Ok ... WE GOT DIAGNOSIS!!!!!
Leave it to my boy not to do anything by halves!!
Why the 'liver' (ALT value) was so bad in the bloodwork, why he's a bit off his food, etc. etc. etc.
The little bugger has pancreatitis!!!
Now this isn't a "too much turkey fat" kind of pancreatitis. Billy has is actually an "infection" -- now 'pancreatitis' literally means "pancreas inflamed" - but it can be a whole range of problems, from a pancreas that just isn't 'good' (like my Prissy's was) to a systemic infection (which is what Billy has).
He's also got some hepatitis. Now that is NOT like the viral human version of hepatitis where you're just sick for the rest of your life. NOPE. This is again literally just inflammation of the liver probably again caused by a systemic infection -- literally infection that has centered in a place in the body (and the liver and pancreas are 'neighbors' essentially and touch each other so if one has an infection the other would too).
THIS IS **NOT** BAD NEWS.
Not at all -- this is literally just probably the result of the fact that he was on immune-suppressors for SO long and has been flirting with one infection after another as a result -- one of them simply didn't 'go away' and went DEEP in and settled in to stay for a while.
I caught this darned early just because I thot he wasn't feeling good. (Typically a dog with pancreatitis will 'crash' sometimes with bloody vomiting and diarreha but that's not the case).
So, they (both Dr. B AND Dr. D) agree and have added another antibiotic. Still taking the clavamox (which is a penecillin derivative - it's a cousin to amoxycillin) but they've added Baytril (which is a bit lesser version of Cipro that they use on dogs -- it's very well tolerated and doesn't make them sick ... BUT that means that if we HAVE to we can step up to the Cipro if we gotta later on).
Frankly this is all REALLY good news.
I was terrified we were seeing liver failure, but nope -- from the bloodword it's apparent it is JUST infection. Gobs of globulins (infection) and the amylase and lipase are not just 'high' but double what they should be (and that pairing of 'double' values is what tipped both vets off to pancreatitis) -- it's VERY treatable and easily treatable actually.
He's acting like he feels GOOD and Dr. D got his back adjusted last night so he was feeling really good.
Dr. D's comment was "Ok, so his blood results are sucky ... BUT, in the words of Dr. Sherr up at UF (older, very very experienced and one of the heads up there) 'You don't treat the bloodwork -- you treat THE DOG!!!' and Billy doesn't feel bad, he's feeling really pretty darned good!! So it may take a while but we WILL clear this up!!"
This is NOT about diet ... this is about a bacterial infection running around. My experience with pancreatitis was of the fatty-food-related variety. This is different.
It's actually both the liver and pancreas both that have infection. Like I said, he doesn't do anything by half ... BUT I'm tickled beyond belief that this is infection and not 'failure'. In fact, the one value (GGTP on the Antech values) indicates the cells are FINE!!! whooo hooo
It's interesting -- this type of stress CAN stress the heart, so the murmur is explained -- may or may not go away but explained. The back was actually the red herring in all this!!