Lady Shasta is being the good nurse this picture shows., She does not like it when her big brother, Lord Shiloh is not feeling well. And I hope we are over the roller coaster ride we have been on. He told you about the new vet we went too - found out he had developed a skin infection and that his ringworm was not the problem now. Also at that vet visit we found out he had a couple of swollen lymph nodes that were a little painful too. Also get a new antibiotic which in turn ended up doing a number (and not a good number either) on his appetite. Ok - in all fairness don't know for sure if the antibiotic was responsible for this, it is a rare side effect after all and the vet was wondering if there was something else going on - he wanted to do a biopsy of those swollen lymph nodes and they would have to do that under anesthesia. That really worried me because of Lord Shiloh's overall poor condition and his age ( next month).
So while I was thinking about all this, our other vet called with the test results of the skin culture from Kansas State Vet School - no wonder Lord Shiloh was having problems fighting this skin infection - he had not one, not two but THREE strains of bacterial infection going on. He also had a new med based on these results.
Ok, time to regroup and rethink this process. I called back the new vet clinic - explained to them this whole thing and what I had just learned. And that I had decided, given Shiloh's current state of health and age, hold off on the biopsy which would mean putting him under anesthesia. Now Lord Shiloh is only on the med recommended by K-State based on the results of that test.
He also appears to be at least a little more interested in food - just not any dog food that he was eating. He has eaten bites of cheeseburger, boiled chicken, soft dog treats. I had boiled some veggies yesterday so they would be easy to make into a mash - still didn't want them until I drizzled a little honey on them then I saw the Beagle gusto in eating. Today he is eating raw cauliflower. He is eating pieces of a hamburger bun - a while ago I was sitting on the floor and he was lying on the sofa - he saw what I had and jumped down to come over and get it. I am a bit more optimistic - there is still the issue of swollen lymph nodes but I also know that could be due to the infection - just have to wait and see.
Just in case anyone was wondering - the link to some info I read about Doxycycline -
DOXYCYCLINE INFO
reading some of the bacteria that it is used to treat showed me just how bad Lord Shiloh's infection is especially with 3 different kinds.
By the way, if anyone has ideas what I could feed him besides kibble since he won't touch it, I would appreciate it if you could let me know.
AND PLEASE - could I get a bit more prayers and POTP for my little man - he looks so sad and not feeling good at all - FAR from this pic-
Lord Shiloh before.................
