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greyhead

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Posts posted by greyhead

  1. It's not unusual, with humans as well as dogs, to start higher -- to rectify the deficit faster -- and then monitor every 6 weeks and lower the dose as appropriate. If you're not comfortable with the dosage, tell the vet you want to start lower. In general, GH's get half the dose of other canines.

     

    ETA: Spencer, at 77 lbs., started at .5 Soloxine twice a day.

  2. It's clear from your beautiful tribute how much you loved him, what a wonderful life you gave him, and how much he loved you. It made me cry. I'm so very sorry he had to leave, but he left on the best possible terms.

  3. I'd probably do the thyroid panel. I'm sure your vet wouldn't have suggested it if she thought that chasing individual infections with scrapings was going to be beneficial. But you could have that discussion with her more thoroughly before you decide. I don't know about MSU these days, but IIRC they (full panel without interpretation) didn't used to cost an arm and a leg.

     

    Oops, Batmom posted while I was typing.

  4. We've had similar issues with our 11.5-year-old, who has LSS. We find gabapentin 3X/day (100 mg each), plus 1/2 methocarbamol at the same times, eliminates need for tramadol. Even 1/2 tramadol makes ours anxious! If I were in your place, I'd take that 600 mg. of gabapentin and divide it into 200 mg. 3X/day and see if that helps. For starters anyhow.

     

    Our Shane's panting/smiling led us to have to distinguish what was pain and what was anxiety. Turned out it was both. And some of that anxiety was due to tramadol. He would tend to overheat when panting heavily, but it was winter, so it wasn't the heat!

  5. Me too. Recently it has been a combo of hookworms, pain, and stomach acid/gas. Sometimes we'd give a Pepcid, Zantac, or Gas-X and he would eat within a half-hour. Ensure in a bowl next to his food bowl was a good trick too; he'd start with the Ensure (1/2 bottle at a time) and then transition over to his regular food. Good luck.

  6. Well, I don't know if it's legal to ship it to the U.S. or not, I just know it's illegal to sell it here. I expect Novartis will say you can't have it shipped here either. That's why you can purchase it, without a subscription, from an Australian provider but they will not ship it to the U.S. (along with several other Novartis products). So if it's illegal, please don't tell me!!! I purposely wasn't making too big a deal of it on an Internet web site.

    What I'm sure about is that giving my senior something that makes him sicker than he already is would be less moral, by my standards, than obtaining a safer medicine by semi-duplicitous means. But that's just me.

    ETA: Just checked this web site, the FAQ's for ordering from Pets Megastore in Australia. Scroll down, and they address the issue of ordering Novartis products for shipment to the U.S.

    http://www.pets-megastore.com.au/faq.php

  7. My seniors did fine on Interceptor and then a flea product once a year in the summer. Trifexis and Sentinel have both caused the problems the OP mentioned. It doesn't sit well with me that Interceptor seems to be for sale everywhere except the U.S. So with my vet's blessing, I'll be seeking it from some other country. Fortunately, I live close to Canada.

     

    Canadian peeps, can you tell me whether prescriptions are needed for Interceptor in Canada? (No problem, just need to know.) Thanks.

  8. If you loved each other for 10 years, I daresay her spirit is still close. Hope you can feel it and take some comfort. :grouphug

    Do not stand at my grave and weep,
    I am not there; I do not sleep.
    I am a thousand winds that blow,
    I am the diamond glints on the snow,
    I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
    I am the gentle autumn rain.
    When you awaken in the morning’s hush
    I am the swift uplifting rush
    Of quiet birds in circled flight.
    I am the soft stars that shine at night.
    Do not stand at my grave and cry,
    I am not there; I did not die.
    Poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye.

  9. We just went through this with our 11-1/2 year old, sort of. He didn't whine, but he'd jump up every 20 minutes, and pace and pant. He did it occasionally during the day but it was mostly night. It appears to have been a bad resurgence of hookworms. Every time we treat for them, the behavior stops. (We're having to do multiple rounds of worming, and we can get Panacur OTC in our state, don't know about others.) Given your dog's youth, I'd suspect something like this before I'd suspect cognitive issues. In any case, good luck!

     

    ETA: We used Benedryl to knock him out, but it never really solved the problem. And it got to where even that didn't work.

     

    I should add that there is also a pain issue in our case, but we don't think that was responsible for the night time behavior.

  10. We have issues, including LSS pain and an ongoing war with worms. But some days my 11-1/2 year old eats well and sometimes he mostly wants liquids and/or people food. We trust that he knows what he needs and isn't "just being picky."

     

    So he gets a bottle of Ensure per day, divided to give half at a time, and he gets 2-3 large Milk Bones if he wants, in addition to whatever kibble-with-chicken-broth and canned food (both kidney diet) we can get him to eat. High protein isn't great for older dogs, or people for that matter. Good carb calories need to be part of the mix. Ensure has some nice fat calories to go with everything else!

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