o_rooly

:beatheart

Sending good thoughts for Clem, and his worried mom! Poor guy. Barfing is the worst.

Haven't heard of that combination, though I've had the same frustration with treatment for Aston's UTIs. His tend to fly below the radar, so past vets haven't seen the need to prescribe antibiotics, BUT his peeing in the house has always stopped when they finally forked some over! His last vet would often refuse to run a culture because no bacteria ever showed up in the basic urinalysis, and then try to tell me that it was behavioral (no, we have a rock-solid routine, evaluated stressors -- we already tried these things before, thanks!). Then, I'd truck Aston back in a few days later when he started peeing traces of blood UTIs are PAINFUL, and I will no longer patronize a vet who wants to "wait and see" in regard to symptoms that are hallmark for a UTI in my hound. So glad you've found a vet who seems willing to listen, instead of just beating you over the head with the same useless protocol. Fingers crossed that this combo helps Brandi. Perhaps you could also add cranberry capsules to her food? They've worked for me in keeping UTIs at bay (for myself), though we have had one UTI break through while Aston's been on cranberry. I guess it can't hurt?

Hope and prayers for a weird diagnosis. Osteomyelitis would make sense!! Hugs and scritches to Carl and Claire on their birthday. and a stiff drink for YOU!!! and a hug. and more drinks.

Damn straight! Woe to the pathogen or neoplasm that dares tread on Carl. Sounds like Carl and Aston are both exceptionally talented in finding ways to make their people look like they have Munchausen by proxy. Like my friend told me after I received that diagnostic-bomb two-cancer phone call from Aston's vet this Fall -- "You've given yourself a few minutes to freak out. Now, there are steps you can take, develop a game plan. Go do it." We are here for you. Please let me know if I can be of any help!!

Oh, Connie, no, no, no Fingers, legs, paws, claws, wings, arms crossed that it's some oddball diagnosis instead. In any case, Carl is VERY fortunate to have you on his side. To everyone here -- my thoughts are with you and your hounds.

She was so stunning. I always had to click through threads to see photos whenever I saw mention of her name. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. Sequoia, you are so very loved.

GREAT update!!!

We've been doing a bit of a food trial ("a bit of" as in not completely strict) in case food sensitivity has factored into the acute/intermittent arthritis. I've just been feeding him ground bison and sweet potato, used rice as an add-in to a few meals though we're trying to avoid grains, so I'm off to buy potatoes if not more sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, the bison is pretty rich even if drained and rinsed (it's already 90% lean), and it starts to go right through Aston if I try to feed more than 2 meals of it per day, so I'm boiling chicken for his extra meals and crossing my fingers. I think I'll try eggs next (if chicken is OK), since dairy isn't great on his stomach, if my memory serves...

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed! Jaina's gorgeous, and quite the lady Welcome!!

Oh, I may have tried to REMOVE a "tick" near Aston's sheath.... my poor, sweet, TOLERANT hound.

An update: When I came home from work on Thursday (the 20th), after a little over 48 hours since starting doxycycline, Aston greeted me without any trace of a limp (!!!!), whereas he had still been a tripod that morning. He will still occasionally rise from his bed holding that foot up, but will then put weight on it without a problem. His medial wrist is still swollen and warm; the allover swelling around the joint reduced a bit from Thursday-Friday, but has remained steady since. He is wasting quickly from the upped prednisone. I've increased his food to 4 meals a day (2 with meds, 2 extra) to try to keep up. Unfortunately, bison is too rich for him to be able to absorb 4 meals' worth, so I'm going to start using boiled chicken for his extra meals... hope he won't react badly. He is RAVENOUS, though, so at least getting him to eat isn't a problem. I'm just trying to find a happy medium between keeping him satisfied / fighting the wasting and feeding him so much that it all goes right through him. Aston had been panting following the first few meals with doxy, so I asked his vet about adding carafate. She recommended upping to omeprazole instead of pepcid; I started him on the Costco delayed-release version last night (dosage is 20mg 1x daily). Thankfully, Aston has been restful after meals over the last 24 hours. His movement is fluid, he's happy and sparkly to go on walks, likes to trot, is able to settle in bed (or on the couch) quickly, and he sleeps peacefully. His teeth are turning really crappy really quickly (as they tend to do on higher pred doses), so I've picked up some more Petzlife oral gel to get things under control. I used to give him raw turkey necks, which kept his teeth looking great, but I'm leery of giving him anything raw while he's on the immunosuppressive dose of pred + azathioprine. It's interesting that whenever I mention Aston's severe weight loss on higher pred doses to my friends whose dogs have been on it, they scratch their heads. Everyone I've spoken to (not on GT) is surprised to hear that Aston's losing weight, since their dogs have all gained on pred. Is that a greyhound-specific side effect? It seems like more than muscle wasting -- he's just burning through calories, metabolism full-throttle. I want to trot him out more and get some stairs in there to keep the musculature in use, but I'm afraid to burn more calories than I can get him to absorb So. We're taking it day-by-day. Dr. Couto recommended a culture for mycoplasma in the event that Aston didn't respond to the doxy, but it appears that he has. Joint is still being odd, but back when Aston was on pred and got hit by a double infection in his left-hind foot, that foot didn't turn completely back to normal (in terms of swelling, temp and skin color) until Aston had been weaned off of the pred completely. Not sure if that's an indicator that the immunosuppressants are holding things back at this point... In the meantime, here's buddy today. Very skinny, but seems to be happy, and is quite engaged and alert.

