Wish I had found this site earlier for advice

[mel71]

Hi I would like to introduce myself as a newbie. I have a golden cocker female who is 3 1/2 years old and a blue roan cocker male who is 16 moths old. I also have a little cross breed dog and 6 cats. My golden cocker rules the house with the other dogs and is a really sweet little girl, however my blue roan cocker is a complete loony and does everything at 100 miles per hour. Unfortunately he has a few health issues and after 2 critical episodes since August this year is in remission and hopefully will stay in remission. We now know that Zak was born with a tummy issue ( allergies) which caused pancreatitis with alot of bleeding from back end which went sepsis and also caused IPMA. So what we though was a puppy with a sensitive tummy ended up fighting for his life for a week, which is another reason I wanted to post about him. If anyone wants to know anything about his various conditions or has a dog going through it please just get in touch so we can compare notes. So that is me and my tribe 

[Pearly]

Crikey!  you've been through it and must have a wealth of knowledge to share....

Thank you for saying hello and welcome to COL....

I'm owned by Pearl an 18 month old blue roan show type   Also have 2 cats one of which has some health issues just now

Jayne
x

[mel71]

hi thanks for saying hi. It has been a tough few months, hope your cat gets better soon. One of my cats is fighting nasal cancer at the min and he still going strong after 12 months must admit the steroids are helping him. 

[Helen]

Hi and welcome 

I have no idea what IPMA is - can you elaborate?

I know IMPA is immune-mediated polyarthritis  - is this what you mean?  If so I would strongly recommend also joining the Cimda forum as they have a wealth of knowledge about Auto-immune disorders and diseases http://cimda.co.uk/

Poor boy, seems like he has his fair share of medical issues 

[mel71]

hi yes its immune medicated poly-arthritis. I already a member on there as well and have been getting advice from there. He has just started having his steroid dosage lowered by 25% and so far so good. He isn't showing signs of lameness yet or staring into space without moving. To be honest when it started he just went from having a slight limp which kept changing sides for 2 days to being unable to move at all. He just stood in the same place like a statue or if we got him to lay down he would just stay there for hours. when he did try to move around it looked like he was drunk he was all over the place and totally uncoordinated. By the following morning at the specialist all his joints had swelling on them and fluid so a spinal tap was preformed and various joints had fluid analysed as at first they thought it was meningitis. He just had alot of bad luck that all this happened one after the other but they are positive this all started from his tummy. They have always been fed on a good reliable food but now they all on different types of Royal Canine vet food which I get online. Just hoping he stays in remission and we keep on top of his tummy issue and keep pancreatitis at bay because that one is horrible and he went down hill so quick even with the care from my local vet till he got to specialist. It would help if he showed them when he was in pain but he gets that giddy when he gets attention or touched he masked it to well.

[mel71]

oops only just realised my spelling mistake 

[Helen]

Poor little boy - it must be so frightening for you all 

I hope he has a very very long remission 

[Jenna]

Hello and welcome to COL. I hope you find the forum useful. You won't find a better support group than the people on COL. I hope your boy stays in remission. Best of luck.

[LilahLoo]

Sounds like you've been through a tough time - I hope he stays in remission, it's heartbreaking when they are poorly.

[MaggieR]

Hi and welcome.... certainly sounds like you have a lot on your hands    Have everything crossed that your lovely boy stays in remission
There's another little fella who's got IMPA on here - thats cooper    I'm sure coopersmum knows exactly what you are going through with little Zak 
Guess you have your hands full most of the time, but when you get a second would be lovely to see some pics of your lovely family 
You've definitely come to the right place for lots of advise,support and shared knowledge so enjoy
Lisa & Maggie
xxxx

[coopersmum]

Hi there and welcome Sounds like you've really had a tough time   Glad your boy has
 stabilised and that he's managing the drop in steroids well. My little monster has IMPA too so if you ever feel like chatting about it, feel free to pm me