UPDATE:

Talked with the vet and he confirmed that his intestines are now being affected by the auto immune disease.  He put him on a prescription diet along with a bland diet of ground beef or chicken and rice. 

I was able to get Lance to play fetch with me the other day, which thrilled me!  He wouldn't chase the ball unless I acted like I was going to get the ball too, lol.  He was sliding into the ball with lots of enthusiam!! :) 

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Three years ago Lance was diagnosed with Auto Immune Issues which affected his ears, they blew up with hematomas, he was put on a regiment of meds which included predisone.  I wasn't thrilled about the predisone, but not much else that we could do. He was also put on some other meds to help out while lowering the dose of the predisone which has to be done gradually and not cold turkey. 

Fast forward three years later to the week of Tucker coming to live with us, Lance starts having issues keeping anything down. Off to the vet we go to get anti naseau shot.  The vet puts him on a bland diet of rice, chicken/hamburger meat, gradually over a few weeks we are able to add in a handful of dry dog food.  He was diagnosed with a yeast infection in each ear so he was put on an ear med.  The vet put him on an antibiotic for six weeks to help with any possible infection he could have in his liver, wanted to make sure to knock out the infection.  We are just about done with the Clavamox.  Lance was jaundice,  his eyes were yellow along with his ears, and his liver enzymes were elevated, so on a liver supplement he goes, and it is huge!!! 

Clavamox upsets the tummy so he is on thre anti nausea meds as well.  He seemed to be feeling pretty miserable, walking really slowly, but when he really wanted something he still had a bit of pep in his step. Before going off to the vet, we had neighbors stop by and see what they thought of how lance was acting.  Lance was soooo happy to see people, wasnt his crazy barky self either (which I have to say was kinda nice) his tail was going a mile a minute so that was awesome to see, even seemed to get a burst of energy and wants to play with tucker until he remembers tuckers energy match is NO match for his!!! 

It seems as if out of no where, Lance starts looking bloated, so again off to the vet we go.  The vet ran some blood work yesterday and took xrays of his belly.  Lance is leaking fluid into his belly and has put on five pounds in the last week from the fluid !! :O  The vet doesnt want to drain the fluid unless it becomes a problem for him to breathe. Apparently, if you drain too much fluid, it could send the dog into shock.  :(  We are hoping the fluid doesnt get to his lungs. 

The vet called and left a message with the results of the blood work.  His liver enzymes are now looking good but his protien is too low and this disease is now some how afecting his intestines.  Our vet had told us that with auto immune issues, the body can start attacking any part of your body at any time.  I didnt get to talk to him but he did leave a message for us.  I need to call the vet tommorrow and find out where we go from here.

We are very scared as this isn't sounding too promising.  The vet mentioned doing an ultrasound of his stomach to see if there are any tumors in there, but won't know til tommorrow if that is still a plan. 

Hug your pups, because one day can change in a heart beat.  Lance was only five when first getting diagnosed with immune issues.  One never knows what the next day brings.