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Recently Diagnosed - Walt-Shiera - 07-26-2016
Hello everyone!
My dog Shiera was just diagnosed with what our vet believes to be CIL. Last week she had consistent issues with her bowel movements and then last friday she suddenly looked pregnant. We have just finished a round of antibiotics, originally thinking she just had an infection. We had some bloodwork and x-rays done this weekend and were given the diagnosis yesterday. Her Albumin and Globulin levels are very low as well as her BUN, calcium, and creatinine. Her lymphocyte levels are also extremely low. This along with her x-rays led our vet to make the diagnosis of protein losing enteropathy likely due to CIL. We just started her on a new perscription dog food (Hills Perscription Diet w/d) as well as a medium chain triglyceride supplement. Our vet explained that she is not absorbing enough protein and the smaller chain proteins hopefully are easier to digest.
A little background on our beloved Shiera: We rescued her from our local shelter a few years ago, she is a hound, pit, pointer mutt. She was in the shelter one week shy of a year. She is about 7-8 years old. She has had allergy and skin issues the entire time we have had her, and it was the reason she was given up by her first family. We finally (recently) got her skin cleared up and her fur back with the help of the allergy medicine Apoquel. Her recovery up to this point has been a roller coaster of different foods and medications. Just as we think the struggle is over, we get a CIL diagnosis.
Our vet suggested starting prednisone along with her diet change. We are trying to avoid this at all costs. Shiera has been on and off prednisone for years trying to get her skin and allergy issues under control and we are concerned of the side effects. We are trying the diet change for a week to see if the swelling in her stomach goes down. I would love to hear any suggestions or other pups experiences with CIL. We are just worried that the diet change does not work and what happens next.
Thanks in advance for your comments!