNOT tolerate anything else--including anything related to chicken (including eggs). He's also taking a medication called Azathrioprine. That is a cytotoxic drug to chill out his immune system as IBD could be an auto-immune disease.

I do hope that your vet will research Budesonide for you--it really worked well for my dog--don't think he would be here today w/o it. I had to have it compounded for us--used Island Pharmacy.

Please feel free to PM me if I could help any further.

 

Sorry just noticed that would might not be able to PM yet--contact me directly if you would like

tracy734@aol.com

Edited April 12, 2007 by tbhounds

[tbhounds]

Looking for an update--how's Terry??

[MP_the4pack]

Did you have liver function tests done? Not the regular liver enzymes in the normal chem panel. You have to ask for these separate. You're supposed to get two samples, fasting then one immediately after eating.

 

I was told that Topaz had an intestinal disease too. She had a protein losing enteropathy.

 

Turned out her liver was shot. Her liver function test were off the charts.

 

She was five when she went to the Bridge.

 

 

Good luck.

 

MP

[Guest terrysdad]

Thanks for the advice and prayers, everyone!

 

Linda, I'm really sorry that you lost Flash! My prayers go out to you and your family. Thank you for letting us know about his symptoms (they sound pretty familiar, unfortunately).

 

Burpdog, We haven't received the numbers back yet from the last protein level check, we were just told they were low. I'll send an email to Dr. Couto and see if he has any further recommendations.

 

Tbhounds, The vet hasn't mentioned Budesonide, so we will ask him to research it. Thanks for the other info, too!

 

MP, I'm really sorry you lost Topaz. (What a pretty name!) With all the tests Terry has had, I can't remember if they did a liver test. (I think they did.) Also, when the vet did the biopsy of his intestines in February, I think he said Terry's other organs (including liver) looked ok. We'll ask the vet about this, though, the next time we see him.

 

Thanks again everyone!

Edited April 12, 2007 by terrysdad

[Guest terrysdad]

Just wanted to give you all an update. We contacted Dr. Couto's office with the email address provided by Burpdog. Unfortunately the person who replied just told us what we already knew. We have switched to Purina EN in hopes that this will help. Terry is not nearly as fond of this food as he was of the Eukanuba Low Res, but I hear the Medium Chain Triglycerides that are in this food aren't very tasty, so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, as long as he's eating. We are still giving him lots of protein powder and eggs. He's still having diarhea. Fluid accumulation seems to have slowed down.

[tbhounds]

Sorry to hear that Terry really hasn't improved all that much. I really feel you should seek out another opinion. Is there a Gastro doc in your area??--How about a cert. internist? I'm confident that my dog was seen by some really awesome Dr.s, however, he really never improved until I found a Board Cert Gastro Dr. (Dr Broussard-Animal Medical Center, NY) He was the Dr that suggested putting my boy on Budesonide--it saved his life. Are you near a University?? What medication is Terry taking now?

Thanks for the update--I was thinking of him.

[Guest terrysdad]

Unfortunately, the nearest university is MSU and we had a not so great experience there with the Vet Hospital there.

Here's the latest update on Terry . . .

 

We took Terry to Sylvania Vet this morning for a check of his protein levels. (We also had them trim his nails while we were there, and they commented that he must be getting extra protein because they're pretty strong and thick!) His weight is at 81 pounds, up some since the last visit, some of which is due to fluid accumulation.

 

The vet just called with the results of Terry's protein level check. Albumin was 1.4 and has gone up to 1.9. The normal range starts at 2.5, so this is a significant gain - although it's still low. Globulin is 2.8, which is normal. Total Protein was 4.9 and has gone down to 4.7. The normal range starts at 5.5, so this is still low. Since the change wasn't significant, we're going to continue doing what we have been doing and check it again in a month.

 

Overall, Terry looks like he is doing well. We are still feeding him lots of eggs and protein powder. He is still on Prednizone, Lasix and Metranizadole. The fluid accumulation has improved over the last month. He still pants a lot, and he will usually pee on the linoleum if we haven't been home in 4+ hours. He loves to lay in the yard in the cool grass, and he's always there at our hips when we're working on dinner, etc. Keep him in your prayers!

[tbhounds]

Thanks for the update. I would have hoped that Terry's b/w had improved. I would think that if Terry was going to respond to the current meds he would have by now. His proteins are still so low. Maybe you should consider a different diet. I would try a hypo-allerengic diet. Think I have mentioned to you before that my guy couldn't tolerate chicken--including eggs or egg protein at all. He's now eating Duck and Potato with extra fiber added. He's still doing VERY well on the Budesonide. Like your dog he just never really improved with the Pred. but right now (his values were as low as your dogs) his TP is 5.4 I have him weaned down to one pill (3mgs) every other day. He took Tylan powder for 8 months and Metronidazole on and off for months too. He also had B-12 injections but, honestly I know he never really would have improved this well w/o the proper medication. Did your vet run a biles acids test yet? If not absolutely suggest that. That's a super test to interpret liver function. Well wishes being sent

Edited May 11, 2007 by tbhounds

[Guest terrysdad]

Terry passed away on Tuesday. Up until then, he had been doing well. He was due for another protein level check, but things were slowly improving.

 

When we got up Tuesday morning, he was doing fine. We let him out for a potty break around nine, then shortly after he came inside he puked on his bed upstairs and had diarrhea on the kitchen floor. We thought maybe he had gotten a little overheated so we tried to cool him down and get him to drink water. He ended up puking three more times in the course of the next hour, and had more diarrhea. When he started having trouble breathing and his gums turned pale, Annette called the vet and they had us bring him in right away. When we were about a mile from the vets office, he stopped breathing. When we were at the vet, they brought out a stretcher and they carried him into the emergency room and they immediately intubated him and started CPR. They tried to defibrillate him twice, but he had just had enough and they weren't able to bring him back.

 

He was such a wonderful dog, very affectionate, fiercely protective and sometimes a real goofball who would make us laugh, despite all of his health issues. What a wonderful gift he was. We miss him more than words can say.

[Burpdog]

Sending my sympathy Please put a thread in Rememberance. He sounds like a special guy!

 

[ml529]

I'm so sorry for you loss. He sounds like he was a sweetheart.

[Guest whatahound]

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

Godspeed Terry.

[Guest trevdog]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Godspeed sweet boy......

[NancyB]

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about Terry

[lovinggreysslp]

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Godspeed Terry.

[Guest Greensleeves]

Oh, no. I'm so sorry!

[Guest greytexplorer]

so so sorry

I love your Terry because he looks so much like my Ester.

Poor you. How are you coping?

[GreyTzu]

Terry has gone to the bridge.