Hi again!
Ok, things have been high and low here. Changing vets, yet again. My original vet, which I was leaving anyway has closed down.
My concern was/is that Chance stopped eating. He's a Lab. Food is extremely important to a Lab! It's very strange for him. Vet I did go to says it's likely a tooth root abscess. Nothing we can do, he can't have an anesthetic. Pump him full of pain meds.
I went to another vet. They did x rays and looked at his teeth. No signs of abscess and no signs of pain in his mouth. Problem is not teeth. (They fed him while there, which they didn't tell me, so had interesting looking poops the next day! I even had his pills with me in case they wanted to feed him
)
Ok, so next step was to run full blood work again, including a GI panel. (I agreed to that only because I wanted to ensure my B12 frequency was ok). I don't have numbers as we spoke on the phone
TLI Very low (big surprise there)
Folate quite LOW
Cobalamin upper range normal
Folate is my biggest question. He's on Baytril (now low dose) to keep SIBO at bay. Poop is mostly good. Vet (no experience with EPI) wants me to start a Folate supplement. (He's very sensitive to Tylosin, so I can't give that again)
B12 was read exactly 10 days post injection. I have been injecting every other week. I am told to keep the bi weekly injections the same.? Or maybe I can go to 3 week cycle?
Cortisol levels low. Having had a dog with Addison's disease for 16 years, this to me is a concern. Vet is less concerned. Addison's wouldn't pop up all of a sudden now. (I agree with that completely. But what if there's something else somewhere that's causing the adrenals not to work as expected)? It would take a few weeks to get results of ACTH)
Anyway, biggest question is Folate levels. My understanding was high Folate was typically associated with EPI because of SIBO. ?? Do I start Folate supplement as he suggests?