skwo2

Just back from the vet, and they did a blood test on Chelsea, her ALT is back up again, so does TBIL. ALT was 750 when she was discharged from hospital, now, ALT is 23XX The vet suggested to do a biopsy which involves surgery, to get a liver sample to examine. When Chelsea was in hospital, they treated her with antibiotics and she was on fluid. She was given some cooked chicken meat. The ALT came down. I took Chelsea home on Sat, I gave her cooked chicken meat, and she was given antibiotics. The ALT is back up again. Will it be a sign of liver shunt? Chelsea was healthy and active before this. The vet said if it is liver shunt, it is unlikely to see ALT rising so high. It is a vet clinic, and there are several vets in there, one of them has many years of experience and is quite a well known vet around this area.

I gave Chelsea to try the can of food, but still vomit not soon after Chelsea just had a seizure/faint at lunch time today, she collapsed and then 4 legs were moving involuntary. She was vomitting, and then had the seizure. Back at the vet, now waiting for blood test result We discussed possible liver shunt, but the vet said ultrasound that we did last week had no evidence of such. I also asked about the bile acid test, the vet said testing on small dogs are not reliable. Also, is the antibiotics Cavolux giving to dogs a strong antibiotics? is it used often? Any thoughts..... I am just soooooo worried.

Chelsea vomitted out again after dinner. The vet has told me not to give the clavolux just for tonight to see if that's the cause, but she still vomitted. She looks ok, apart from that she seems to be tired after she eats every meal. Will it because something stuck inside the tummy? the ultrasound would have show it? Any thoughts? Sigh.......

Will try out the can. Chelsea has her worming tablet on every 14th of the month, so still a week or so before it is due. For flea treatment, I don't use it now, as it is winter, and I also use lavendar oil + almond oil for flea all the time. I brush her thoroughly everyday (given that she is a Bichon), so if there is any flea or tick, I would have notice

The main reason of me not feeding the Hills can is not that I can't get the can opener, I can buy one easily. But I am not in favour of any dog commercial food. I usually feed raw meat to Chelsea. I can't see why the canned food can be better than a fresh cooked piece of meat. Anyone got any idea?

I am actually thinking of taking it out through Medibank Private. It costs more than PIA, but thinking it is safer with larger insurance company....

Chelsea came home on Saturday, vet said a big improvement in ALT when they did the blood test on Sat. ALT down to 750 (normal is 100), so I took her home for trial. However, last night she had a diahorrea, and then vomit out some yellow bait again this morning. She seem to look ok, and was begging for food. She ate all her meals, with only boiled chicken and the cavulox (antibiotics) mixed in it. The vet has prescribed her with Hills l/d can food, but I am not too keen to feed her with, as previous experience of her having canned food is runny poo. (and also, the can opener at home doesn't work....) Do I really have to feed her the l/d food? Will Cavulox cause vomitting or diahorrea? Will call the vet soon (I am at work) but see if I can get an earlier reply here.

The vet has put a microscope (not sure if that's how you call it, it is a ear checking tool, with a lens to magnify) into Chelsea's ear to have a look, he said it is ok. Is it necessary for the vet to actually swipe out the wax, and put it under the microscope to see if there is ear mite?

Yes, I am thinking of the PIA major medical insurance, also learning things from the hard way. I did a search on pet insurance, but can't find the good thread. If anyone can find it, can you pls post the link. Thanks.

I had a visit to see Chelsea and she is more lively now, but the vet said she needs to stay there until they can do another blood test on Sat. Puglvr - My vet said that the only way to know the cause is to do a biopsy in the liver, the ultrasound may not necessay show up everything. Can you tell me what was the figure with the liver results from blood test when Elyse was really sick. Just want to see what the figures are like when dog is sick. Thanks. The vet said she will give me the blood test result to take home when Chelsea is discharged

Just called the vet. The ultrasound result has shown everything is ok apart from the texture of the liver being different from normal. The vet suggest it can be due to toxic, or bacteria from intestine travel to the liver, or the immune system is attacking itself (which is unlikely), since her liver enzyme is still at a very high level. No evidence of a liver shunt, and the vet said an ultrasound will not be the best way to prove a liver shunt unless it is very severe. Also, the vet doesn't think it is any severe kind of liver disease Chelsea will be on IV, probably until tomorrow afternoon or Saturday, antibiotics will also be given. The ultrasound also shows a knot on the adrenal gland (spelling), the vet says it is common and not too worry about it. Feeling better now.....

Thanks for the info. The vet just called, her blood test shows some improvement, can't remember if it is ALT or ALP, it is dropping from 3600 to 2100, but the normal range should be 100. The decrease can be due to her being on IV and no food consumed. Anyway, she will have an ultrasound today. Hope nothing too bad is happening.

