sorry I haven't updated sooner. My computer kindof crashed Friday night - it will turn on and start loading up and then just freeze and won't go any further
I've been getting on YT with my iphone but it takes a lot longer to type so I didn't want to type a long response. I had to come up to school today to print some things off so I thought I'd update now.
I think the consult went great! I really liked Dr. Gordon and Susan Davis. They really seemed to know what they were talking about. Dr. Gordon said Hepatic Lipidosis is very uncommon in dogs, but it's seen in the Yorkshire Terrier most commonly. He felt like her intestinal disease was probably linked to her liver problems, and he said most likely it was something she was predisposed too..something genetic with her metabolism.
I talked to Susan Davis for about an hour. She said she loves the NV raw medallions but doesn't think it is good to feed only that. She thinks they are too rich (high protein/high fat and lots of organ meat) for it to be the whole diet. She didn't seem to think having an all high-protein diet was the way to go and said she's seen too many dogs get sick and did a lot of blood testing on her own dog when changing foods. She recommended a combination of raw and homecooking, and the homecooked diet she provided for us was a moderate protein/low fat diet. I told her I was always so pro-feeding only raw but I trusted her and thought she probably knows what's she's talking about.
She gave us a fish-based diet (using whitefish and salmon) with potato and some veggies. We'll also use fish oil and some olive oil every day. Lacy will also get a vit. B complex supplement and will use three other supplements for now, but I'm hoping eventually we won't have to use those and that she'll be fine on the new diet. She will eat only this homecooked diet for a month, and then if she is doing well we can decrease to feeding 1/2 the homecooked and add 1.5 raw medallions back in. I'll feed her three meals a day and she'd get 1/2 medallion and some homecooked at each meal.
Rylie will also be doing half homecooked and half raw. He's got a much slower metabolism and is a little chunky so he gets about 1/3 of the recipe she gave me and one raw medallion a day. And he'll get some fish oil and olive oil too.
I cooked enough food to last me 16 days for both of them last night. Eventually when Lacy can have some raw too it will last more like 25 days. They seem to like the food...it's just so much bulkier than the raw. So hopefully they will do well on this. I would definitely recommend Susan Davis to anyone looking for a nutrition consult!
I just e-mailed the specialist Lacy saw at A&M to do a little followup too. I got an additional test result in Friday. I submitted a fecal sample to the GI lab for a PCR, and she did test positive for two bacteria (Campylobacter upsaliensis and enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens). I think both have been found in healthy dogs but have also been associated with diarrhea in some. I also asked her if we needed to Vit. B injections as well and when we'll need to retest her bloodwork.
she's been doing great though. I took her stitches out friday and gave her a bath.