XTRAWLD

Yes, I have Cerenia. But I don't think he's really blah is he? I think he's just weak. I guess I could try. Thought I should only use it if he's licking his lips lots or about to vomit. He's had pred, gaba and antibiotic all this morning so I don't want to overload his system. Should I try a Cerenia anyway? They said a full tablet but I'm inclined to half it. A full tablet knocked Ry on his keester years ago. Please let me know. For what it's worth, when he is up, he's fine. He's just having lots of trouble getting his butt up off his bed. He had a bowel movement this morning that was a little mushy but that's expected of course. He's walking just fine though. I also just ordered 24 lbs of "exotic" raw that he hasn't tried yet, so when I receive it next week that might help encourage him to eat. How does Turkey/Bison/Wild Boar sound, or Pheasant/Elk or Turkey/Salmon/Lamb hey there Kasey? Huh HUH?!?!?! Spoiled rotten that one.....

Sounds very similar to what we went through with Kasey. He is allergic to chicken, pork, kelp, oatmeal and grass. These are his majors and as you are learning, these are commonly found in many kibbles on the shelves, very hard to get away from all of these even on an LTD. After literally DOZENS of different kibbles, one that worked best was Natural Balance Salmon and Sweet Potato. BUT we were only able to narrow down to this after doing a blood test to rule out his major allergies. If you don't go through some type of testing (blood and/or skin) to see what he's sensitive with, you will just be running around in circles trying to resolve this problem, if indeed it is related to allergies. The trick with a lot of this, is getting him on a food he has NEVER been exposed to before....meaning more exotic - like kangaroo, elk, etc. Obviously, these foods aren't cheap, but you can go that route if the LTD's you are on aren't working. You also must be diligent to not giving him anything else - no human scraps, no cookies or treats. Food trials are usually 6 weeks in duration to really determine if your switch is making a difference - has it been that long for you to move onto another food? To aid in strengthening the skin and trying to do some hair re-growth, try Dermoscent, available through your vet. It's a capsule that's administered between the shoulder blades much like a heartworm med. We tried to beef up a barrier between his skin and the environment with this. Medically we then moved onto prednisone to deal with it, because he just had too many allergies to food and environments to have a good quality of life. Knowing results could still be better for him, we got him off kibble completely and moved to raw. Best decision ever. That really should have been the first move after the blood testing. It's a shame we didn't do that route earlier. Would have saved a lot of time, effort and grief. Very little flare ups with the raw and pred combination and he's been on it for the past 6 years. Feel free to PM me if you are interested. We spent years on resolving his problems. If you are committed, it's a long road but it doesn't have to be too difficult.

I second putting him on a bland diet for a few days. And then consider changing up his food. Every dog reacts to foods differently. I've gone to the raw route and I do not have gas problems here anymore. Kasey used to easily be able to clear a room when he was on kibble.

So it's been 48 hours and it's become noticable that he's weak in his hind end. Perhaps just weakening over all. Started noticing it around 5 pm yesterday. He slept all through the night and didn't move once, which isn't too unusual. He tried to jump up on my bed with me this morning though and barely had enough to clear the mattress. Last night he ate his breakfast at 1030pm. I put it down by chance at bedtime on his bed and he went for it. So thankfully he nearly finished one of his actual meal of raw mix yesterday. He's been refusing his meals (which is not out of the ordinary in general for him), but he's still eating nearly everything else. Remember: hamburger, no fries. The winner this morning was pasta, rice, chicken broth with a bit of molassas and beef liver sprinkles. Surprisingly he refused the satin balls. He also had half a bottle of Ensure, 2 licks of a mixed up egg and some stale cheerios. I own a vegetarian greyhound! I'm hardly out of food options, but I don't want him to have an upset stomach from the unusual types of food he's having without his regular meals in his system. I'm just thinking of high caloric foods in small amounts because it's the only chance I have to get him anything. He's also liking baby food (which I'm keeping in my back pocket when nothing else will work) and has yet to say no to anything I'M having. I hope this is the worst of it, will he be on the upswing now since we're on day 2?

