RobinM

I'm nauseous over this. Even though negative sounds like "good news", other than cancer and such, the negative is not good. It means he has this this horrible and painful disease, secondary to his IBD and will probably have to be on pred for the rest of his life. It can affect other limbs and worse, organs. It's not a good diagnosis. Had it been TBD, he could be treated with antibitotics and that would be that. But no, we don't do things like that in this house. I'm sorry. I am pissy about this. You have every right to be pissy about it. Yes, it is better than a cancer diagnosis. I am sorry to say it will be more roller coaster for you. But there are dogs that do very well with treatment. If you have not already priced Imuran, check Costco. They had it for $45 versus $395 at some other places I looked. I may even have some left over from Shanti. We had to discontinue the prednisone and imuran when the staph infection and VF reared it's head. Shanti was on Pepcid too with the imuran and prednisone. The imuran made Shanti horribly sick and miserable. It improved a bit with some time. Lots of regular bloodwork will need to be done to watch the values. We did see a improvement with Shanti on Cephalexin (although it made her sick too) for a little while, then it stopped. I am sure Jordan sent you the articles on it. If not I can send them to you. PM me anytime. We have ridden this roller coaster before. Remember, Beau has been on pred and imuran since January for his IBD. The IBD is enough of a rollar coaster. The only food he can eat is z/d wet or dry, in a bowl or in a kong. That is the only choice of food for my PICKY eater. Why Beau?! Now THIS, which is a result of the IBD. Was this a secondary disease for Shanti? So if he was already on the medicine you may have seen the worst already. Did they say how long they would keep him on the high dose before they start the taper down? You dropped down on pred. already. Will they drop again? I hope we've seen the wosrt!!! That would be a good thing. We prob won't be dropping the pred. If anything, we would be raising it again. For the swelling (if need be) When Beau was on 50mg of pred, he was eating so well every 3 hours and although that was a PITA round the clock, the pred did make him eat... since we lowered it to 30 mg, we are deeding him every 5 hours. We need to maintain a certain amount of calories and the dam* food he is on, has low calories so we need to get a lot of food into him when he is not a big eater. I can't imaine lowering the pred. he won't eat. What heartbreaking story, poor baby. Is there anyone interested in her? I wish we could. I really do.

I'm nauseous over this. Even though negative sounds like "good news", other than cancer and such, the negative is not good. It means he has this this horrible and painful disease, secondary to his IBD and will probably have to be on pred for the rest of his life. It can affect other limbs and worse, organs. It's not a good diagnosis. Had it been TBD, he could be treated with antibitotics and that would be that. But no, we don't do things like that in this house. I'm sorry. I am pissy about this. You have every right to be pissy about it. Yes, it is better than a cancer diagnosis. I am sorry to say it will be more roller coaster for you. But there are dogs that do very well with treatment. If you have not already priced Imuran, check Costco. They had it for $45 versus $395 at some other places I looked. I may even have some left over from Shanti. We had to discontinue the prednisone and imuran when the staph infection and VF reared it's head. Shanti was on Pepcid too with the imuran and prednisone. The imuran made Shanti horribly sick and miserable. It improved a bit with some time. Lots of regular bloodwork will need to be done to watch the values. We did see a improvement with Shanti on Cephalexin (although it made her sick too) for a little while, then it stopped. I am sure Jordan sent you the articles on it. If not I can send them to you. PM me anytime. We have ridden this roller coaster before. Remember, Beau has been on pred and imuran since January for his IBD. The IBD is enough of a rollar coaster. The only food he can eat is z/d wet or dry, in a bowl or in a kong. That is the only choice of food for my PICKY eater. Why Beau?! Now THIS, which is a result of the IBD. Was this a secondary disease for Shanti?

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes! I am so happy for you guys!!!!

I'm nauseous over this. Even though negative sounds like "good news", other than cancer and such, the negative is not good. It means he has this this horrible and painful disease, secondary to his IBD and will probably have to be on pred for the rest of his life. It can affect other limbs and worse, organs. It's not a good diagnosis. Had it been TBD, he could be treated with antibitotics and that would be that. But no, we don't do things like that in this house. I'm sorry. I am pissy about this.

I am so sorry and yes you are so right, this was way too soon.

The SNAP TBD- negative, the PCR is going to NC and will take another week. NO septic arthritis, cytology shows "inflammation"> Vet feels it is autoimmune (or immune mediated) polyarthritis. The good news is that you don't die from this, the bad news is that it can reoccur and affect different joints. It's secondary to this IBD. We will stay on the 30mg of pred (it has been lowered from 50mg) and imuran along with the doxy.

I am so sorry, How lucky for you to have each other for so long.

Well... he woke up today and was holding up the back right (the one that was swollen). It no longer is swollen though. At lunch it was about the same with the tripoding and this evening when I got home from work, he is using it, abeit gingerly, but using it. I have a call into the vet Want to hear about the labs.

Not a day goes by that my hear does not ache for you, Polli girl. We miss you so very much. There was not enough time. Our house is so void. We have 3 large dogs and a void that only one 55 pound 3 legged beautiful big mouth could fill. There will never be another like you. My firecracker. The silence is deafening. My heart aches for you. I love you Polli.

Oh Lisa, from your lips to G-D's ears....

