Blitz's Exploratory Surgery...

[dmswartzfager]

...will not happen today. The surgeon does not like his blood coagulation levels. Brian has asked her to get in touch with Dr. Couto, and she says she will.

 

In addition, his stool has been getting increasingly liquid, despite the fact that he has been getting only chicken and rice since he came home on Sunday. He's also VERY gassy and VERY stinky for a few hours before his BM (which has been about once a day). So they are going to do a bile acids test, and he is also slightly dehydrated (not sure how - he drinks plenty!) so they have him on IV fluids. I wonder if he is allergic to either chicken or rice (I think rice more likely).

 

I will pick him up this afternoon after I go on a raw meat run. Unless they tell me differently, I think I will switch him back to the kibble he was eating this summer and see if that helps his bowels. I'm not ready to try raw with him again until we get this all figured out.

 

The earliest the surgery would be is Monday.

[turbotaina]

Aw, geeze, Deanna, I hope they can figure this out for you!

[Jiffer]

Fingers crossed and many prayers for Blitz!

[Guest ss556]

Sending prayers from here and keeping paws crossed, of course. Hugs to Blitz.

[Guest Tenderhearts]

:hope :hope :hope

[Burpdog]

Sending prayers. What about cooked beef and chicken only--skip the grain?

[dmswartzfager]

Sending prayers. What about cooked beef and chicken only--skip the grain?

 

Yeah, I was considering that option. I was also going to try to pick the brains of Dr. Patty (regular vet) and the surgeon or whatever vet is available when Blitz gets discharged.

[Guest vahoundlover]

[greyhoundlov]

Aw, geeze, Deanna, I hope they can figure this out for you!

 

I know this is very frustrating for you. The not knowing is what drives me nuts...

[patricia]

Sending my many prayers.

[dmswartzfager]

I'm to pick him up at 5:30. I spoke to both Dr. Patty and the surgeon about his very loose stool. The surgeon wants him to stay on a bland diet, and Dr. Patty told me the rice needs to be freshly steamed at each meal. Well, I'm not steaming rice 5-6 times a day, so we're going to stick with chicken and go with either mashed potatoes or pasta. I wouldn't worry about the carb at all except for the fact that he needs about seven more pounds on his frame. If that doesn't work, then I'll go with just meat and try protein sources until we find one that works for him. I would think the chicken is okay because his kibble is chicken-based... but I don't know what to think any more.

 

 

I was nosing around the doctors' office last night looking for a patient's chart that I needed to write in and Dr. Patty asked me what I needed. I told her I needed a good cry, a stiff drink, and about 24 hours of sleep. She told me I looked like I needed that.

 

*sigh* As much as I love the boys, I don't think we're adopting a boy again - the three girls have been perfectly healthy while we've lost three boys and are having trouble with the fourth....

[Burpdog]

The boys are sent to you -- your specialty <sigh>

 

btw - thinking about this....you know the girls are a bit more....hmmm...demanding? You could be following him around with a chicken begging him to eat or $2 a can dog food she just turned her nose up.....or roast beef because it didn't look right in the bowl.....or......

 

remembering Magic -- she was a trip!

Edited September 21, 2007 by Burpdog

[Guest bowiebears]

Prayers and good wishes continue unabated from here.

 

--isaac

[Greytlady94]

Sending prayers for Blitz.

[Guest LolasMom]

More prayers for Blitz.

[Guest crazy4greys]

*sigh* As much as I love the boys, I don't think we're adopting a boy again - the three girls have been perfectly healthy while we've lost three boys and are having trouble with the fourth....

 

It is just so weird, because he didn't have any of those problems here. Maybe the moving stressed him out and caused something to pop up. Good luck, I hope everything turns out okay.

