B12 levels low, but good news!

[3dognite]

Thanks!!!!

[GatorBytes]

THAT (Cassidy's Mom) is the d-zyme I was looking for the other day for another thread, but could only find Berte's Zyme!

This blend sounds great.

L-Glutamine is an amino acid.

Looking at your other thread, first post...you are adding meat to the kibble? This could be causing gastro issues do to the rate of digestion, also are you trimming off the fat? Reduce fat, this is the hardest to digest.

Have you considered dumping the kibble all together? My dog couldn't digest kibble at all.

[3dognite]

*UPDATE*

Good news! His first shot was given on Saturday...we're here at Tuesday.

Last night he absolutely CONSUMED his food and chased his bowl across the floor.

THEN he ate a raw egg. And then he was looking for more!

His first dose of Forti-Flora was given last night too. Looking forward to seeing how his poop is tonight!

[msvette2u]

Thanks! The fact that his B12 levels are low, even though folate is fine, is an indication of SIBO.

Yes, I'd vote for SIBO too, that's possibly not quite detected, but treat for it anyway? What's your vet say about a trial of Tylan?

[3dognite]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

Yes, I'd vote for SIBO too, that's possibly not quite detected, but treat for it anyway? What's your vet say about a trial of Tylan?

The vet wasn't wild about treating for SIBO at this point, though he said if the rest of it starts to straighten out and we're still having diarrhea that we'll reevaluate.

Would you treat for it without the vet's recommendation?

[msvette2u]

Knowing now what I didn't know back then, yes, I'd be tempted to treat for SIBO anyway, you can give it a day or two, but SIBO is...it's insidious and kind of creeps up.

Our dog had lost 10 lb. in 3 weeks, and almost died and we had no clue what was wrong.

My thoughts are, Tylan is cheap enough, even though the initial outlay's a bit expensive ($50 or so for a container of the dry powder), and it doesn't have a ton of side effects, that is, it's a very safe drug to give, and may in fact help, that it's a simple enough "fix".

Especially the fact the B12 is low, that does mean something's going on in there.

We had our senior Pom x (hospice foster) on it for the entire time she was here. Not only did she have ongoing colitis (undx'ed) it helped her eyes

[3dognite]

Okay, I'll give it some thought. The tylan powder is actually available at the local feed store so I can always give it a shot in a few days---not to mention it is cheaper there than online.

[Cassidy's Mom]

I'm with msvette. I would really try to convince your vet that it's worth a shot, but if he's totally opposed to the idea, I might just go ahead on my own. I just don't see any harm in trying it. I wouldn't go against my vet's advice for everything, but in this case, Tylan is inexpensive and many people use it long term without issue, so I think it would be safe, and if he starts doing better you'll know it was the right thing to do. If it doesn't help, you can simply discontinue it.

If you do decide to try Tylan, be sure and do it for at least 4 weeks, which is the usual treatment for SIBO. Vets that aren't that familiar with SIBO might only prescribe antibiotics for a week or 10 days, and that's not enough.

[3dognite]

And as far as dosing? Rebel weighs about 70 pounds right now, but should weigh closer to 100.

[3dognite]

Gaah! I'm going to yank all my hair out.

Now he has fairly serious middle ear infection/abscess. The right side of his face is paralyzed (no more cute eyebrow motion on that side) due to the infection.

So he's going on a month's worth of some antibiotic that works on abscesses and such.