We had Ella's follow up blood test yesterday after the last test (a month ago) showed elevated enzyme levels in her liver. The good news is that the levels have dropped to within the "normal" range . The vet did mention that they are still at the higher end of the normal range so we'll repeat the blood test in a few months when we go in for her annual checkup and vaccinations just to keep an eye on things. He said that she is a very healthy puppy with no other concerns so we are leaning towards the idea that she ate something toxic that actually damaged her liver. The drop in levels indicates that the liver is healing. This does make sense as, in the week leading up to her last blood test we'd been up at my parents house (5 acres in county Victoria) and she had been quite unwell. Each time we have been there (about 3-4 times since we've had Ella) she has ended up with some diarrhoea or vomiting or both, increasing in severity depending on the amount of time we stayed there. Obviously we can't say that we'll never go to my parents place again so I'm trying to work out the best plan of action. A bit of background info - they have a fully fenced backyard within the property as well as the rest of the 5 acres. We will let Ella into the fenced area unsupervised but will take her out into the rest of the property (usually for a bit more of a run and a play in the dam) at different times. The fenced area has a proper lawn and planted beds where as the rest of the property has scrubby grass, some native plants, a small vineyard (she can't access this) and copious amounts of kangaroo, rabbit and duck poo). My options: 1. Stop her going outside the fenced area to narrow down which area is causing the issue 2. look into a muzzle to prevent her actually eating anything that could cause harm 3. Work my way through all of the plants in the fenced area to determine if any are toxic 4. Only allow her outside the fenced area on a lead to try and prevent her eating anything 5. Work my way through the plants in the fenced area to determine if any are toxic whilst looking into a muzzle for off lead time outside the fenced area We had thought that the amount of poo she was eating could have made her unwell but the vet said, whilst it could explain the upset tummy, it would be unlikely to explain the liver damage unless it was all particularly moldy. Ella tends to prefer the fresh stuff If it was just that she had a bit of an upset tummy I'd be more inclined to go with a trial and error method to narrow down what's causing the issue but as it could actually be hurting her liver I'd like to avoid further damage. My hope is that I am able to identify a poisonous plant in the yard and it will be that simple!
Glad to hear things seem to be healing! But that's worrying for the future visits. Is there any chance that there are pesticides or herbicides used in the fenced area? Slug pellets, weed killer etc?
My parents definitely don't use any pesticides or slug pellets as they're trying to grow some fruit and veggies and they're all about organic ☺(Ella doesn't have access to any of the fruit or veggies). However, they only moved into the property in June so it's possible there are some left overs. I can see myself crawling around on hands and knees over the whole property the next time I go there!
I'd be tempted by the muzzle option, coupled with stalking her to see what she's trying to eat. It's a tricky one! Glad that she is recovering well though
Oh, poor Ella! It does sound a bit of a worry and I think I'd be inclined to do what Rachael suggests. Put a muzzle on her so you know she can't come to any harm, but follow her to see what she's interested in. I'd also be checking for any residual slug pellets, because they can be terribly nasty for dogs, and checking up on all the plants in the enclosed area for toxicity. I hope you get to the bottom of it.
So glad there been improvement she such a sweet girl.I think i would go for the muzzle i'd be too scared to do anything else or rigiously check the fenced area and only use that without a muzzle. So much stuff is toxic and you don't know what was used in ther property before. Hope you find out what it is
Good to hear that Ella's blood test is back in the normal range. Some hard choices for you to make. I think I would go fie keeping her in the enclosure with out the need for a muzzle. If she remains well at least you can then start looking in the wider area. Also as she gets older her desire to eat all the poo may diminish which will also help.
Thanks all. I set my mum some homework today to identify all of the plants in the garden so that we could rule those out first. I also got her to investigate whether there was any sign of pesticides/slug pellets in the shed as the old owner left most of the stuff behind. (I may have mentioned that visiting could be difficult if we couldn't find the source of Ella's poisoning - with an grandchild due in a couple of months I knew she'd get working straight away. Perhaps that was a little mean of me hehe) There doesn't seem to be any sign of slug pellets but she's going to check with the old owner as they are still in contact. She did however identify a geranium and a yucca in the garden, both of which I just found out are poisonous so it's possible that they could be our issue! I think we'll be taking up a present of two new non-toxic plants next time we go so that we can dispose of the others. Fingers crossed that's our answer but I'm now feeling terribly guilty for not checking and researching all of the plants earlier. My new plan of action is to swap out the bad plants, follow up with the old owner re slug pellets and pesticides and not let Ella outside the fenced garden next time we visit. I'll also watch her like a hawk to see what she's interested in while we're there.
Glad to hear her bloods are back to normal. Hopefully you can identify the cause and not have to go through this again.
