momofdaphne
Boxer Pal
I don't know where to start. I adopted my white boxer Daphne at the end of July. She was about 6-9 months old. No history on her; she was a stray. She was underweight and after some minor health issues (like skin infections and bowel issues), she was diagnosed with a liver infection. We battled this for a few months first with metrinidozole and antibiotics (which after 10 or so days her stomach couldn't handle it any longer) and later urosodiol. Throughout this, the vet had her on and off Hills Science Diet ID and a month long stint on WD to straighten out the diarrhea. During this she became lame, but we couldn't tell if it was her back or front legs. It was on and off and at times I had to help her out of her crate and she eventually couldn't put her front legs onto the bed or anything. I had her tested for Lyme's Disease. Meanwhile I gradually switched her over to Natural Balance Lamb Meal and Brown Rice and she loved it! She was still lame though. I had to take her in b/c I thought the tips of her ears were frostbit. Turns out that it was old scar tissue breaking open. Shortly after this, she stopped eating again and was extremely lame in the back legs. I thought the liver ALTs were elevated again, but they came out fine. She could hardly squat to urinate and I had to pick her up out of her crate all of the time. She also became extremely depressed. After a few days of battling to get her to eat, I found myself offering scrambled eggs with cheese, ground beef & rice, anything to get her to eat and she refused. I put it all in the blender and used a syringe to feed her. At this time, we had an appt scheduled with the university vet clinic in a week and a half and I just wanted her to hang in there. She spent a night at the vet's and wouldn't eat much for them. We started her on tramadal for pain and got her into U of I as soon as we could. After the pain meds kicked in, she slowly started eating again. We thought maybe it was myositis. Long story short--all x-rays, urine cultures and blood work have come back fine. I even had her tested for toxoplasmosis. My regular vet and 5 vets at the university have all consulted. They did a special muscle test, but it was not elevated enough to indicate that she'd be showing clinical signs of a problem. They had me keep her on the tramadal and gave me an appetite stimulant. The university team talked about Addison's Disease, but my vet and I think it is unlikely b/c the other blood work doesn't really point that way. Last week we decided to try a course of prednisone. She is getting 20mg pred, 1 pepcid, tramadal, and an appetite stimulant. She now has diarrhea and I have to give her metrinidizole again. The vet would like me to put her back on WD to get the stools straightened out, but I'm hesitant b/c of the amount of fiber and lack of some of the nutrients. She's so underweight and I swear she is just not absorbing any nutrients from the food. Can anyone offer any advice on cooking special diets to maintain her liver through this and calm her bowels? I feel like I need to stay away from the regular dog chow altogether and I don't want to try the raw diet just yet. At this point the vets seem to think this is all auto-immune. I'm also searching for any other advice or ideas? I will tell you that I lost a healthy 4 year old dog from immune mediated hemalytic anemia 3 months after I moved to my present location and I find it quite odd that this "new" dog has an immune problem. (Daphne was supposed to be a buddy for my other dog, but he passed away right before I brought her home.) We can't make any clear connections, but has anyone had these kind of problems with their boxers? I just can't give up. I appreciate any advice or support. Thanks and sorry that this was a little long.
