Dr. Welch and staff -

We  took Toby our 4 year old Bulldog mix to our vet in December of 2013 for his annual checkup/vaccinations with that we also had full blood work drawn up on Toby. He had always had great checkups in the past so we were not worried about this particular exam. Two days later the doctor called and said his kidney levels were a little high and they wanted to run more blood work to make sure there was nothing serious going on ,in the meantime Toby was put on a renal diet as a precaution, He then began to have diarrhea. We just thought it was the new food he was introduced too and that he would eventually adjust to it, He would vomit occasionally again we attributed his symptoms to the new diet. We became concerned and took him back to our vet. Dr's ran a gravity test on Toby which came back normal. Toby's symptoms continued for months back and forth to the vet constantly started to wear on us emotionally and financially. At this point we were getting frustrated because Toby was starting to lose weight and this scared us. Toby was on antibiotics for at least 2 months it would help for a while and then it got bad again once the meds ran out. He was dropping weight, he started to develop dandruff, his stomach would make gurgling noises, his rectum would leak an oily substance. We took Toby back to our vet, the Doctor that saw Toby that day stated he may have Endocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency but a blood test would need to be run. We had the test run and it came back negative, We were certain Toby had EPI because he had all of the symptoms, Our vet referred us to Charleston veterinary referral center. In June of 2014 we brought Toby into the clinic and met with Doctor Welch and explained our situation she immediately performed an ultrasound on Toby and drew blood and she wanted a second blood test run. The results came back positive for EPI and  treatment began immediately. Toby lost 15 pounds he was down to 50 pounds, he was skinny, he had no energy, and was very weak. I am certain if we had not walked into the clinic with Toby that day he would have died eventually. Today Toby is 60 pounds and thriving and getting more beautiful each day.He is continuing to have his B-12 injections monthly along with pancrezyme powder mixed with his food daily. Toby is back to his normal routine and getting along beautifully. It is a great comfort knowing that a state of the art facility such as CVRC will always be a phone call away if needed. We finally have a proper diagnosis.We owe a huge Thank you to Doctor Welch and the Staff for being so caring and kind. 

Connie & Bob