Yogi update

S

seashel

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Yogi is still not right, although he is no longer passing blood he is still having considerable difficulty pooing, and it is quite distressing to see him trying. Walks have become a bit of an ordeal as he will sometimes squat up to 20 times, sometimes doing nothing or little bits. Once he has been then he does give a shake and brighten up and over the last couple of days had a bit of a chase with Revel, so he definitly appreciates when he does feel ok. However, he seems much quieter than usual, and there is still traces of blood in his faeces which are mostly normalish looking. He does seem to be fussing over his rear end too, more than usual. On the positive side he is still eating well on the w/d.

We are having the referral today with the veterinary specialists. It's about an hour away so I am taking Revel too for company as my boys come as a pair and Yogi seems happier with his mate along. It is quite a daunting process as initially it's just an hour long consultation (expensive enough) and further investigatory proceedures are more than likely going to be needed with a GA.

While my vet is pretty certain it is just severe colitis, there does still remain the possibility that there is something more going on, and in any case, we need to find a way of managing the condition, which is hopefully what this referral will provide.
 
oh goodness, I know you are ready for some answers. Its sweet your taking Yogi's pal along with, that will help him feel more at ease I am sure.. Keep us posted.
 
So sorry to hear Yogi is still having difficulties. I'm glad your consult is today and I hope the specialist can give you at least some idea of what the problem is. It's always so worrisome when they don't feel well. Good luck.
 
Update - not bad news.

We had an hour long consultation which involved reviewing the case history and a general overview of Yogi's lifestyle. The vet suggested possibilities for the problems, again he was thinking colitis but didn't want to rule out anything at this stage as apparently x rays are not always sensitive in picking up masses in this region. Because of the untypical symptoms Yogi is presenting, it is not straightforward in making a diagnosis and appropriate treatement, part of the reason for the referral. He gave him an examination too and checked abdomen, temprature plus a brief internal. He said the next step was to do the ultrasound, and eliminate any other cause such as pancreatitis or inflamed gall bladder etc and take a further blood sample to check no issues, presumably in case anything had been missed/developed since last time.
They took him away to do the ultrasound as it was a full abdominal one so it would take 40 mins. They said they might need to sedate him if he wasn't cooperative and he would need shaving...

I got Revel in from the car as it was starting to get dark and he was happy to come in and sit with me, and was offered a drink of water (refused) while I had tea and biscuits to pass the time (gratefully accepted). It didn't seem to take long before Yogi was appearing looking considerably shaved around the sides poor chap. The vet came to tell me that there were no abnormalities on the ultrasound thankfully and the bloods were ok apart from platelets which were low, but he thought that was a sampling abnomaly rather than anything significant. He has given me another 5 day course of Panacur wormer to clear any residual whipworms which might remain. although he didn't think it was an issue really. I'm to phone in a week with a progress report and to arrange for the final stage of the investigation process which is the colonoscopy. This is the biggest part as it will involve a longer period of starvation followed by an enema to empty the colon as far as possible, a general anasthetic and the taking of biopsies of the colon. This should finally eliminate any outside possibility of a tumour or mass being the issue and should provide information as to what is causing these ongoing problems, whether it is an immune issue, bacterial etc. I think he is suspecting the former although he dosn't want to commit at this stage. He has lost more weight as according to their scales is down to 6.6kg. This vet did agree he was thin, but he believes this is due to not getting sufficient food intake rather than any other reason This is difficult as although the w/d is a high fibre food, it is also low in calories as it is a diet food. He did agree a change to a low fibre but higher calorie food might be sucessful as Yogi has a high metabolism. He was quite encouraging on changing to a raw diet with vegetables added as he said that has been sucessful.

I am so thankful that is over (for at least the moment) and have the little chap back with me, looking more like a portugese water dog than a sheltie now (will need to sort out some winter wear, which he won't like) but we are making progress I think in identifying the issue and it is unlikely to be really sinister, so positive outcome from the visit. All the vets are in agreement that there are continuing issues which need getting to the bottom of, but it's now looking very hopeful that soon we will know what is causing this issue and what is going to be the most effective treatement.:smile2:
 
I feel your pain, I really do. But I'm glad everything's been positive so far.

I don't know if you ever found the thread, but when Sadie was 6-14 months old she had severe diarrhea. There were times when she was passing a disturbing amount of blood in her stools and despite repeated prescriptions of Pancur and metronidizole, she was still having violent vomitting and diarrhea.

She was tested for pancreatitis, thyroid problems and cushings disease and all of the testing came back inconclusive. Nothing was normal, but none of the things she was tested for was so abnormal to point at one particular problem.

Her next course was to have a colonoscopy, but first I agreed to try prescription food that my vet recommended. It was made by Medical/Royal Canin and I REALLY didn't want to try it (She'd already been on good quality foods), but I grudgingly agreed since nothing else worked. Lo and behold, within a week her diarrhea and vomitting stopped. It took a year for the problem to completely disappear. If I tried to give her anything other than her dog food and carrots she'd have an explosion. After a year she was fine and has never had the problem again.

She was on this food for severe food allergies, perhaps Yogi needs something like this if his colonoscopy comes back normal:

http://www.royalcanin.ca/index.php/...ary-Exclusive-Dog-Diets/Hypoallergenic-HP-Dry

I know the dog food analysis says its crap food, but I've accepted that its not always right, as it certainly helped Sadie when literally nothing else did.
 
Thanks for the info there. I have come to similar conclusions with Yogi that I'll try anything if it works for him. I've just had a quick look at the UK site for Royal Canin clinical diets. It's certainly a possibility to try.

Rereading my previous post I made a mistake, it was a change to a high fibre, high calorie diet that he suggested. I am wondering if this is why Yogi also seems quieter as he dosn't have as much energy.
 
Fingers crossed Yogi seems to have stablised on the current diet, although weight loss is still concerning me so with both vets ok I am adding gradually small amounts of raw food nuggets, which he so far is having no problems with. This is to add extra calories to his diet. He has really cheered up with the arrival of more snow and I found a dog coat to fit in all the right places!
I have more or less decided to go ahead and have the colonoscopy done as after chatting with my vet there are not really any other means of obtaining an accurate diagnosis of what is causing these problems. I am hoping that he will remain stable over the frightning Christmas/New Year period when there is no normal vet cover and we can do it in January when hopefully the weather will also have improved. We've got another 5-6" of snow again here.
 
It's too bad they can't do a virtual colonoscopy on dogs - this is a colonoscopy done using a CT scanner. Nothing goes into the body but it shows up if something is wrong. Hope Yogi continues to improve.
 
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