IBD and issues in controlling it.
Sorry for the long post, I'm at my wits end.
Anyway my 'not' so little yr old rescue is coming along leaps and bounds, we still have issues with a few things but we have come to terms with the fact that even though she is a large 1 yr old bitch in training and mental capacity she is really only 6 months old, we've had her 6 months now and before that her only training was being told NOT to eat the walls, so we are getting there with her! It is very tiring for me but quite cathartic to actually be pushing myself a bit harder than I should health wise! As I haven't really introduced myself (only my dogs!) maybe I should just highlight my issues.....it makes whats to follow kinda surreal.....I was Diagnosed with an IBD, Crohns disease to be precise, at 15 years old. 25 years later, (quite a few actual death incidents under my belt but I'm not going anywhere without a fight!!!) I am minus a considerable portion of my intestines, in fact some of the Small bowel and everything bellow is now no longer there. The years of malnutrician and then virtual obesity after restarting meds has had its effect on mind and body. The meds can be as bad long term as the effects of crohns but without them I wouldn't be here now. I also have 2 forms of Arthritis, Hydradinitus suppurativa, Capsulitis AND Mortons neuroma in one foot (never wanting to be normal apparently to have both is fairly rare!) plus quite a few little annoying things that I just deal with! Well you got to right?
Anyway, about 6 weeks ago we took both the dogs to a local nature reserve, had a great time but on the way home Lola was sick in the van! No biggy! But as soon as we got in doors my Babyboy started being sick........and has never really got better! He has had every test possible and we got a definite diagnoses last week! My baby boy also has IBD! Freaky right? But unlike me the meds don't seem to be doing a lot, whilst the almost daily thunder storms have been pushing his already frayed body to its maximum! He isn't eating, he isn't drinking alot, he's not even wagging his tail more than 2 swipes whilst I can't go to bed and leave him as every night I'm convinced he won't make it through, so I have probably had about 2 hours sleep a night for quite a few nights! We have been to the vets almost twice weekly for weeks changing meds and generally causing my Eddiebear annoyance! Last week they threw quite a bit at him, Steroids, Antacids, antibiotics and another tablet (sorry more brain dead and brow beaten than normal) The effects these have on him is awful, panting (I counted over 100 breathes per minute the other night! Only about 70 more than normal!!?!?!?), he is lethargic and really not liking the effects (I can see the confusion in his eyes! O no...the tears have started again!!!) and what is worse none of them have had a positive effect on him!! So we took him back for an emergency appointment last Monday, that didn't help my emotions as the nurses there were almost in tears at how he looks!
First thing is my Beautiful lined baby boy has gone from a 21/22kg healthy Staff to a 15kg bag of bones, to be truthful if I saw him on the street I would assume he was being mistreated.
Change the meds again, stay on the pred and omeprazole but add in Azathioprine! Which for those not in the know is a lower level chemo drugs that can have amazing effects on auto-immune diseases like most IBD's. It can have nasty side effects (the fact its chemo says a lot!!) so has to be monitored closely. After a little prompt from me, having suggested that Vit B12 deficiency goes hand in hand with IBD, he decided to not even test him just give him a jab. The vet said......because having lost all this weight will be bellow acceptable levels! ****So why did it take me prompting him to act on it???****
We're rather surprised that he wasn't taken in over night to monitor and administer IV's etc (apparently they don't do TPN's, a nutritional compound that is put through a special IV,) but instead we have been sent home with a can of Z&Ds prescription food! He's never liked or eaten wet dog food well, and at his first response I don't think its gonna happen now. So we have to keep him on bland food for a few weeks to settle his tummy! This is not easy! All his life he has had a good appetite, he gets a complete dry dog food (tescos own as he will NOT eat any other, we have tried him!) with a few extras in his bowl. Like sausage or chicken breast and then after we have eaten he gets a few scraps off our plate, keeping in mind what dogs can and can't eat we have been known to just replace our scraps with something like a dental chew that we put on our table! So he is refusing this prescription food, and I can fully understand why it looks like something found in a new borns nappy, and we are trying to keep him on turkey and rice (vet said to try and avoid chicken as this is one of his normal foods!?!?!) 3 times a day! The day after the B12 jab he looked like things were on the up! He ate a goodish breakfast for him, over half of what we gave him, and seemed to have a bit of life in him. But by the evening the incessant drooling had started again and my hubby had to sit down and force feed him as he just wasn't interested. We have now had to force feed him food ever since and its hard to tell whether he hungry or not or just plain bored! Every bone in my body is telling me whilst I know he should eat and it should be something bland and boring he cannot go without eating! I'm so scared of his organs failing due to malnutrician, been there, done that and won the 5* accommodation in ICU for it!! I also know that a dog will eat if food is left and they are hungry enough, but with a yr old pup who eats everything and will end up the size of a horse we cannot leave it down for him. There is also the issue that he is so far underweight that just missing 1 meal could be fatal for him! I have no idea what to do for the best, although we did cheat him last night and cooked the turkey on the same tray as our sausages and he ate about 1/4 of a breast but no rice without us intervening!
The next step is a specialist. The vet was very upfront about things like the cost of a specialist and that it would probably be more than the insurance will pay out as they will redo all the tests, scopes, biopsies and charge us for the privileged! We don't care the cost, I know I'm disabled but I have a back pay of DLA coming up and Personally I would be willing to sell our house if it was going to make him better, the cost doesn't worry us as much as putting an 8yr old, lethargic, malnutritient bag of bones through all the tests that basically freaked him out when he was double this only a few weeks ago! (yes sorry he is a complete spoiled pansy!!! Just the separation when he comes round from the anaesthetic has him Howling like a sissy!)
Is it Fair on him? Every part of me is saying we have no choice, he cannot go out like this. He IS the reason I'm still here, I was housebound for 2 years before my op, and hubby was doing extra to cover my loss of wages so there was just me and The Dude most of the time, he knows all my dark thoughts, my weird wonderings, he's licked my tears when no one knew I had been crying and more to the point he was the reason 90% of the time to swing my **** out of bed and at least try to live! I owe him the same respect back, but he's not human! Does he understand? How hard on him will it be?
I'm waffling now but this is so hard! Soul destroying in fact! He is my first Dog, I helped bring him into this world (I broke the sack and made him breathe), and rather sadly he is the child I'll never have, I need him to have a few more years! But thats just selfish!!!
THANK YOU to all that have reached this point, through the mad ramblings of weirdo! To tell the truth, advice will be received gratefully, positive thoughts appreciated but its just been nice to put all my confuddledness down in words So thank! x x x x x x