Mystery Illness For Almost 6 Months

[seeh2o]

Captain, Ed's 14.5 year old Boston Terrier, had a long bought with a skin staph infection he picked up when he was boarded. His other dog didn't get it, but Captain did and had a hard time shaking it. Daily baths, lots of different meds, etc.

 

Captain has always had loose stools, always, no matter what. After the staph infection cleared up he was left with chronic big D. Ed tried changing his food (gradually) Blue Buffalo and even the miracle green bag of Iams, to no avail. It continued to get worse, the vet tested him for everything, did a full fecal panel, blood tests, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have his medical records at my house, so I can't give details.

 

He has been on a low dose of flagyl for over a month, he has been on Tylan powder for about 2 weeks, again, no help. A couple of months ago Captain's poor bottom was so irritated that he began dragging it around and now it almost always has blood on his anus. Ed has him wearing a diaper at night so he can get some sleep without a bloody mess on his bed. When I say bloody mess, it is spots of bloody serum, bright red, but mixed with serum. It is not gushing blood and he has no blood at all in his stool.

 

Because he is 14.5 Ed can't see spending $$$ on a doggy colonoscopy, which I completely understand. Captain, though he is 14.5, you would never know it, he is a very very energetic and playful boy. You would never know there was a thing wrong with him. He is maintaining his weight and is otherwise in very good health.

 

I asked Ed last night if the vet had treated Captain for worms, he said no because they didn't find any. I've been reading the threads here about worms and, if I am understanding it right, some worms are hard to detect even when sent to the lab for micro. Could this be worms?

 

I'm grasping at straws, does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[DaisyDoodle]

I don't know a lot about worms, but it might be worth a course of panacur or other worms meds.

 

The other thing that occurs to me is to regrow the good flora that were offed by the antibiotics. I'd give the dog probiotics and/or yogurt.

[macoduck]

I wonder if some Cerenia would help calm the colon. Ask for the pills as the injection form is quite painful.

[Batmom]

Worth treating with a couple rounds of Panacur if that hasn't been done. But at this point, with that much irritation, I would probably move ahead with some other diagnostics. First make sure vet has looked at anal glands (surprising how many times even medical people forget those, alas). If all checks out there, abdominal x-ray after 24-hour fast.

 

Best wishes for the poor guy!

[tbhounds]

At 14.5 yrs I would rule out a rectal mass.

[Guest LindsaySF]

I would do Panacur regardless of fecal exam results. My other thought is the antibiotics to treat the Staph infection might have killed the good intestinal flora. Did he test for SIBO?

 

Sophie had diarrhea from antibiotics and her stool is only just now starting to form up after a month of Forti-flora.

 

With the blood and dragging his bum, I would check for infected/impacted anal glands too. Chronic diarrhea can make it more likely to occur.

[MaryJane]

Anal glands need to be checked- they are probably infected. Need to put dog on either yogurt or probiotics to re-establish the normal bacteria in the gut. Change the dog's diet to cooked hamburger and rice to soothe the GI tract for about a week or two and see if there is a slight improvement - if there is, add some cooked oatmeal (tablespoon or two) into the food as that contains fiber and helps to firm up the poop.

[seeh2o]

First of all, many thanks for your suggestions, I am taking notes and will be talking with Ed about all the suggestions you have made.

 

I asked Ed to get Captain's medical records. I'm hoping to get him in to see my vet on Sat for a consultation. She is an amazing diagnostician. I thought the same thing about his gut flora being thrown off by all the meds he was on from treating the staph. All the suggestions remind me of things I'd forgotten to add: he did try giving yogurt, it didn't help and made him smell really weird for a few hours after each meal that he eaten yogurt (weird, huh?) and he did try Forti-Flora and, if I recall correctly, that made the rectal itching even worse and may have triggered the bleeding. I can't say for sure if that is the correct timeline, I just know it made things really worse.

 

He was dragging his bottom, that combined with the diarrhea, was what drove him back to the vet after the staph was cured. He assumed he needed his anal glands expressed, but they were fine. I don't know if they've done a digital rectal exam to check for an anal/rectal mass, I am assuming they have, but I shouldn't assume. Like I said, he doesn't want to go the colonoscopy route and we discussed xrays with the vet and he said that if there is a mass in the colon, they probably would not be able to see it as it would be a soft tissue mass which is supposed to be hard to read in a radiograph.

 

I was there at the last vet visit (the first one I went to as I haven't been in town when he has taken him...Ed lives in Las Vegas and I live in LA...it has worked nicely for us for 13 or so years!). I asked the vet about cancer, he felt that after the fecal panel came back negative that the possibility of cancer went way up the list, given Captain's age.

 

What is SIBO?

 

I will ask about Cerenia, Panacur and if a digital anal/rectal exam was performed.

 

This feels like a vet version of House.

[seeh2o]

Ed is waiting for the vet to call him back. He has done a digital rectal exam, no mass, anal glands are not infected. He is going to ask about Cerenia and Panacur. Looked up SIBO, it is something BTs may get, so he is going to ask about that, too.

Edited June 12, 2012 by seeh2o

[Batmom]

Soft tissue mass can be hard to see on an x-ray but it's a quick, easy, noninvasive way to rule things in, if that makes sense? You're not always looking for a mass, exactly; sometimes what you can see is the suggestion of one -- things not quite the shape they ought to be.

[seeh2o]

Soft tissue mass can be hard to see on an x-ray but it's a quick, easy, noninvasive way to rule things in, if that makes sense? You're not always looking for a mass, exactly; sometimes what you can see is the suggestion of one -- things not quite the shape they ought to be.

 

You know, that's what I wondered about, Batmom. When Chaka had cancer, I could see it clearly in the xray. It was like looking at one of those pictures of "what doesn't belong here". It was the vet who didn't want to do xrays, not Ed.

 

Thanks, I'll email him and add it to the list of questions, assuming the vet hasn't called him yet....

[greyhead]

Spencer got a little skin infection that everybody said was probably staph, some time after he developed SIBO but before it was cured. I seem to remember from that time that there is some correlation between the two, oddly enough. So another vote for a possible stool culture to rule SIBO out (or in). Not to say that the other things mentioned shouldn't be done also.

[seeh2o]

Vet didn't call tonight, hopefully tomorrow.

[seeh2o]

Spencer got a little skin infection that everybody said was probably staph, some time after he developed SIBO but before it was cured. I seem to remember from that time that there is some correlation between the two, oddly enough. So another vote for a possible stool culture to rule SIBO out (or in). Not to say that the other things mentioned shouldn't be done also.

 

How was Spencer treated for the SIBO?

[seeh2o]

The vet reviewed his labs and tests, no test for SIBO has been performed. He is taking him for a test for SIBO and will go home with Panacur. I'm still lobbying for radiographs.