Xan
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Posts posted by Xan
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Oy!
How's he feeling today? Has the swelling gone down, with no more oozing?
I'm feeling your vet bill pain (though probably not as much as you are!
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Elizabeth, thanks! I got some today, so hang on to it. Maybe you'll need it again someday.
I also found, at the same herb store, capsules and a capsule filler! That saved me having to go to a somewhat distant pharmacy to pay $20 to get the 1/3 container of Tylan encapsulated, and only cost $23.
Had a good talk with the vet. He agreed that B-12 injections sound like a good idea, and will have some for me tomorrow. He also agreed to switch right over to the budesonide, and called in a prescription to Costco for me. ...
ACK!! Where do you people get yours?? This stuff was $362 for 40 2mg capsules! I had to leave it at the counter! I've got several other windows open searching for lower prices, but would appreciate any tips!
He also said I could use the pepcid, and would look up a few other things I asked him about.
He wants to give her some plasma, for the protein, and other goodies. Luckily, with Brilly and Pogo being blood donors, that means I get it for free. I'll give her one bag tonight, then another tomorrow. I'm going to have to hire myself out as a vet tech if this keeps up!
Total side note: I saw the most gorgeous and *lively* red setter at the vet's today. I don't know when I've seen one last, but was impressed how much bigger he is than greyhounds. And pretty! And LIVELY!
Oh, and I'm in a much better mood at this moment because Happy did choose something to eat today. Not lamb with potatoes. Not tripett. No, today she ate fish kibble (First Mate, very limited ingredients). Whatever!
If she'll eat it, I'll give it to her, right now. -
Looks like you're having good luck! I'm mining your experiences to talk to my vet about...
Keep it up, Stevie!
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Ah! I'd forgotten to ask the vet about B12 injections. I've just written it down. Again.
I'm thinking (but was too flustered to ask) that her "starvation" must be in part to malabsorption. I should have guessed. It seemed she was having to eat a lot at each meal to keep her weight on.
Lori, I'm so glad to hear ol' Tucker is doing so well! Happy's almost his age. *crossing fingers she makes it to her next birthday!* My personal inclination is towards more natural approaches than less, so I did offer her raw, and will continue to. So far, with minimal luck. But, we're in crisis mode right now, so that's to be expected.
Did I say she would have nothing to do with her breakfast, and would barely get up when asked. I've stuffed her morning pills down her, and given her her fluids, but ...
DH just left for a business trip to Mexico for three days. I hope she's still here when he gets back!I'm calling around to find slippery elm ...
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Slippery Elm will help as mentioned earlier. it really will.
You boil water with slippery elm powder in it. keep it on low. stir. make a gel. give some to dog. coats intestinal track, and helps soothe and fix.
with no side effects.
from web site -
To give internally, mix about 1/4 teaspoon of Slippery Elm bark powder with cold water for every 10 pounds of body weight. The bulk powder may be very fluffy, so pack it down as much as possible to measure it. Alternatively, use 1/2 capsule (per 10 pounds), opened and the contents mixed with water. Slippery Elm powder will absorb many times its own weight in water, so be sure to add enough to make a moderately thick gruel. This gruel can be given before meals by syringe or eyedropper, or added to baby food, canned food, or a homemade diet. It has a slightly sweet taste and is usually well-tolerated by cats and dogs when mixed with food. Give a dose 5 minutes before meals for sore throat, and before or with meals for digestive tract problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease, until symptoms resolve.
Greyhound Gang has info under LEARN/MEDICAL/DIARRHEA.
Re the Prednisone for a year. Even small doses cause issues. And that is a long time. Look at what you're dealing with now. Just my opinion from seeing what pred has done to many dogs, and seeing how holistic vets cure without it.
Oh, that's where I read it first!
: I've been drowning myself in information, lately. I'm having a hard time remembering what, where, who ... I am concerned about the pred, too. We're weaning off it now, and I'm hoping the slippery elm, and maybe, if needed a few other goodies will help. I have a call in to the vet, and hope he'll be getting back to me, soon. I have errands to run (ALL Happy-related!), so I'll find some slippery elm while I'm out.
