Hi Everyone,
I have a tri-colored Basenji named Brody who is 9 months old. The sire is CH DJAKOMBA's RAVEN ROCKET MAN and DAM APEX SEVEN OF DJAKOMBA.

I started him on Candiae all life stages dog food (from breeder) when he was 3 months but by 7 months he didn't seem interested. When I switched him to Nutro chicken and brown rice he loved it. Devoured it in seconds and no issues. Here we are 2 months later and he is totally not into Nutro any longer. Will smell it, walk away, come back to eat a few kibble bits and leave it. Adding water has helped but he will never finish it. I will give him 20 minutes to eat and take it away..BUT then the bile throw-up happens because hes hungry. Dinner time he seems to eat better but NOT great (or close to where we were a couple months ago).

I've tried Merrick and Natural balance even looking at potatoes and meats and limited ingredients and same results. I even went back to Nutro (lamb) and still not interested.

I am just at a loss as now breakfast and dinner has become a nightmare. Even tried some mix-in turkey and pumpkin ingredients to make it look appetizing. His dinner looks better than mine some nights.. LOL.. Still fussy!

Anyone have a great kibble their basenji loves who have run into my struggles?

HELP!!!!

@tanza / @Zande we got the news that they are leaning towards PK pyruvate kinase deficiency seeing as ultrasound and xray came up empty, bone marrow to make reticulocytes are normal BUT Rbc's not being made. Labs not showing hemolytic anemia. The breeder DID NOT test for PK leaving me either to dig into the entire family tree (which who knows accuracy in testing) or wait 1-2 weeks for the PK test to come back.
Not sure if there is anything you both know that will help sway me away from PK .... or if there is any experimental treatment you've heard about. I just don't know how to process this TBH. His blood transfusion seemed to stablize him w/ numbers back into the 30s for RBC counts.. He will likely come home tomorrow.

Wanted to post a quick update. We were given horrible news that our Brody has Lymphoma in small intestines specially the duodenum! It’s extremely focused on a 5cm section of the wall. It’s a legion area and not in the lymph nodes. They will not operate as he is too weak from a fever (I believe they caused from biopsy the area) and are concerned they don’t have enough room to cut and seal the area. now have him on steroids and are using an aggressive anti cancer drug they injected today. We still have not talked to an actual oncologist which since last Saturday we are into this journey for $15,000 and climbing!

He is only 9 months and I can’t see how he has cancer so young! Can he fully survive this being soon young and this cancer being isolated to a very specific spot?? I’m devastated

Hi Everyone,
I posted a pretty lengthy description already in a topic "Not Interested In Eating His Food!".

Short story is my 9 month basenji was admitted to the hospital for anemia caused by low red blood cell count and lethargy. After many attempts to correct this issue he required a blood transfusion (twice). Following an endoscopy they discovered an "Angry" ulcer-like area on his duodenum. Following the endo and 2nd blood transfusion (because his RBC count dropped dramatically) he developed a fever of 105 and it has not went down in 4 days. They did take samples of this area but the labs are taking 3-5 days to come back!!! I also feel in my gut the sampling inflammed these area so much it triggered the fever (but they won't admit this).

My question is.. Has anyone went through a surgery like this to remove part of the duodenum (small intestine)? It's around 5-7cm for the site to be removed. What is the recovery like? Is there anything anyone can share that helps me feel a bit more confident in surgery for a dog?

A piece of me wants to wait for the results to come back but his conditions is going downhill.. He is now not eating anymore, fever still blaring, and he is sleeping all day at the hospital. Thankfully they allow me to go see him daily! They want to get this thing out of him but im nervous we are rushing to surgery too fast!

@tanza / @Zande we got the news that they are leaning towards PK pyruvate kinase deficiency seeing as ultrasound and xray came up empty, bone marrow to make reticulocytes are normal BUT Rbc's not being made. Labs not showing hemolytic anemia. The breeder DID NOT test for PK leaving me either to dig into the entire family tree (which who knows accuracy in testing) or wait 1-2 weeks for the PK test to come back.
Not sure if there is anything you both know that will help sway me away from PK .... or if there is any experimental treatment you've heard about. I just don't know how to process this TBH. His blood transfusion seemed to stablize him w/ numbers back into the 30s for RBC counts.. He will likely come home tomorrow.

@eeeefarm I am leaning towards hemolytic anemia based on google searching and mapping his blood word results.. but I just don't know which is the most frustrating part of the waiting game

@tanza He's at a hospital with a few specialists/pathologists. This is what was itemized for me.. Unsure what else to request. Looking back at blood work from Nov 2020 (when he was 9 wks) he had a lower hemoglobin and RBC count ... obviously nothing as severe as now. Yes, I moved him to the hospital; I was very concerned that a. they never initially told me how bad his blood test was until I requested it (because something didn't feel right) and b. that vet seemed unfazed by the first readings to just suggest allergies!! I'm glad I read the report to take him this morning.. Who knows what could have happened next

@eeeefarm We did hike a bit in the woods but not in tall grass or anything like that. I also checked him afterwards (easy with the shorter hair). Im lost. Hate that I am not with him in the hospital

His new blood work report is even worst in 3 days
Just curious if anyone ever ran into this one! His WBC is up but no clue how all of this correlates. UGH

Update.. His new blood results are event worst with his RBC count nearing blood transfusion levels. They are watching him incase he destabilizes. He seemed in very good spirts leaving him and even ate this morning (chicken and rice) as I've moved him off any kibble.

The very picky eater thing started a month or so ago and anemia signs always seemed present (shivering ect) but not to this level .. No recent vaccination that triggered this... I honestly thought it was the food! They are keeping him overnight and will be doing a scan and more analysis on his RBC. 8 months young and he doesn't deserve this

@tanza curious if you've run into this ever? Talked to my breeder (bloodline/siblings are good) and we just need to leave it to the doctors. Unfortunately my first vet said, allergies but I did not feel good about that diagnosis. He's at the hospital now getting another blood test/ stool. Gums were very white which is concerning me and still very sleepy/lethargic..

Got Brody's blood work back and there is some concerns here.. Contacted our breeder but curious if anyone has any insight on these numbers. Hemoglobin has bee in the 9's since Nov 2020 (I compared a vet visit records against recent results).