Intestinal Lymphangiectasia

[CindyP812]

My 7 year old yorkie was just diagnosed with protein losing enteropathy. I had never hear of it before and was told that yorkies are one of 4 breeds that are affected by this horrible disease. Does anyone out there have any experience with this?

[rubymoon2072]

I don't but sending many prayers for your yorkie.

[ladyjane]

While this is indeed a horrible disease, it can be managed! My Cookie was diagnosed with PLE (lymphangectasia and IBD) in December 2011. She is doing very well !!! So, don't throw in the towel.

If you can go to a board certified internist, I highly recommend you do so.

How is your pup doing? Sometimes they don't get diagnosed until they are very ill and that makes it more of a challenge. But you can get it under control with the proper diagnosis, meds and diet. Diet is extremely important for these pups!! I did a consult with a vet nutritionist and I believe it played a major roll in Cookie's well being.

Here is a link to the thread about my Cookie. Hopefully, you will find some information there that will help you!

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...ia-update.html

[CindyP812]

I am sorry to hear that your Cookie also suffers from what my baby does but happy that she has responded to treatment. Thank you for chatting with me on this. I need some support right now to get through all this and appreciate your help.

A bit of history on Sophia:

On Dec 7th she had been vomiting and had a bit of runny stools. I took her to the vet who did some labs and found that her wbc's were up and a few other things looked weird. She gave her a couple of shots, one antibiotic and another for the nausea, some flagyl and some cerena for the next few days. She told me to put her on a rice diet for 2 days and to come back in two weeks for follow up labs. So I took her in for the labs on 3-21-14 and the DR thought that she could feel a mass in her abdomen. She took xrays and labs and referred her to Purdue Veterinary teaching hospital. Her albumin was very low and her calcium was also less that half what it should have been. At Purdue they did an abdominal US, additional labs and more xrays. They also kept her in ICU for 3 days while they did a scope and biopsy of her bowels. They have given her several b-12 shots and 5 infusions of calcium and have her on vit D. We are feeding her RC low fat food that they gave us. I would like to find some recipes for food that she can eat so that I can cook for her. I have another appointment tomorrow to go over the biopsy reports and get another b-12 shot for her. I was told that there is inflammation however they think hers is primary and may not treat her with prednisone. Her stomach is quite large from ascites and measures 20 inches right now.

[CindyP812]

Did your Cookie have the bloated stomach? Did it get better as time went one?

[ladyjane]

No, Cookie did not have ascites. She was caught fairly early before she had symptoms. She was not eating well and had a couple of mucousy stools. I took her in and when they did blood work they found her albumin level was very low. She was immediately referred to the specialist and admitted to ICU. She was on prednisone and other meds initially....and she stayed on prednisone until just this year.

If you decide to home cook you really should do a consult with a vet nutritionist. If you don't know of one in your area, you can do a search here: American College of Veterinary Nutrition Don't try to do it on your own! It is important that it be balanced for your pup.

[Connie]

My Libby was diagnosed with Lymphangiectasia a year ago. At the time, she was very sick. She had a pound of ascites in her abdomen and lost her muscle mass. I truly thought I would lose her, but with meds and diet, she improved and built up her strength and her muscle mass. She has her days when she doesn't seem to feel good, but I'd have to say more good days than bad. I'm so thankful that she is enjoying life. She has always been my most playful pup, and it does my heart good to see her having fun. Best wishes to your baby and hugs to you!

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by CindyP812

My 7 year old yorkie was just diagnosed with protein losing enteropathy. I had never hear of it before and was told that yorkies are one of 4 breeds that are affected by this horrible disease. Does anyone out there have any experience with this?

Just curious about what tests have been done. Normally to obtain an accurate diagnosis, a scope and biopsy are done. In Cookie's case, she had two things going on...lymphangectasia and IBD, so it was critical to know that so that an appropriate diet could be given.

I took my Cookie to a specialist and I credit her health so far to the advanced knowledge of the disease by the boarded internist and the vet nutritonist.
She has never had any issues at all with her albumin level. She has had blood work done every 3 months to keep an eye on things.

[TxVicki]

Originally Posted by ladyjane

Just curious about what tests have been done. Normally to obtain an accurate diagnosis, a scope and biopsy are done. In Cookie's case, she had two things going on...lymphangectasia and IBD, so it was critical to know that so that an appropriate diet could be given.

I took my Cookie to a specialist and I credit her health so far to the advanced knowledge of the disease by the boarded internist and the vet nutritonist.
She has never had any issues at all with her albumin level. She has had blood work done every 3 months to keep an eye on things.

Linda look at post #4 it say's all the test's that have been.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by TxVicki

Linda look at post #4 it say's all the test's that have been.

Oh my...I am totally crazy. I kind of got her mixed up with a couple of people who have been PMing me. It is interesting .. I have had two people sign on to YT just to message me about my Cookie. They found her thread while searching the internet for information about PLE! It is awesome that her thread is helping people.

To the OP: Pardon my idiotic post!

To TXVicki: Thank you for calling my attention to my idiotic post!

I mean, the information certainly is not idiotic, but it did not fit here.

[CindyP812]

I took Sophia back to the veterinary teaching hospital yesterday for a followup. The biopsy showed that she does indeed have the Lymphangiectasia along with the Inflammation so they are going to treat her with prednisone. She also is getting b-12 shots weekly along with the D-3 and calcium. It seems like a lot of pred for such a small dog. They have her on 10mg a day. I wonder how they will know when to discontinue the pred?

[CindyP812]

I wanted to add that Sophie has a very large tummy. She looks like she is 9 months pregnant. Her waist measures 20 1/2 inches and she is very uncomfortable however they do not want to treat her for this as long as her breathing is not affected. Her albumin is very low and her calcium is very low. The vet that is treating her is board certified in both pathology and internal med. I am told the stomach will go down as the protein level comes up but that it will take quite a while for that to happen. They tell me she will live months to years. It's good to know that there are others who have dogs living well beyond what they are telling me.

[ladyjane]

When they are ill the prednisone is a necessary evil. If she responds to treatment, they will in time decrease the dosage.

My Cookie still goes for labs every three months. They just discontinued her prednisone recently because she has been fine now for two years. She was on a very low dose anyway...they had been lowering the dose as we went along and her numbers stayed steady.

I will pray that Sophie responds quickly and her tummy goes down some. Please keep us posted ...

[DBlain]

when my dog was bloated like that they drained the fluid I believe with a needle, are they not able to do that for your pup?

[CindyP812]

Originally Posted by Connie

My Libby was diagnosed with Lymphangiectasia a year ago. At the time, she was very sick. She had a pound of ascites in her abdomen and lost her muscle mass. I truly thought I would lose her, but with meds and diet, she improved and built up her strength and her muscle mass. She has her days when she doesn't seem to feel good, but I'd have to say more good days than bad. I'm so thankful that she is enjoying life. She has always been my most playful pup, and it does my heart good to see her having fun. Best wishes to your baby and hugs to you!

Has Libby's ascite's gone down?