Edited September 22, 2007 by crazy4greys

[Guest greytbookert]

I've been following poor Blitz's issues and thought I'd offer a healing diet that we fed our Booker when he had liquid stools for weeks, into months and no medication or other diet changes were able to help him recover. From what I've read, Blitz is having some other issues but perhaps this can help his digestive tract heal and then you can concentrate on the other issues. I've shared this process with a few people who have had great success with it. It may sound a little out there but as I mentioned before, it was the only that helped Booker.

~~~~~~~~~~

First, continue with the meds that the vet gave you, I don't claim to be a vet I hope you are not against preparing some food for Blitz, as this was the ONLY thing that helped us and believe me we tried everything. This regimine was developed for us by a holistic vet, who specializes in nutrition. First stop all supplements if you are giving any. What we are trying to do here is give his bowel a rest. Blitz's first week of meals will be pretty bland but this is to help ease the amount of work his body needs to do to break down his food.

 

Week One - The measurements may vary with Blitz's weight and activity levels. Booker was about 71 pounds, fairly active but he was almost 13 at the time. We fed twice a day and I recommend it so that he isn't trying to process too much at once. If you can do three times, that is even better.

 

First prepare some Old Fashioned whole oats (oatmeal), not the instant kind. Cook them well (without butter or milk or sugar), mushy is great. Then sear some ground turkey, you don't want to over cook it but you want it done medium. Take both the turkey and the oats after they have cooled a bit and run them through a food processor or blender. This aids in breaking down the foods.

 

For the first week, there should be more oats than turkey, about 1/3 turkey and 2/3 oats. We fed 1.5 cups at each meal. Then after the first week, increase the turkey ratio weekly, until you are at almost no oats.

 

Also, after the first couple of days add in Slippery Elm Bark powder (soothes the digestive tract). I found it in an apothecary store out here in the sticks of MA, so hopefully you can find some near you. Also start looking for Bovine Colostrum (boosts the immune system and has other great qualities. I ordered mine online. If you need me to look it up, I'll be happy to.

 

When you have completed the first week of no supplements and the turkey and oats, start slowly adding in some colostrum. We worked up to 2 capules (can't remember the mgs) per meal and a half teaspoon of the slippery elm.

 

After the first week, his poo firmed up and there wasn't any horking of bile. If you suspect a food allergy to turkey, you can use chicken but I would steer clear of beef (didn't work for Booker and it is kind of fatty). If you have access to ground bison or another "exotic" meat that may work too but the turkey worked for us, when we couldn't find goat (which I was kind of happy about )

 

We continued the diet for a month and then slowly cut back on the turkey/oat mix and added in his other foods. We feed raw but if you are against that, you can start adding his kibble. If he has a set back, you may want to consider a different food.

 

I hope Blitz is feeling better very soon!

 

 

[Batmom]

FWIW, several years ago B had a virus (we presumed; couldn't find anything else) and had pretty liquid poop that only very gradually firmed up, over the course of @ 3 weeks. First couple days he didn't want to eat, obviously felt bad, and threw up a time or two. As docs couldn't find anything specific, we gave metronidazol and boiled beef with rice until things started improving.

 

Which carb is right for which dog -- that is a puzzle. B would never get firm on rice, had incredible liquid diarrhea on mashed potatoes, would throw up oats and noodles ....... These days I usually start with barley, cooked till very soft. None of my dogs seem to be able to process mashed potato in any quantity. But, all dogs are different.

 

Hugs and calm innards thoughts for Mr. Blitz.

[RobinM]

This must be so frustrating for you. Hugs and prayers for you and your baby.

 

[Guest LindsaySF]

he is also slightly dehydrated (not sure how - he drinks plenty!) so they have him on IV fluids.

He can be dehydrated because he is losing the water in his stool. Most water absorption occurs in the large intestine, and once the water is absorbed you get nice solid stool. If his stool is liquid, he isn't absorbing that water.

 

 

I will pick him up this afternoon after I go on a raw meat run. Unless they tell me differently, I think I will switch him back to the kibble he was eating this summer and see if that helps his bowels. I'm not ready to try raw with him again until we get this all figured out.

