rascalsmom

What wonderful news!!

Wow, poor fellow!! I hope his mouth isn't too awful sore...

I'm glad things are looking up a wee bit. I can sympathize (a little bit) on how tiresome and wearying the roller coaster can be!! Good one day, not good the next....

A little good news. He ate a can of the a/d (it was the small can) around 2:30; DD and I got his gabapentin and pepcid into him, and then he actually ate about 2 cups of cooked chicken! So far it is staying down, too..... He is, however, panting a little bit.

OK. Here is what Buddy had done today. --he is 65.5 lbs. About where he was when this all started at the end of January. --slight temperature, 102.7 --lymph nodes are swollen; she did a fine needle aspirate of them, will send that out --drew blood to send out for CBC/Chemistry --urinalysis--nothing "jumped out" at her there, she said --he got a B12 shot --got an x-ray of his stomach. She was able to see his lower portion in the spinal x rays she took in Jan., and she said nothing is showing up on any of the x rays. --we got a couple of cans of a/d food, to see if that will stimulate his appetite. I told her about my dh saying, he's an old dog, maybe he's just "shutting down", and she said old age isn't a disease, there has to be something making him not want to eat. She agreed to not giving him the tramadol for awhile, and to give him a pepcid twice daily. Of course, with the lymph nodes, she is looking for things like infection, lymphoma, lymphosarcoma (what is the difference between those, btw?). We will hear from her tomorrow about the blood work. She's going to take a look at the lymph node tissue, make sure she got a good sample and if so she'll send it out; those results will take a few days. That's it. No instant answers, but we're looking.

I'm so sorry.

No...I asked the acupuncture vet about it, and he said yeah, sometimes it helps, but didn't give him one. Will ask Dr. Love about that, along with the possible x-rays, etc. I know one thing: I will not stand by and watch him get thinner and thinner....I went through that with my beloved Snowshoe cat, and won't do that again. I won't repay his love and friendship to me by letting him waste away to nothing.

Of course, I'll check in when we get back. Unless something *really* bad happens.

I'm taking him to our regular vet (as opposed to the neurologist or the acupuncturist ) at 10 :40 this morning. At this point, I just want to know what is wrong...even if it's not good.

Yes, I think that's our next step. I cooked him ground beef this morning, and he flatly refused it. I can't shake the feeling that there is something else wrong, beyond the LS....

Oh, Robin, how awful for you, and for Polli. No advice, just know you are in my prayers.

Yet another question in Buddy's treatment for LS. We are discontinuing the tramadol, thinking it might be upsetting his stomach and causing him to not want to eat. His last dose was yesterday morning (Thursday). The doctor said to only give it ONCE a day for a few days, then stop it altogether--not to quit it all at once. So it has been a bit more than 24 hours since he had any, as we were planning to start giving the once-daily dose after his dinner tonight. Even though he's not had any for 24 hours, he still won't eat. How long does it take for this to leave his system, anyone know?? My next step, if he continues to not eat, is to take him back to the vet to see about further x-rays. I keep thinking maybe there is something else going on that we don't know about....

We are going to try eliminating the tramadol. The vet says to give it once a day instead of twice a day for a couple of days, then to stop it completely. I did cook him a pound of ground beef last night, and he ate it and kept it down! And this morning I only gave him the gabapentin, not the tramadol (we'll give that tonight, and only two instead of three)....so hopefully his tummy will be feeling better and he'll eat.

Welcome, from the other side of the state!

I'm so sorry.

Success! I got my daughter (12 years old) to help me get the pepcid into him! She is more than willing to help, fortunately. I also talked to the vet tech, and she agreed that tramadol can upset the stomach--she said she took it for awhile and it upset her stomach....she's going to talk to the doc once he's out of surgery about whether or not to stop it all at once or gradually. I just hope the old guy will eat dinner shortly...I have some nice shredded chicken, and I baked him some peanut butter cookies today. He also got a very short walk, which he really enjoyed! Edited: he ate. Then went outside and threw up. One step forward, two steps backward. #@&!!

I haven't been giving it to him, mostly due to the fact that I cannot open his mouth AND give him the pill...and my DH leaves pretty early for work. I'm lucky to get the other pills into him. I am going to train my DD to help me so I can get him back on the pepcid.

Prednisone can upset the stomach? I didn't know that... I'm awaiting a call from the neurologist about stopping the tramadol, to see if that's causing problems. Don't know whether to just stop it or if I should taper it down...

Buddy has had a corneal ulcer twice. I don't know what caused it the first time, but I know for sure it was an injury the second time; we were walking, and he stuck his head into a bush and instantly jerked it back...the eye was injured. He, too, had the "keratotomy" both times, and both times it eventually healed. After the latest incident, though, he developed pannus in that eye; so now he gets ointment daily for that. And we stay away from bushes when we walk!

I'm glad to hear you got some answers. It is hard when they don't feel good, and being the only one....I am so thankful to have my husband to help with Buddy.

UPDATE: We just got back from Buddy's second acupuncture treatment. I asked the vet about his appetite (Buddy's, not the vet's ) and he said that to him, Buddy didn't seem to be in a lot of pain. I asked about the meds, could they be causing upset stomach, and he said yes, the tramadol could do that. He suggested that I discontinue the tramadol and perhaps ask our regular vet about a cortisone injection. So perhaps we will try that; discontinue that medication and see what happens.

Just offered him tripe for dinner, since he's not had it in a few days. He walked away. Now the kitchen stinks for nothing. I did get him to eat a couple of chicken liver brownies. They are about the only thing he'll eat with any regularity.

I don't think they carry it but most health food stores do. It's helped quite a few here. If you want to try it and can't find it, pm me and I'll have it sent to you overnight Boondog says you can get it at Whole Foods in bulk. Unfortunately, there is no Whole Foods around here....

It depends. Rascal, for example, has seen the vet only once in the last year for a physical, then she went to get her teeth cleaned a few weeks later. Ruby has been about the same. I have lost track of how many times Buddy's been to the vet(s), just since October. He got a scratch on his eye and we went from vet to specialist for that; then he ends up with LS, we went from vet to specialist to acupuncturist vet. It just depends. We do seem to have fewer "injuries" (except for the eye, that is) since they've gotten older.

Lots of great suggestions--thanks, everyone! Since I'm taking Buddy for his second acupuncture session tomorrow, I will ask the vet about a B12 shot....and will continue, today, to try and get him to eat whatever he will! Last night I cooked a pork loin roast (for us), and Buddy did enjoy a bit of that!