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Old September 10th, 2009, 12:46 AM
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Since last report Duffy has been fully back on raw & all her usual supplements. She had a physio appt for IMS in mid July - looking much better there as well her back far less reactive than the previous appt

Near the end of Aug was her 3 month check up she was doing good, Dr listened to her heart as well & could not hear the murmur, eating, drinking, peeing & getting fluids well, but still an issue w/dry poop & vomiting stomach acid while attempting to go, so her homeopath recommended increasing the muscle meat amount to 75% of her diet and the rest as meat/bone/organ mix, and her Vet suggested we increase the volume of fluids from 150cc every other day up to 100cc everyday. The extra meat went over great with Duffy loving the extra chicken breast, however a few days later, when I added a very small amount of bone-in premade raw chicken mix to that again came the straining, diarreah, hard poop, drooling, vomiting, slight panting - thankfully not anywhere near as bad as the "duck allergy episode" (which prompted a weekend in ER). She was doing okay w/the premade turkey mix just reacted to the chicken mix. I had her dropped off at the Homeopath Vet for the day for monitoring, they checked her over, gave her some fluids & a remedy, kept an eye on her, tempted her w/some food which she refused don't blame her it was a/d thinking that would be easiest to digest. The dr on staff (not Duffy's primary vet) said she felt a "doughy" feeling in Duffy's abdomen, this could be fat cuz she is a bit chubby, it could also be the pancreas or kidneys reacting to infection etc or possibly IBD. Duffy was not blocked w/poop, none to be felt in her colon. She recommended an ultrasound to see what is what. I brought her home where she attempted a poop got a wee bit out & went to bed. Repeated a couple of remedies & she was looking far better around 11 pm that night. The next day looking so much better she stayed @ my mum's so she could check on her during the day. The recommendation now from her homeopath is no bone at all for Duffy - she just can process it anymore. The monday after she had a semi hard slightly dry poop & later in the week a good soft/normal poop w/having had no bone all week. Currently she is eating raw chicken breast, I'm considering sourcing chicken liver to add in (trying to find small package size like 1-2 or a butcher here open on sundays) though understandably hesitant to change anything in her diet right now and every 4th day premade raw no-bone Bison mix which she prefers seared

Got her blood results in from the Aug 3 month check the vet is using a different lab so some of the reference ranges are slightly different
Out of range values:

BUN (5-12) 16 H.........last test in June was 14.7
Cre (83-181) 270.3 H.........last test in June was 240
Lipase (0-205) 323 H normal every previous test

In Duffy's situtation, as mentioned by my vet, the increase in Lipase could be due to the kidney issues as lipase is excreted by the kidneys, so here it is not necessarily pointing at anything else, though pancreatitis or IBD haven't been ruled out.

Platelet & lymphocyte counts are also low - this is nothing new for Duffy, both have been low in the past The platelet count a bit lower than previous test but the lymphocytes climbing higher towards normal. Lymphocytes are white blood cells important in production of antibodies and immunity.

Her USG came in lower this time (as the last couple of tests it was climbing) it's at 1.015 the bottom end of "normal", urine pH is up at 7 again and the Urobil came out at 17 where it should read "normal". Everything else is neg or normal.

Urobilinogen is an intestinal bacterial breakdown product of bilirubin. Some of it is absorbed from the intestine into the blood stream and them small amounts are excreted from the kidney into the urine. Urobilinogen in the urine infers the bile ducts is at least partially open which of course is good, (no urobilinogen does not mean the duct is blocked). The amount excreted in the urine also depends on the amount excreted in the feces, the activity of the gi microflora and intestinal transit time. Severe haemolysis, constipaiton & gi haemorrahage all may increase the amount of urobilinogen present. Constipation issues she has had.

The lab Dr who performed the tests remarked at the bottom the high lipase could be due to pancreatitis/pancreas injury or it could be due to the kidneys.

Got a call from my vet as he saw the referral request for diagnostics, he agreed it would be a good idea to get a clear picture of what is going on in her abdomen as we may still be looking at a pancreas issue even though her fPLI test from the ER came back normal, or there could be IBD - though at this point I'm thinking it's just gonna show the kidney disease as she has had no issues this last week & a half. My vet said he was marking me down for a referral for an abdominal ultrasound, but also told me to ask if they can take a quick peek at her heart while we're there to check out the murmur.

Duffy was playing w/her feather toy for a wee bit this weekend. Just waiting on a call from the specialist to book the ultrasound.
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