CIMDA

Thank you so so much for your comments and it is good to read (even though a sad story) that dogs with these conditions and medical setbacks can live to get old bones. It is something we discuss alot in our house with Zak and cats that have had vrious serious health issues. We don't let Zak run around of lead like a loony bin he is incase it causes a relapse but try and balance a good dog life for him. We don't treat him the same as the other two dogs as we are aware that he is his own worse enemy but have now seemed to of found a happy balance with all three dogs. They all now have low fat food none of them get any human treats and Zak is seperated at feeding times so he doesnt get to see them have there dentastix's lol. We want him to have a long life but also a happy dogs life without putting him in cotton wool. Having said that when off lead he wears a DO NOT FEED hi-vis jacket and when on a kids playing field area off lead we sometimes muzzle him just so he cant find something he shouldn't eat on the field. Zak has taught us alot about being dog owners as well as learning how to deal with his various illnesses but most importantly patience with these things. There is no quick fix with these illnesses it takes time and alot of research and the invaluable daily diary which helped keep a constant log of how his body was coping with it all. I always read this forum and feel for the people who haven't got to the stage we have yet and I watch Zak everyday for any changes as they can happen so quickly but am very thankful that he is for the moment as healthy as he can be with the illnesses.

Hi another update on Zak, he was dropped down to 1/2 tablet every other day for 5 weeks then had full bloods done to check what his bacterial overgrowth readings were as there has been little weight gain and he has about 5-6 No2's a day and also tries to eat the other dogs no2's and after my vet discussing the results with the specialist it has been dedided that because he has done so well with the IMPA and the tapering has been so slow he can come off the steroids over the next 2 weeks with just 1/2 tablet twice a week. But the overgrowth readings were even higher so they pretty sure he has EPI now. So we have just finished a high course of antibiotics and he has gained 1/2kg already in 9 days which is good and we start the EPI supplements this week. So my iclke boy has gone from having no hope 7 months ago to hopefully been medication free from Thursday this week apart from the EPI supplement, he is also staying on the hypo allergenic moderate calorie food for his pancreatis. It has been a very rocky ride with all the conditions that Zak has had of the last few months and the amount of phonecalls we had about him being critical and there being little hope but with little hope there is hope and Zak has proved that. I know that this could all come crumbling back down again but for now we are relapse free and have a pancreatic dog with , IBD, IMPA, SIBO and now EPI but he is a tough little nut and has fought each one of these with his goonish humour. to those of you who are going through these rollercoaster journeys at the min there is hope it is just a very slow process to get everything right including medication, diet, dogs stress levels, exercise levels but we are finally getting there touch wood and which all of you and your dogs well

Hi everyone Zak has now been on 1/2 a tablet every day now for 4 weeks so 2.5mg a day. He seems to be coping fine at the mo. The groomers kindly closed the salon so both my cockers could go in for a full clip each so zak didn't mix with any dogs while in there which was brill. His little legs are like sticks there doesn't seem to be any muscle left on his legs bless him. Had a panic when a bird dropped a piece of bread on the patio and he ate it but its been 72hrs now so looks like we got away with that not causing a flare up. So fingers crossed no sign of relapse yet with IMPA or flare up of his pancreas. Really hoping he is going to grow out of the IMPA as he was only 13 months when he got it so high chance he might. Back for next check up next week. Hope all fur babies are also doing ok on the site and wish you all well x

thank you I think he is a cutie but I am a little biased lol. I have a golden cocker as well but there personalities couldn't be more different. Zak the Blue Roan is a complete clown and doesnt take anything seriously, doesnt sulk when told off and can't do anything slowly. But Macey the golden cocker is very shy, reserved and will sulk for hours if she gets told off. She acts like a proper little princess and does get rather fed up of the clown cocker jumping around at her all the time and just get on her nerves really lol. My little cross breed keeps the peace quite well by distracting Zak away from her and licking her face when she gets fed up of him lol. Never a dull day in the house 3 dogs 5 cats one of which is convinced he is a dog so sits for treats and hangs out with the dogs all the time just waiting for him to bark lol.

