Aruba

Yesterday was a difficult day....

Over the past 3 months, our sweet Aruba has had a series of blood tests, each more specialized than the last, trying to get to the bottom of why some of her digestive system values are elevated. And yesterday more definitive results came in, and her veterinarian diagnosed her with pancreatitis!

We are so heartbroken. :-(

What's most confusing is why she has it? We just don't know... I guess as with anything medical, it's complicated. Typically, it occurs in dogs who are fed "cheap" dog food full of junky filler ingredients. But this has not at all been Aruba's diet! She and Buddy have always eaten a high-quality, premium, organic, vegetarian dog food. And no table scraps. And only low-calorie, nutritious veggie treats. It could be that it's a metabolic or biochemical cause. Hopefully, we'll get more answers as we dig deeper into this.

Thankfully, she has no symptoms so hopefully we've caught it early. What's so scary though is the vet's assessment that it's "chronic", and that pancreatitis can often flare-up seemingly overnight into a terribly painful and dangerous medical condition.

We're hoping that with careful management, we can conquer this disease! We've already made an appointment with an Internal Medicine veterinary specialist (actually, she's at the same clinic where Buddy had his cancer surgery --- they have TONS of specialty veterinary expertise there!). We'll also have a veterinary nutritionist evaluate how to appropriately modify Aruba's diet. Apparently, pancreatitis patients need to be on an extremely low-fat diet.

I was up crying most of the night. Now BOTH of my precious angels have been stricken by disease, it's overwhelming. I love them so much!