kudzu

Have tried that with a couple things but not stockings. The items I tried have slid off quickly in spite of feeling very tight. Worth a try though. Thanks for the suggestion. Off to rummage through a dresser drawer.

My sweet old guy, Luke, had an unfortunate accident involving another Grey's teeth. Meaning, someone bit his ear & in the process a large section of skin was removed. Though they could clean up & stitch the edge of the ear, there is nothing to be done for the large open wound where the skin is missing. It is simply to big. Vet said we just have to let it go through granulation. He is on Clavamox & will continue the meloxicam he was already on for arthritis. They gave me silvadene cream to apply twice a day. He came from the e-vet with a bandage from his forehead down his neck with just his uninjured ear exposed. That was fine as long as he was sleeping. As soon as he got up & started moving this morning the bandage slid down to be a turtleneck. Removed it & rebandaged it but my bandaging left my ol' dude hurting & crying. Quickly took it off & redid it. That one had slid into turtleneck position by the time I got to class this morning. Bought some supplies on the way home & tried it with a stretch knit designed to hold bandages in place on elbows & knees. Tried it twice. Didn't work. So now he is unbandaged but the vet has recommended bandaged to keep the tissue from drying out. Plus he is currently sleeping with that unbandaged ear resting on the comforter. Doesn't seem particularly good for an ear with so much exposed flesh. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow at his regular vets. I have little confidence they will be able to bandage it well & was reluctant to go back to the e-vets tonight to pay $100 for rebandaging that won't last. Anyone have any bandaging suggestions? How in the world do people keep snoods on their dogs? Also, would manuka honey be something good to try? Have not tried it but would like to get this wound healed ASAP. TIA, Laura

My then 11 yo guy with Chronic Lymphytic Leukemia had a dental last year. Had known his mouth was in desperate need. (Turns out he has stomatitis.) Had waited until we finished diagnostics & got the CLL diagnosis before getting the dental. Was worried he would lose a lot of teeth. Nope, just one. His dental went very well. He walked out of the vet at the end of the day & jumped into the car acting like nothing had happened. His behavior over the next few days proved that he felt better than ever. If your guy's mouth is a mess he needs a dental. I understand your concerns. You, of course, have to make the decision you think is right for Ike. Only you can decide that. After seeing how much better my guy felt last year, I would say you probably need to accept those risks. Get it done. My guy is 12 now & will be getting another dental done in November. Also, definitely get senior blood work done first so you are going into it with your eyes open.

Have you tried an elimination diet? If not & you think it might be allergies this may be a good idea. That means the fewer the ingredients the better. Speak with your vet if you haven't done this yet. The diet you list above has some wholesome ingredients but there are also a lot of ingredients so you would have a hard time knowing what may or may not be an allergen to your dog. What about stress? I had a Spaniel mix who caused huge lick granulomas on her toes when she got stressed. Just tossing out ideas. Hope you find something to help your boy.

Yes, I have had experience with AP. It was a dog who was already sick with a neurological disease. He started with a cough & loss of appetite. Initially his xrays were clean & UGA vet school could not decide what it was. A friend who is an xray tech said do not be surprised if he turns out to have AP. She's taken clean xrays on patients that went downhill fast. My dog did turn out to have AP but thankfully it was caught early & he survived it. Did not even end up hospitalized. Keep a close eye out but you've gotten on top of it fast. Glad he is feeling better. That's a wonderful sign.

Yes, I have found that if dremeled daily or every other day the quick recedes swiftly. It has a similar effect to walking on concrete. This approach is only used on dogs with overgrown nails. These are usually the dogs that need time to adjust to nail care so sometimes I am only doing one foot a night which amounts to twice a week. Others I actually do all feet every other night or even nightly. It is quick, easy & very effective. Once the nails are at an acceptable length you then only dremel once a week or every other week, depending on the dog, how fast their nails grow, and what type of surfaces they walk on. My preference is to only need to grind off a little from each nail. It makes the process go much faster. As a result I get more cooperation from the dogs. Folks can use whatever method works best for them & their dogs. This is just the method I have found easiest for our household.

Just seeing this for the first time. There are many possibilities but reading partway through your first post my thought was myasthenia gravis. This was even before you mentioned it. Next through was a polyneuropathy. Understand that is because I have had a dog with a polyneuropathy so that is always what comes to mind for me. A heart problem, liver problem or Addison's disease would all be more likely causes. Hope the antibiotics help. Actually I have a senior Grey who went through a spell of weakness earlier this year. His bloodwork leaned toward liver problems but ultrasound checked out OK. He was put on antibiotics & darned if he didn't snap out of it. Best guess was some liver infection but we still don't know. Hope your girl is better soon.

