So here is the scoop. About 5 months ago Chester (our 10 year old dog) had some lab work done that revealed he had a low Albumin. What does that mean? Albumin is a protein found in the blood. So its low...big deal. Well, kind of it is. This low value means either his liver doesn't make enough or his body is losing it someplace (through stool or urine). So this week we have followed up with some lab work and found his albumin is much lower, at the point where it could start to cause some edema or ascites (fluid retention). Albumin is a major component in maintaining normal fluid balance and volume with in the blood and body. What does all this mean? It means the crazy dog that runs around and plays with the cat is actually quite sick on the inside. He just doesn't seem to know it.
Now where does that Mickey mouse thing come in? Well the condition Chester has is called Protein Losing Enteropathy, or PLE. The hard thing is there are several different conditions that can cause PLE, such as intestinal lymphangiectasia(think Fantasia with lymph on the front and a "jEk" in the middle), cancer, congestive heart failure, IBD, etc, etc.
*I kept trying to call lymphangiectasia - lymph-antasia*
What does that mean? It means we are considering our options for treatment and doing the best we can to spoil him rotten (more so than he is) to make him comfortable while we still have him.
1 comment:
Aw...may God protect Chester and keep him from actually feeling terrible. At the very least he's lucky you have resources and knowledge to care for him and understand or not understand what the heck is happening with him.
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