Lola

[Ashley Younger]

Lola has been experiencing terrible diarrhea, and I took her to the vet today. She was scheduled to go in for a check up Friday, but none of her tummy meds were working, and the diarrhea was not improving.

Her test results showed that the daily Prednisone and Azathioprine are working, and her platelet count was great. So, we will continue these meds at their current doses.

I took a fecal sample, and we ruled out a parasite. Due to an elevation in her white cell count, it appears that she has some sort of infection. She will continue with her anti-diarrhea medicine, stomach protector, and probiotic supplement. She is also on an antibiotic to treat the infection. They think the daily Prednisone likely weakened her ability to fight off infections generally.

Once we get her tummy straightened out, we will begin a liver supplement as the Prednisone appears to be creating extra stress in this area. The vet was not concerned with anything liver related but said this was a good precaution to take.

Will keep you all posted.

[Vally]

Ashley, that’s great news on the platelets.

Have you tried adding pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is good – NOT pie pumpkin. Ha I don’t know what either of those are really, you can’t get canned or pie pumpkin here at all – so I steam pieces of pumpkin and keep pots in the freezer. It’s very good for them for both diarrhear and constipation amazingly enough. Contains fibre for constipation, but at the same time, absorbs excess liquid.

Another thing I do when Bingo occasionally gets diarrhear is put a teaspoon of slippery elm into a saucepan with a cup of water. Boil that for about 20 minutes until it gets very gluggy and thick and add about a teaspoon of that to food for a few days. That also helps, however Bingo’s occasional diarrhear is usually from eating something inappropriate, like his favourite cat poo.

Vally & Bingo.

[Hope]

Hey Ashley!
My pup Steve had a period of about a week or two last month where he was vomiting everything he ate and had awful diarrhea and gas with every bowel movement. There were some concerns it was from the MMF but we stayed at the same dosage anywau. I don’t know if you noticed for Lola but Steve’s stool was also off colored – a light yellow color kind of. We changed Pepcid to Prilosec and added sucralfate for the vomiting and metronidazole (aka flagyl) for the BMs. It took a few days but his bowel movements are awesome now lol. I tbink he had something called SIBO – small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Sounds just like it says.. The normally good bacteria in the SI gets overgrown and doesn’t allow food to stay in long enough to get absorbed and digested properly. What antibiotic did your vet put Lola on?

Hope and Steve

[Ashley Younger]

Thanks to all for the tummy tips. We’ve made it through the horrendous diarrhea and are now just dealing with the normal gas and tummy sensitivity common to Prednisone pups.

We are reducing her Prednisone to every other day, and I pray that gives her relief. She just is not acting like herself, and it’s killing me. Her fur has very recently lost its luster, and her skin is just so dry. Her fur appears thinner and to be greying. This has happened rapidly.

I know I am so fortunate to still have Lola and mild side effects, but this is weighing very heavily on me. She’s not the dog I know her to be, and it breaks my heart. I just worry that all of the medications are diminishing her quality of life. Lola has such spunk (a true terrier), and I hope this disease has not robbed her (and me) of that.

[admin]

Hi Ashley,
How long is it since the prednisone was changed to every other day? What dose is Lola on? When the prednisone is still in the higher doses it is usually decreased by lowering the daily dose and not switched to every other day. I think that the prednisone is usually even given every 12 hours. It has been a while so I might be wrong on this and I hope someone will correct me if I am. If you give the same dose as you did give every day,you technically decreased by 50% which is a very big change. Lets say you gave 20mg per day and now you give the same every other day that is a 50%decrease. If you change to 15mg every day it is only a 25% decrease. It is recommended to lower the prednisone by only 25-33%. It is VERY important to lower the it very slow. The adrenal glands went to sleep and the prednisone took over their function. They now have to slowly wake up again. If this happens too quick Lola could have problems, possibly even relapse.
About the shaggy hair, I think that dogs with a non shedding coat like Schnauzers and Poodles have a harder time until they have a nice coat again. I have no scientific knowledge, just my observation on my poodle and from what I have heard.
It looks like Lola is responding very well to the drugs. Once you can lower them I see no reason why you can not have your Lola girl back, spunk, coat and all!
Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Vally]

Ashley, how much is Lola’s pred dose now? I absolutely agree with Brigitte. Going to every second day dosing is a 50% reduction. That’s very very risky.

Yes as the pred dose is lowered, she’ll definitely be feeling a lot better.

Does Lola take fish oil? That would help with her skin and hair. Coconut oil would help too. I give Bingo who is 7kg about 1/2 teaspoon every 2 or 3 days. Not too much as it’s quite high in fat and the liver needs to process it.

Regards, Vally & Bingo

[Ashley Younger]

Lola currently gets one prednisone a day. The vet told me today to reduce to every other day. Does that sound too drastic? Should I ask about reducing her daily dosage rather than taking the same dose every other day?

She has done well in the past on every other day but seems to relapse when we drop to every other other day. (This has always been done over a period of several weeks.)

In past tapering, we have only lowered daily dose from twice a day to once a day to every other day. So, the concept of an even smaller daily dosage is new to me.

Thanks!

[admin]

Ashley,
I am surprised that you have never done a once a day lower dose. I am wondering how familiar your vet is with this disease. You can look up the prednisone reduction in the glossary under prednisone;
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone/
It is described to go even lower than I thought. It makes total sense to stay with the once or even 2x a day dose and lower it. I forgot that Lola already had relapsed, possibly because of this aggressive reduction? If you have not done an other reduction please consider to lower the daily dose. What dose is Lola on now?

Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Ashley Younger]

Lola has been experiencing terrible diarrhea, and I took her to the vet today. She was scheduled to go in for a check up Friday, but none of her tummy meds were working, and the diarrhea was not improving.

Her test results showed that the daily Prednisone and Azathioprine are working, and her platelet count was great. So, we will continue these meds at their current doses.

I took a fecal sample, and we ruled out a parasite. Due to an elevation in her white cell count, it appears that she has some sort of infection. She will continue with her anti-diarrhea medicine, stomach protector, and probiotic supplement. She is also on an antibiotic to treat the infection. They think the daily Prednisone likely weakened her ability to fight off infections generally.

Once we get her tummy straightened out, we will begin a liver supplement as the Prednisone appears to be creating extra stress in this area. The vet was not concerned with anything liver related but said this was a good precaution to take.

Will keep you all posted.

[Vally]

Ashley, that’s great news on the platelets.

Have you tried adding pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is good – NOT pie pumpkin. Ha I don’t know what either of those are really, you can’t get canned or pie pumpkin here at all – so I steam pieces of pumpkin and keep pots in the freezer. It’s very good for them for both diarrhear and constipation amazingly enough. Contains fibre for constipation, but at the same time, absorbs excess liquid.

Another thing I do when Bingo occasionally gets diarrhear is put a teaspoon of slippery elm into a saucepan with a cup of water. Boil that for about 20 minutes until it gets very gluggy and thick and add about a teaspoon of that to food for a few days. That also helps, however Bingo’s occasional diarrhear is usually from eating something inappropriate, like his favourite cat poo.

Vally & Bingo.

[Hope]

Hey Ashley!
My pup Steve had a period of about a week or two last month where he was vomiting everything he ate and had awful diarrhea and gas with every bowel movement. There were some concerns it was from the MMF but we stayed at the same dosage anywau. I don’t know if you noticed for Lola but Steve’s stool was also off colored – a light yellow color kind of. We changed Pepcid to Prilosec and added sucralfate for the vomiting and metronidazole (aka flagyl) for the BMs. It took a few days but his bowel movements are awesome now lol. I tbink he had something called SIBO – small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Sounds just like it says.. The normally good bacteria in the SI gets overgrown and doesn’t allow food to stay in long enough to get absorbed and digested properly. What antibiotic did your vet put Lola on?

Hope and Steve

[Ashley Younger]

Thanks to all for the tummy tips. We’ve made it through the horrendous diarrhea and are now just dealing with the normal gas and tummy sensitivity common to Prednisone pups.

We are reducing her Prednisone to every other day, and I pray that gives her relief. She just is not acting like herself, and it’s killing me. Her fur has very recently lost its luster, and her skin is just so dry. Her fur appears thinner and to be greying. This has happened rapidly.

I know I am so fortunate to still have Lola and mild side effects, but this is weighing very heavily on me. She’s not the dog I know her to be, and it breaks my heart. I just worry that all of the medications are diminishing her quality of life. Lola has such spunk (a true terrier), and I hope this disease has not robbed her (and me) of that.

[admin]

Hi Ashley,
How long is it since the prednisone was changed to every other day? What dose is Lola on? When the prednisone is still in the higher doses it is usually decreased by lowering the daily dose and not switched to every other day. I think that the prednisone is usually even given every 12 hours. It has been a while so I might be wrong on this and I hope someone will correct me if I am. If you give the same dose as you did give every day,you technically decreased by 50% which is a very big change. Lets say you gave 20mg per day and now you give the same every other day that is a 50%decrease. If you change to 15mg every day it is only a 25% decrease. It is recommended to lower the prednisone by only 25-33%. It is VERY important to lower the it very slow. The adrenal glands went to sleep and the prednisone took over their function. They now have to slowly wake up again. If this happens too quick Lola could have problems, possibly even relapse.
About the shaggy hair, I think that dogs with a non shedding coat like Schnauzers and Poodles have a harder time until they have a nice coat again. I have no scientific knowledge, just my observation on my poodle and from what I have heard.
It looks like Lola is responding very well to the drugs. Once you can lower them I see no reason why you can not have your Lola girl back, spunk, coat and all!
Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Vally]

Ashley, how much is Lola’s pred dose now? I absolutely agree with Brigitte. Going to every second day dosing is a 50% reduction. That’s very very risky.

Yes as the pred dose is lowered, she’ll definitely be feeling a lot better.

Does Lola take fish oil? That would help with her skin and hair. Coconut oil would help too. I give Bingo who is 7kg about 1/2 teaspoon every 2 or 3 days. Not too much as it’s quite high in fat and the liver needs to process it.

Regards, Vally & Bingo

[Ashley Younger]

Lola currently gets one prednisone a day. The vet told me today to reduce to every other day. Does that sound too drastic? Should I ask about reducing her daily dosage rather than taking the same dose every other day?

She has done well in the past on every other day but seems to relapse when we drop to every other other day. (This has always been done over a period of several weeks.)

In past tapering, we have only lowered daily dose from twice a day to once a day to every other day. So, the concept of an even smaller daily dosage is new to me.

Thanks!

[admin]

Ashley,
I am surprised that you have never done a once a day lower dose. I am wondering how familiar your vet is with this disease. You can look up the prednisone reduction in the glossary under prednisone;
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone/
It is described to go even lower than I thought. It makes total sense to stay with the once or even 2x a day dose and lower it. I forgot that Lola already had relapsed, possibly because of this aggressive reduction? If you have not done an other reduction please consider to lower the daily dose. What dose is Lola on now?

Best wishes,
Brigitte