From:
Lucie Darkes
Date: 2002-02-16 11:56:00 UTC
Subject: Ongoing colitis symptoms
A while back I posted about Sarah's illness. Its been rather lengthy, so
please bear with me while I try to summarize it: back in the middle of
December, Sarah, who is about 2 years old came became ill with a very high
fever and respiratory symptoms (shallow, rapid breathing with some
congestion). Xrays showed some changes in the lung area, but nothing very
definitive. We treated with anitbiotics for about four weeks, which did end
up resolving the fever and her breathing gradually got better. Repeat xrays
were inconclusive, with only suggestions of what could be going on, such as
possible pneumonia, possible allergic reactions etc. We did blood and urine
tests to try to find something conclusive, but never did, and once her fever
and breathing normalized we stopped pursuing answers in that direction.
However, she did develop symptoms of colitis toward the end of using
antibiotics. She stopped eating her kibble, and was constantly in and out
of the litter box with diahrrea and/or straining to go. She also had
occasional vomiting, or dry heaves. We initially treated the symptoms with
lopermide and metaclopramide and gave her bene-bac to try to restablish good
flora in her gut, thinking she may have been reacting to long term
antibiotic use. Well, this just did no good at all. So a couple weeks ago,
we started her on chloramphenicol (sp?). After a few days of treatment, we
saw significant improvement. No more vomiting or running to the litter box
every few minutes. Her stools improved and actually began to look normal.
She started eating her regular food again. I thought all was well. But
over the past several days, she has gone down hill again. She stopped
eating, her stools are loose again, to the point that today they are yellow
and watery again. And in the past couple days, she's been vomiting again.
I'm pretty much at a loss as to where to go next here. Could IBD be a
possibility here? Please, if you have any suggestions for me and my vet,
could you let me know? We'd really like some help here. Oh, just to
clarify, even though Sarah isn't eating her regular food, she is eating
something. She gets chicken gravy hand fed to her and is maintaining her
regular weight. I didn't want folks to think she was wasting away. Her
activity level is less than it was when she was well, but she is still
interested in exploring, playing with her toys etc. Thanks for any help you
might be able to share. Lucie & Sarah
@-"-@
(=^ ' ^ =)
o00 -\o/- 00o