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Thanks so much Patrice. As we all know, with our AIHA pups – dealing with heart worms at this stage of the game, is deadly. I really appreciate your input on this Patrice! Sadie is on TriHeart Plus, but I have my questions about this AND Sadie has relapsed (twice!). So, I particularly appreciate you telling us about this! Thanks so much. :)

Linda and Sadie

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Alyssa

Here is Dr Dodds Heartworm preventative advice which you can find through the Hemopet Resources page on this site. If it were me, I would do exactly what she recommends in this article & only use the drugs she recommends too.

https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/hemopetresources/
Which leads you to
http://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/46289883129/dodds-heartworm-preventives#.VU9GWPmqpBd

I feel for you all having to deal with heartworm over there – it is a horrible thing & it’s always worrying to have to decide what to do for the best with our AIHA dogs with all these preventatives. We are lucky where we live so far – heartworm is only present much further south at the moment, but with global warming, it is apparently getting nearer & nearer to us every year. Scary.

Sheena x

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Hi Alyssa

So glad you’re taking it slowly – it’s safer, it really is.

We are always given soluble prednisolone (Solupred in France), not prednisone in Europe from our doctors – it does exactly the same thing – just a slightly different form the the same drug. I bought a pill cutter from the chemist – they are not perfect by any means & I sometimes ended up with broken bits too. When we got onto lower doses, it was easier to ask the chemist for the soluble form & dissolve it in a syringe (no needle of course). But I don’t know if you can get a soluble version over there in the USA! So, the easy maths would be to dissolve 10mg of soluble pred in 100ml of water or 5mg in 50ml of water – that always gives you 1mg in 10ml – easy to work out then. You need to be patient & shake it really well, then shake it thoroughly each time you use it. Of course, your vet may have smaller dose tablets available anyway – it’s worth asking first.

Hope that helps.

Love & hugs, Sheena x

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Hi Pam

Mmmmm – disappointing that those enzymes aren’t coming down just yet. I had an idea – you can get some organic milk thistle separately (don’t get the tincture in alcohol though – my specialist told me to get organic capsules or pills) in order to increase the dose – I have copied & pasted below what we worked out as a maximum dose for Beth & Heathy:

“Here is a link for milk thistle dosing – Dr Dodds has given some guidelines too:
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/milk_thistle.htm
It states you can use up to 200mg per 10 lbs of body weight for dogs with liver disease. Divided into smaller doses throughout the day is best. So you have plenty of scope there!”

and

“Just had a look at human doses for milk thistle – this one is based on scientific research:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/milk-thistle/dosing/hrb-20059806
So it looks like the maximum is 800mg 3 times per day for humans. Therefore 75% is 600mg 3 times per day. Hope that helps! Incidentally, my vet has seen used it to save a dog from a case of mushroom poisoning, so it is miraculous stuff.”

I know that gives you some maths to do as you’ll need to work out how much milk thistle is in the denamarin & take that off the total. Hope this helps – it is certainly worth trying in my opinion.

Love Sheena x

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Hi Pam & Ella

Good to read Ella is getting the denamarin & ursodiol too – how long have you been using them? Those enzymes are indeed high – but we’ve seen this quite a few times & they WILL come down. Please have a look at Beth & Heathy’s story/topic
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/forums/topic/liver-enzymes/
I hope this will cheer you up a little as Heathcliffe is doing much better, but it did take time for his enzymes to come down as his were also pretty high. I know it’s not exactly the same scenario for Ella – it’s more a case of being on the pred a long time – it really is amazing how well the liver recovers. To me, a relapse is far worse than raised liver enzymes for a few more weeks – please take it steady. And I wouldn’t increase the cyclosporine either – not safe.

I’m sure your vet will be happy to discuss a compromise – maybe 30% reduction every 2 weeks, which is about the fastest you want to do really. Please let us know how things go.

Love Sheena & the boys

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Hello Pam & Ella

Firstly, I’m sorry you’ve had to contend with this horrible disease – I’m so glad you’ve found us.

I could not agree with Brigitte more – fast reductions are asking for trouble. I would only agree to a fast reduction if there was a major clinical reason for doing it. Vets reduce prednisone quickly for other illnesses, maybe skin problems or similar – but AIHA is far more serious & we always recommend the slowly, slowly approach.

I know that Ella is having side effects (as ALL our dogs do) which are affecting her liver – if you can get some Denamarin (contains Sam-E & Milk Thistle & is a high quality product) immediately, this will help her. Many of our dogs have had raised liver enzymes – off the scale in some cases – and the Denamarin has helped us all. Here is a link to the site:
http://www.nutramaxlabs.com/dog/dog-liver-health/denamarin-for-dogs
My dog’s levels were back into the normal after a few weeks of using Milk Thistle & Sam-E. Also, you can use Dr Dodd’s liver cleansing diet, as Brigitte suggested.

Many, many times, (too many) we have seen relapses when the dose has been reduced too fast – please don’t take that risk if it’s only the liver enzymes that are making your vet want to do this. You will end up lengthening the treatment time because you have to put the dose right back up again – starting all over again is not what you want. It’s not worth the risk. If it were me, I would stick to the reduction Patrice has mentioned:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone-dose-reduction/

We all love to help everyone get their pets better – please keep in touch & let us know how you get on at the vets.

Sheena, Worzel (diagnosed Dec 2012, in remission) & Ollie too

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Hi Alyssa

How lovely to hear you’ve decided to help re-home the doggies! I just knew your were a kind & compassionate lady – good on you. I used to have photos of dogs up for adoption in our local rescue home in the window of my post office in the UK. It was great to see people stopping to look at the dogs, then popping in to ask me questions. It is a no kill shelter I still support & sadly has some permanent residents who can never be rehomed. We found the photos worked a treat – we would advertise “dog of the week” with a story about them & they soon got snapped up & adopted into a forever home. Good luck & let us know how you get on.

On the pred reduction front, take it nice & steady to avoid a relapse – you don’t want that to happen. If Sassy has to stay on a small dose, that honestly is no big deal. I totally agree with Vally. She will get better & better in herself when you get the pred to a low dose. I always think it’s better to stick to the reduction protocol here:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone-dose-reduction/

Let us know the results on Saturday – fingers & paws crossed she’ll have improved.

Sending love & big hugs
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie (both from no kill rescue shelters in the UK)
xoxoxox

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Sorry Susie – link to pred – see weaning/tapering, near the bottom:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone/