[bobohyde]

We went in this morning for a recheck. We were a bit worried because the first week of being on meds, his poop had slightly started to firm up, but the second week (last week), it's back to runny again. He also acts like he's starving! I know steroids do that and Columbo has always been food obsessed, but this past week is a new level of food obsession. When we are home, he is pacing in the kitchen all the time! So it was a good surprise that his Albumin levels have increased to 2.0 (last week 1.9). The internist gave him another B12 shot and another 2 week supply of metronidazole. She has reduced his steroids from 5 mg twice a day to 5 mg in the am and 2.5 mg in the evening. She has also ordered him some venison based hypo-allergenic food which should be in later in the week. He has lost a few more ounces and now weighes 6.8. She is not concerned that his weight is too low (he was slightly chubby before all this) but doesn't want him to keep losing. He actually looks good, but I can tell he has lost muscle mass because I can feel his spine and his bones in his bottom. I guess we have to get this under control before we can work on that. The first priority is saving his life and then we go from there. She hopes that the new food with a protein new to him will help with the diarrhea and processing of the protein. This is an auto-immune disease and they don't really know what causes it, but the thought is it is diet related and diet/nutrition is very important in controlling it. So we feel pretty good with his progress after all! Now if it would just stop snowing and warm up, I could give him a haircut. His sides and tummy have been shaved and it drives me nuts.