Thanks, all!
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*jotting more notes* Misoprostal. Got it. I'll ask him about that. Thanks!
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Patsy!
I have a great source: my kitchen cupboard. I buy it bulk at my grocery store, and love it! Happy is hot and cold on it. Luckily she doesn't consider it poison. Yet. I get it in on her when she'll take it. I make a little slurry of it in my palm, and if she licks it up, I add it to her food. Thanks, mom2four. I'm working up a natural pharmacy list, here! I'd love to be able to get her off the coritcosteroids altogether, at some point.
That fish-based food looks good! Very simple. Also available at my fave pet supply store right near by. I might see if I can get a sample, to see if she'll eat the fish. Right now, we're sticking with lamb, as long as she'll eat it!
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Oops! I missed a couple posts!
I'll look at that food, mom2four. Thanks!
Donna, oh, I'm chanting, alright. Some of it isn't printable, though!
I wish she'd eat yogurt. It's one of the things she's decided is poison. If it touches the thing she's been eating, that thing becomes forever bad. I can't seem to sneak it in. I'm reduced to sticking supplements down her poor throat, one after the other, along with the antibiotics. If that doesn't make her want to vomit ...
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Not seeing any salicylate-like-looking thing on the label.
I'll definitely ask him more specifically. I'm also looking at licorice and slippery elm, also L-glutamine. Any experience with any of these? Or N-Acetyl-Glucosamine?
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I did just remember he said he wanted to avoid anything with salicylates. Off to look at the pepcid label more carefully ...
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I had Happy on the Hill's for several weeks, but it didn't work for her. She ate it, mostly, but her poops were always mucusy and green and/or red: her innards were not happy with it. I know that stuff is designed to help, but it just doesn't work for Happy.
Batmom, she is on antibiotics, and he agreed they might be making her tummy uncomfortable. I really don't know why he said no pepcid or other stuff. I think I'll call him today to ask, since I lost it in the shuffle yesterday. I do know that you're not supposed to take antacids when you (human) are taking antibiotics, because they interfere with absorption of the antibiotics, right? Maybe that's why? I'll ask.
As for talking to another vet, I do like and trust this guy a lot, but another consideration is that they give me not only as many discounts as they can (senior pet, blood donor, and the eh-we-just-didn't-charge-for-that discount) because Brilly and Pogo are blood donors. And, and this is major, they let us pay on time. Our bill is approaching $2k, not just for Happy, and the economy has hit us pretty hard (knock on wood, we still have our home), so .......
Hence the Portrait Marathon!
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Just back from the vet. They took more blood and urine to screen again. Apparently, the 2 bacteria we're talking about are NASTY. Very resistant. He said, "We might have to report these to the CDC, that's how nasty."
Even being more hydrated, she'd lost nearly 2 pounds since Friday. He says, "Xan, it can't go on like this." That's exactly what I was thinking! I talked to him about budesonide, and he thought we should maybe wean off the pred towards switching to bud. And up her thyroid, in hopes of making her feel a little better. He said her blood showed her in the low middle range, that's with supplementation.
He also said not to use pepcid at this time, nor the sucrafate he thought of next, but to watch and wait a bit. (Not sure why. We talked about so much, I didn't get back to that point.) He agreed about encapsulating the Tylan.
I bought some ground lamb on the way home (my second meat purchase in my whole life!) to see what she thought of that. First I offered her the tripett she's been eating (small amounts), but that didn't interest her. Then a tiny blob of raw lamb. Nope, but she sniffed it over pretty well. I took that and warmed it to overall grayness in a pan, and that was enticing enough to eat, so I did some more, and she ate it all, though I had to add some nutritional yeast at the end (a risk: sometimes she likes it, sometimes not). So, a qualified success is happening with lamb at the moment.
Donna, as I said on FB this morning, my vegan self has her fingers in her ears and is chanting "la la la la la!"
That's interesting about the pred. What I read was that it can mask lymphoma, then (for some reason) make it harder to treat. This was in a statement warning against treating for IBD based on a diagnosis based on symptoms, as opposed to biopsy. I noticed the vet checking her jaw line today. I'll check her other spots. Thanks for that.