I was just on the phone to the vet, and he explained that if those figures (ALP, ALT, AST on the blood testing) are high for a long period of time, then it will be life threatening, that will mean there is some kind of damage to the liver for quite a while. At this stage, he doesn't think that it is life threatening and hoping tomorrow's blood test can have some improving result.

Thanks for the link. Yes, Chelsea is a Bichon Frise, 2 years and 8 months old, very precisious to me.

Do you know if the vet did a bile acid test? Not that I am aware of him doing a bile acid test. Does this test need a sample of bile to do? Or does it need some sort of needle getting into the liver to extract some bile? Chelsea occassionally vomit out yellow bile, about once a month or so, but before she never lost appetite afterwards. I just rang the clinic, and the vet nurse told me that Chelsea hasn't vomitted today, probably because she was given an injection to stop her vomitting last night. She is still on the fluid. I haven't got a chance to speak to the vet yet, as he is in surgery room now. The plan is to keep Chelsea on fluid and stay at the vet overnight, and tomorrow they will do another blood test, and then at lunch time, they may know the result and will see I am worrying for the worst. Is any type of liver disease life threatening?

The vet has also taken a sample of blood for tesitng pancreatitis, won't have the result until tomorrow. That was what the vet suspected last night. However, the blood count test shows no sign of pancreatitis. All the components that are associated with liver are very high above the normal.

Chelsea was vomitting for the last couple of days, took her to the vet yesterday, was at first suspect to be problem with pancreas. However, the blood test has shown that there is problem with liver. I can't remember the name component in the blood test, but it has said that the range should be within a few hundreds, but Chelsea's blood test level was a few thousands for those component testing the liver, so mulitple times over the normal range. Red blood cell and white blood cell are normal. She is now having the fluid and staying at the vet, and I am terribly worry. I wonder if it is life threatening for the blood test showing such an abnormal range on the liver functioning

does she have any pain in her tummy at all, if so i would be back at the vet and have her xrayed incase of a blockage. One of our Standards had a chicken neck stuck in her intestines, the first vet we saw sent her homr to see if she would get over it during the day as she had a little runny poo and vomited once, she would not eat though. Our girl was in surgery for 3 hours her bowel and intestines were all affected, she got through Ok and you would never know but we are very careful of chicken necks now. Also would not feed Tbones or shanks, they splinter too much. Brisket bones are the best or Lamb back bones, or big marrow bones The bones are raw. Chelsea's poo was ok last night, no poo today cos no/little food consumed. We went to the beach on the weekend, just to have a run. Not the first time we have been to there. What part of the animal's body are the brisket bones located? I gave Chelsea some big marrow bones and she had probem in chew, she is only a bichon frise. There is no pain in her tummy at all when the vet touched her.

Chelsea vomitted 3 times in the middle of Saturday night. They were yellow bile with some tiny pieces of bones. She had a beef t-bone and a lamb shank (most of the meat were taken off, I just let her to have a chew on the bones) On Sunday, she was ok and was eating well. Yesterday (Monday) morning, she was not interested in food, but she had some. Last night, she didn't eat her dinner, and also vomitted out some greenish yellow bile 3 times. This morning, I gave her very small amount of chicken liver (water boiled), and then she vomitted them out again with water. I just took Chelsea to the vet. The vet had a feel on the tummy and took her temperature, everything was ok. The vet had suggested it can be a mild case of pancreatitis, so had taken a sample of blood for testing, now waiting for result. He had also given Chelsea some injection (I can't remember the name) to stop vomitting. Question: Will the injection make Chelsea very tired? cos she is very sleepy now Anyone has their dog experiencing mild pancreatitis? What else can it be the cause? Thanks

Chelsea eats raw meat, either lamb or chicken, and cooked fish, and some vegetables, so I don't think it can be related to the diet. She scratches quite badly, sometimes till it bleeds.

I have taken Chelsea to the vet 3-4 months ago, at that time, the vet checked, and nothing was found. Chelsea has always been scratching around the back of her neck, the vet hasn't got any idea what may have caused. We also had a dust mites allergy testing, but it wasn't the cause. Any other ideas?

Is there any medicated ear drops that I can buy over the counter at the pet shop, that may kill ear mites? Does brown 'wax' necessary represents ear mites?

Is there any medication or drops that I can given to my dog, Chelsea? Yes, she has been scratching, and the stuff coming out from her ears are brownish

What are the symptoms of having ear mites in dogs? and what can be done to cure?

Thanks for the information. So it is actually the size that matters not the species of the fish. So what do you think about feeding baby swordfish? I like it so much and it is always on special in the market. Is it ok for humans to eat too? Is the Australian Salmon different from those Tasmanian Salmon?