Ups and Downs with Yogi

I'm so glad for you that things seem to have calmed down and am keeping fingers crossed for a long, quiet period.

I understand your feelings about getting answers, though. My older dog went through a year of Gi problems, medications, and flare ups before I finally had her scoped.
 
Mikos_Mom said:
Out of curiosity... what ended up being the diagnosis? Did they see anything on the scope?
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I would also be interested to know.

It was great to see Yogi tearing around today with his Bearded Collie friend and the spaniels. Revel was joining in too, trying to keep everyone organised.:winkgrin: He is still straining more than normal, but so much better than he was. Days like this are worth their weight in gold!:smile2:

Yogi's insurance is the National Farmers Union pet/working dogs policy. They do have a very good reputation. After a claim like this I am so glad I have it. They have paid out more than I have paid in premiums over 5 years...:razz:

He dosn't seem in any way dehydrated, even after his walk today he didn't appear to drink, so I'm not worrying on this.
 
Mikos_Mom said:
Out of curiosity... what ended up being the diagnosis? Did they see anything on the scope?
Click to expand...

In Capers' case the diagnosis was inflammatory bowel disease. Small intestine was severely inflamed to the duodenum; mild to moderate inflammation in the colon. Stomach was normal w the exception of a small ulcer. At it's very worst, she had episodes of bloody diarrhea.
 
Someone suggested this could be Yogi's problem, but his blood was very bright and indicated a colon issue rather than small intestine.

I think I will bite the bullet and get the colonoscopy done, as he is not pooing normally yet. If nothing shows up, then great, but if there is an issue, we will at least be able to take some action to hopefully manage/sort it.
 
now back down

After a fantastic day yesterday when Yogi did a NORMAL poo (first one since before Christmas) I was brought back down again today when the old problem reoccured. He was fine, no sign anything admiss, then we headed out on our walk and immediatly he was struggling to go. We did walk about 1/2 a mile as he kept heading on and then stopping, and I thought the excersize might help him shift it, but nothing at all was happening. No diahorrea, thankfully no blood, nothing.
We very slowly walked home and I could tell he was uncomfortable, so provisionally booked an appt with the vet in the afternoon, hoping by then matters would have resolved, but no.
So he was admitted to have a manual evacuation under sedation again and they removed a solid ball of faeces and matted hair:confused2:, which he would not have been able to pass. He had an antibiotic injection as there was a small amount of bleeding. I've just got him home again and he immediatly did 2 fairly normal looking poos on the drive and seems much happier now.

The vet thinks this could have been triggered by me changing his diet from the w/d to the raw. I have been doing this incredibly gradually, watching to see if there was any problms before moving on to each stage, and he has been eating 100% raw and sweet potato for about 5 days and seemed to be improving all the time. Now I feel really bad in case I have brought this on him. However he wasn't really doing better on the w/d either. There was a lot of straining and he kept needing to go. Being a diet food as well he was having to eat vast quantities to even keep weight on him. Found out today he has lost weight again:( and is down from 7.8 to 7.65kg.

The vet did agree to getting the colonoscopy done though, so this is booked for Tuesday morning. I have to take him in on monday evening so they can prep him over night. I've never had a dog in the vets overnight so not looking forward to this at all, but it is the only way we are going to get to the bottom (sorry) of this.
 
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Oh Julia, I'm so sorry to hear this...just when you thought things were going so well.

Was it the hair that was preventing it from being passed? Is he grooming himself too much/over shedding? I really don't know...just a thought.

I hope he gets better soon...I really do!
 
So sad to hear about Yogi having more issues. That's interesting the take on RAW... I've read a lot of vets are quick to judge when it comes to RAW and blame it for everything, of course, I have no idea how your vet feels about the issue--

I hope you get some answers w/the colonoscopy and that time flies by as fast as possible while he's away from you...

hugs to you and Yogi. :)
 
Poor fellow. It all just sounds miserable and frankly reminds me of constipation issues that my old cat had with her IBD / renal combination.

Glad you're going to get some answers next week. We're all thinking about you and Yogi.
 
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