Update on Gio's Pancreas

I know I haven't updated on this lately, so this is likely as good a time as any.

Gio is doing REALLY well! Seeing how he is now, it is apparent to me that he was ill for quite a while before I really noticed anything. I feel so horrible that I was excusing his condition on his epilepsy meds, thinking it was "normal". Now that he is doing so well, I see that he hasn't been "normal" in a very very long time.

He is due for another phenobarbital level check in about a week, I am also planning on ordering another CBC and chem panel to see how things are progressing there. There was significant improvement last time, things were "nearly" back to normal, so the vet said that it isn't necessary to check it again. But I just want to make sure, what is another $50 for some peace of mind knowing that things are progressing as they should be?

Gio was on the canned yuck diet for about 3 weeks and did horribly on it! Sure, his pancreas issues were improving, but everything else was going down hill. He had developed some reaction so that all the hair on his feet and around his mouth turned pink, his nose was crusted over, eye goobers constantly, orange teeth (yes, orange ... not yellow, but slimey orange), horrible diarrhea and "ass fumes of death". The vets were convinced that the diarrhea was just him adjusting to the canned food, so I decided to switch him to a home prepared pancreatic diet as I had no intentions of keeping him on the canned yuck for any length of time anyways. He has been on a home-made diet of juiced veggies and pulp, egg and/or liver, and cooked white fish for a couple of weeks now. His paw hair is back to white again, nose and eye crusties are gone, diarrhea and flatulence cleared up instantly. Teeth are still orange ... but not quite the radioactive color that they were on the canned food. I'm hoping that I can introduce some food that actually requires chewing in the next couple of months, so that should help the tooth issue significantly.

As for attitude, he is like a fiesty pup again! The switch from potassium bromide to phenobarbital for his seizure control has been a great thing for him. No seizures, so the meds are doing their job so far, and the side effects are much less than they were before. He is rowdy and pestering the hell out of Romeo nearly constantly. He is back to working Rally-O/obedience again (working for a tennis ball reward instead of treats) and performing at the top of his game! Just an overall happy boy again!