Sounds like an ultrasound pretty quick would be good idea.

Your vet did check for parasites before starting other testing right?

Hope your dog is ok and you can figure this out so that he can at least be made more comfortable.

Yes

Yes

It's Intestinal lymphangiectasia.

Again my question is has any one experienced this disease and what's the prognosis?

After all our attempts to battle this horrible disease we must reluctantly succumb to letting Laddie go. He's not responding to any treatments.

I did a search on this site and there is no info on Intestinal lymphangiectasia. I hope now with my post perhaps someone in the future will benefit from my inquiry.

Intestinal lymphangiectasia is not an easly detectable. Our vet has only ran across 1 other case in his career.

Signs of intestinal lymphangiectasia is silent and may go undetected over several months, even years. It and may come and go. The dog may fail to gain weight or may progressively lose weight. The loss of protein into the bowel causes loss of fluid from the circulation into the limbs, the abdomen, or the chest. Your dog's legs and/or abdomen may appear swollen and he/she may have trouble breathing. There may be a chronic persistent or intermittent diarrhea due to the loss of protein, fluid and fat into the bowel.

I found a resourceful website of someone who has battled this disease with her dog. It also provides a support site as well.

http://savelouie.blogspot.com

All the best.

I'm so sorry about Laddie.

Thanks for posting the information on this disorder.

We have a 6 yr. old min pin diagnosed with lymphangiectasia. She has been treated by a vet with steroids (budesonide), an antiinflammatory for her intestines and Azathioprine and a low-fat diet food. Her protein levels are low, rebounded for a couple months and now have dropped way down. Symptoms include diarrhea, retention of fluid in her abdomen, fatigue, frequent urination, some difficulty breathing due to the "swollen belly" due to fluid retention and loss of appetite.
Vet is out of ideas, except very expensive invasive biopsy, etc. which we cannot afford. We have already spent well over 1,000 dollars over 6 mos. on meds, tests, food
It is a rare disease, not curable, but can attain stability. Any similar cases and suggestions? We are desperate and now going to tinker with adding some high protein foods to her food so she will eat.

We have a 6 yr. old min pin diagnosed with lymphangiectasia. She has been treated by a vet with steroids (budesonide), an antiinflammatory for her intestines and Azathioprine and a low-fat diet food. Her protein levels are low, rebounded for a couple months and now have dropped way down. Symptoms include diarrhea, retention of fluid in her abdomen, fatigue, frequent urination, some difficulty breathing due to the "swollen belly" due to fluid retention and loss of appetite.
Vet is out of ideas, except very expensive invasive biopsy, etc. which we cannot afford. We have already spent well over 1,000 dollars over 6 mos. on meds, tests, food
It is a rare disease, not curable, but can attain stability. Any similar cases and suggestions? We are desperate and now going to tinker with adding some high protein foods to her food so she will eat.

I would take him to an internal medicine specialist to learn the prognosis and the latest and best treatments available ( or alternatives that you are able to afford, if they are cost prohibitive).

If it's rare, there may not be a lot you can do due to lack of research. It's always possible you could find someone with a special interest in the disease though.

need to start your dog on B12 injections (weekly), consider pred instead of budensonide and begin offering MCT oil as a nutritional supplement (only form of fat easily absorbed in those sorts of infiltrated intestines). Most dogs with lymphangectasia are manageable, but you need to do aggressively or they don't do well. The fluid in the chest and abdomen is due to your pet's incredibly low albumin, which is secondary to his intestines not being able to absorb the protein (too many abnormal lymphocytes plugging up the 'holes' proteins are supposed to go through). Anyway, above changes, if not already tried, are relatively cheap and may help a Lot. good luck!!