He's not thrilled about eating brekkie today, actually he never really is. So I mixed up some rice and broth and down it went. He also had some stale cheerios! Had to eat so I could get some antibiotics into him. It was a very uneventful night and he's sleeping now. Had a good bowel movement this morning, I'm incredibly happy it's not the runs. I read that the shaved fur areas might not regrow so I'd like to get him on some Dermoscent after his chemo is done to try to stimulate the hair follicles. I've used this before on him and I know it works well on him. Not cheap but it's worth a shot. Otherwise I'll somehow have to even out the vertical patch they shaved on his side for the ultrasound!

Certainly expecting some upset tummies. He actually ate almost all his dinner. Pretty proud of him. I picked up my first radioactive poop too! I may have done a stupid thing and I'm kicking myself quite hard. I swear I read the paperwork they gave me about meds, and this line was NOT on there when I read it, but it was after dinner of course. Says "glucosamine may decrease the effectiveness of doxorubicin" Stupid stupid me gave him his usual vitamins. So after reading that I gave him some slippery elm to slow absorption, although likely too late. I swear if that's why this doesn't work, I will never forgive myself, no matter how hard that might be to prove. Otherwise he's being a total champ. He got his antibiotics, finally got some gaba into him which he actually was desperately starting to need nearly 24 hours since his last dose. I'll be staying home tomorrow to keep an eye on him since this is the most "severe" of all the chemo rounds.

We're home. It could not have gone better. Kasey is such a superstar. He always is under these medical circumstances. Got a little something in my eye watching the techs prep him and stuff - it's amazing how he always knows people are here to help him and readily accepts it. Amazing boy. Overall it took 5 hours, chemo itself took 20 mins and I was with him every step of the way. Interestingly, what I never thought of was handling his poop with gloves and watering down his pee area after he's done because of the toxicity (how little of it there may be). Since I don't have a fenced area, I think I'm relieved of that duty since he's walked. It will be raining off and on again until Sunday so that'll help a wee bit! So first round of doxorubricin is over and done with. He pranced over in the elimination yard after his treatment looking like a 5 year old and did both 1 and 2 very happily LOL. Clearly he was feeling pretty good. He WOLFED down his plain hamburger, and refused his fries! He's resting comfortably behind me. He drank a whole bowl of water when we got home which was odd since he received fluids all morning. I've been sent home with a bag of meds and a fun schedule. Next appt is next Friday, a shorter round but a round nonetheless. Waiting on the all clear to give him his gabapentin, the only drawback of the day was a weak hind-end whenever he was standing. I could run a pharmacy out of my house now though. Thank you all for your thoughts!

I can vouch for Vitamin E oil. I used it immediately following scabbing, actually I think I put it on while it was still fresh (the bottle itself says it can be used after surgery/procedures to aid in reducing skin scarring). It does wonders for healing. http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/health-and-pharmacy/personal-care/skin-and-acne-care/details/057800704133 It's a bit goopy and annoying but well worth it.

I wonder if he's growing and it's a stretch mark that's caused the flare up in the original scar? Very interesting. I've never used bag balm, I always spray on some good ol' CS in these cases, but there is also a gel version that can stick on skin a bit better as well.

Kasey's Chemo (Day 1) is set for this Thurs at 9am. Good thoughts please. I'm sure he'll handle it better than I! The rest of his schedule is set for 2 more rounds, expected to happen on Day 8 and Day 15. Let's eradicate this cancer shall we?

Oh Mikey. You were so loved. Enjoy your running at the bridge.

Thank you all for your support! I will ask about the Cerenia. Would injection or oral be a better method? The vet tech suggested a probiotic to maybe help with his stomach. I took a look quickly in the drug store. Did I read correctly capsules are $52 for a bottle?!?! Maybe I'm not looking at the right thing? I have slippery elm on hand and he's regularly on pepcid....is that enough?

Or alternatively, like Kasey, he refused to ever poop on a walk! Only when we transitioned from a house without a yard did we spend hours trying to change that behavior.