Sled dog booties sold cheap & by the dozen at Dozen Booties

I am so very sorry for this loss. You did all you could for you boy & you have my deepest sympathy. Laura

Just checking. Wonderful pictures. He's gorgeous. Sorry you are having such a time. Don't loose hope yet but I know the ratty bloodwork is so upsetting & conflicts with his going about his normal things when home. Glad he is home at night.

Ah, gawds. Poor Warlock.

My vet now just gives me a script when it is an antibiotic I can get free or a drug on the $4 generics list at the pharmacy. They make enough off of me in other areas. I want them to make a profit so they stay in business but buying some drugs from them just isn't cost effective.

Do give try the shots. Another suggestion if those do not help or help but not sufficiently is to try a combo of metacam & gabapentin. I have lumbar stenosis & arthritis. NSAIDS & gabapentin make a tremendous difference for me.

You could do it if you needed to. If I can, anyone can. Sub-q fluids & B12/B-complex injections were once routine around here after having two pets in a row with renal failure. Got to go 3 years without that chore when my senior Grey got sick earlier this year. Had to give him sub-q fluids for several days in a row. Yep, it made me queasy but I was still able to. We knew Luke was better when he saw me coming with the bag & took off to the opposite side of the house. Hope Lucy is doing better & completely regained her girlish figure.

That is just so frustrating. I am so sorry you & Warlock are going through this. The not knowing & not being able to treat him is awful. Does the Proin seem to still be working? As for the bloodwork changes that suggest Cushing's, there are some and if you have a few sets of previous bloodwork you may even be able to charge the changes. I could with Angel's. Her's were primarily in the WBC's and Alk Phos. There were a couple others that it fit the pattern as well but I cannot remember those. Here is a link with a little info on it: WSU Vetmed site And a quote from same, "Laboratory tests that are most commonly altered by Cushing’s disease are an increase in white blood cell count, increase in the liver enzyme ALP (also called SAP or serum alkaline phosphatase), increased blood sugar (although not as high as the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients), increased cholesterol and dilute urine. See What Do Those Lab Tests Mean? for additional information about laboratory tests." Hang in there. I know it's tough.

Glad River is home with you tonight. Hoping for some good news tomorrow.

Many prayers for an injury or arthritis or just about anything except...

Glad the ACTH is normal. And hope the dry, sleep filled nights become a happen. That would be such a blessing. Keeping good thoughts for you all.

Gabapentin per Merck Vet Manual: Dosing for Dogs: 25-60 mg/kg, PO, divided tid -qid; 100-300 mg/dog, tid Half Life: 3-4 hr Time to steady state: <24 hr Possible side effects: Sedation, dizziness, ataxia, fatigue, diarrhea; reduce dose with renal dysfunction. Above is the dosing I found in the anticonvulsant drugs section so presumably it is gauged to seizures. It is also used for chronic pain but I did not find a seperate dosing for that purpose. Going by the above that 800mg bid (2x/day) is not too much gabapentin per day. However, I am wondering about the way it is being split up. Now dosing in dogs is different than humans so keep that in mind when I tell you this. I am a 130 lb female taking 600 mg tid (3x/day). That's as much as I can take & still function though I could take more at night if I needed. It takes a while for your system to get used to it. For a while I took 300mg bid. It would wear off before the next dose. Then it took an hour or so for the next dose to kick in. In addition, the side effects were more pronounced then when I switched to 300mg tid. (Perhaps that is because it kept a steadier amount in my system.) That worked well for a while but still wasn't enough. Then, on my own, I increased to 300 qid (4x/day). That was awful. Would feel normal for a while then get major brain fuzzies. (Presumably same problem with not having constant dose.) At my current dose, 600mg tid it is high enough to control the nerve pain & keeps the side effects at a minimum. Notice that the side effects were actually less obvious at tid even though each time it was a dose increase. Seems strange until you think about it. Twice a day let the drug wear off. Then the next dose started over so my body just couldn't adjust. Ditto with four doses daily. For a while each day I had a lot more in my system than at other times. For me tid is just right & keeps me on an even keel. I can vary by an hour, sometimes 2 hours, without dramatic problems but it works much better when kept on schedule. With a half life of 3-4 hours, I have to wonder if you dog is maybe getting a dose that gives him more dramatic highs & lows of the drug in his system than if it was split up into three doses per day instead of just two. (I am in accounting so don't take this as vet advice. Am just musing.) For me, it took a few days after starting for my system to adjust & each time I increased the dose my system needed to adjust again. Gabapentin can really mess with your equalibrium so for a little while after starting it you can feel really wobbling & the sedating effects are much more. I would think that general thing could apply to dogs also. I know the one time I lost a capsule on the floor & my senior Grey chewed it up, he acted very sedated all afternoon & woozy. If he is hurting then gabapentin may really help him. I take it for leg pain related to my back. Perhaps you can ask the vet the reasoning for the current dosing of just two large doses instead of 3 smaller ones. Hope you baby feels better soon. My prayers for both of you.

