Muscle atrophy/Too Skinny?

[sheena]

Hi Diana & Sharky too!

Oh, if I could show you a picture of Worzel with what our lovely Brigitte describes as “pred head” you would know I understand your dilemma. His jaw muscles started to atrophy & he had trouble chewing his food. Plus his eyes seemed double the size, but shrunken back in his bony head, with sunken pits behind the sockets. A friend of ours burst into tears when he saw him & it was hard to explain he was actually beating this awful disease. It was truly horrible & like Vally, you get very down about these things – poor Bingo had a terrible time, little fighter he us. BUT I promise you with all my heart that when you can reduce the pred, that emaciation will slowly but surely disappear, until you suddenly think, goodness, they are starting to look back to their old selves. I just think you have to look at prednisone as a necessary evil that saves their lives – we have no choice & we know they will get better.

I am so pleased you will be reducing the pred & NOT the azathioprine for now. That is the right way to do things. Dr Dodds is always happy to work with other vets & you should not hesitate to involve her in Sharky’s care if you need to. My Specialist was thankfully open to any advice she gave, even though he was highly qualified himself. Adding milk thistle (included in Denamarin) to Worzel”s treatment was Dr Dodds & the people on this forum’s suggestion & my man thought that was a great idea, even though he hadn’t used it for AIHA before – but he will from now on. He has used it for a case of mushroom poisoning though – the dog survived & was fine. We all learn along the way! I love vets who are open to ideas.

All we want is to watch our babies get better as quickly as possible. It’s great to use the liver cleasing diet, regardless of the stinky smells from the kitchen! You really are doing a great job, Diana.

I am dying to know how Sharky got the name -Worzel was named by the rescue centre & we thought it was hilarious as it means a right old country bumpkin with a piece of straw between their teeth! He’s actually a very pretty “royal” poser – totally the opposite.

Big hugs
Sheena, Poser & his long suffering friend Ollie xxxxx