Just received the cost break down and what is happening on what day (although the exact days have yet to be determined). He's got three "inject-able" days and interspersed throughout are pills and bloodwork. The first day he'll be hospitalized all day so they can monitor him, the other two days which I'm assuming are not as intense they would let me bring him home after he's been done. I would just have to watch out for loose stools as he'll be passing the chemo out of his system through that avenue. Also he may vomit and have a drop in appetite. Awesome! For those that have gone through the chemo route, would you be able to enlighten me about what to expect? Should I be taking days off? Is he going to be ok home alone for most of this treatment? I had suggested if we can do these things on Fridays so I'm home on the weekends to help him through the worst of it. Any ideas and support would be appreciated. Thanks. Edited to add: He'll still be taking prednisone and gabapentin (cleared this with the vet) for his LS during all this. - Also Maybe I should open another thread?

Kasey used to run out, pee and run back without doing #2 as well. I'd tell him, "go poop!" and he's go back out again to try to apease me, run around, sniff, etc and not do his business and return. I'd again remind him and he'd try again. He soon learned he wasn't going back in without a full bathroom break. In the rain (cuz he hates rain), he'd fake squat too and not produce anything and would run back to the door to get in! He's got you trained well now doesn't he? Only sitting on the lowest step will do!

Congrats. What a beauty. Love the first pic!

Kasey's ultrasound was completed on Monday to determine if any of his cancer has spread to his organs. It hasn't!!!!! I'm so excited. Of course it would really be a lot nicer if he didn't have cancer at all, but ruling it out from the rest of his body has reduced the burden of being able to handle this. Original discussion thread here for those that are not familiar with the current woes - http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/313354-mass-on-leg/ My vet has been in close consultation with Dr. Couto and we will be going ahead to follow a 21 day protocol of chemo to get rid of the cancer that is affecting his hind end. He will not require surgery for two reasons (one, the location and type of mass he has could most certainly cause great blood loss and potential death - his biopsy bled for a day, I can't imagine what a surgery would be like, and secondly the chemo will actually get rid mass altogether). While my vet has not had to deal with this exact type of case before, Dr. Couto has, and has dealt with it rather successfully, and has come up with a protocol that most effectively handles it. My vet is completely willing to administer all the meds and care for Kasey to the fullest degree and I'm very happy he's able to do this! This type of cancer (cutaneous something or other) responds incredibly well to chemo treatment and while they of course can't guarantee anything, past experience yields full remission and excellent results. Fingers crossed folks! I cannot wait to get started so Kasey can live out the rest of his years as a healthy senior. I told Kasey last night, and of course he now thinks he's Superman. He was running around last night on our walk, and we even played like we used to when he was a 7 year old! Clearly, I'm relieved and it's lifted a cloud over him in turn.

Awh Seamie. Happy heavenly birthday

I've never heard of the whimper when pooping. That certainly sounds unusual. I'd have it checked out sooner than in 3 weeks. Could have a parasite perhaps.... I'm not sure what else it would be.

I'm sorry your digger Disco had to go.

I get refusals on that constantly with Kasey. I throw it down the hatch! I need to actually make it a totally exciting thing like the most awesomeist of cookies before I leave for work and then maaaaaybe he'll think about chewing it. I know it is still effective because the life cycles of fleas have been broken in the past when he's got them. Friggin fleas!

Kasey has scared the crap out of me before with a bark out of no where when fast asleep, and to be honest I think he scared the crap out of himself. He has also been awoken by something and starting barking and chuffing when getting up from lying down to go investigate the house. So I think he's had a very real (to him) dream. Ryder is a very very verbal and physical dreamer. He runs and wags and chuffs and huffs and puffs and barks and growls. I also mark that down as a dreaming but he's also a sleep barker. I however cannot really help you discern the difference between sleep startle/aggression as both of my boys have never been that way with me. They readily accept touch and contact while sleeping, and I'm so lucky and thankful for that, since the bed is too cramped to not suddenly scare them at some point in time.

Awh, congrats. It's nice to hear she is settling in so well.

Kasey has one on his bum. It's an eyesore, and looks a little owie, but he is not bothered by it one bit.

That's fabulous!