Archive | April, 2014

Pancreatitis 2 and crystal in his urine

20 Apr

4/20/2014

Today vet called me about the result of his urine test. It looks like they found crystal(magnesium, ammonium, phosphate) in his urine. However, there are no drug I could give him at this point.

I asked him what should I do? The vet told me that Big Steve need to drink a lot of water so that crystal might come out with pee. The vet also told me that we can give him urinary health diet food for dog.

In terms of water, vet recommended me to give him just a pinch of lite salt in his food to make him thirsty or give ice cube. I tried ice cube, but he didn’t like it.  I have been using a syringe to give him water in his mouth, but it’s a tough job since he spills the water I just gave him from the side of his mouth.

At this point, I just need to be extra careful if he is straining when he is peeing.

 

Pancreatitis

18 Apr

It’s been a long time since the last post. Big Steve has been doing great and enjoy the weather in here and some social time at dog park every weekend. Today, I just want to update his medical history.

Feb. 17 2014

Big Steve had to take his teeth out. He took 10 teeth out! (>_<。)

 

Mar. 20th 2014

Big Steve throw up twice at night.

Mar. 21st 2014

He didn’t have much apatite. He also had a soft stool around that time, so we thought something must bothered his stomach.

Mar. 24th 2014

He was eating fine but looked a bit lethargic and his fart smelled bad.

Some time that week we noticed his pee color looked a bit darker yellow.

April 1st 2014

I took Big Steve to his vet. The vet said he has jaundice. His eyes and ear color got yellowish. After the exam and hearing my explanation about what is going on with Big Steve, he checked his blood and took X-Ray. The vet told me that vomiting, stinky fart, and loss of apatite may indicate liver damage.  However, the result of blood test and X-Ray didn’t show the damage of his liver. In order to find the problem, Big Steve needed to take ultrasound. Since the vet didn’t have the machine, I took him to another vet close by.

That day I got Clavamox 1/2 every 12 hours and Denamarin 1 tablet with empty stomach 1 hour before meal everyday. Clavamox is Antibiotic and used for Bacterial infections. Denamarin is for his liver.

April 4th 2014

Big Steve got ultrasound. The vet found out that Big Steve has pancreatitis that could cause liver damage or gallbladder problem. The vet told us to keep the medications we got from our primary vet and also added 2 more pills.

Ursodiol 1/2 every day and Cerenia 1 tablet for 4 days. Ursodiol is used to dissolve gallstones. Cerenia is used for antinausea.

I attached the part of the document I received from the vet.
*Prednisolone is a pill Big Steve has been taking since he has autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Big Steve Pancreatitis

We also got some sample of low fat canned food from the vet. It contains crude fat (min)1% ~ crude fat(max)2.5%. This is a very low fat content, but I also see by-products listed as an ingredient. So I tried to find a low fat canned food without by-product at pet food express which is known as a healthy pet food store. However, the best I could find was crude fat (min) 3%. I put photo of the canned food I got at the vet and the label. Hope you can see it.

BTW, Big Steve really loved it and got his apatite back!

 IMG_5376canned food ura

April 6th 2014.

I could see his jaundice has gotten better.

April 7th 2014.

I went to the vet to get 4 more Cerenias.

April 16th 2014.

I still give him a low fat canned food the best I can find at pet food express. He loves it! I called the 2nd vet as I was directed to do so. The person I talked to told me that Big Steve need to be checked the chemistry, PCB. I had no idea what that means. She didn’t explained what that is, but she said the vet will know what that is… Since she told me that I can take him to his primary vet, I brought Big Steve to his primary vet to check his blood. The result showed his condition has gotten a lot better, but still not the normal level.

April 18th 2014.

Big Steve is not peeing enough as usual and my husband was so worried about him, so we took Big Steve to our primary vet today. They took his urine sample to check if there is any sand, crystal, blood… What they did was put the tube in his penis and if it doesn’t go through that means there are something piling up, but the tube went through which was a good news. They will call and let  us know the result and the course of treatment tomorrow.

I also bought more low fat canned food at this vet since the price was lower here than the other vet.