Sick dog/endoscopy

[JMM]

Mikey's on IVs again for vomiting and diarrhea. His ALT is up a bit again, too. I have him home tonight as I can flush his catheter and give him his dose of ampicillin myself. He's perked up quite a bit just from the day of fluids. He'll go back tomorrow.

Tentatively he is scheduled for endoscopy Friday and maybe laproscopy for a liver biopsy.

The fill-in internist consulted on the phone today and was so nice and helpful. Mikey's regular internist will call me tomorrow to set things in stone. Wish us luck!

[davet]

alal i can do is ewidh you luck and make sure he is hydrated as you are doing

[CrystalsMom]

Oh no, sorry to hear this. It's good that you can have him home with you at night and care for him. I hope all goes well on Friday. Keep us posted.

[Traci]

I know you were prepared for this....I sure hope they find something conclusive that would be finally treatable.

Mikey's in my prayers, he has been such a trooper through just about everything. So have you, JMM, hang in there.....

[Marty]

Hang in there Mikey and JMM....you've got our prayers coming, too.

[JMM]

Thanks, guys! I'm really hopeful they find something that was missed. He did pretty well overnight other than a tense, gurgly abdomen.

[JMM]

Mikey had an ultrasound and more bloodwork this morning. His ultrasound looked okay...same changes to his liver as before and a little more sludgy in his gall bladder. I forgot to ask about bladder stones. His ALT was up a bit higher.

His internist was apprehensive to keep him under for 2 procedures today. She wanted to endoscope him now, though. So, he is having endoscopy this afternoon and should come home tonight. We'll schedule a laproscopic liver biopsy in a few weeks.

[Traci]

A bile acids test might be helpful prior to the endoscopy.

Hang in there, JMM, and give your little guy tons of hugs for all of us.

[JMM]

Traci,

His bile acids are rather unreliable because of the MVD. They fluctuate quite a bit and are always elevated. Unless it is a dog with a repaired shunt, bile acids aren't a good monitoring test if the dog has MVD.

He's home! His internist said he was really, really red and irritated in his stomach and small intestines. Added to his drugs is Amoxicillin for a while. We call on Monday with an update and run in for bloodwork the middle of next week. We should have biopsy results late next week. Hopefully it will say something other than mild eosinophilic IBD LOL

[Traci]

You said there was bile sludge in the gall bladder, so if a bile acids test was significantly high, this could indicate excessive bile and/or a sludge obstruction, I would think they would want to rule that out specifically, and treat if necessary. In any event, if you do opt for the liver biopsy, this could probably be more confirmative, but in the absence of that and in the immediate sense, just wanted to offer that you do have the option of a bile acids test.