Lily's progress

It's been quite a while since I've updated the blog. We've had a couple of set backs. Last month Lily started throwing up, so we rushed her into the Vet. It turns out she had pancreatitis and a substance called chyle on her belly. To read more about chyle click here. It generally develops in the chest, but it can also be in the abdomen. Her internal medicine Vet at the University of Tennessee seemed to think the reason she was developing chyle was because the food she was on (Purina HA) was too high in fat for her. So, her recommendation was to switch her food to Royal Canin Low Fat. A diet change is always tricky for dogs with this disease. But, as it turned out the food change has went surprisingly well.  We have had normal albumin levels since October (YAY!), which means Lily is officially in REMISSION! Most dogs that can achieve stability will lead a relatively normal life. As side from the medication, Prednisone, Carafate, and Pepcid.  The diet is still extremely important and very strict.

The issue that Lily is having now is the loss of muscle. When a dog looses as much protein, especially albumin, their body starts drawing protein from other sources in the body. Mainly the muscle. So, now poor Lily can no longer jump. She can't jump on the couch, chair, and she can't go up and down steps anymore. Other than that she's your normal, happy little girl. At our Vet visit last week we decided to give her a B-12 shot. It has given her a lot of energy. So I think we're going to keep doing it every week. We're also down to 5mg of pred a day (instead of 10mg). We go back to the Vet in 2 weeks to re-check blood levels and if they are still within normal range we will go down more on the pred again. :)

This is a recent picture of Lily, taken on Halloween.