[Erin]

Well, we made our visit to Auburn University's small animal clinic on Thursday. We left at 5am and got there at 9am. We thought it would take quite a bit longer so our appt. wasn't until 11. With 2 hrs to kill the people at Auburn suggested a park with some walking trails and we headed there. The pups had a blast and we enjoyed ourselves as well.

Anyway, after talking with several vets there they decided on a course of action and we left to go kill some more time and wait for them to call us to let us know they were done. They were going to shoot for being done by 4pm so around that time we headed back even though we hadn't heard from them. About 4:30pm they came out to the waiting room to tell us they were running behind. They ended up getting done around 6pm. Here are the things they did:

Full blood work-up
Chest X-rays
Abdomen X-rays
Esophogram (Basically a moving x-ray where they feed her and watch the food as it travels down her throat, into her stomach, and out of her stomach)
Addison's Blood test

Anyway, bottom line is they don't know what's wrong with her. Everything they did came back normal except the blood work. She had some low counts so they had us get Daisy re-checked with our vet. Her levels were improved but some were still slightly low. Our vet said he wasn't too concerned but he went ahead and sent the bloodwork to a pathologist for review.

Auburn told us to put Daisy on a med regime of Prilosec and Reglen. We will try her on this for about a month. If it doesn't work we will go back to Auburn and they will do a second endoscopy (a vet in JAcksonville did the first one last year). Auburn though will go into Daisy's stomach and upper intestine and take biopsies. The first vet took no biopsies and just looked at Daisy's esophagus. Anyway, we'll see what happens. The good news is that they were really nice and the price was MUCH better than I expected. I would definitely recommend if anyone has unusual issues with their dogs or their dog needs a major procedure to go to a university.

So basically it's a wait and see. We'll get the Addisons tests results next week, but we really don't think that's what she has.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Most reports being normal or negative is good, at least they can start ruling oout what its not.

Give Daisy some rubs from us.

 

[Erin]

Will do... just realized too, we left at about 6am.

so it was only about a 3hr drive.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Thanks so much for the update re your trip to Auburn -- every time someone shares an experience like this, it helps other members decide what route to take with their pups. I agree with Joe -- let them keep ruling stuff out! My Maggie was on Reglan for a long time -- only problem was that her dose was 1/2 pill and, when split in half, it has a nasty, nasty taste. It was not one of Mags' favorite things. I don't remember the generic name off-hand but I believe it was on the $4/month Target list.

If you wouldn't mind, please post which labs were low (normal range and Daisy's level). Am curious what they are.

I agree with you re the value of using university research hospitals for diagnosis. The veterinary hospital at the University of Florida/Gainesville has an outstanding reputation. Florida Veterinary Specialists/Cancer Treatment Center here in Tampa is also excellent. They have a center devoted strictly to eye diseases with a specialty in cataracts.

Looking forward to hearing that Daisy's treatment works -- lots of hugs sent her way!

 

[jassy]

I hope you have success with the medication. It sounds like you are at least ruling out some things.

 

[Murphys Dad]

It's good to read that most all the tests came back normal. That should give the vets a starting place. Tummy rubs for Daisy.

 

[tntnjmom]

Glad to hear they at least are ruling things out...and that it was a successful trip!
I never would've thought to use a university's vet center -- very good tip! Let us know how it goes and if she reacts well to the meds.

 

[Erin]

Originally Posted By: judymaggie

If you wouldn't mind, please post which labs were low (normal range and Daisy's level). Am curious what they are.

Here are the normal ranges:

Hematocrit 37-55
White Blood Cell (WBC) 6-17
Neutrophils 3-12
Monocytes 0.2-1.5
Eosinophils 0.0-0.8

Here are the lows from our Thursday Auburn visit:

Hematocrit- 35.7
WBC- 3.6
Neutrophils - 2.39
Monocytes - .145
Eosinophils - .036

Here are the values from our Friday regular vet visit:

Hemocratic - 50
WBC - 5.33
Neutrophils - 3.25
Monocytes - .12
Eosinophils - .18

 

[jassy]

The eosinophils caught my eye. I had never heard of this until the secretary at our building was diagnosed with irregular levels last year. The doctor was very concerned and ordered massive tests done at the local university hospital.
One of the things they looked at is
http://allergies.about.com/od/foodallergies/a/ee.htm
Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
This article describes symptoms in humans but I wonder if would cause some of the reactions you are seeing in Daisy.

