MerlinsMum

I am getting a real education tonight. Very cool. LOTS to discuss with my vet. Thank you!!

Thank you so much, Mary As for the Ensure, I guess I've just been worried (ok, I'll admit it - terrified) about giving him ANYTHING that isn't I/D and causing a flare-up. Of course right now his stools are just awful anyway. I am ready to try something different. As I said, something has to change. We keep going backwards and forwards and I feel that we are not getting anywhere. If he didn't mind the I/D I would keep him on it for the rest of his life, but he HATES it now. I mean, he is well and truly DONE. I gave him some Purina EN at lunchtime to see if he'd eat (I feed him smaller quantities three times a day now, rather than twice a day) and he was very keen - gobbled it right up. Tried to give him some wet I/D and masked it (yeah right) with some EN - no go. I will talk to my vet about budesonide again. I have heard so many awful things about side effects of Pred that I have never been keen to try it. I really, really don't want to go there unless I have to. Unfortunately right now it looks as though our options are becoming more and more limited.

I am reading all your posts with great interest and I am grateful for the advice and your experience with your own dogs. Something has to change. I think it may be time either for Prednisone or, indeed, for Budesonide. I'll be calling my vet tomorrow.

Oh my goodness, how frightening, my heart would have been in my mouth! So glad she is okay :) for you.

I'm so very sorry :( I hope you have lots of quality time left with your girl

That sounds soooooo familiar Been there!! Janet, you read my mind... that's basically what I started considering this morning as I sat on the floor with my head metaphorically in my hands, surrounded by three different kinds of food, pieces of kibble Merlin spat out all over the floor, and Merlin standing there with a gurgly stomach. Thanks. I think I will talk to my vet about this.

Great news!! :yay :yay

Thank you, Pat, that is very helpful advice. in fact, I tried to do that this morning. I am leaving it for now, I'll let him rest, but I"m going to try again in a bit...

Just checking in for an update this morning... how is the bruising looking today? Sending continued good thoughts for Peanut. Please get better soon, sweetie, you have us all worried!

Deb, I'd like to know more. Not sure what the healing part is about, but as long as no crystals or psychics are involved I'm game! I have, that's what I do every day to give him his pill. He is DONE with the I/D. Completely done. I actually had to force feed him some wet I/D just so I could give him his pill. I have tried everything to make it more appetizing for him - warming it, baking it, you name it. He is sleeping now, at least, and his stomach is not gurgling at the moment. I am hoping the Flagyl does its thing soon. I'll give him some more Sucralfate this evening...

My vet is against using it right now. She said that if she had to put him on anything like that, she would try prednisone first. She says that there are too many unknowns with Budesonide I am at my wits' end this morning. I just want to sit down in a corner and cry. I have tried everything to get him to eat. He refused everything with the exception of a few cookies and a small amount of EN. I had to give him something with his metro. It seems I waited too long to switch him back. Last night he developed a terrible gurgly stomach, and I've been up all night. Gave him Sucralfate and his stomach improved a tad after about an hour. Since he won't eat, it's only a matter of time before his stomach starts up again His stool was again tinged with blood and very very soft (I expected worse to be honest). He is now categorically refusing to touch any I/D - not even the wet food. I'm feeling exhausted and deflated. I just don't know what else to do.

Oh Anne, I'm so very sorry. I knew this was coming, but I was hoping you'd have more time Sending tons of hugs your way - for Bernie as well :grouphug

Oh Judy I'm so terribly sorry. He will be greatly missed on GT also. What an incredibly stoic boy. Rest in peace sweetie.

He's been A-Ok on that front However I AM concerned about his stools and even though I know that one shouldn't pay too much attention to the second poo, this morning there was yellow stringy stuff in there and some droplets of red, raspberry-colored jelly. (Sorry ) So I'm thinking the vet probably gave me the right advice. Maybe I could put him back on the Metro twice a day and if he has another episode we could try 500mg in the morning and 250mg (instead of 500mg) in the evening. I think that's Dr. Katie's current plan, anyway. PS Thanks for the info on canned v dry

Thanks Amber - I tried bread, but it doesn't work for Merlin, unfortunately. So as of this morning it looks as though his stools are deteriorating again If they are the same or worse this afternoon, I guess i'm switching back to Metro only. I had the hardest time getting him to eat again today... In the end I fed him just canned I/D. I don't remember the equivalent of 1 cup of kibble. Is it 1 cup kibble = 1.5 cans wet food? Does anyone remember?

Ah, good to know. Thanks! Same exact thing here...

