Long term pred

[Jen]

Hi everyone, I haven’t posted in awhile. I hope everyone’s babies are doing well. I was wondering if I should talk with Maggie’s vet about dropping pred altogether. She has been on 2.5mg EOD for over a year- we never tried to get her off it. I still give her 200mg of Sam e & milk thistle daily. Not sure if these are still necessary. Mags is going to vet tmrw for urinalysis ( check protein in her urine) & unfortunately she is limping again in her rear leg . I’m worried it maybe chronic Lyme disease. She tested positive for Lyme last Oct and was treated for 3 mos with high doses of doxy. Also, does anyone know if the allergy drug Apoquel can trigger AIHA? She is still on 100 mg cyclo EOD for allergies but it isn’t really helping.

Thanks
Jen & Maggie

[Vally]

Hey Jen, great to hear from you. How old is Maggie now and what is her weight?

With the pred, I would try and reduce it, especially bearing in mind she takes the cyclosporine for allergies. You could try doing 2.5 every third day. I suspect she should be okay.

Bingo is a senior and he has different issues too, so having him now taking 1.25 EOD and 0.625 EOD (in between), his vet has suggested to leave him there to help with different aches, pains and issues. In fact I was dropping one of the 0.625, so he was being dosed 3 days out of 4. Always had problems just doing every second day.

For the allergies, I’d suggest you do Dr Dodd’s Nutriscan testing to test for food allergies. It’s not cheap, but it may solve the problem at the heart of it. There is a link here and then go to Diagnostics.

https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/hemopetresources/

Also do you use lots of fish oil?

The SAMe, again, I can’t remember Maggie’s age, is good for seniors. It’s been recommended to me by Bingo’s specialist to keep him on it, as it’s good for joint, brain and, as we all know, the liver. Milk Thistle, I’d probably stick wit too. It’s a good supplement.

Good luck with your vet visit tomorrow. Let us know what they say.

Regards, Vally & Bingo
xxx

[Sheena]

Hi Jen & Maggie

Good luck with the vet appointment – Vally has said it all perfectly actually – I agree with her great ideas. Don’t forget she is struly the Queen of supplements – her knowledge is vast on this.

I found an article on the Apoquel that is well written – hope this helps you make a decision. I will put the link in a separate message in case it messes up the text here. It also contains some info about alternative drugs, but we all know we need to be very careful about what we use!

Quote from that link
“Zoetis does not recommend using Apoquel at the same time that corticosteroids or Atopica/cyclosporin are being given to your dog. They say they have not accumulated negative data regarding the use of these treatments combined with Apoquel; but that the possible effects have “not been investigated in any meaningful way so far”.”

Hope all goes well – please let us know what happens

Love Sheena x

[Sheena]

http://www.2ndchance.info/Apoquel.htm

[Sheena]

I also check absolutely anything & everything with Dr Jean Dodds before giving it to Worzel. Full stop. I have been told too many times that something is safe when it isn’t, so she is the only person I trust now.

Love Sheena x

[Jen]

Hi, Maggie will be 9 in July and weighs about 32lbs. Ok, I’ll discuss with the vet the possibility of taking the pred every 3 days and will definetly keep her on her supplements. She is on 788mg of omega 3 every other day by nature made currently. I’ve never been positive if this is the same as fish
Oil or not???? Any suggestions?
I actually wanted to try using the Apoquel instead of the cyclosporine bc it doesn’t seem to make s difference anymore with helping her allergies. I will look into Dr Dodds allergy testing to see if that is a possible avenue to deal with these dreadful allergies, thanks for the suggestion.
Overall she seems well but her back leg is really bothering her so I’m hoping to figure out what it is.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Jen & Mags

[Vally]

With the fish oil, Dr Dodds in her book Nutigenomics recommends using a good quality human grade fish oil and the dose is 100 to 150mg of EPA and DHA combined per 10 pounds of body weight daily – that figure is quoted from Mary Straus. Mary Straus’s webpage actually says dogs who have problems can be give up to 300 mg per 10 pounds of body weight.

So, I’ve looked up Natures Made. If I have the correct one (please check the label) it contains 788mg of fish oil concentrate, but the EPA and DHA combined total 500mg. Maggie, weighing 32lbs, I calculate 32 divided by 10 x 125mg (say half way) = 400mg of EPA & DHA daily.

So, you could actually up the dose to probably one capsule daily. If Maggie gets a lot of other EPA and DHA from her diet (example from Anchovies, fish oil,oily fish, sardines), then you would decrease that amount.

If you suddenly find Maggie gets diarrhea though, then there’s too much of it in her body so ease back. If you up the dose to 1 capsule daily, and her poos are fine, then I’d stick with it being given daily.

[Jen]

Thanks Vally for the correct dosage!!! I will try giving her a pill each day. I always get confused by what a “good quality” human grade means. Would you recommend a brand? Is nature made a good brand?

Jen & Mags