Intestinal Lymphangectasia

[greypuppyluv]

This was posted on another board I'm on by someone who is not on GT. I offered to post it here (with their permission) to see if anyone might be able to help them:

 

 

Our Dillon was diagnosed with Intestinal Lymphangectasia on January 3 of this year and has lost a lot of weight. The disease prevents him from processing his food properly. He is on the protocol diet of Medium Chain Tryglyceride (MCT) oil, Prednisone, and low fat/high quality protein dry dog food. He did not like the first food so we switched. Now he does not like the medium chain tryglyceride oil; we he been doctoring them with non-fat chicken broth or non fat beef broth. We have not been able to get any weight back on him yet - possibly due to not getting enough food and oil down him or just the disease. We opted for the MCT oil instead of the other MCT product called Portagen because of ease of calculating the correct amount and dosing.

 

Any experience you could share with us would be appreciated. Thanks.

[tbhounds]

MCT oils taste awful and quite frankly I don't feel they are necc. Your pup will gain weight back once you get the disease under control. What worked for my pup was finding a novel food he liked-Flagyl as needed and most importantly Budesonide rather than pred. PM me if you have any more questions that maybe I can answer.

[DaisyDoodle]

Unfortunately, I have never heard of this disorder, so can't help with the diet. However, I'd like to suggest being careful with prepared broths. I would recommend low sodium and no MSG broths. It is especially hard to find a beef broth that fits these criteria, but chicken or veggie broths in the paper containers are available.

[greyhead]

For your friend:

 

Just now seeing this. I do believe lymphangectasia is a symptom, not a disease in and of itself. But it may be indicative of a disease that you need to discover.

 

We saw this condition on Spencer's ultrasound after we diagnosed his SIBO through a poop test. He lost 20 pounds through the ordeal. Based on such structural changes as lymphangectasia seen on ultrasound and on his behavioral symptoms, moderate to severe IBD was diagnosed. So to me it sounds like you need a better diagnosis if you want to put weight on your pup. (We switched to raw, then eliminated chicken and beef, give an immunosuppressant and two antibiotics, and B-12 injections.) I could say lots more about what tests to perform and what to look for, but I'll let it at this for now. Somebody let me know if more help is needed.

 

Mary

[greypuppyluv]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I've passed the info along to Dillon's parents, who are friends of mine. I'm sure they will find the information useful.