It has taken almost a year but so far so good, she is down to 20mg pred every other day and 50mg Azathiaprine every other day (we alternate, one day pred, one day aza). If they put Shanti on pred, you will see pretty fast results (for Mia it was literally just a few days) BUT you will be looking at side effects from the pred. When she was on her highest dose, Mia had to pee every 2 hours. We didn't go ANYWHERE that we couldn't be back within 2 hours or we knew she would have an accident. Also, pred stimulates the appetite so she will eat any and everything that you leave out (we just got more dilligent about putting everything away and not leaving crumbs or plates where she could get to them). Her personality changed slightly, which our vet told us was normal with super high doses of pred. Now that we have her on a much much smaller dose, she is starting to play with stuffies and have more energy again.
I will let you know what Dr. Couto says. Like I said, I hope he has some brilliant magic pill that fixes everything with no side effects and my sweet Meems will be healthy and happy forever. If I am going to hope, I have to hope BIG!
And Xan, you come up with the best chants!