Oh, what a relief! I am so pleased to hear that Arlo seems to be much better now It must have been really frightening

Thank you all for your advice and support! Bad things We tried that, among other things. It took us several months to figure out what would keep the flare-ups in check for him. We tried various low doses of Metro for a good period of time, we tried no metro at all (all of these options included feeding him I/D), and FINALLY we figured out that the magic bullet seemed to be 500mg of Metro twice a day. The flare-ups never stopped on a dosage lower than that. Once we switched to 500mg twice a day, they all but stopped. He had one little bout on January 1st that lasted less than 24 hours and was not at all severe, and with Sucralfate he was as right as rain by the end of the next day (as it turned out, his anal glands were rather full so I think that may have been the issue that time). Good thinking, Anne. I looked at the ingredients for Purina EN (canned) and I noticed that it contains chicken, whereas I/D doesn't. He is sick of the I/D kibble but he will eat it if I hand-feed him and encourage him, and he still accepts the canned I/D (well - most days. I have tried different methods to lure him to his food bowl - let's just say that my microwave no longer smells vegan ). He IS a picky hound. Sagan has been eating the same food since we adopted him, twice a day every day, and at mealtimes, without fail, he throws himself on it as if it's the first and most delicious meal he's ever had Not so with Merlin, it's like Dinner With Bill but with a wizard as the protagonist... *sigh* Walter <3 That's interesting, Lynn... Merlin is only 7, although I too thought it might be Vestibular Syndrome - except that it was discounted by both the emergency vet and my regular vet when they examined him. He lacked many of the typical symptoms of the condition. They both thought that Metro toxicity was far more likely. So - I have weird news. I think my vet may have been wrong after all about the food. Yesterday afternoon I was expecting him to have more diarrhea because I hadn't switched him back to his old Metro dosage yet. But DH came back from walking the dogs and told me that although his stool was very soft, it was formed and he was able to pick it up So I decided to wait to transition him back to only Metro again. I gave him his Tylan. By morning his stools had firmed up even more. So I'm starting to think it was the food, because the only change I have made over the last 36 hours is that I put him back on 100% I/D (he wasn't too happy about that). I am going to let my vet know that I'm going to hold off on putting him back on only Metro until I can see if his poo continues to improve or if this is just temporary. If it gets worse again I will put him back on 500mg twice a day, but right now I think I have every reason to keep the Metro dosage lower, especially since Tylan does not have any known side-effects. Of course, I still have the issue that Merlin is sick of I/D... but when things are "normal" again I may try to give him some of the EN again (kibble only, which he loves) in very, very small quantities and see what happens. If things go south again at least I'll be fairly sure it's the food AND I may have to consider the possibility that he has an allergy or intolerance to chicken or something in the EN that I/D doesn't have.

Yay!! :yay

Just checking on Peanut... hope you have GOOD news by now. Thinking of you both :goodluck

I meant to post a nice, positive an update on Merlin's IBD issues a while ago, but it's been crazy at work. Then, a week ago, DH asked the dogs to get up so he could take them out into the yard for their last pee before bedtime, and when Merlin got off the couch he could barely stand. He started swaying, acting drunk, panting, and had no balance at all. We immediately thought that we were seeing a reaction caused by chronic use of Metronidazole (Flagyl). As some of you know, he's been on Metronidazole since April of last year for IBD, and long-term use of Metro has been known to cause neurological problems. We kept him on it because the dose he's been getting has just worked so well in keeping his IBD flare-ups in check. However, we have monitored him constantly to make sure he was not developing any neurological issues. So that night we put his harness on him and tried to take him out on a leash. He seemed excessively alert, interested in food, very disoriented. We decided to take him to the e-vet. We went to a new place that was recommended to me by my vet, also because we knew that one of their vets specializes in neurology. However, it was incredibly quiet, it took me at least 10-15 minutes to even find someone to speak to, and it turns out that there was only one (albeit very nice) vet on call, and three critical cases, including that of a dog who had swallowed rat poison (thankfully, he made it). So they did a brief exam, determined that his condition was not life-threatening, and then told us it would be at least an hour before they could see us. In the meantime, Merlin's symptoms appeared to be subsiding and he seemed to be getting more antsy about his unfamiliar surroundings, the fact that the place was really overheated, etc. etc. . So we decided to take him home, and call our regular vet first thing in the morning. He slept soundly through the night and by the next morning he was able to lift his leg again to pee, his appetite was very good, he seemed happy and playful and loving. I called the vet and she suggested keeping him on Metro in the morning (500mg) and switching to Tylan powder (Tylosan) in the evening, and monitor. The first few days were fine. But two days ago things went downhill fast and he's had terrible diarrhea since then. I should mention that I've been introducing a new food, too, as he is so fed up with I/D - Purina EN gastro-enteric formula, which the vet told me is the same as I/D but a different brand. I introduced it slowly and in any event Dr. Katie told me that if his stools got bad again it is very unlikely that it would be because of the new food, as this formula is meant specifically for dogs with GI issues. Well, he did very well for a few days... but two days ago things degenerated quickly, and although I haven't yet seem blood in his stools, he's had very bad diarrhea, and usually that means a flare-up is just around the corner So I calledmy vet again today and she suggested I switch him back to his old dose of Metro right away, and that we monitor him and call her at once if he has another episode or generally experiences balance issues and disorientation. I am worried but I was thinking along the same lines too - that I should put him back on Metro twice a day and take our chances. Has anyone had a dog experience similar issues from chronic use of Metronidazole and NOT seen a recurrence? If he has an episode again, is it going to just get worse? Is it likely to be temporary, like the last time? I don't know what to expect. Thanks for any advice you have to offer.

FANTASTIC news!!!! :yay

I'll be keeping you both in my thoughts tomorrow, Cathy! :goodluck :goodluck

Oh, what a relief! Thanks for the update, Robin!! :yay :yay

Lots and lots and lots of good thoughts for your beautiful Elsie Lou