Cleo's misadventure

[SandyLynn]

About a month ago, Cleo nearly died. What began as a case of apparently ordinary diarrhea turned into severe bloody diarrhea and inability to keep down any food or water. After several days' treatment by our vet with no improvement, we had to take her on a long, harrowing drive in a heavy downpour to the emergency/referral hospital (the inside of our car will never look or smell the same again), where she was admitted with a poor prognosis for surviving the night.

She made it (they said she was a real fighter; we know she's stubborn!) and spent 8 days there at a cost of several thousand dollars. The diagnosis was Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Now she's home, getting a special diet (duck and potato - smells good even to me!), looking good and acting as mischievous as ever. She'll be 14 in October, and we've only had her for 3 years. We're greatly relieved to have her still with us. It was worth every penny.

[Heather]

How did she get it?

[SandyLynn]

I've been doing some reading on IBD, and apparently they're not sure what causes it. There are several kinds, but all involve infiltration of the intestinal lining by inflammatory cells. The only way to positively diagnose it is thru endoscopy/colonoscopy and biopsy. This would have been the next step for Cleo if she hadn't recovered.

I have questions in my mind about this diagnosis, because, according to what our vet said, IBD comes on gradually, progressively increasing in severity, rather than as a full-blown attack such as Cleo had.

My own theory is that Cleo got a bacterial infection of some kind from overexposure to bird droppings. We have a cockatoo in a large cage that has a pull-out pan. We change the pan lining several times a week. There's a 1 1/2 inch gap where the pan slides out, and Cleo had the habit of sticking her little nose in there and using her tongue to "lap up" pieces of pelleted food. Obviously some of the food would have poop on it. Cleo is the only one of our dogs to do this; the others would just pick up food tossed out on the floor.

We were in the process of trying different means to keep her out when she got sick. While she was in the hospital, we tried wrapping that flexible plastic garden fencing around the cage bottom and fastening it with twist ties. When we brought Cleo home, she was weak and subdued at first, but within a few minutes the little bugger was at the cage. When she realized what the fence was for, the look of astonishment and indignation on her face was priceless. I really wish I'd thought to have a camera handy.

[WOTANSMUTTI]

I'm glad that Miz Cleo made it back from the brink. Duck, huh? Can Wotan and I come over for dinner? He'll bring some jerked Woodrat and Sloogs ala Slime????

Cleo has a wonderful family!
Smiles, Sonja & Wo<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm12.gif" border=0>

[SandyLynn]

Sonja and Wo, you're welcome here anytime for a yummy duck dinner. Cleo may not want to share, but we can distract her with the jerked woodrat. I think we'll BOTH pass on the slimy sloogy thing, thank you.

Sandy

P.S.. - Mickey and Winston might be a bit put out if Cleo takes a shine to Wo (I've seen his picture, the handsome devil).

[Wienergal]

SandyLynn, I'm so glad that Cleo is back to her old self, and so sorry that your bank account is now consdierably lighter than it was! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/eek.gif

I might be able to shed some light on what happened. My Peaches, who turns 12 today http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/party.gif, has suffered from something that sounds similar. The first time it occurred, it was just as you said--she had some diarrhea, then it was bloody diarrhea, and then she was simply passing foul-smelling blood. Because of the odor, I too thought it must be some kind of infection. She was unable to keep water down, let alone food, and I had to take her to the emergency vet. She was treated with IV fluids, antibiotics, and a tranquilizer, then was transferred to my vet, where she spent 24 hours under observation. When I brought her home, she was on a restricted diet for a week, and I was given Tylosin powder to put on her food. Tylosin is a drug that slows the normal squeezing actions of the intestines, so that the contents move more slowly.

My vet declined to make a firm diagnosis. She told me that diarrhea and bowel disorders are very difficult to call because so many things can cause them. I know this is also true in humans. I figured she had snarfed something up off the ground and had gotten a bacterial infection, and I figured that was the end of that.

Alas, it wasn't. About two months later, the same thing happened again. Then she was fine until the following summer (last summer), when it happened again. At that time, my vet diagnosed idiopathic (meaning "we don't know what causes this") ulcerative colitis. My vet believes that it happens to Peaches because her system is stressed by her many allergies and immune system disorders, which are at their peak in the summer--and summer is the ONLY time this has ever happened to her.

She had one more bout last summer, but I caught it quickly and stopped it before it became a full-blown nightmare. My vet gave me a large supply of Tylosin and told me to use it at the very first sign of blood in the stool. She gave me some empty capsules too, so that if Peaches was unable to take food, I could fill up a capsule and force it down her throat.

This summer, there was a small spot of blood in a loose stool one day. I got her on the Tylosin instantly, and nothing happened.

It's possible that Cleo may have the same thing. You might want to ask your vet for some Tylosin powder, just in case. For us, it has been an absolute godsend.

Best of luck!

--Pamela

[SandyLynn]

Thanks, Pamela! That info is VERY interesting, and I'll ask my vet about the Tylosin this week. I sure want to be prepared if (heaven forbid!) she has another attack.

Happy Birthday to Peaches from all of us here http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif and many happy returns. Mickey wants to know if she had cake and ice cream.

[Wienergal]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Mickey, but no, Peaches can't have cake or ice cream because *sigh* she's allergic to all things dairy.... http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Instead, she is getting her favorite treat in the world--watermelon! A whole dish of cut-up pieces, just for her! (Farfie! Get away from that dish! FARFIE!!! NO!!!!)

[SandyLynn]

Watermelon! What a great idea! I'll get one today for the gang (Cleo can't have regular treats anymore either, Peaches, so she's very sympathetic).