I'm Louie's mom, creator of this website and head administrator of this forum. We're sorry you have to be here, but we're glad you found us. Even if you've been participating at the blog (http://louiethelovemuffin.com) for some time, please take a moment to introduce yourself and your CIL dog here.
Hi all! I'm Jill and my Norwich terrier, Honey, was diagnosed at age five with lymphangiectasia in January 2013. After a long and brave struggle with the disease, she passed away in December 2013. I found the blog to be critically important to furthering my knowledge about this disease. I must say that managing Honey's health on a daily basis during her illness was extremely stressful and exhausting. Today, and after encouragement from Louie's mom to bring another dog into my life, I am the pet parent of another Norwich terrier named Lizzie. She is young and healthy and not a day goes by that I take her good health for granted.
I look forward to sharing through this forum. It will surely be useful to many dog owners. Thanks, Louie's mom, for making it possible!
Hi Jill, I'm so glad you're here. I know you miss Honey very much, and our new pets can never replace them, but they do help our hearts to heal. I don't know if anyone else understands as much as a CIL parent does just how difficult this disease it and how much it drains from us. I'm so glad we have this community to lean on still.
I'm Dan. I lost my little cockapoo Daisy this past August. Daisy progressed too fast to save, she was only three weeks from the time we first took her to the vet until she died. We suspect that because she had been on a low dose of prednisone for five years previous that she may have had undiagnosed CIL the whole time and with her meds was building resistance to the drug. Daisy always had issues with her stomach, but every vet said it was probably from her vaccine reactions and they kept her on a hypoallergenic diet, it worked and so we never thought much of it. Daisy was 9 and a half when she died. I struggle with the guilt of having her put to sleep, even though I know she was suffering so much and both her regular vet and the emergency vet said she wasn't going to survive more than another week or two. I can't offer much advice, my experience with CIL was short but I understand the pain of going through this disease.
I'm Amy and my toy poodle is Kimber. She was diagnosed with CIL three years ago in January. We've been lucky that her case seems to be fairly mild. We're controlling the disease through diet and a low dose of budesonide daily. I'm feeding her a diet of balanceIt dehydrated potato flakes mixed with Science Diet I/D Low-fat canned food (for flavor), and lean ground turkey. She's 14 years old now and has lost most of her hearing, but her vision is still good and she doesn't seem to have any arthritis yet. She even still has all her teeth! I imagine the CIL will shorten her life by a year or two, but we expect to have her around for a few more years.
Hi I am Darby's Mom. Darby is a 6 year old 7.1 lb Red Dachshund. Darby has been sick since June 2014. He is a severe case. He has been to Texas A & M and we have not been able to get this under control. Currently he is in guarded condition and we have been working with Texas A&M for four months and his local Vet where we live. Just up until last week he would still walk on his own and jump up on the bed. His lab work came back today with no change in his condition. He has been on IT Balance supplement and a Rice or Potatoe and Talapia diet. He has been taking several different medications.
My name is Jill and our CIL dog Bodi (an English Spanish Spaniel) was diagnosed with CIL in late Spring 2014. Bodi was 4 years at the time, and we considered him a healthy active dog until he suddenly "crashed" and became critically ill. It has been a long road back, but at this point we consider him a healthy and active dog again. Our vet describes this as a remission and we know we need to be vigilant with his care. His diet is Royal Canin low fat kibble supplemented with 1 & 1/2 tsp daily of Ultra EFA to support his skin health. He still takes 1 pill a week of Atopica (100mg) but if his blood protein levels remain stable we hope to try him with no medication in the coming months. At one point early in his treatment, he was on 8 different medications so this seems like a small miracle. He was on high doses of predisone and atopica for many months and was slowly weened off those meds and others over a period of many months. Although we live rurally, we have the support of excellent vets at our nearby clinic. Their early diagnosis and expertise are for sure the reason he survived. His treatment especially in the the early days was very expensive and time consuming. I'm grateful that we had the resources and time to devote to him and realize that if this had happened when we were younger and with children at home we could not have done this. This site was a great help and encouragement for me especially when Bodi was in the crisis stage. I have great respect for people who have cared for are caring for dogs with this condition. It's a real rollercoaster ride.
Jill, welcome to the forum. Please check your hotmail account as I sent you an email about your user name. Just let me know if what I did is okay with you. Thanks.
Hi, I'm Annie's mom. Thanks for all of the wonderful and helpful information about CIL. My dog, Annie, was just diagnosed on Dec. 28/15. She had an ultrasound today and what they found was consistent with CIL. She’s a mixed breed (Staffordshire Terrier, Beagle, English Springer Spaniel). She’s two years old. I adopted her in June 2013. She is a sweet and gentle soul who had a lousy start to life in a puppy mill followed by an abusive owner – she deserves a long and happy life! Before December 12/15 I didn't notice anything different with Annie. But that day she had diarrhea and bloating - neither of which have let up since. Since then she’s lost 4 inches off of her neck as her body steals protein from her muscles to make up for the loss of Albumin. Measuring her neck is the only way to measure weight loss because the liquid in her abdominal cavity makes it seem as though she’s gained weight. She’s on Prednisone and Metronidazole. In the last couple of days she's grown tired of the Royal Canin G.I. Low Fat. Today the vet gave me the go ahead to give her extra chicken. So I bought some skinless, boneless breasts and boiled and baked them to remove as much fat as possible. I added some to her food and she happily ate everything in her bowl. It's the little things that I'm celebrating. I’m also giving her a probiotic called ProGut Plus by Ceva (I was happy to discover it has 0% fat compared to other probiotics with higher fat levels due to the added flavorings). I’m also giving her 1/8 TSP of Cinnamon per day as it is a natural anti-inflammatory (my vet has approved this also). It’s been a few days since I’ve seen the “chicken broth” like diarrhea. It’s now mostly “chocolate milk” or “puréed soup”. Tonight, as we were getting ready for bed I noticed a new bulge on her underside, around the area of where her chest transitions into her belly. It feels like fluid is building up in the tissue there. Another phone call to the vet tomorrow to report that. I'm very worried at how quickly this is happening. She still acts like the same Annie, but her body changes are so significant and so horrifying. I attached the picture from the Pound Dog Rescue website - this is the shot that stole my heart. I'm hoping to celebrate many more "Annie-versaries" together.
Hello! I'm Janny and I just lost my pit bull, Sonia last week. We've been trying to figure out what was wrong with her for 3 years this January. She was just diagnosed with CIL after exploratory surgery at UC Davis this past August. The day before she died I took her in for her final drain (not that I knew that at the time) and we got 8.5 liters of fluid out of her abdomen and another liter out of her chest, we'd been having to drain her monthly for the past 4 months at least. This journey has been exhausting emotionally and financially. I'm so thankful for all of the information and support I found here. The attached picture is Sonia donating all of the food and treats she could no longer eat to a local rescue group
Welcome to the forum!
