ely2008 Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Hi all, I am hoping someone out there may be able to help me with a propblem concerning my shepherd. Elysium is 3yrs old and over the last 5-6 weeks hasnt been her self at all. she has always been a picky eater and it has always been a battle to get and keep weight on her. The last few weeks have been difficult! Anyone who is close to there dog knows when something is wrong and this is just what i thought with my girl ely, knew something wasnt quite right but couldnt put my finger on it! Then she began having a problem with loose bowl movements with a horrible yellow colour(among over behavioral changes, lack of energy etc) . Straight away i took her to the vets who run tests and cleared her for gastro, diabetes and pancreatitis. he put her on antibiotics for SIBO but with no real improvement(her bowel movements are now green and slimy, she is still very quiet and not wanting to interact with the other dogs and has even stopped following me around!) She has been having a diet of chicken breast and plain rice(split over x2 meals instead of one),i have even given her yoghurt as a shepherd breeder of many years suggested.all to no avail. The vet got me to take in a poo sample today and we wont get the results until after the weekend. any suggestions would be helpful thanx Update on my girl Elysium.vet did fecal testing and it ruled out all the more common things.Her temp was elevated and she has lost 1.6kg in the last 2 weeks.she is having a diet of chicken and rice, the vet doesnt want to change this at the moment because anything else may further upset her. Ely was then given xrays and a full blood panel. The protein levels in her blood were a little high and her xrays showed intestinal thickening and a build up of gas. The vet has put her on antibiotics and prednisone to try and eliminate a couple more possibilties. at this stage we are looking at four of them IBD,lymph adenocarcinoma, lymphadenitis and another one which i cant remember the name of but is in the same catergory of disease. we know all of them need surgery and biopsy to confirm diagnosis and that is why he gave her the medication to see if we can get a bit more improvement before we subject her to surgery. I am hoping one of you may have had a similar situation or perhaps know something about any of the diseases. thanx in advance elysium's mum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Sorry cant help with any info on the above mentioned illnesses, just wanted to say hope your girl is going to be ok, it's awful when they are sick, you feel so helpless. Healing thoughts from us. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ely2008 Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 Sorry cant help with any info on the above mentioned illnesses, just wanted to say hope your girl is going to be ok, it's awful when they are sick, you feel so helpless. Healing thoughts from us. x Thank you for the healing thoughts, It really is horrible to feel so helpless, we are doing everything we can and im keeping everything crossed that she starts to improve soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I have been through the IBD/IBS with one of mine plus I have had one that had the appetite of a bird and we did all the tests over many months and could find nothing wrong. I know how frustrating it can be! The absolute BEST thing I have found when a dog is feeling sick is to give Lectade. I know it is a simple thing but I have found over the years that giving Lectade often helps to 'turn the corner'. My lot will drink that when they are ill and won't touch it any other time, so there is obviously something in it that works for them when they feel rotten. One things for sure about giving Lectade is that it can't hurt them. It just replaces the lost electrolytes etc. and rehydrates them. Rehydrating makes a BIG difference. The next bit of advice I can give is, if you find something that the dog will eat, just stick to feeding that in small quantities at set times and don't change it. Getting them into an eating routine is important and will help things to settle down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfsie Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Seeing she is a GSD, have you had her checked for Pancreatitis...it is quite common in GSD's There is quite a bit on the web and there are diets and supportive treatments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 LINK TO ORIGINAL THREAD Ely 2008 did you get in touch with Roseworthy? I think they'd be the people to ask in a difficult -to- diagnose scenario like you have with your poor girl . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dxenion Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) A thought out of left field.... When our dog was about 12 months old, he got very sick too (but for different reasons). Anyway, he was put on a chicken and rice diet while we were working out the problem with the vet but he just kept getting sicker, no matter what we tried. Turns out he had developed an allergy to chicken! We changed to a unique protein (one he'd never had before) and by luck the first thing we trialled (goat) he didn't react to. He suddenly started getting better, putting on weight, coat improved and all his symptoms disappeared. It's just a thought but have you confirmed that she isn't reacting to the chicken? It's certainly not something we or the vet expected. Edited December 27, 2011 by Dxenion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ely2008 Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 LINK TO ORIGINAL THREAD Ely 2008 did you get in touch with Roseworthy? I think they'd be the people to ask in a difficult -to- diagnose scenario like you have with your poor girl . A thought out of left field.... When our dog was about 12 months old, he got very sick too (but for different reasons). Anyway, he was put on a chicken and rice diet while we were working out the problem with the vet but he just kept getting sicker, no matter what we tried. Turns out he had developed an allergy to chicken! We changed to a unique protein (one he'd never had before) and by luck the first thing we trialled (goat) he didn't react to. He suddenly started getting better, putting on weight, coat improved and all his symptoms disappeared. It's just a thought but have you confirmed that she isn't reacting to the chicken? It's certainly not something we or the vet expected. Persephone,our vet actually has conferred with 2 of the other clinic vets and an outside vet just to give a broader range of opinions. they are also aware that i wanted a second opinion once we had all her test results back, the outside vet they spoke to was from roseworthy( by chance our vet is friends with the one from roseworthy) and he will be happy to see elysium before any surgery is done just to put my mind at ease. Dxenion, ely has been cleared for food allergies but thank you for the suggestion, i hope your boy is still doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Thanks for the update .. it sounds a mystery, and I hope that soon it will be solved/fixed . Such a worry when there's nothing definite ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessicaM Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I've heared parvo is going around? Have you looked at the symptoms? Very similar to this, I hope your vet and you can help your dog get better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ely2008 Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 I've heared parvo is going around? Have you looked at the symptoms? Very similar to this, I hope your vet and you can help your dog get better! Jessica,although ely is fully vaccinated she has also been cleared for any infectious diseases, but thank you anyway for the reply. our vets are doing their best to narrow down the possible causes,at this stage we are looking at four of them IBD,lymph adenocarcinoma, lymphadenitis and another one which i cant remember the name of but is in the same catergory of disease. we know all of them need surgery and biopsy to confirm diagnosis. She goes back to the vet in a couple of days for more blood work to be done and to discuss the surgery with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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