My Zak

Hi just thought I would pop an update here on Zak. He has had his full boods done and is showing good immunity still to parvo etc so we dont need to think about the booster issue for another year, his B12 results are normal so another positive and his folite (not sure if thats the right spelling) are above normal which could show bacteria overgrowth but there aren't to worried about that. So so so far the pancreatis is under control along with the bowel allergy problem by Zak only eating hypoallergenic food and absolutley nothing else. With regards to the IMPA and his steroids dosage he is now down to 1x5mg tablet a day and it has been a month now on this dose and so far so good. He has gained a little weight and is now 12.2kg so we are trying to keep his weight at this. As the weather is both cold and wet we aren't taking him out as much as we would like as getting cold in the joints we have been told could effect him as it is still classed as early days, also havent sent him to groomers etc as it is a small ebvironment with other dogs and dont wat him to catch anything while his immune system is compromised. When hwe have let Zak off lead for a play with the other two dogs I have muzzled him and put a do not feed coat on him to deter other people from being tempted to give him a treat and to stop him eating things he may find before I can get to him. Because he is constantly starving the leave it command isnt working quick enough. The only woory we had was that for two days last week he drank and peed for Britain and for Zak that was unusual as he is always clean in the house but it seems to of cleared up on its own however if it does come back again he will go in for another blood test just to be safe. So my ickle boy is doing very well and might lower his dose after next check up after xmas if everyone still happy with him. He does now have the cone shape boney head and pot belly due to the steroid use but even though his head won't reverse back his pot belly should once he is off the preds in 3-6 months time. Hope all your pets are well and if that is not the case then I wish them well and that things improve.

Well back from Chester. Zak id doing really well condiering how early in his revoery we are at. He is not in remission yet as he still has kick out on one of his back legs when sitting etc. Also due to his high pain threshold as usual he didn't give them much feeback just wanted to be his hypo self and jump on there heads. He is staying on the steroid dose of 2x5mg once a day for 3 more weeks then we go back. If he still isnt in remission then other immune drugs will be given and steroids can then be lowered so he doesnt stay on high steroid dosage. If he is in remission then they will slighlty alter his steroids down but just a little. They are pretty convinced all this was caused by food allergy issue with the small intestine, so he is staying on Hypoallergenic moderate calorie food only for next 8 weeks at least. That way it will help keep is small intenstine settled and rested which should stop pancreatic relapse. He can have 5 min walk each day then gradually increase to 10 mins. If he still improves over next couple of months then they might ultrasound his tummy to have a look at his internal organs then maybe introduce white fish or turkey into his diet and see how he copes. I am not to concerned about this though as he can stay on the hypoallergenic food if thats what is best for him to stop any relapses of tummy/pancreatis or IMPA. His weight is still low but they arent to concerned at the min getting him into remission and keeping the tummy rested is priority at the min. No signs of the side effects of the steroids as yet. The reason he isn't having any tummy protector is that because they know he has a bowel issue already which started all this off the steroids are known to help with bowel issues and he wont be on the steroids long term as he will switch to other drugs once in remission then taper off those. So no bad news today we just carry on as we have been, dealing with vigilance with food etc and keeping him rested so he can get the IMPA in remission. So we go back again on the 11th aslong as we dont see any set backs or complications before then. But she was very pleased with his progress and movement he now has compared to how bad he was. 

Hi Jo yeah the specialist is at Chester. She specialises in internal medicine and is the same lady that dealt with his pancreatitis so she knows Zak quite well now. We went there last year when one of cats had an MRI scan for his nose to see what was stuck in it. Unfortunately it was diagnosed as nasal cancer and because it was attached to the back of the eye slightly he couldn't have chemo or radio therapy but he has been on palliative care since then and yep good old steroids and is still here today. He is only young as well but he is giving the cancer a run for its money. Apart from the obvious side effects of steroids peeing alot he is doing ok. I do like the surgeons at Chester because twice now they have been really good with Zak and so far nothing they have done has had a bad outcome for Zak as yet. I touch wood as I say it though. He still has 10mg press per day so they did say that the tapering off the steroids will be very gradual. I am very nervous about him coming down from 10mg per day to quickly though and she has stressed this alot in his discharge notes. Fingers crossed things become clearer tomorrow. Plus they did give me 2 months worth of preds in the bottle.

It sounds like your Lola has been through the mill with illnesses. Hope her health is manageable for both of you. It is very upsetting to see your dogs so poorly when you can't help cure them. Plus my ickle cocker doesn't help himself he will nick anything that's not up high and eat it. It's like having a toddler again everything up high bottom shelf of cupboards and fridge empty in case he gets his head in. He is worth all the worry though wishing you and Lola well x

Hi thank you so much Gail for your message and Jo. I will pop an update and no doubt more questions when I get back from the specialist tomorrow. He started on press of 2x 5mg twice a day he started them on the Monday and it was lowered the following Monday to 2x5mg once a day. He also came home with painkillers for afew days. It is definitely immune medicated poly arthritis. We get the rest of the results from bloods tomorrow as they took 10 days to process. They did say that the fluid was cloudy that came from his joints because at first they thought it was meningitis but then when the first lot of tests came back they diagnosed IMPA.  they did mention Jo though that they would be very careful with the press because it was only 2 weeks since his pancreatic attack and sepsis. They are also going to do an ultrasound next month to check how the pancreas is looking as well as bloods to check his vaccine levels and folate levels etc plus keeping a close eye on his liver. Hopefully find more out tomorrow and I will ask regarding stomach protection as well. I have a list of questions on a sheet of a4 lol.

