RobinM

Board Certified vets: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/IBDogs/database?method=reportRows&tbl=1

OY, sounds like the way things started with Beau and the IBD.

And we call it "deeny night"

God Speed Tiny. I am so sorry.

I am so sorry.

Oh no, No no no no no!! My Beau, is the Queen King of GSOD!!!!!!!

Interesting. My vet says NO to xanax but yes to valium.

I had to laugh reading the title. I remember when I thought my Chloe was submissive. Little did I know that she would turn into my resident crazy B I O T C H!! This crazy girl will chase me standing on her hind legs. We call her the karate kid. Give her time.

Yup 3 days.

We give dehydrated chicken and duck strips to everyone.

I would just up the dog food a bit to see if that works. I stay away from human food for my pups (and I don't eat their food either! That is how I explain it to Chloe) My Choe who will be 7 in June starting to lose weight. Very noticablly. I took her in and she had a physical. Vet said to watch it. She wasn't gaining it back so I brought her back in and we did a CBC, fecal etc. Everything was perfect. Vet feels it's just kinda age related. Some dogs as they get older will lose weight. She is otherwise just greyt. She is so happy that I have upped her kibble a little!!!!

I am so sorry, Karen.

That is 48 pounds of duck parts. We buy from Hare today, gone tomorrow.

I have always used interceptor for my 4 hounds and heart guard for Beau because they used to make a non flavored one which we needed because of his IBD. They stopped making that so my vet is thinking the topical by Advantage for Beau. Advantage Multi. Anyone use it?

My Elsie eats evo wet sometimes and most of the time she eats wilderness by blue. Also high in protein. She eats too much!!! She is the only one of my 5 who could stand to lose 3 pounds. She is insatiable with her cookies so we cut the canned food. She gets 2.5 to 3 cans a day at 450 calories a can. She also gets a duck neck late at night. She prefers wet over dry. We give her what ever she wants! She will be 12 next month.

I voted over $90.00 plus. We pay about 171 for 48 pounds of duck and we pay 7 for 5 pounds of ground meat/bone/organ in a roll/ My Ollie eats 15 oz 2 x a day and a duck neck as a late night snack. Teddy eats 14 oz 2 x a day (He eats chicken which is cheaper than duck in addion to the group that Ollie eats) He also gets a duck neck as a late night snack. It's not cheap.

Prayers for Chevy and Ollie. I second the blood test for peace of mind.

Our Beau was diagnosed via open exploratory surgery after endless, tests, sonos, x-rays, fecals, treatments, antibiotics, powers, probiotics, ... get the picture!? His weight went down to 52.4 pounds. I remember showing his picture and some GTer said to me.. "that is just how ________ looked just before he died". We fought like crazy. After the diagnosis, he was put on 40mg of pred. He was too sick to eat still but because I had tried so many proteins before diagnosis to get him to eat, I was SOL with what to give him so I tried tilapia, He would eat it. He didn't eat much at first as he was still recuperating from major surgery. I fed him EVERY 3 hours to get some weight on him. 3 weeks post op we added in the 50mg of imuran, upped the pred to 50mg and started on the z/d. We gave this dog NOTHING but z/d wet, dry and tilapia for over 18 months. NOTHING else, not a crumb of anything which is a feat in itself as we had 3 other dogs at the time. Within a month after starting the imuran we were able to lower the pred a little because he was gaining weight. Slowly over the course of the year we lowered and lowered and finally stopped the imuran. We did blood tests every 3 months while on the pred/imuran. He was fine. We bought a dehydrator and would dehydrate 10 pounds of tilapia a week for him. He had those treats and the z/d cookies. We also stuffed hooves with the z/d wet and froze them as a treat. We were later able to add in cookie duck meat for him. There is a very good, informative group on yahoo for IBD dogs. They are very knowledgeable, however they are gestapo like in their rules. Beau's poop was never great. We thank God for him every day,

We did amp and chemo on a very active and "young" 9 3/4 aged girl. We got one day short of 5 months. The recovery from the surgery was 3 weeks = 21 days We lost at least 5 days for each of the 5 chemos. = 25 days. total days lost- 46 Total amount of days we had her from initial diagnosis/amp (same time) 146 days. 3.4 months with amp and chemo- days when she was fine and happy. Tough decision. However, our girl fractured her leg. We felt we had no choice. We knew she wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. She did let us know when she was ready.

