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greyhead

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    River

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    I'm so very sorry that the splendid, loving, and well-loved River couldn't have spent more time with you, Tricia and Burke.  Fast or slow, the loss hurts deeply; but, yes, fast is such a gut punch. Sending love and hugs to you.

    Tell Me About Kidney Disease

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by greyhead

    With our chronic kidney animals (Shane the greyhound and Sam the cat), both of whom lived 4-5 years after diagnosis, we learned not to go too low too fast on the protein. To do so makes their other systems suffer and leads to faster deterioration. Shane passed in 2016, but we had used Royal Canin Renal - Medium Protein very successfully with him; then they changed the formula designations to A, B, C or whatever, so I can't tell you what it's called today. Whatever brand you choose, try for medium protein limitation rather than drastic, which is for later in the disease progression.

     

    We also learned that it's the quality of the protein that matters more than the absolute amount. So lactose-free milk was great, and he gobbled up Costco rotisserie chicken!

    Wishing you all and your dogs the best. It's a roller coaster, and there's usually an Up after a Down, so keep the faith. :heart

    One Year Without My Wizard & My Heart Is Still So Broken

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    This loss was devastating for you, and I'm so very sorry. I don't know if they are spirits or they are memories, but I do know that we can summon or just be open to the feeling/character of those departed ones as though they were right in the room. I hope you can experience Merlin that way. As long as you can remember his essence, he'll never be entirely gone. :bighug

    Irritable Bowel Disease & Protein Losing Enteropathy

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    yes! he takes budesonide once a day, but I truly think the change to RAW made alllllll the difference because he pooped solid with raw and no med. Hoping the good poop will reverse this and allow him to absorb vitamins and nutrients and put on some weight!! He is also better today from his stroke. Praying for my pup.

    Our dog with severe IBD required a multiple-treatment approach, and I'm sure yours does too. Raw food had to make up exactly 1/3 of his diet, with the rest being a novel-protein kibble (we picked venison). (You should understand the need for a single novel protein if you don't already.) Budesonide was a crucial component, and I agree with Tracy about that. We gave metronidazole, tylosin, sucralfate, and other things as needed (determined by symptoms a particular time). B-12 was crucial too, and he received acupuncture/chiro (mostly for his weakening back end but the doc said she was addressing his IBD also). We have to be careful about seeing improvement with a particular intervention and then concluding that that one thing is "it," as we all tend to do.

    Aspirin Dosage

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by greyhead

    Are you sure they aren't using too small a needle? I kept having trouble with that with Henry, until the vet started doing the draw herself with a larger needle, problem solved.

     

    Thanks, PatricksMom. I hadn't known this could be an issue. Were they haven't having trouble actually drawing the blood from Henry?

    Aspirin Dosage

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by greyhead

    What about his blood is so "thick" that it interferes with the lab equipment? If it's a high hematocrit/PCV (ie. high percentage of RBCs, made worse by dehydration), aspirin won't help. Aspirin "thins" the blood through it's effects on how platelets clump. Does he have protein in his urine related to his kidney disease? Dogs that lose protein in their urine also lose antithrombin which reduces clotting, so they may be more prone to strokes from throwing clots. Low dose aspirin can be helpful for this reason.

     

    Regarding dose, low-dose aspirin to reduce clotting in a greyhound would be the 1/4-1/2 tablet of the 81 mg tablet once daily. For the average greyhound, this works out to about 0.5-1 mg/kg. The 5-10 mg/kg dose is if you were using aspirin to treat pain and inflammation.

    Thanks, Jen. It's hard to say what makes his blood thick, as nothing is out of range except his BUN (37, range 6 - 31) and creatinine (2.8, range .5 - 1.6), no protein in the urine other than blood (this time there was blood, but not always). HGB is 20.5 (12.1 - 20.3), HCT is 60 (36 - 60), RBC is 8.1 (4.8 - 9.3), platelets are 174 (170 - 400). Antech can always handle Shane's blood samples, but the vet's equipment rarely can.

     

    I have to think that at this time it's from dehydration, even though he gets sub-q fluids just about daily. We never pinned down the exact kidney disease diagnosis, but we know from ultrasound that one kidney is much smaller than the other, and his creatinine has been slowly creeping up for five years; only in the last year has his BUN gone out of range. (The too-thick-to-process problem has been an issue since about 2009 or 2010.) I'm concerned that polycythemia doesn't serve his kidneys well, which is the basis for my concern.

     

    Since he has been like this almost as long as we've known him, the vet is reluctant to address it medicinally. In past years they regarded it as a typical greyhound issue of lots of big red blood cells. But it doesn't look like that to me now. But all this is eclipsed by today's drama of his needing a 20mg Depo Medrol shot for his LSS because his back end just didn't want to work and he was in pain and panicked. Not good for his kidneys, but necessary from a quality-vs-quantity of life standpoint. If you have any further thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Thanks again.

     

    Aspirin Dosage

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Can anyone help me figure out the best dose of aspirin to give my 13-year-old, please?

     

    Shane has kidney disease, and his blood is so thick that the vet's machinery can't process it; it has to go out to the lab. It has been thick for years, but I think it's worse with the dehydration of CRF despite his getting lots of sub-q fluids. The vet said it would be okay to give him aspirin (my idea) at 81 mg. But the things I've read here and elsewhere seem all over the map about dosage, and some sites say it shouldn't even be given with kidney disease. I've seen recommendations for 1/2 tablet and 1/4 tablet, one for .5 to 1 mg/kg and another for 5 to 10 mg/kg!

     

    Just fyi, he hasn't been having significant protein loss. He had a urinalysis Friday, and none was noted. His blood work results will be back tomorrow.

    Thanks for any and all help with this!

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