Poor Blitz Has Had A "rough" 24 Hours

[dmswartzfager]

I mean, it could be worse, but here's what has happened in the last day....

 

I took him to the eye doctor yesterday for his 6-month checkup for his eyelid thing. It looks *pretty much* the same as it did, but there is now a chalazion associated with it - which is just a fancy way of saying he has a blocked gland. If it were bothering him, and that was the only thing going on there, she would go in and scrape out the gland, but since it's not bothering him and the meds seem to be keeping things stable, we're just to continue what we're doing. So, he gets a drop of prednisolone acetate in that eye once a day, and 10 mg of prednisone two days out of three. What was stressful for him was the trip in the van - he didn't settle for more than 5 minutes, and he was panting a little. So, he'll probably need one of his "sisters" to ride with him from now on....

 

The eye doctor mentioned that we should be monitoring his liver values because of the long-term pred, and that made me realize we hadn't done bloodwork on him in a while. Plus, he's been having awful gas, and his poops were softer than they should be with him on the raw diet, and they *stank*. He's also been less enthusiastic about food. I thought maybe it was the Body Sore (Chinese herbal) I had just started him on, or maybe the poop he likes to eat, but after eliminating those things, nothing really changed. So I called Dr. Patty and had her stop by to look at him and pull some blood.

 

He was *really* feisty about having his belly touched but didn't seem to indicate pain once I had him fully restrained (vet assistant experience) and Patty was able to feel around. We did the blood draw, and Patty gave us some metronidazole. Fecal was also sent out.

 

I noticed he started bruising on the leg we did the blood draw, and by the time DH got home a few hours later, his whole leg from wrist to elbow was swollen and bruised. It was impossible to see any underlying structure - the leg was half again the normal size and felt like one of those stress balls when I squeezed it. So we iced and I put a compression bandage on it. The bruise has gone a little further in the past 24 hours, but the swelling is almost gone. I'll be applying some warmth later and watching to see if the swelling returns. (He got to go to the lab with me today so I could keep an eye on him.) This is not the first time stuff like this has happened - the first time (we know about) was two years ago with his abdominal surgery - all four legs blew up and seeped something awful. Platelets have been normal, however.

 

On to the lab results. Fecal was negative, and included a giardia screen. Bloodwork was not as good. White blood cells, especially lymphocytes, are low, and would explain the recent preputial infection he had. Likely, this is related to the prednisone. His kidney values were high - BUN was 53 mg/dL (range 7-27) and creatinine was 1.9 mg/dL (range 0.4-1.8). Dr. Patty feels this would explain his inappetence and his looser stool.

 

So, she's in contact with the eye doctor about the prednisone, the internist who saw Blitz when he was diagnosed with IBD two years ago, and also sent an e-mail to OSU, and is waiting to hear back from them. I have also sent an e-mail to Dr. Alison, who is a veterinary acupuncturist and herbalist.

 

I will almost certainly have to change his diet (we feed raw), and unfortunately, I don't think he'll be able to tolerate the kidney diet kibbles. I know there are homemade kidney diets out there - I just haven't had time to research them yet, and I have also asked Dr. Patty to ask the internist if she knows of any nutritionists who would be able to help me work around Blitz's "can't haves."

 

*sigh* I love my boys, but they do give me all the wrong reasons to be learning more veterinary stuff...

 

[Guest Energy11]

Wow! What a day, for sure!

 

I know what you mean! I love my five, but, sometimes, ... especially now, being alone on the mountain here with them, and DH in Orlando, I am GLAD I do have a lot of medical experience. I worry A LOT, though. Goldie HATES Science Diet K/D Kibble. You MIGHT want to try the canned Purina NF, or the Royal Canin MP. She LOVES both the canned and the kibble! Good Luck!

[Burpdog]

BUN does sound high. He's not on very much pred to alter values. Creatine is fine.

 

I know you are suppose to consider he is raw fed when interpreting the blood work. Did they?

 

Sending prayers.

[GreyPoopon]

Yikes. Poor Blitz. Poor you.

 

I hope he feels better soon, and that some of the not-so-good things improve.

 

I understand exactly what you mean about learning medicine for all the wrong reasons...

[dmswartzfager]

Wow! What a day, for sure!

 

I know what you mean! I love my five, but, sometimes, ... especially now, being alone on the mountain here with them, and DH in Orlando, I am GLAD I do have a lot of medical experience. I worry A LOT, though. Goldie HATES Science Diet K/D Kibble. You MIGHT want to try the canned Purina NF, or the Royal Canin MP. She LOVES both the canned and the kibble! Good Luck!

 

To the best of my knowledge, he appears to be unable to process/tolerate rice, which is one of the main ingredients in those foods. Now, it's been 18 months since we've tried, but he got diarrhea when we tried him on the Wellness limited ingredient diet, which is basically venison and rice. We *know* he's okay with venison, so I believe it was the rice.

 

 

BUN does sound high. He's not on very much pred to alter values. Creatine is fine.

 

I know you are suppose to consider he is raw fed when interpreting the blood work. Did they?

 

Sending prayers.

 

Well, Patty is well aware that he's on a raw diet. I don't think I have the most recent bloodwork on hand, but what I do have is from 11 months ago, after he had been raw fed for about 8 months - BUN was 20 mg/dL and creatinine was 1.6 mg/dL. So, not a huge change with the creatinine, but certainly a huge change with the BUN.

[dex95lucy]

Grassmere Animal Hospital has helpful info on lab values for greyhounds. But the best determination is comparing his

 

current values with any previous labs he had when he was not on meds. My Bessie recently had labs done and the vet said

 

they were good, but for her they were not the best. The young vet is not yet greyhound savy! Our babies don't always say

 

much when they are not feeling their best. Hope he gets straightened out soon.