The bloody nose was from the lupus. He just bumped it, and on a 'normal' dog that wouldn't be a big deal, but for him not so much The extra tissue is kind of like an extension of the paw pads, it grows out a little bumpy beyond the pad. And his stop pads are not round, but bumpy and raggedy He's my 'special' boy! Oh. we have 'Special boy' syndrome too! Glad he is doing better.

This is an amazing story. One of my greytest fears when my dogs are out and about and running around like a banchees. I am so happy for all that Maggie is on the mend. Thank GOD.

Dare I say he is on the mend? Dare I say that the hock is less swollen? Dare I say that for the 1st time in over 2 weeks, Beau is voluntarily coming to us, engaging in our affections, wanted to do WALKIES after dinner??? ( I did not let him yet, maybe tomorrow when I speak to vet) Dare I say that he actually jumped up on me and kissed me? dare I??? OMG. He is like being reserected from the dead. He was so catatonic, it scared me. Is this the doxy working???

I am so sorry. I do understand your pain. It will get better but never go completely away. He will live in your heart forever. Somedays that will be OK and somedays, that just doesn't work, I know. God Speed Romeo. Please take care of my Polli.

I keep thinking septic arthritis too.... Email from my vet tonight: culture result that is negative. We have to wait for a final to completely rule out infection. Should be back tomorrow or Wed, along with the cytology. I'm glad you came across the info on immune-mediated polyarthritis. That was what I was referring to when I spoke of a possible inflammatory condition that could relate to his IBD. We'll see in a day or two. I'm sure I'll speak with you regarding test results before Saturday. Until then, sit tight and continue all meds.

Hoping for nothing serious. I do understand.

I know....you and Beau were the 1st ones that I thought of when Billy got worse again. He is eating and he has a great appetite but he just continues with diarrhea. The vet drew blood tonite but didn't realize until after she drew it that the 2 tests require a 12 hour fast and Billy had eaten his dinner already. I have an appt Saturday for nail trims for the boys so I will fast Billy before that and we can do a blood draw again. In the meantime she suggested trying to give him oatmeal and immodium. She thinks that it might be pancreatic enzyme deficiency. The 2 tests that she wants to run are: radioimmunoassay of serum trypsinlike immunoreactivity (TLI), a blood test to rule out exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, a maldigestive disorder that often presents with similar signs and Folate and cobalamin (vitamin B12) levels, which are blood tests that assess for malabsorption and bacterial overgrowth. Hopefully I will have some answers soon b/c I am not kidding when I say that Billy is wasting away in front of my eyes. His normal weight is 80lbs. He was 75lbs about a month ago and he was 69lbs tonite. I want to cry everytime I look at him b/c I don't know what to do to make him better. We didn't do an x-ray but I had an abdominal ultrasound done back in October and there wasn't a blockage. He has been tested for tick diseases also. I really am at a loss as to what else we should do. I have been dealing with this on and off since the fall of last year. It just seems like a vicious circle where he gets better and then gets worse for no apparent reason. Thanks for your suggestions and for everyone's thoughts and prayers. This is going to be a step by step process. the fist thing is to do ALL the blood tests. If you need a list of all the tests we did, let me know and I will tell you. Do a 3 day fecal. 3 fecals, 1 a day consecutively for 3 days. Treat with drontal plus regardless of outcome. You did x-ray or sonogram right? Switch to a novel protein, something he has never, ever had before and give nothing else but this. Example- wellness duck and sweet potato. treats shoud be the same thing. Duck treats. Be careful of what else is in it. READ INGREDIENTS. You could try the prescription diets. Try a vitamin B shot. It can't hurt and can only help if absortion is an issue. We did all this, but none of it worked. We opted for the open abdominal exploratory surgery as Beau too was wasting away and we couldn't figure it out. We were leaning toward IBD but were afraid to start pred without diagnosis in the event he had cancer. I don;t know if we would do the surgery again. It was rough on him. But we got an answer and we were able to treat correctly without any worry. He is now on pred and is absorbing. I know how scary and frustrating this is, I really do. If you need anything or if there is anything I can do, please PM me.

Many prayer for Canyon and his family. I am so sorry it didn't work with out the surgery. I truly understand.

OMG- I am so sorry to hear this. One of my greytest fears.

Just seeing this Amber- poor boy- hope he has a quick and painless recovery.

Beau refused his lunch out of the bowl, but ate the equivilent of the same thing in 4 filled kongs. Plus he ate 1/4 can of the z/d so he did well. He seems more interested in life today, is getting up with less difficultly, but stll gingerly. He ate diinner. We have one more meal at 10PM then at 3AM and our day starts all over again!!!!

We went through this with Beau- is Billy eating?

We had a very good night. He was very content and comfortable. We managed to get over 1400 calories in food in him before last night was over. He looks better and is moving better. I put warm / hot wet compresses on hin throught out the evening. He ate breakfast at 5AM so we did not feed him before we left for work, but left him with 1/2 cup of kibble in a kong should he decide to eat. He wanted to go upstairs which is something he hadn't wanted to do earlier. We are praying we are on to something here. I will see him for lunch, let him out feed him and update. thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Keeping Maggie in my thoughts and prayers.

For my sweet Beau who has really had enough already, for Romeo, Maggie, Logan, Vinny, Rhonda, Misty and ALL the hounds wherever they may be. To good health for all.