We all keep so many things in the house that are dangerous to our dogs that it would not occur to me not to have Biotene around just for fear of dogs getting to it. I have mouth rinse upstairs in my bathroom that contains xylitol & after reading the info on Biotene was thinking of getting some for all of us, dogs included. Rather than refuse to have it in the house, you could take the precaution of putting it on some gauze, safely put it back out of reach & then take the soaked gauze to your victim... er, I mean your hound.

That sounds like a very good report. You did get some answers. Still saying prayers for your boy.

If you have a plain buckle collar properly fitted right behind her ears, you can tape, tie or velcro strap the strap from the muzzle to the collar. This makes it more difficult to get off. My only concern with leaving it on all day would be that the muzzle fits well enough for him to open his mouth all the way & that he is willing to drink with muzzle & stool guard in place. Hope it heals quickly without further licking.

Hang in there. I know the feeling of actually wanting something like Cushing's so you at least know the problem & have a way to treat it. It hurts to feel you cannot help your pup. Glad you are in contact with an endocrinologist & that you've got the ultrasound scheduled. Keep the faith. Endocrinology is a mysterious science. It could still be Cushing's or it could be something else. Even if they are thinking adrenal tumor, remember there would be good chance it was benign. Also remember that the symptoms of Cushing's & Addision's can be oddly similar sometimes. You're using a bellyband on him, right? They are very helpful. Human incontinence diapers, the ones with straps/belts, worked wonderfully well for dogs with excessive drinking. Just wrap it around their middle like a cummerbund & tape the ends together. Sending prayers.

Not back to entirely normal but the lysodren dose she needed was so high it became toxic. At least the liver has good healing capacity. Because we had been back at the point of trying to regulate her dose again we were doing blood work frequently so caught it in time. Honestly, I though Angel's liver numbers had been dreadful before we started treating her. They had improved for a while but then BAM! Lysodren can of course be hepatotoxic. That wasn't a surprise. But I was shocked it seemed to happen so fast. If a dog was well regulated & on a steady dose then I would not be too concerned. Our problem was the ever increasing dose Angel seemed to need. Thank doG folks were already importing trilostane directly from the UK. It was funny though. The vet said, "I'll start the paperwork for the FDA waiver." I said, "Great, in the meantime I will go ahead & get some imported." I had the drug in my hands before the waiver came through. The vet was like, "How did you get it?" I said, "If I tell you, it may ruin it for everyone importing it." She gave me an odd look & said, "OK then. Well here's her prescription." Then we both laughed. See AngelWhispers, even if it might turn out to be Cushing's you can see look forward to fun, excitement & laughter. Let me tell you. Our little old Angel did not do any whispering. She had a bark 10X her size & she ruled the house. I miss that little lady. She had taken tons of hard knocks but she didn't let that Cushing's keep her down.

I know, I know. We all felt the same way. Trust me. Just remember that for overwhelming majority of dogs these drugs work well with minimal or no side effects. For all but a few dogs the side effects are still better than the Cushing's symptoms. My foster was on Anipryl first, which was a huge waste of precious time. Lysodren was next and though her loading phase seemed agonizingly long it gave that little girl her life back. It was almost miraculous. BTW, the cue she was finished loading was that she stopped to breath while she was eating. LOL! Our problem with lysodren was that we had to keep upping the dose. Her Cushing's was very resistant to it. At a certain dose her liver enzymes went off the charts. We had to cut back the dose while waiting for her trilostane to arrive from the UK. (This was before it was available in the US.) The trilostane was slower to get her back on track but we also didn't have that loading phase. In the long run it worked as well as lysodren. My preference would be trilostane. Hoping it isn't Cushing's.