Vitamin C dosage

[Vally]

Poor Sadie, poor you.  Rock and a hard place.

[Patrice]

Linda,

It’s got to be either a filler ingredient or perhaps there is too much Vit C in her supplements overall. That is the best indicator when you reach too high of a dose. Look at the label and tell me what is in the ingredient’s list.

I know that Consumer Reports always seems to like Costco brand vitamins and supplements. I don’t have a Costco here, which is annoying, but they are building one. So you can just get the MSM separately.

My friend, who owns Willie’s grandfather, and I have been using tumeric (curcumin) on our dogs and ourselves for a bit now. There are many excellent properties of tumeric. One is mild pain relief and that is why it is in the BJ’s glucosamin/chondrotin supplement.

my best, patrice

[Vally]

Linda, Patrice’s idea – also check the cranberry supplement you’re using for Vitamin C content.

[Vally]

I say go with your gut. He’s fabulously well. If the aza was upsetting him or causing something well yes it would probably be a good idea to take him off.  1 tablet a week. I say leave it there.

[Patrice]

Sheena,

Hey, great news! Wow, those Sight-hounds with their revved up circulatory system: PVC 60%.

I can’t even imagine what the therapeutic value of 1 x 50mg azathioprine per week would be, what did you vet say? Is can’t possibly be immunosuppressive at this dose? I don’t know that much about aza, except to say it is often used in chemotherapy so it has strong cytotoxic effects to quickly developing cells (like WBC, RBC) that is why it is used to knock down the lymphocyte population.

No, you don’t need to keep renewing the core vaccinations. But you may want to satisfy yourself and your vet by having Jean Dodds do a vaccine titer panel. I do that for my dogs. It can’t tell you if your dog could actually mount a defense if exposed, but it can tell you whether the titers fall into a general accepted value.

I don’t know what your laws are in France and your locality for rabies, but you need to find out. Here in Western NYS where I am there is just no way I can avoid that one, the legal fallout from a reported bite or tangle with wildlife would lead to any un-vaccinated dog (rabies) to be immediately removed from the owner and either destroyed to examine the brain (for rabies) or to be put in strict quarantine for about 6 months. That is approximately how long it can take for rabies to develop in the brain.

In NYS, as is the case in many states, a dog that has lapsed in their rabies vaccination is considered “un-vaccinated” the day after the lapse, no exceptions, not even for dogs with waivers from their vet. So please check carefully in your locality with your vet about the application of the rabies law where you live.

Babesiosis is more prevalent and potent in European countries. But here is the skinny, the spleen is known to be a strong fighter against this disease. A healthy animal or human can probably fight off babesiosis solely in the spleen. It’s not so much contact with other dogs with this disease, this is a blood borne disease and can be transmitted by ticks.

my best, patrice

[admin]

Thanks Vally – I am a gut feeling gal sometimes, going with the heart, rather than the head.  I think we can all sometimes make illogical decisions about our own dogs,  Probably the aza dose isn’t doing very much as it’s so low & I know that it can cause DNA/RNA mutation, so I am not really sure either way.  Because he is getting old now, maybe I’m using it as an insurance policy. In my silly head, it took about 10-14 days to start working, so it must be doing something?  yep – daft.  My husband Phil feels we should carry on with the aza, rather than take any risks at all.  I am NEVER indecisive, so this is a rare feeling for me!

Patrice – thank you – much appreciated advice & a brilliant suggestion – I will contact Jean Dodds about the titer test if I can’t get one done here.  I am sure there is an Idexx Lab in Toulouse – I will find out if they can do this via the local vet.  Rabies vaccines are not required by law here, thankfully for Worzel.  Many local people don’t have their dogs vaccinated as cases are so very, very rare these days.  It would restrict us from travelling back to the UK though – it is the law in the UK that any dog coming from the EU must be vaccinated or they have to go into 6 months quarantine.  You are so right about the piroplasmosis & that is my fear with the ticks, however the vaccine is only around 75% effective because of the different strains that appear (a lot better than nothing though). I pushed the vet on this & he is pretty confident that the treatment works very well if caught in the early stages.  I am happy you said about the spleen being able to fight this – made me feel better!  I am highly suspicious that it was this pirodog vaccine, combined with the infection (?ehrlichiosis) that triggered the IMHA in the first place, hence my reluctance.  One sneeze/cough/under the weather day, he’ll be straight down the vets!

Thank you for your opinions – what would I do without you?

Sheena & Worzel

[admin]

Hi Sheena,

titers are a great thing for peace of mind. You do have to have a vet that knows what they are looking at to read them though. As Patrice said, Dr. Dodds would be the expert. Rabies was a huge danger in Europe before I came to North America 30 years ago. In Switzerland and Germany they poisoned thousands of foxes, thinking they could eradicate rabies. Foxes were almost extinct but are now coming back. I don’t know what the situation is now but it can’t be as bad as it was 30 years ago. People were so terrified. We are lucky here in British Columbia, Canada, even though there are some cases recorded, rabies vaccines are not mandatory. In our region they find rabid bats every once in a while. I have done the vaccine once to be on the safe side and now we will do titers. I am sure you have seen Dr. Dodds vaccination protocol. If not, let me know and I will send you the link.

I really don’t know what I would do about the azathioprene. I see why you would not want to rock the boat, but then 50mg is still a large dose for Worzel to absorb on that one day he gets it. I assume he has no side effects that you can see. Could you reduce this dose, or spread it in two 25mg over the week. I really don’t know, maybe just go with your gut?

 

Best wishes,

Brigitte

[admin]

Brigitte

Thank you for your wonderful advice.  Please could you send me Dr Dodds protocol – I would really appreciate that. You, Lynn & Vally were the first to reply to me on VetNet when Worzel was diagnosed – I can’t tell you how alone, frustrated & sad I felt until I read your kind, knowledgeable & supportive words.  I will never forget that.  It’s thanks to you guys & Patrice that Worzel got the best possible chance & good treatment.  The vets were pretty good most of the time (sometimes we disagreed), but nowhere near as knowledgeable & experienced as the people on here.

Worzel is so very well – full of cheek, happy & cuddly – no side effects at all from the azathioprine that we are aware of, although his skin went black with the prednisolone.  That has started to slowly return to normal – much paler & pinker – it shows how shockingly long pred hangs around in their system for!  He was completely weaned off the pred in February.  It is a year on the 6th December since he was diagnosed.  Unbelievable!

Sheena & Worzel