Forum Replies Created
Terri,
the prednisone is definitly low, too low to supress the immune system. But then Koda responded so it might be ok, I don’t know. Ask the vet!
Pepcid is good, the sucralfate is just a much better stomach protection. It has to be given away from all other medications and food so it will not interfere with absorption. Slippery elm is also a great stomach protection but maybe not quite as good as the sucralfate.
Please leave the bio prep. It is an immune booster and I believe so is the standard process. Salmon oil or coconut oil is great. Petinic is great and so is the Denamarin. I have to look up the erythro pro blood support and Dasuquin, never heard of it:)
You sure have the house full! We have a dedicated cat person on this forum, that would be Mary. How wonderful that you were able to save a feral cat, a friend for Koda. Amazing what a little patience can do! You sure are a dedicated soul!
Brigitte
Hi lynda,
good to have you back! It is hard to travel when you have dogs, even if you know they are well looked after, nobody can look after them the way we do… right? I will be away the end of February fo a month. as exited as I am for our trip, as nervous I am to leave the dogs.
When I read about Shona I had the same thought as Patrice, ticks. It is an easy blood test and better safe than sorry. You said yourself that it is weird that she has a fever with a neurological problem.
Best wishes,
Brigitte
Hi Terri,
Why in heavens name would you not deserve our attention??? You love your dog and do all you can to make him feel as good as possible in his last years. We are here to support you in that, you definitly deserve that!!!
I must say I am still kind of baffled that you did not get a better response from Dr. Dodds. It is not like her at all. But as you say, leave it at that, move forward. I looked at the CBC even though I am not good at interpreting. Of course the rise of the HTC jumped right at me, Happy Birthday, that was timely:) This is a VERY positive developpement! How much does Koda weigh? The general rule is to give 1mg of prednisone per lbs of dog, it seems to me the 25mg perday is low, but maybe I am wrong and Koda is smaller than I think? The accidents are very common. Please don’t get tempted and restict his water. He really needs that. Just be aware that he has to go out much more, maybe even during the night. This is a very common side effect of the prednisone and it will go away once the drug can be slowly reduced. Keep an eye on frequent urinating/straining/blood in urine. That could be a urinary tract infection. This too is fairly common especially in older boys. I gave my boy some cranberry extract, just opened up the capsules and sprinkled the powder on the food. It has lots of vitamin C too. If it did not help I am pretty sure it did not hurt.
Is Koda still on the rimadil? I have absolutely no scientific proof but I know a dog that developped anemia from this drug. Of course the vet denied it but the owner was pretty sure the rimadil was the culprit. This was also an older dog with arthritis. She did recover.
I hope Koda is still on a stomach protectant like sucralfate/carafate. Sorry if I repeat myself, but I have heard too many emergencies because of ulcers and don’t want Koda to go down that road.
You are absolutely right Terri, you do NOT want to strengthen Koda’s immune system if indeed you are dealing with IMHA. This would be totally counter productive.
If you are thinking of supplements Koda could benefit from, Milkthistle is a good one to protect the liver. Also SamE would do that. After a few weeks of prednisone many dogs get very high liver values and these products can help with that. There is also a product called petinic that helps these dogs. It has Vitamin B, folic acid and iron in it. All of these help with the blood production.
You are right, it might be easier to deal with all this with an old dog that had a good life. But it is still YOUR dog and if your vet gets a handle on this there is no reaso why Koda could not have a couple of good years. How is he dealing with it all? Is he feeling better now that his HTC is higher? Old dogs are so very special, they can make you happy just by being there.
Best wishes,
Brigitte
Hi Lynda. Welcome home. But so sorry about Shona. Darn get aways!!! Wam. Here’s hoping she’ll be as good as new SOON!
Agree with Patrice too, and all, about testing for tick borne problems. I don’t think the test is too expensive and worth it for ruling out. When Sadie relapsed this last time (October), along with the CBC, we added the tick profile. Thank goodness, it was negative, but worth ruling out. I don’t trust this ‘never’ stuff. Doubting Thomas. ;)
I’m so glad you are not having to trudge trough this alone. Friendship is golden. Please keep us posted.
Sending smooches to the pups, with lots of love too,
Linda and Sadie
Hi Lynda
Patrice has a very good point – we have had a few UK dogs with tick diseases on the old AIHA site, so it’s worth checking for sure. They recovered after doxycycline treatment. Worzel had ehrlichioisis & had 5-6 weeks high dose doxycycline too. Can they do a Snap 4dx test over there?
I have heard about greyhounds being prone to doing the splits & tearing the pectineus muscle. This muscle is very hard to examine as it is deep within the groin/stomach area, again an idea to suggest though.
Give Dora & Shona a big gentle hug from me
Sheena x
They sent Shona home as they still haven’t heard from Leahurst. She is not good. She cannot use one back leg, and is still running a fever. It looks neurological (though not sure how that relates to the fever…..). Will have to put a harness on to lift her up to take her out for a pee. Hopefully, the hospital will get back to my vet tomorrow.
At least Dora cheered up a bit to see her pal.
xx
Still waiting to hear from Leahurst…. my vet says that Shona was eating OK and was doing quite well. But not quite well enough, so she wants her to go to Leahurst :-(
A friend has offered to go with me, as she knows I will be traumatised having to go there again (Consuelo is staying in Chile for another 5 weeks to spend more time with the grandkids).
Will keep you posted
xx