 Dirk's Illness
Hello. First and foremost, I know exactly what you are going through, and it is horrible. Try to be positive and get your yorkie the help he needs. After about 5 days of diarrhea, I took my yorkie Scruffy to the vet. The vet ran a CBC and he had an albumin level of 1.9 which is well below what is normal. The doctor gave me a long list of possibilities as to why he had this problem. . . kidney disease, liver disease, lymphagiectasia, IBD, lymphoma, etc. The first step my vet took was to collect a urine and fecal sample. The urinalysis results ruled out kidney problems as his kidneys are the picture of health. The fecal exam looked at whether or not he had some type of parasite that was causing the problem. He did not have a parasitic infection. The next step was an abdominal ultrasound performed by an ultrasound specialist. The doctor gave me the option of waiting two weeks to see if the problem was purely related to colitis, but I opted to have the ultrasound done right away. The ultrasound showed some areas on inflammation in the stomach, as well as the intestines. Both the ultrasound tech and my doctor agreed that there were no true clinical signs that led them to believe it was lymphagectasia, thus, they determined it is IBD. By this time, Scruffy was back to himself and was putting on weight. Scruffy is allergic to something in food and he must be kept on a strict diet. He eats prescription food and is currently on 1/4 of a pill of metrodinazole twice a day. He appears to have put some weight back on and is back to being his playful self. The doctor insists that that there is the possibility that Scruffy can come off of the medication at some point, but his protein levels must be stable first. Be sure that you ask your vet as many questions as possible. Make sure that he/she has an understanding of all of the above mentioned problems and don't be afraid to get a second opinion if you do not see your dog's condition improving. I will warn you that the cost of running these tests adds up [about $1000 for me], but it was worth it to make sure that Scruffy is getting the care that he needs. As I said, he's a happy little camper these days, and aside from getting his medicine twice a day, everything is back to normal. He'll have another CBC run in a few weeks to monitor his albumin and globulin levels. Good Luck!!
Sue |