 

Sue

 

 

[nyGreys]

Sending prayers for Blitz.

[Guest ss556]

I feel so bad for Blitz, he's a handsome fella. I hope all things get straightened out for him. Blitz is in my prayers.

[MaryJane]

I'm so sorry, I hope things improve ...

 

You may want to consider contacting Dr. Remaillard at Angel Memorial in Boston for a "kidney diet". I believe she does phone consults. I have used her for a few diets in the past and just recently for an adjustment in Larry's diet as his creatinine was slightly elevated and because of that, we have decided to watch his protein and phosphorus.

 

http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagen...rition_Services

 

If your greyhound cannot do rice, there are other carbos out there that can likely be substituted but it would be difficult with any of the commercial feeds.

 

Do you know if a urinalysis was done ... if not, you might want to discuss with the vet doing a urinalysis on a "first morning specimen".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dmswartzfager]

I'm so sorry, I hope things improve ...

 

You may want to consider contacting Dr. Remaillard at Angel Memorial in Boston for a "kidney diet". I believe she does phone consults. I have used her for a few diets in the past and just recently for an adjustment in Larry's diet as his creatinine was slightly elevated and because of that, we have decided to watch his protein and phosphorus.

 

http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagen...rition_Services

 

If your greyhound cannot do rice, there are other carbos out there that can likely be substituted but it would be difficult with any of the commercial feeds.

 

Do you know if a urinalysis was done ... if not, you might want to discuss with the vet doing a urinalysis on a "first morning specimen".

 

 

Thanks for the info about Dr. Remaillard - I know we're going to have an interesting time figuring out what we can feed without triggering his IBD. And just to make things more interesting, he didn't do well on the usual (and some unusual) drugs used for IBD management - he's controlled pretty much by diet alone.

 

No urinalysis has been done - I think we're holding off until everyone gets back to me or Patty so that we can figure out the best (and most money-efficient) course of action.

[Guest BiancasMom]

Wow! What a stressful day! My sister's dog (not a grey but still a dog :-) ) was recently diagnosed with IBD and kidney disease (not at same time but within the last 6 months). She had to be on steroids for her IBD and that was NOT making her kidneys happy. We thought it may be near the end for her but then someone told her about Azodyl. Sorry, I don't have a link but you can do a Google search. It significantly decreased (pretty much eliminated) her azotemia. She began eating again and her BUN and CREAT went down. I can't remember her numbers sorry. She now frolicks like her old self! Both diseases can be frustrating to manage. Good luck Blitz and I hope you feel better soon!!

[Guest paulamariez]

Poor sweet Blitz! I am sending Blitz lots of healing prayers, love and light. Get well sweet boy!

[sweetdogs]

I will almost certainly have to change his diet (we feed raw), and unfortunately, I don't think he'll be able to tolerate the kidney diet kibbles. I know there are homemade kidney diets out there - I just haven't had time to research them yet, and I have also asked Dr. Patty to ask the internist if she knows of any nutritionists who would be able to help me work around Blitz's "can't haves."

Could you try a phosphorus blocker before you change his diet? Ground eggshell powder works in addition to the stuff the vet sells. It's phosphorus that's hard on the kidneys & unless they're in really bad shape that may keep him on his regular diet. If not raw, then home-cooked & meat-based. The website Dogaware has a lot of info on kidney diets.

 

for Blitz & his flippy ears.

[Guest Tenderhearts]

Between that sweet face and the ears, he's surely got my heart!

 

Here's hoping for better days ahead for handsome Blitz! :goodluck

[LuvAPuppy]

What about oatmeal as his carb? Misty can tolerate oatmeal, but I'm not sure of it's phosphorus content...

[Guest Tuxsmom]

I love the ears! It must be so frustrating to try to manage more than one condition at the same time with your boy

 

sending lots of

[Batmom]

Sending prayers and gentle scritchies to your handsome Blitz. Hope you can get things figured out for him.

[jamngrey]

Prayers for you and yur pup....btw I LOVE his ears

[turbotaina]

Deanna, hope you can get him sorted out, poor boy.

[dmswartzfager]

OSU has responded and recommended a urinalysis, blood pressure, and "checking for clinical signs of kidney disease." They also recommended looking for blood in the stool and doing a fecal smear, and agree that the creatinine is nothing to be concerned about. I haven't talked to Dr. Patty yet - she only forwarded the e-mail, and I know she won't be home until about 9 tonight (she does relief work in addition to house calls).

 

I'll be talking to Dr. Alison (acupuncture/herbals) around 6 pm tonight.

 

I ended up reapplying a compression bandage to Blitz's leg last night as his foot and ankle area were still swollen. I removed it late this morning, and it looks like the swelling is gone, but he is bruised from the tops of his toes up to his "armpit." I'll continue to keep an eye on it.

[Guest dwolfe711]

Awwwww - Blitz sweetie - you are really putting Mom and Dad through the wringer!! Hang in there Buddy and hopefully all those great vets and your very knowledgable Mom will have you good as new!! We will be thinking about you and hoping you'll soon be feeling better - and Mom, too!!

 

Donna

[TheFullHouse]

Poor guy, hope you get things figured out soon.

[Guest kydie]

What a day, sending white light your way

[MaryJane]

What about oatmeal as his carb? Misty can tolerate oatmeal, but I'm not sure of it's phosphorus content...

 

Oatmeal does not have the lowest phosphorus content but, if your doing the phosphorus counts on everything, then you can determine how much oatmeal you can do daily. Grits is low in phosphorus along with cream of wheat/rice but they cannot be the quick cooking type.