I don't know if OSU site has the radiation stats alone. But here are the stats which under any circumstance suck. Treatment and Prognosis The treatment of choice for dogs with OSA is amputation (View "Bosha's" video) with adjuvant single-agent or combination chemotherapy. The median survival time in dogs with appendicular OSA treated with amputation alone is approximately 4 months, whereas in dogs treated with amputation and carboplatin, or amputation and doxorubicin it is approximately 1 year. As of now, survival and remission times in Greyhounds do not appear to be any different from those in other breeds. Amputation in Greyhounds with OSA frequently results in severe postoperative bleeding (24-48h post-surgery) around the surgical site, leading to subcutaneous blood accumulation in the other limbs, ventral thorax, and ventral abdomen; these dogs typically have normal hemostasis profiles (APTT, OSPT), and the severity of bleeding decreases after administration of fresh frozen plasma. Aminocaproic acid (AA - Amicar®) is a commercially available inhibitor of fibrinolysis (procoagulant) commonly used in humans with postoperative bleeding that can be administered IV or by mouth. Administration of AA (500-1,000 mg PO q8h for 5 days starting the day of the surgery) prevented severe postoperative bleeding in Greyhounds undergoing surgery. A novel surgical approach for dogs with distal radial osteosarcomas consists of sparing the affected limb. Instead of amputation, the affected bone is resected and an allograft from a cadaver is used to replace the neoplastic bone; novel biomaterials are also currently being investigated for this purpose. The dogs are also treated with intravenous carboplatin or doxorubicin and, in general, have almost normal limb function. The main complication is the development of osteomyelitis in the allograft; if that occurs, the limb frequently needs to be amputated. Survival times in dogs treated with limb-sparing procedures are comparable to those in those that undergo amputation plus chemotherapy, with the added benefit to the owners of having a four legged pet. The dosages and the recommended ways of administering chemotherapy for dogs with OSA are given in Table 1. At our hospital, we use either of the drugs mentioned above immediately after amputation, and for a total of 4 to 5 treatments. The cost of carboplatin chemotherapy is quite high, approximately, $7.50/kg of body weight/dose and in the case of the doxorubicin reaches almost $2/kg of body weight/dose. We are currently investigating a novel approach to modulation of chemotherapy in Greyhounds with OSA, by administering suramin, a polysulfonated naphthylurea that, at low doses, has been shown to increase sensitivity to doxorubicin in in vitro and laboratory animal models of cancer, by inhibiting binding of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) to its receptors. Preliminary results are encouraging, and the administration of suramin prior to doxorubicin does not appear to potentiate the toxicity of the chemotherapeutic agent. Limb amputation alone results in typical survival times of 3-4 months. Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy prolongs survival times to 12-18 months in most dogs. As of now, it appears that survival times in Greyhounds treated by amputation and conventional chemotherapy are somewhat shorter (8-12 months). If owners are reluctant to allow the veterinarian to amputate the limb, local radiotherapy plus carboplatin may be of some benefit. However, in our limited experience, most dogs are eventually euthanized within 3 to 4 months of the initial diagnosis because of the development of pathological fractures (i.e., after radiotherapy the tumor is not as painful; therefore the dog regains normal use of the limb and fractures the area), osteomyelitis, or metastatic lesions. Zinger Pain control is essential in dogs where surgery is not an option; we have used either NSAIDs (carprofen, deracoxib, meloxicam) at recommended doses, or bisphosphonates such as alendronate (Fosamax®), at a dose of 10 mg/dog once a day or pamidronate (Aredia®), at a dose of 1 mg/kg, IV as a 30-minute CRI, every 3 to 6 weeks. Drugs such as tramadol (Ultram) at dosages of 1-2 mg/kg, PO, q8-12h may also be beneficial. Chemotherapy may modify the biologic behavior of the tumor, resulting in a higher prevalence of bone metastases and a lower prevalence of pulmonary metastases. Moreover, the doubling time (i.e., growth rate) of metastatic lesions appears to be longer than that in dogs that have not received chemotherapy, and there appear to be fewer metastatic nodules in treated than in untreated dogs. Therefore, surgical removal of the metastatic nodules (i.e., metastasectomy) followed by additional carboplatin or doxorubicin therapy may be recommended for a dog that has been treated with chemotherapy after amputation of the limb and in which one to three pulmonary metastatic lesions are detected. Chemotherapy Protocols for Greyhounds with Osteosarcoma Carboplatin (Paraplatin®): 300 mg/m2, IV, q3-4 weeks or Doxorubicin (Adriamycin®): 30 mg/m2, IV, every 2 weeks, for 5 doses

10 mg bid or 20 once a day.

Beau is doing OK. What does that mean exactly? He is happy, very vocal, washes my face with his tongue several times a day, was jumping around this morning and "opted" in for a long walk this morning. (Sometimes he will opt out, and we do not force the issue) However, last night- there was the slightest lameness and if it were anyone else but me, I doubt they would have noticed. When you have your pup under a microscope, you notice. Thank you everyone for your wishes. I realize it is what it it is and all the prayers in the world are not going to change what already is OR isn't. It's part of the whole "deal" we sign up to when we invite one of these beautiful beings into our lives. Whatever it is for however long it is, we will love him to pieces. With that said, I can't help but pray for another 7 years!

I would NOT give pepto, it has asprinin in it which could make the stomach worse. Try pepcid.

He's 6.5.

thanks.