Hi Jo thank you so much for the reply. Unfortunateley because of the small intestine problem which started all this he is unable to continue of the special Vet Diet low fat food and has had to move to the hypoallergenic moderate calorie one. He also isnt allowed to eat anything else atall for the next 6 weeks but that. He cant have the wet variety of it because the fat content is too high. His steroid dose has now been dropped down as 2 x 5mg once a day so it has halved from what he came home on. He isnt on anything to protect his tummy as they are still concerned about his small intestine so we are still in the early stages of getting the medication right. However he is back at the specialist tomorrow morning so I will mention it then. Hi back leg still isnt right and he is making a very slow recovery from the IMPA movement wise. Also with him only being 10 days into the pancreatic recovery before he got the IMPA and needing a spinal tap and other joint drains his bosy has been through alot so they have said it could take a while for our Zak to be back to what we are used to (a complete nutter who does everything at a 100 miles per hour). they do think that when the small intestine became bad it triggered the pancreatis and because of all the blood he was losing from his back end and going into sepsis some of the toxin got into his fluids and caused the IMPA so on a positive note this illness he could grow out of when he is about 2 years old. They have said they will monitor his muscle deteriation, liver and pancreas very carefully because of the steroids though with regular ultrasound scans on his abdomen and bloods. I just still find it strange that all this started with what everyone thought was a bad tummy then he had a limp and ended up with fluid on all his joints and spine etc 2 weeks later and now has another condition to contend with. I have 2 other dogs and six cats as well and the pancreatis was a worry with differnet foods for different animals etc. so the other 2 dogs are now on a low fat diet ( as my other cocker is rather chunky but Zak has always been skinny) so any accidents will at least be low in fat even though not hypoallergenic. Just finding it all quite daunting as he is only 1. Just like to hear about other people with pancreatic dogs/ IMPA dogs to see how they cope. We can't take him out for another week at least yet but because of the steroids he cant be vaccinated with his booster till we do bloods in another 8 weeks so we have been told not to let him go where alot of dogs go as he is open to infections as well at the min...Glad to hear that your granddog has survived pancreatis and only had a couple of flare ups that have been caught in time. We panic at any slight change in him even if he just has an extra long nap. If only they could talk it would be so much easier...

Oh should also of mentioned when the small intestine/pancreatis happened he was being sick and losing a hell of alot of blood from back end which until he was moved to specialist place they couldn't stop which is why they are pretty positive that this all started from his small intestine.

Hi

I am hoping that you can move my post to the correct place. I have a 1 year old cocker spaniel who was critical in early August with pancreatis luckily after 5 days he was allowed home with antibiotics, painkillers and a diet of Royal Cannin GA low fat. We were also told that he was not under any circumstances to eat anything else but this no treats or anything. they also think that this was caused by some kind of allergy in his small intestine which then caused the pancreatis which unfortunately led to Sepsis which is why he was critical. So Zak came home much thinner but alive. Moving on two weeks from that Zak statred to limp and hold his back legs quite low, he also stared into space alot and unresponsive while stood on the spot apparently unable to move. Over the next 48 hours he got worse and slept for 16 hours straight with lack of movement to any joints and alot of licking of lips. So he went back to specialist and while there all his joints started to swell etc. so they thought it could be meningitus so decided to take the risk of a spinal tap to get the correct diagnoses for him. The fluid came back and IMPA was diagnosed. He is now on steroids and the dosage has been dropped by half now after a week. We have also been advised to change his food to a low fat hypoallergenic food which he is now on. In Zaks case they think that his small intestine had problems which led to pancreatits which went into sepsis which in turn meant that some toxins got into his fluids and caused the IMPA. But they are hopeful that when he gets to about 2 he could grow out of the IMPA and will just be left still pancreatic. To deal with a pancreatic dog is hard as the relapses can be critical but now with IMPA on top of that and trying to get that in remission with medication and keeping him low risk with pancreatis I am finding quite daunting. An advice would be much appreciated and apologises for any spelling mistakes.