I wanted to provide a quick update on little guy's status.
I took him in to an internal medicine specialist, Mimi Noonan (
Our Doctors - Veterinary Specialty Center). She listened intently to my story and told me she thinks it's one of three things:
Addison's disease. An issue with the adrenal gland that prevents the body from mounting an appropriate response to stresses. If there are stresses (e.g., thunder) the body is not able to cope with the stress, and physiological issues arise, often as diarrhea and/or vomiting. Treatment is extremely simple and requires a daily oral medicine.
Colitis. If I’m not mistaken, I believe the doctor said that this is also a physiological issue that manifests itself in the gastrointestinal tract. In other words, it is not a failure of the gastrointestinal tract itself, but something about body chemistry that is causing the issue.
Other gastrointestinal issue. Basically, there could be an issue in the gut itself that is creating the problems. There could be a wide range of issues that are causing the diarrhea and vomiting.
In order to test for Addisons, they needed to draw blood. They did so, and I just received a call as I was typing this. He does not have Addisons.
To test for colitis and other GI issues, they need to perform an ultrasound, and, as the doctor stated, almost always follow up with an endoscopy and biopsy under general anesthesia. I just finished scheduling him for the ultrasound, endoscopy, and biopsy for this Friday.
I’m very concerned about putting him under because he has extremely adverse reactions to anesthesia. (Almost died one time, and needed to be pumped with atropine.) But, the doctor assured me that they have two of the best anesthesiologists on staff.
I’ll report back with updates after Friday.