 

[Rocky D.]

wow, the human symptoms sound like they could cause Daisy's problems. Especially the severe heartburn and difficulty swallowing. And later the article says that steroids, such as prednisone, can be used as a treatment. And so far prednisone is the only thing we have found that we think actually helps her. Thanks, we'll make sure to run this by our vet to see if it could be a possibility.

 

[Rocky D.]

did a quick search and found this

http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.235.1.61

if only the specialist in Jacksonville had done a complete job and taken a biopsy with the endoscopy then we would be able to tell if this was the problem or not

Thanks again to everyone for their prayers and helpful information. You guys rock!

 

[Erin]

jassy - thank you so much! Daisy's symptoms definitely seemed to fit as the hubby said above. I've already emailed my vet, so just waiting to hear back from him.

 

[Murphys Dad]

When you talk with the vet, make sure that he consults with the folks at Auburn -- this sounds like a rare condition or at least one that is not frequently diagnosed. Good diagnostic work, Connie!

 

[jassy]

I hope it helps you find a solution. When I saw eosinophils it really jumped out at me because our secretary went through a whole year of tests because her levels are all off. It was found in a routine blood screening. She isn't having any symptoms but her doctor is concerned because her levels can mean a variety of things. I have been doing a lot of research and reading because she asked me help her search for information.
I hope the information will be useful in some way. I know how terrible I would feel if Maggie felt that sick and I didn't know how to help her. I will keep you guys in my prayers.

 

[Erin]

Originally Posted By: judymaggieWhen you talk with the vet, make sure that he consults with the folks at Auburn -- this sounds like a rare condition or at least one that is not frequently diagnosed. Good diagnostic work, Connie!

Absolutely! I'm waiting for a call from Auburn anyway regarding the Addison's test that they did. Thanks

 

[Erin]

Originally Posted By: jassyI hope it helps you find a solution. When I saw eosinophils it really jumped out at me because our secretary went through a whole year of tests because her levels are all off. It was found in a routine blood screening. She isn't having any symptoms but her doctor is concerned because her levels can mean a variety of things. I have been doing a lot of research and reading because she asked me help her search for information.
I hope the information will be useful in some way. I know how terrible I would feel if Maggie felt that sick and I didn't know how to help her. I will keep you guys in my prayers.

If this is what Daisy has it must be a rarely diagnosed occurrence in dogs. We're all praying and keeping our fingers (and paws) crossed that maybe this is the answer we've been looking for.

Again, thank you EVERYONE and we will continue to keep you posted!

 

[Erin]

UPDATE:

I talked to Auburn today: Daisy's test results for Addison's disease were negative, as we thought they would be. I forwarded the article that Jason found after jassy suggested EE to them and they're going to review it.

After talking to them my regular vet called. The pathologist who reviewed Daisy's blood smear said that they couldn't rule out cancer. When he told me this I almost freaked out. But he wanted to call and talk to Auburn before we went further. So he talked to them then called me this afternoon. Apparently the vets at Auburn are not currently concerned about cancer. WOO HOO! Thank goodness!!

Anyway, they want to wait two weeks and then re-do the blood work and see what happens. I went ahead and called the vet that did her blood work last year and had her fax it over. I'll fax that to my vet tomorrow.

Just wanted to update everyone! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

 

[kgh]

Thanks for the update. Sure hope they can get to the root of the problem. Daisy is too sweet to have these problems.

 

[Erin]

Originally Posted By: BoulderBeaglesThanks for the update. Sure hope they can get to the root of the problem. Daisy is too sweet to have these problems.

Thanks, me too. Especially since she had another one of her episodes tonight.

 

[Erin]

ANOTHER UPDATE:

The intern from Auburn called me yesterday. They reviewed the article that we sent to them regarding the esophagitis, but apparently they don't think that's what Daisy has. I'm pretty disappointed because it seemed to fit her symptoms. The intern said that the dog from the case in the article had several symptoms that Daisy doesn't have. I don't know that I'm convinced but they're supposed to be the experts so we'll see.

I told her that Daisy had another episode the other day and she was pretty disappointed. She said the medication combo that Daisy is on should have helped her by now. So basically, she doesn't think the Reglan and Prilosec combo is doing anything for her.

Next step: The group at Auburn wants to either do an endoscopy and take biopsies, OR, do an exploratory surgery and do biopsies. I called our vet and talked to him about this and he said we could end up having to do both if they can't get a biopsy of her esophagus with the surgery.

The intern at Auburn is getting a price quote for both procedures for me and is going to call on Monday. I'm so ready to figure out what the heck this problem is!! GRR!!!