Continued from HERE.

Just thought I'd pop by to give you wonderful lot an update.
It is a week today that the little fella has been home. I still can't stop squeezing him and every time I catch his eye my heart does a little leap of joy.
He came home with Royal Canin Hepatic food. The vets said they appreciate that he doesn't like it, but to try to feed it for as long as possible. Well we managed 2 small meals on his first day back, but then he refused it and the vets advice was that it was more important that he just eats. I now seem to be spending longer preparing him a homemade hepatic diet of rice, sweet potato, chicken, white fish, egg whites, broccoli, chicken broth and ground egg shells (on top of the 5 million medications he's on!), than I do our own meals! He doesn't seem to mind being spoilt rotten at all! He looks a little less emaciated, but obviously it is going take time. He looks tiny next to his litter sister now.

He is still 'unwell' in that he is sleeping a lot and his abdomen hurts making him reluctant to poo, but the rest of the time he is back his normal naughty self. The vets have no suggestions about his abdominal pain. The next option is exploratory surgery which I am obviously reluctant to do. One part of me thinks he's too delicate to be undergoing surgery, the other part thinks that he's better having it done now, while he is 'well' than wait until he gets properly ill again. Do I just give him a few more days to see if this sorts itself out or.....

You really are between a rock and a hard place with this one.   I totally appreciate that if you wait for him to, MAYBE, become ill, again having surgery then would be far from ideal.   But given he is showing better signs now, why 'rock the boat'.   I guess, as long as you don't have a money-motivated vet, you should only be advised by him?   The pain having a BM is worrying, but perhaps he's just sore back there.   When our second hound went down with what could have been Parvo (it wasn't 'known' in those days but it was certainly a severe gastroenteritis bug) to the point he wasn't well enough to leave for Canada with us and went back to his breeder to 'get right'!  she was giving him slippery elm food to help his digestive system recover.   He'd had so many abs that his system had no bad, OR GOOD bacteria in there.  His kidneys weren't involved however.

These dogs - take to hell and back for sure. 

So happy he continues to improve. Depends g on how much pain  he is in if he were mine and i felt the discomfort was manageable  I would.try and build him up a little more before any invasive investigation . Fortunately eggshell in place of bone   doesn't tend to have a hardening effect on stool which is helpful as if bm causes discomfort  soft stools will be better atm.

If he seems ok in himself then I think I would give him a few days to try and bui,d up his strength again.  Then if the worst happens and he needs surgery he may be bettef able to cope with it.  Of course if he goes downhill again (god forbid) then thats another matter.  Just my personal opinion of course.  Such a hard choice for you to make after all that you have been through!
Everything crossed that he continues to improve.  X

Thanks all. I'll pop out and get him some low fat probiotic yogurt and order some slippery elm.

Sorry for the detail, but his poo is very loose and yellowish so no concerns about constipation. He doesn't seem to be in pain until he needs to poo, then he'll trot around and keep sitting down, quick bite at his sides and scratches an ear. This can go on for half an hour before he'll go.

I think I agree that keeping building him up for a bit longer may be the best approach.

Thank you for updating us - I would probably try and get him a little stronger before opting for surgery, although obviously you have to take things day by day and do what is best for him xxx

Kefir may be better option than low fat yoghurt as it has many more good bacteria for his gut. Start with a small amount .many use that instead as their probitic of choice.

could his tummy just hurt because of the cramps he's had and the constant state of guarding his tummy and not wanting to move? often after a tummy upset your muscles feel like they have done a work out from all the spasms and griping. It takes time to ease and muscles to relax a bit.

Kefir may be better option than low fat yoghurt as it has many more good bacteria for his gut. Start with a small amount .many use that instead as their probitic of choice
Can you buy kefir or do you need to cultivate it?

Asda certainly has it. 

My dad buys it and also makes his own by using a little in a stone jar and adding Fresh organic whole milk

could his tummy just hurt because of the cramps he's had and the constant state of guarding his tummy and not wanting to move? often after a tummy upset your muscles feel like they have done a work out from all the spasms and griping. It takes time to ease and muscles to relax a bit.

Possible but it seems to me like more of an acute pain due to his reaction to it (sits down and scratches ear- seems like referred pain).

Either but currently most supermarkets have it. It freezers well  too so u just need to put in to ice cube trays so u have a handy serving ready to defrost

You've certainly been through the mill yourself with all this worry.   Your head must have been spinning.  I know that your boy isn't out of the woods yet but I sincerely hope that he is getting there.  I understand the need to build him up before anything else.  I guess you just need to play it by ear.

I wish your little 'un all the luck in the world.  Give him a big kiss from me.

Thank you for your kindness, and consider him well kissed

What ever you choose, fingers & paws crossed for you both.

I agree with Lorripop - if you've had a gastro upset before, or food poisoning even (and he has had far worse than that!) it can take a while for things to get back to normal.  It would be really tough to do exploratory surgery without a specific idea of what's being looked for, and then leave him with that to recover from as well - and potentially also find nothing if his current condition is just about recovering from what's happened. 

So I think I wouldn't do anything further and would wait to see if he's going to improve from here or deteriorate - because he's going to go one of the two ways. 

You could potentially also get a referral to a specialist and just have a chat with them, run through any test results he has had and tell them exactly what happened, when.  You don't need to do anything further like more testing or surgery but just having a consultation might give you more ideas about what has happened and what could be happening...

Yellow poops are typically a sign of pancreatitis and require a low fat diet, just to throw that out there... Sometimes ABs themselves can cause mild pancreatitis - I had that, with one of my dogs.  He has been on a lot of medications presumably....

How's he doing?

Sorry, I do not tend to get online at weekends, but thank you for asking.
Little chappie is doing very well indeed thank you
I added Kefir to diet as suggested.
RE Pancreatitis, he is on a low fat diet (white fish, chicken breast etc).
His tummy has really settled and he is a lot less uncomfortable when he needs to go now.
I took him back to the vets last Monday, and they are happy with his progress and not currently concerned about residual abdominal pain considering.
He had put on nearly a kilo :-)

Fingers crossed for continuing recovery!
On a rather more gloomy note... I have just received the vet bill

Great to hear that he is doing well!  Thank you for the update, hope its all good from now on. X

Thank you. He's a pure delight

So glad to hear such a positive update, it does really sound like he's out of the woods now yeah good news.

I think we are all excited that it sounds so good.  Onwards and upwards.