Slate’s been in the wars
December 23rd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Caution: Poo details are contained in this post.
So, since Slate came off the metronidazole, she had runny yellow poos. There was no mucous or blood, but they were the consistency of a thick milkshake (!). I had been giving her probiotics and also kaolin, to no avail. She seemed to be bursting with energy and very well, in herself.
After googling around, one possibility was pancreatitis – essentially, inflammation of the pancreas. Apparently this can be caused after a course of antibiotics – by the antibiotics and their effect on the pancreas. It seemed that one thing to try before going to the vet was no food for 24 hrs and then an easily digestible food which is low in fat and high in fibre, to give the pancreas time to heal itself.
So, we stopped off at the pet shop and I checked out all the packs of Nature Diet and found that the Fish variety was the lowest in fat and had reasonable fibre levels. We picked up a week’s worth to give it a go.
Slate’s poos have been much better and are a normal consistency, although there is still a yellowness to them – much less than before, though. So, more Nature Diet for the time being…
Obviously this has also affected the training treats we can use, keeping those also low fat and as natural as possible. At the moment, I’m using the new Bob and Lush Venison Sausages and Livers, since I was sent some to trial by Bob and Lush.
As if all this weren’t enough, Slate’s had another bout of her eczema under each thigh, where the leg meets the body. This has been simmering away for a while, gradually getting worse again, and has now reached the point where it is angry and bright red and she wants to lick it all the time (which is what often causes it, in the first place).
So we stopped off at our Jersey vet today, New Era Vets, to pick up a no-bite collar/Elizabethan collar for her. I hope that this, with some aloe Vera gel, will be enough.
Poor Slate! I do think a lot of her various symptoms, from swollen, itchy eyes, to eczema, to digestive problems, might all be allergy-related. Once we’ve got her ok again, I’m going to look into this a bit more.
