Dr. Williams wrote:
>   Endoscopy is probably not warranted in Charlie, as many cases of gastric
> ulcers result in such tiny pinpoint ulcers that the exam may be falsely
> negative.  But it's good that your vet knows about Helicobacter; there are so
>many who still don't. It looks like your vet is keeping up with the literature.
 
I wrote around a month ago to ask about the green poop disease.  We had
tried several different antibiotics, to no avail.  We were getting
pretty frustrated; our Charlie and Jordan seemed to be getting better,
but Mojo, our oldest (and everyone's favorite! ;-), wasn't.  He wasn't
eating or drinking, was losing weight alarmingly, and was very
sluggish.  It got to the point where he was having some trouble
using his back legs.
 
We eventually decided to try a different vet.  We were referred to
a Dr. Jean Wardell in Annandale, VA.  She diagnosed Mojo with a combination
of a diarhea (sp?) disease, gastric ulcers, and the Helicobacter stuff.
We took him off all of the hard-core antibiotics he had been on, and put
him on a regimen of Duck Soup, Pedialyte, amoxicillin, and pepto-bismol.
Apparently the Pepto and Amoxy have stuff in them that kills the
Helicobacter.  Charlie and Jordan were given amoxy and pepto to keep
them from getting sick again.
 
After four weeks of this regimen, Mojo has finally started eating and
drinking on his own again, he's his own playful self again, and he has
started putting on some of the weight he had lost (a few weeks ago,
he was down to 1 pound from 2.5; he's now back up to about 1.7).
 
The keys seemed to be the amoxy and pepto, as well as the Duck Soup
for nourishment and Pedialyte for fluid and electrolytes until he
started eating and drinking on his own.  If anyone is interested
in the dosages we used (three times a day!), let me know.  We're
now down to twice a day with the amoxy and pepto, and duck soup
and pedialyte just when Mojo wants it.
 
Dr. Wardell is highly recommended; she spent a long time with us
in her office, and spoke to us on the phone every day for over
a week, and once a week since. She interned with Dr. Thomas Kawasaki
for almost two years (Dr. Kawasaki says to say "Hello!" to you, Dr.
Williams; we went down to see him one day when Dr. Wardell was
unavailable).
 
Anyway, this stuff is rough on them, but it is treatable.
 
--
Jeff Jones                      [log in to unmask]             Go Mojos!
eon corporation         (703) 715-8958               Wherever you go,
1941 Roland Clarke Place, Reston, VA 22091            there you are.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0924]