Dixie – Anemic – Low B-12

[admin]

Hi Roger

I’m sorry I haven’t been around so far in your journey with Dixie. I went through non-regenerative IMHA with my cat Molly, last December. I’ve had a read through your post and had a look at Dixie’s endoscopy pictures, and can see what loving and dedicated owners she has. What are they treating the GI ulceration with? Have they added in anything for clotting risk?

I know you mentioned Mirtazapine after Dixie’s endoscopy, but see that her appetite has now picked up? This is great to hear. We used Mirtazapine a few times with Molly. I didn’t rate it much actually, but she was an extremely stubborn young lady so it may be more effective with other animals! One thing I do remember is how much it knocked her out – she really was very sleepy on it, which the vets told me was normal.

As Sheena and Patrice have already said, I think we all beat ourselves up looking for a reason that our pets have ended up with this horrid illness. Even if we find the causative culprit (which we often don’t), we make the choices we do for our pets out of responsibility and of love. We wouldn’t bother to vaccinate if we didn’t care and want what is best for them. I know it is of little consolation when you are caring for your poorly pup, but it is very clear to me that the decisions you have made for Dixie have been made out of love. You have done absolutely nothing wrong and she is a lucky little lady to have you for a Dad.

I am keeping everything crossed that you get good news from her biopsy results so that she can get the treatment she needs and feel better very soon.

Much love, Mary and Mable x

[Roger]

Update: Thursday we received more information back from the Texas A&M lab from the endoscopy biopsies that were done on the 22nd. I don’t have any reports from the biopsies yet that I can study and cross reference all of the terms I don’t understand. Unfortunately, our mystery girl still is eluding a definitive diagnosis. The results are pointing to either a very aggressive bacteria in her small intestine or cancer according to what was relayed to us. Upon further conversation with the doctor there is a staining test that can be done on the biopsy material to potentially confirm if it is cancer however the test was said to be very expensive. The Texas A&M lab will be calling me next week. In discussing all of the likely causes from what was found and known from the biopsies we have elected to pursue a course of treatment beginning last Thursday night with an assumption (not sure how good the assumption is) that Dixie does not have cancer and started treating her as if she has a very bad bacterial infection that is generating IBD types of issues. She added 136 mg/day of Baytril pills to her routine. This evening will be her 3rd pill. Overall she is still very finicky but we have found a way to keep her eating, she looks to be gaining weight again though her stools are not as good as before the endoscopy. We do not at this point believe if she has cancer we will attempt any curative treatments. We have seen firsthand within our two legged family members the very negative effects from the three basic cancer treatments (cut, burn, poison.) In each case we lost our family member and their remaining few months were horrible for them due to the side effects of the treatment. So at the moment we are choosing to believe we are on the right track, if not Dixie will show us shortly and we will make adjustments. Overall I think she is feeling about as good as just prior to the endoscopy so that is a good turn for the better.

[admin]

Hi Roger
I like your positive thinking. I hope the antibiotics will make Dixie feel better in about a week or so, although it can take longer for them be really effective & they are sometimes needed for a long time. Are they doing cultures to determine the type of bacteria? It is pretty common for humans to have bacterial infections (e.g. helicobacter or campylobacter) which can cause ulceration & much pain, making people think they have something much worse going on, although it looks like they are thinking SIBO/IBD. Probiotics are also very helpful for this. Great to hear she is feeling more like herself now! If she starts eating better & puts a little weight on, that will be weight off your mind & you will know you are on the right track. Fingers & paws crossed for Dixie,
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie

[Vally]

Crossing fingers, toes and paws that the antibiotic is what is needed.

Love Vally & Bingo

[admin]

All best wishes from us too. I do so hope that the antibiotics soon kick in and Dixie will be on the road to recovery.

Much love, Mary & Mable x

[Roger]

Update: Well we have had Dixie on 136 mg/day Baytril for the last 11 days. It is a little hard for us to know if it is effective for her condition. Some of the side effects of the Antibiotic are essentially some of the symptoms she had which got us to this point in the first place. Dixie is now extremely finicky again on what she will eat, she has loose stools, vomited once (she has not vomited at all previous to this in at least 4 months), she is a little withdrawn and tired. We’ve been able to keep her weight on but are literally trying everything to get her to eat. All of these things are also symptoms of Baytril. So for now we are holding the course with hope that the Baytril is killing the bacterial infection that she might have and what we are seeing in terms of symptoms are merely being caused by the Baytril. If anyone has ideas or thoughts we would definitely appreciate your comments. – Roger

[Vally]

How long is the course of Baytril Roger?

Vally

[Roger]

We were initially given 20 days for Baytril. We are carefully watching Dixie’s condition however it is difficult when multiple variables are changed at once. Overall, I would say that she changed for the worse from the endoscopy. Initially after the procedure we could not get her to eat what prior to that treatment was working. We have not had good success with eating or digestion since the endoscopy procedure. One other note, she is now tapered to 5mg Prednisone once every 3 days. You can clearly see over the last 3-4 weeks an improvement in her muscle mass, which we welcome.