Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who took the time to give me such wonderful heartfelt advice and so many well wishes! Brings a tear to my eye!
Zoe is doing so much better! She was on put on mitronidazole, and I fed her once an hour--canned food, nutri-cal, baby food and mushed Royal Canin babydog 30--all through syringe, for 5 days...then she started to eat on her own! Yay! She was also given a dextrose injection by the vet. First fecal test showed just the tape worms, which are now gone. Second showed giardia, which she started medicine for today. She has not gained any weight--still at 1.5 lbs--but she hasn't lost any either. She has more energy (although I don't encourage any play at all at this point). She is already so attached to me and to my husband, as well as to my male tri-colored cavalier (maybe she sees the common coloring?).
The vet does still feel that it is quite likely that she has a liver shunt based on all of her blood work. She wants to re-run the blood work in a couple of weeks, provided Zoe keeps doing well. Then she wants to follow that with the bile acids test and imaging studies after that.
In what can only be described as the worst timing ever, I had to leave town today for surgery, and will be returning home in a week. My 17-year-old son is there with her, and my best friend across the street is caring for her day and night, feeding every two hours now...I'm so lucky! I think of her practically every moment
and trust that all will be well this week...
Please continue with any advice you have...I love this site already
Jen