Thursday, February 14, 2008

Sir Ickey-Ike Update

Well, first the good news. Ike does not have an obstruction and he ate a tablespoon of rice!

My day started with a call that Ike had puked again - after the Cerenia and before breakfast. I called the vet and tentatively scheduled an x-ray; depending upon what the blood results said.

Dr. Kirk called shortly before noon and said that all of Ike's levels are normal except for his GGT liver level - that is a little bit low. Dr. Kirk said that might just be the normal state for Ike - no way to tell at this point. Ike's white blood count is also a little bit high, but since he is probably fighting an infection and under a significant amount of stress that is normal.

I kept my tentative x-ray appointment in the afternoon and thank dog gods there is no obstruction. Ike's stomach looked "thick" according to Dr. Kirk . He proceeded to tell me all the ways that could be interpreted (crazy Julie said - oh gods, I've given my dog an ulcer), but essentially his stomach is in tough shape because he has been puking for the past couple of days. He has a slightly under-sized liver, his spleen was enlarged (again probably due to infection), and his hips look good. Dr. Kirk tried to include his hips in the x-ray because he knows we do agility. I thought that was an interesting/nice gesture.

Dr. Kirk gave Ike more subcutaneous fluids as he was surprisingly dehydrated and prescribed an additional medicine called sucralfate which I am to mix with water and give to Ike. Apparently it coats the stomach, acting like a Pepcid or Mylanta would.

The low down is that we don't know what is going on with Ike. His blood work was non-conclusive. There is no hard-and-fast test for panceatitis.

Ike is to stay on meds and a bland diet until he is normal for AT LEAST 24 hours. Long term Dr. Kirk said I could give Ike Milk thistle for the low GGT level. Apparently GGT works to clean out the bile sludge or some such gunk.

Yesterday I was very down on Dr. Kirk. Today I am not sure what I think. I was much more impressed with him today, but that might just be my state of mind. Once I found out Ike hadn't snuck off to do the unthinkable and eat a random object my stress level went down a bit.

I will have to post on my schnauzer list. I am curious if anyone else's dog has been ill or if this is something related to Ike's physiology.

Ike just had his tablespoon of white rice and about a quarter of an all fruit Popsicle - he is now snoozing. Thank you all for your positive thoughts. I am still a wreck, but I feel a little bit better and I KNOW Ike feels significantly better.

5 comments:

Shelly said...

Ohh poor boo boo--Keep us posted!!

Regarding the Sucralfate: I don't know if they mentioned this--but make sure you do not crush it and add it to water (it will nullify the effectiveness) you want to put it in water and let it bloom (which essentially means let is dissolve) We use Sucrulfate/carafate ALL the time with the weasles.

I hope he is feeling better soon! (although, I have to tell you, when I read your statement "crazy Julie gave Ike and ulcer" I cracked up!

Katrin said...

Jules, sometimes I feel the need to take away your ability to 'google'....It's stressing you out too much!

Hope Mr Ike is doing better today.

ann-and-partner said...

I wish you both a calm day!

Jules said...

Michele - Bloom is a good word for it. Thank you! And I am crazy!!

Katrin - I know, Google is dangerous!!

Ann - Thank you. It has started much calmer. Ike wanted to go for a walk and was scanning for people to "look at." Fingers and paws crossed!

Shelly said...

Well, yeah--I'm crazy too--it's probably why I love you so much--we wouldn't feel comfortable with the "normies" LOL