Like I talked about here, Bella has been having one of her "flare ups" of her intestinal issues. She's had these ever since we've had her and we've learned how to treat them ($5K later, I might add...) However, this time, it just kept going and going. And an alarming new development: blood in poop. By Sunday evening, she had deteriorated within HOURS to pooing just straight, liquid blood. SCARY.
We had her fasting to give her tummy a break while also keeping water in her (to prevent dehydration) and of course tried everything else we could think of that had historically worked for her to help her feel better. NOTHING WORKED.
Monday morning, I got up with high hopes that some new supplements had helped her overnight as I gave her large doses of them Sunday night. No such luck. Straight blood again. AND, then she started throwing up even though she had nothing in her tummy. She has never done this before and it was VERY alarming (not like the blood wasn't enough....) She was probably just so dehydrated that she just felt sick. But then she started shaking/convulsing/and at the same time, not wanting to move out of her "house." At which point, I completely lost it....
Tim came home and I went to work (hi, busy season, I hate you) so he took her straight to the vet. Apparently also within hours, she had developed huge lesions on her tongue (and had some on her tummy). These were also new this time. By the time we got her to the vet early monday morning the vet told us she could be in kidney failure (!!!!!!!) OMFG. I guess that tongue lesions are a sign of this. Her GI system is just so pissed off, it was wreaking havoc on her whole body. So, about $500 and a whole day at the vet later, here's what we found out:
-No kidney failure (PHEW!)
-Electrolytes were totally fine
-Organs were all fine
-She was dehydrated so got a liter of fluid over the course of the day
-Got an injection of vitamin b (her levels were low)
-Got a steroid shot and more antibiotics
-Got instructions to put her on a VERY simple diet (IE: sweet potato cooked and turkey with no fat)
-Will gradually switch her to a kibble that fits her allergy profile
-Got a referral to an internist who will perform a $2K-$5K scope that would tell us exactly what's wrong with her (UGH)
So, short term? She's doing MUCH better. She THINKS she feels great and looks good too. But she's also still on a fairly simple diet and on antibiotics. Long term? We don't know. When things were really bad monday, the vet was talking about how she COULD have cancer, quality of life, etc, etc. And if she has cancer, the it's sort of a moot point to spend $2-$5K on a scope that will tell us that and only give her a few months to live. So I don't know what to do. We are just going to keep her on this diet for a while and beef up her supplements as well as continue to give her vitamin b shots. We'll see how she does on that and, hoping it all goes well, avoid spending more thousands of dollars on a scope that may or may not help her/prolong her life. We also may consider putting her on a steroid or a raw food diet that would probably also help her intestinal issue.
Most likely she probably has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). It's common in boxers but she has it REALLY bad. The vet said she is one of 3 sickest dogs she's seen in her 20 year practice in this regard. Yikes. None of her littermates or parents have anything remotely close to this so it's very odd. At least she has us to take care of her! It's been a rough week but we will get through it...and hopefully at the end the little babe is ok.
A shot of Bella and I.... I love this girl and just want her to feel good!
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