That is one spectacular bruise!! Aston's only had major bruising post-surgery, when he had gangrenous lesion cut out of his butt (long story). He's never had a hematoma pop up after a blood draw, and we've had many, many. Sounds like we've been lucky!

Continued good thoughts for Ms. Nell and her ever-vigilant caretakers

Easier said than done, but DON'T worry. Don't try to cross a bridge unless you come upon one. There are a bazillion oddball reasons why a limb or foot or toe would swell. I should know -- Aston's thought up every non-cancerous reason in the book Aston's had back, hip, knee, hock, wrist, and foot xrays, all without sedation. He's not traumatized by vet clinics, though they also aren't his favorite, since he's been in/out of them about ~50 times in the last 6 months.

I'm so, so sorry. Lazer, you are very loved.

Unfortunately, I don't have any advice, but will keep you and your sweet boy in my thoughts. Replying, too, to keep this at the top of the H&M forum.

Thinking of your hounds, and you!! Hope you are able to get another opinion soon. Perhaps another e-vet tonight? Any more blood?

How is Scotch now? Gums okay? Is his stomach still upset? Please give your hounds scritches for me. No fun being sick, and no fun having sick hounds

Has Scotch been on Rimadyl before? Any of the NSAIDs can cause stomach issues, including bleeding. I'm surprised that the e-vet released him if they are not sure whether he is still bleeding at this time. You could call your vet to get in ASAP / sooner than 5pm given the circumstances, I hope?? I have not had this happen with Aston, but beaming tons of good thoughts. Please keep us posted

Thinking of you and Kiki. UGH re: the UTI... they tend to come up at the BEST times, don't they? Aston's been hit with some very hard-to-detect AND stubborn ones over the years. I hope acupuncture helps your sweet lady. It's really helped Aston along.

Thank you!! I've joined the tick listserv. All that the clinic had on-hand was doxycycline hyclate. Hope it helps I bought straight from the vet to get the meds into Aston as quickly as possible. Not sure yet whether we'll need a second round (or perhaps to extend the first round), but I'll keep goodrx in mind!!

What has he eaten lately, could he have gotten into anything? does he hang out with other dogs? I (thankfully) haven't dealt with any major diarrhea + vomiting episodes before, so if I encountered one, I'd probably head to the e-vet for peace of mind. :\ Don't know if that helps. Beaming good thoughts!!!

This could be a subtopic within my other ongoing thread about Aston's immune-mediated arthritis, but I figured I would pop it out for exposure in hopes of getting a few hits tonight. Aston's joint inflammation has not responded (fully) to increased pred + azathioprine alone, so we finally got him on 200mg doxy 2x daily in case a tickborne disease has gone undetected (a previous joint blew up the same way in January, culture/tick panel were negative). He received his first dose at 1pm today (just to get it into his system, with a meal) and his second dose with dinner. Does anyone have any experience with how quickly (or not) the doxy could start to perk things up? My understanding is that doxycycline doesn't kill tick-borne pathogens, just prevents them from reproducing, so improvement could take a while (IF we are dealing with a TBD). My husband and I are distressed over Aston's having to go through yet another crappy, painful medical issue, though he still has spark. My husband is crossing his fingers in regard to "we'll see how he is in the morning," but I am not optimistic that a turnaround would be feasible that soon. In the meantime, we are upping his tramadol to 150mg every 8 hours, with his vet's guidance. As always ---- thanks in advance

A minor blip in the road to recovery. She looks quite alert, but relaxed, on the floor of the clinic.