# 10 Year Old - Mystery Liver Problem - Sierras story



## LovemyEli (Dec 28, 2010)

Hello All,

I am posting here about my GSD/Jindo mix Sierra that is almost 10 years old. She has always been pretty healthy. She had a lumpectomy a year ago and she has a little bit of arthritis in her knees but that is about it. Has always had solid stool even when I switch food on her, I switch her as I switch my EPI dog so they are on the same thing. (money reasons)

She has maintained a healthy weight, about 45 lbs for years.
We had full blood work done before her lumpectomy which was done in Feb and everything was normal.

A few months ago I would notice once in a while that she would have a very small stool that looked like small twigs piled on each other. They were a normal color.


I know what bad poops look like from my EPI dog so I didnt think much of it. Other then that there were no other issues.

A week and a half ago I noticed a discharge coming from her behind so I took her to have her anal glands expressed. They said they were full, and the fluid was a little thick but nothing to be concerned about. 

A few days later I noticed she didnt have much of an appetite so I made an apt since it was time for an annual anyways. In between the apt she had a stool that was diarrhea. This has never happened

They took her temp and right off that bat it was over 104.
She did a quick rectal and said she could feel some swelling but it wasnt the glands.

We did blood work and they came back abnormal in the following ways:
ALT 919 (normal range 10-100) HIGH
ALKP 415 (normal range 23-212) HIGH
MCV 59.7 (normal range 61.6-73.5) SLIGHTLY LOW
MCH 19.6 (normal range 21.2-25.9) SLIGHTLY LOW
EOS .03 (normal range .6-1.23) SLIGHTLY LOW

Everything else came back normal.

We then did some xrays. The Liver did not look normal, and it was enlarged. There were some spots on it that were concerning but couldn't quite tell that they were. 

She did a quick ultra sound, couldn't tell. We left that visit with some Clavamox and some Denamarin and decided to retest the values in 2 weeks.

After 2 days on the meds, the fever did not go away so we took her back.

That vet tried his hand at the ultrasound. Couldn't tell.
We decided to hospitalize her with fluids due to the fever in hopes to bring it down this way and in the meantime we were being scheduled for an apt with the ultrasound specialist. We also added Baytril to the equation.

That apt was today. She couldn't tell anything by looking at it. They did a needle aspirate and got some good samples. These were sent off and we won't hear back until Thursday. We are keeping her hospitalized until then to try and get a grip on the temperature. It seems to be going down then it will go back up and fluctuate. If we get a handle on it she can come home.

Water intake this whole time: good-increased
Food intake: meager, started home cooked since she has been hospitalized and is eating maybe a cup or so a day. 

So.... any thoughts anyone? 

The vet is leaning towards a nasty infection or an abscess. She seems completly healthy otherwise

This is just KILLING me


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