Is anyone familiar with Lymphangectasia in dogs?

[frannie]

hi everyone, never been on a post before, but here goes. I have a 4 year old goldendoodle who has since he was a pup had periods of diarrhea. In the summer of 08 he had emergency surgery for an obstruction and they ended up removing part of his stomach as the piece of rubber that he swallowed had been in there for almost 6 months...inspite of my bringing him in to emergency the day it occurred...they never found it. This past december, after months of diarrhea (on and off) i had a scope performed and they diagnosed him with Lymphangiectasis. I live in Toronto and am desparate to find some way of stopping the weight loss and muscle mass. He's lost a significant amount of weight, has been put on a low fat canned food (Hills Prescription Diet - WD) and prednisone. We're trying to increase his food intake but it's been slow so as to not overextend his intestine and create more problems...because of the diarrhea he's lost lots of weight and is now quite thin. I'm not feeling confident that my Veterinarian knows what they're doing and i'm quite concerned that i'm going to lose him sooner than i really want to consider. I really could use some guidance from those of you who might know of some other approaches than we're currently using.

[annar]

I've been reading everyone's posts and it all, unfortunately, sounds too familiar.

Ok, here goes... In January my golden retriever, Charley, who just turned 6 years old, began showing some weight loss. It kept dropping and I started noticing that he had stopped eating and began having chronic diarrhea. We took him to our local Veterinarian and after a few weeks of trying to diagnosis him they finally sent us to the UT Teaching Hospital in Knoxville, TN. Over $4,000 later, he was diagnosed with Lymphangiectasia and IBD.

He is now pumped full of meds everyday and since his diagnosis at the end of Feb, we’ve tried Royal Canine Duck and Potato, Prescription Diet Duck and Potato, and are now at the point of preparing his food at home by cooking a concoction of Bison and Potato (originally tried Bison and Pasta) or Venison and Potato mixed with Salt, Bone Meal, Choline, Daily Vitamin, and Canola Oil. The Venison seems to be working much better than the bison but because he is extremely picky, I can’t get him to eat the food if I mix in the Bone Meal, Choline and Daily Vitamin and he usually picks around the potato.

I called and talked with Jim from Darwin Natural Pet Products in Seattle, WA today Darwin's Natural Pet Food from Seattle Washington. Because of the rarity of this disease, he hasn’t actually dealt with lymphangiectasia but has dealt with IBD. He was great to talk to. Darwin has a bison and vegetable formula but I’m nervous about trying their raw pet food b/c of the adamant advice from the Veterinarian that we can’t feed him ANYTHING BUT the food that they tell us to feed him. However, on their “formula”, he doesn’t like it and I feel like he is starving to death. Plus, Charley has never actually been on a raw food diet.

I am literally at my wits end and heart broken every time I look at my poor Charley’s frail frame (once a healthy 69lbs now weighs in at 49-50lbs). The dog that I used to run with everyday can now barely walk around our neighborhood with me.

I’m desperately looking for any advice you guys might have. I’m sort of sick of talking to the Veterinarian b/c I am actually starting to doubt the treatment. Plus, I hate that he is on so much medication.

Jim from Darwin suggested that I find a holistic Veterinarian in my area. Which I did on AHVMA - Home. I will take Charley to see him next week to get his opinion of the treatment. I’ll keep you guys posted.

[ColoradoBJ]

She was diagnosed 2 years ago... today she's healthy and all her protein levels (and everything else for that matter) are in the "normal" range...

Millie was diagnosed with an exploratory surgery and ultrasound... the visual symptoms were that her tummy bloated like a football and you could feel every bone in her little 4 pound body... all the proteins were leaking out of her intestines into the cavity in her belly, she was literally starving to death... 2 vets told me she would not make it... nevertheless, they bombarded her with steroids and for that month I fed her nothing but potato's and cottage cheese.. her little heart was full with the will to live... I had blood work done on her once a month at first until we saw some improvement then we went to every 3 months and now we're going 6 months and as long as she holds her own, we'll check them once a year with her annual checkup... today have to be very careful what she eats... I feed her a prescription food that I get from my Veterinarian... it's duck and potato... I have to even bake her treats (using the wet duck and potato food)... it stinks to high heaven when it's baking but it's a small price to pay to keep her healthy...

We don't give her any injections anymore... my Veterinarian feels the risk of a flareup is too great... she has had her teeth cleaned with no ill effects... My little Millie is a 9 year old Maltese and as long as I can keep her healthy, there's no reason she can't be with me another 9 years...

I sincerely hope this info can help someone else going though this... It's worth the effort, and Millie is PROOF they can survive it with a great quality of life...

[shelagh]

I am finding it very informative to hear of the experiences of others with their dog living with lymphangiectasia and certainly find Millie's story very reassuring. I am currently pleased with Freya's progress as she is into her second year of coping with lymphangiectasia. It would be interesting to do a comparison of the drug regimes and diets of our 'crusaders' so that those diagnosed in the future might have the best chance possible.

[shelagh]

It saddens me to report that Freya's battle with lymphangiectasia is now over.

[dracopop]

I've read the most common cause of lymphangiectasia is congenital malformation of the lymphatics and the treatment is multifactorial. A diet very low in fat and high in high quality protein is essential. However it is rarely cured. I'm sorry about your dog. =(