Lady's Issues

[Brittany]

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20989

Lady saw a team of 3 exotic doctors at the U of I today and they weren't able to give me a conclusive diagnosis.

Symptoms are decreased appetite, poop shrinking, teeth grinding after playtime and while being force fed, 1 patchy yellow/white incisor.

Teeth were in excellent condition (good occlusion, no spurs, good roots). No gas/bloat, gut is moving. Uterus was palpable and vulva is prominent. Blood tests showed that calcium levels are normal. White blood count is low, however the white blood count is evenly distributed through out the body.

Based on the fact that the white blood count is evenly distributed they don't believe any infections are present. As far as the uterus/vulva they are thinking she is just coincidentally in heat (I'm to keep an eye on it). I was concerned about closed pyometra but based on the distribution of the white blood cells and the fact that this has been going on for awhile they don't think that is an issue. I'm to force feed and give cisipride 2x daily through the weekend to see if it helps things. If there isn't improvement by Monday/Tuesday they want her back for more testing.

Any thoughts?

 

[ticklechin]

Did she have a full blood panel which would include liver enzymes?

 

[eroomlorac]

How can you tell if the white blood cells are evenly distributed through her body? I never heard of that before.

 

[Brittany]

I don't understand all of the coding, the vets explained it to me though, so maybe someone with medical background will understand this. They tested both the white blood count level and concentration. Here is the print out I was given:

CBC: WBC 2.87K/uL -->This one is the white blood count (not distribution) they told me normal is somewhere between 4-5 and she is just under 3
Neu 40%
Lymph 55%
Mono 3%
Eosin 1%
Baso 1%
RBC 6.40M/uL
HGB 10.5g/dL
HCT 36.8%
PCV 36%
MCV 57.5fl
MCH 16.4pg
MCHC 28.5g/dl
RDW 17.3%
PLT 392K/uL
MPV 4.77 Fl

Serum chemistry:
Cre- .7mg/dl
BUN 28 mg/dl
TP 5g/dl
ALB 4gm/dl
Ca 10.3 mg/dl
Phos 6.6 mg/dl
Na 157 mmol/L
K 4.3 mmol/L
CI 120mmol/L
Glu 142mg/dl
ALP 27 U/L
ALT 12 U/L
GGT 5 U/L
Tbil .2mg/dl
Chol 32 mg/dl
Trig 58 mg/dl
Co2 17mmol/L

 

[ticklechin]

Normal blood panel values for the chinchilla

http://wvc.omnibooksonline.com/data/papers/2007_V508.pdf

 

[Tanya]

Stress, some medications, and chemicals can also cause low WBC counts. When the white blood cell count is repeatedly low, chins have an imbalanced immune system. Echinacea is a bidirectional herb; it increases the production of white cells when chins have lower than normal WBC count. If you decide to use Echinacea and have any questions, PM me. It's also a good idea to use herbal nutritive supplement. Copper, zinc, folate deficiencies can lead to low WBC count as well.

You can offer alfalfa as it's rich in nutrients. Alfalfa also acts as a mild laxative. Canned pumpkin softens the stool and promotes its passage.

White spots on teeth may result from nutrient deficiencies, antibiotic therapy.

 

[Brittany]

Tanya- I'm going to be PMing you with some questions

Dawn- that article was very informative. It would be good to sticky it somewhere. According to the article, and the vet, she's in the normal zone for almost everything except the White Blood Count (WBC)

As of this morning: feces are bigger but still constipated. Between her eating a bit on her own and me supplementing 50-60ml CC she is maintaining weight. She isn't drinking much so I'm giving her 1ml water after each feeding. I've started warm compresses and belly massages. She's getting Cisipride and Simethicone. Last night she was stretching out and grinding teeth so I gave her a dose of metacam. Energy level is high and normal, I've increased playtime as well. Vulva area looks to be returning to normal, so perhaps she was just in heat?

I'm still not sure if these stasis like symptoms are the problem or if something else is causing it. It was a gradual decline, and with the exception of reduced playtime due to Lily, her environment had been very stable. We just drove back to Illinois Wednesday night, but the move doesn't seem to have affected her condition.

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow to see if we can get some sub-q fluids. I don't know what additional tests would be appropriate? Another blood test? Ultrasound? I don't know if adding reglan to the mix would help?

 

[Brittany]

Update:

I fed Lady 10ml CC this morning and since then she has been drinking from her bottle and gobbling down hay and pellets. She is producing normal sized and well hydrated feces.

I know that it's probably too soon to call her better, but I'm so excited that I just had to share! I'm going to continue with medications and treatment for a few more days, but this is such an improvement! I still have no clue what was going on with her but I'm happy with this progress!

Go Lady Go! :thumbsup:

 

[Tanya]

I'm glad to hear she is improving )

 

[Claire D]

Do you have xrays on Lady?

 

[Brittany]

She's doing it again...

We got back to Ohio Sunday night, after spending 3ish weeks back home for the holidays. While in Illinois Lady's appetite increased, and by the time we left she was back to her old self. Lady did fine our first night back in Ohio but since then she's off her feed again. Picking at pellets and hardly touching hay (exact same hay and pellets she had in Illinois). Her poop is smaller/dryer. Activity level seems average. Sitting in her room I noticed that the wind is pretty loud at night. I wondered if that would be enough to scare her? Last night I moved her into the living room which is much quieter, there wasn't any improvement overnight, but last time this happened she started to improve after we had been in IL for about a week or so. I don't know for sure if the wind is causing the issues, but considering the change in her behavior was almost instantaneous to us getting back to Ohio I'm thinking it's something related to her environment? Any suggestions of things I should look for? I feel bad for her and I'm frustrated at not being able to figure this out.

I should also add that I don't think it's stress related to traveling because the first time this happened she hadn't traveled for months prior, and while in Illinois we stayed with both my boyfriend and my mom. She had a couple car trips during those three weeks and she continued improving without any setbacks. Again, it was only when we got back to Ohio that she started getting bad again.