Druppy Update

Okay we're home, I'm going to write this out while its still on my brain.

We don't know what it is yet, but we do know it's probably not his kidneys, it's probably not cancer and the blood protein is not leaking into his abdomen. the 2 most likely causes are a malfunctioning liver and an inflammed intestine. The Liver is could possibly be the culprit but the probable reason is the inflammed intsetine.

The plan of action is to give him 10 days of 2 anitbiotics and also de-worming medicine. None of these can hurt and if the inflammation is caused by an infection we should see both the white blood cell count go down and the blood protein go up. (the vet said it could be that immediate). So we'll get a repeat CBC next thursday. and go from there.

She said his prostate was enlarged but after a rectal exam it was deterimined that was not a real problem. she checked for any noduals or signs of tumors and didn't feel any nor did she see any.

We asked about the abcesses we found on his head and in his ear (basically they're pimples) and she said that ear infections are normally localized and highly unlikely to be the cause (she sees 100-200 ear infection cases a year and hundreds of sick dogs a year. It's likely she will not see another low blood protein problem for 2 or 3 years, that's how rare this is). And it is very serious and life threatening.

She also said that him not getting protein through his diet (from not eating) would not cause the levels to be as low as they are. either the liver isn't making them or they are not getting absorbed through the instestinal walls and they're passing in the stool.

The hope is that the inflammation will go down and the blood protein levels and weight go up.

If that doesn't happen the next step is a liver function test. this would confirm that the liver is not making protein and he's in liver failure or the liver is making protein thus meaning it's an intestinal problem. the only way to see if its intestinal is to do a biopsy with an endoscope or exploritory surgery. the whole bowel isn't inflammed so finding just the right spot would be tough with an endoscope. Both options are about the same price and are probably out of our budget (she didn't give numbers, but that's what we're thinking). x-Rays are still on the table which would help give them a better picture of what they're dealing with.

Or hope and prayers are that the antibiotics knock down the inflammation and his numbers start to regulate.