Did Blitz's problems start after switching to the raw diet?

 

He came to WAG slightly underweight and he did well in foster care, even gaining a few pounds. Can you try going back to the kibble that Crazy4greys had him on to see if that helps?

 

 

I'm thinking good thoughts for you guys!

 

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[dmswartzfager]

he is also slightly dehydrated (not sure how - he drinks plenty!) so they have him on IV fluids.

He can be dehydrated because he is losing the water in his stool. Most water absorption occurs in the large intestine, and once the water is absorbed you get nice solid stool. If his stool is liquid, he isn't absorbing that water.

 

True. I guess I was thinking that he's having a BM less than once a day, and I haven't seen the quantity of stool the last few days - he's doing it when Brian takes them out.

 

I will pick him up this afternoon after I go on a raw meat run. Unless they tell me differently, I think I will switch him back to the kibble he was eating this summer and see if that helps his bowels. I'm not ready to try raw with him again until we get this all figured out.

Did Blitz's problems start after switching to the raw diet?

 

He came to WAG slightly underweight and he did well in foster care, even gaining a few pounds. Can you try going back to the kibble that Crazy4greys had him on to see if that helps?

 

 

I'm thinking good thoughts for you guys!

 

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

No, he was looking a little down for a day or two, then vomited bile and grass, which I attributed to his tummy being mostly empty because he was losing interest in his kibble and wanted what the girls were having, before I switched him. Dr. Patty also cleared him for the switch even though she is somewhat hard-core against the raw diet - she says she can't argue with the results I'm getting and I'm the only person she knows that does it right. I won't deny that the raw diet might have made things worse, however. We'll just have to wait and see what the mass is, and figure out why his stomach wall is so thick.

 

The surgeon told us she still wanted him on a bland diet, otherwise I would've switched him back to his kibble already. As soon as we get the okay to feed him a regular diet, I will be going back to the kibble, and we'll just have to figure out a way to feed him at a different time or a completely different end of the house. I also believe it is a possibility that the Baytril he is on is causing the loose stools. I know Frazzle, who also had a sensitive tummy, had problems with some antibiotics.

 

[Guest sweetpea]

I know your vet said "fresh steamed rice" at every meal (yeah right, like you don't have 752 million OTHER things on your schedule already), I just wanted to add that the rice needs to be really over-cooked, if you make it like an unsweetened rice pudding, that's about the right consistency. So maybe cook it for 35 to 40 mins on really low heat, with a higher water ratio (instead of 2:1 water to rice, 2.25 to 1, or even 2.5).

 

Good luck

Buzzy

[dmswartzfager]

Hee-hee, Blitz just got up on the raised dog bed/couch for the first time - one of the very few beds he hasn't tried. I'll post pictures later. Anyway, I got on to report that the last stool has form - still not what I could call solid, but closer to solid than liquid. Maybe it was the rice causing the problem....

 

Oh, and he refuses to eat pumpkin.

 

Also, in reference to our attempt to switch Blitz to raw - Dr. Patty told me she didn't think it was the raw that caused the problem - and she would be the first to tell me it was. I mentioned to her that I was going to keep him on kibble, and she still thinks I should give raw another try once we figure out what's going on in Blitz's abdomen. Surprised me, but I still think he'll be on kibble until I feel brave enough to try again, assuming we still have the okay. Carrie has been giving us fits because she sees Blitz is getting something else and doesn't want what we're giving her. She did the same thing when Frazzle was getting whatever he would eat that day.

 

Anyway, the surgeon just called and said she hadn't heard back from Dr. Couto yet, but I understand he was speaking somewhere this weekend, and I told her as much. The bile acids test and the coagulation panel she sent out came back normal, and she was comfortable doing surgery tomorrow, but as long as Blitz is stable, she was willing to wait until Wednesday and give Dr. Couto a chance to look things over and give her some greyhound-specific information. We're comfortable waiting since he seems to be doing okay and has been active today and we saw the firmer stool. So it's looking like the surgery will be on Wednesday.

[patricia]

Know that my heart and prayers are with you.

[VinnieAndRexsMom]

The boys are sent to you -- your specialty <sigh>

She's right