Kristin, I'm dealing with trying to put weight on her, and having to be careful of fat, but starches (at least grains) can cause their own sets of issues with an IBD dog. My goal is to feed her one thing at a time, as she will take it, then once we're more stable, add things to round out her nutritional needs. That said, I'm already thinking of stirring some boiled potatoes into the ground lamb next meal.
She did eat some a couple days ago..... -
Gee, those travel plans sound like mine and DH's around this last Dewey!
Safe travels to you both. I don't know where you live, but FL sounds like a good trade to me, this time of year.
I'm so glad to hear Drake is holding his ground. Whew! Do you have physical therapy strategies for the back leg? Once that last scab is healed, I wonder if pool therapy might be good for that?
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You could well be right. Tomorrow should bring us more test results on the senior blood panel they started last week. I have lots to talk to him about, and we'll see where we need to go. He's a really great guy, and I don't see him being too proud to hand us off to a specialist if he thinks it's the right thing to do. I'd appreciate his referral, rather than try to figure it out from the Yellow Pages! He does lots of work with cancer in dogs, so I think he may be pretty up on things on that front.
You'd like him. He comes in, shakes my hand, and sits right down on the floor to observe and be with the dogs. Very gentle, takes plenty of time with us, will call with info or to check in during off hours. I feel lucky to have him on my side.
Oh, and she just decided that a bite or two of the tripe was really all she wanted.
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I do have her on pepcid. What I ended up doing this morning was offering her a bowl in which were the things she's chosen to eat over the last few days, all in separate blobs: cooked potato, lamb tripe, and tuna. She chose the tripe and potatoes, and kept them down. YEAY. Of course, she's still all bones, and she's barely moved since, even though I've dripped a whole bag of saline into her.
I'm just about to offer her more tripe and potatoes. *crossing fingers*
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Tilapia at costco! I'll check, thanks.
Last night, not so good. She vomited for the first time.
Her poop has deteriorated to the tell-tale mucusy reddish goop. Why do things always seem to go from bad to worse on the weekend?? I did throw a lot of stuff at her over the last few days, trying to find something she'd eat. I'm at a loss where to go from here. Like, for breakfast. What to offer her, whether to try giving her a series of things if one doesn't work ... Augh!
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Update!
I think we're making some progress. I believe she's feeling a little better, between getting fluids in her, and the antibiotics knocking down the UTI.
I went to my local very well-informed pet supply place (one of the staff is an Iggy owner/breeder) to talk about what we can safely tempt her with, and maybe help to boost her health. One of the owners also has an IB dog she has been feeding raw to with great success, though I think her situation differs from ours quite a bit. Anyway, I left with 4 bags of samples, a can of lamb green tripett (I didn't want to risk the beef tripe), and some supplements.
I offered her a piece of the salmon kibble from the same company that makes her venison kibble, and she ate it, so I put some in a bowl for her with warm water. Nope, though there was some interest. Added some of the tuna she'd been eating. Well, alright, she ate a tiny bit. Opened the tripett (pew) and stirred that in. Awright! Now we're talking. When she finished that, I asked her if she wanted more, and she wagged a little, so I decided to try her venison kibble (I know, I know. I'm throwing a lot at her, but I just need her to EAT, and I'm hoping to get her back onto her venison if she can tolerate it.)
She sucked up maybe 1/2 cup of that, licked the bowl, and started sniffing around for more! :clap2
So, I gave her another 1/2 cup, with tripett, and she ate about half. All in all, a decent lunch! She's been more animated this afternoon, too. Even looked like she might want to go on a walk with the boys (didn't take her, though). So far, no obvious tummy upsets, either. We'll be watching that carefully. I haven't ever fed her lamb anything, so it MAY be new to her, if she didn't have it in her track or farm life, or in her brief stay in foster home. *crossing fingers*
Hopefully, we're on the mend!
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DH and I are talking about our plan of attack. She got through the night with only one need to pee, and ate a decent breakfast (tuna, mushed potato), and is now resting with her IV fluids. I put her Tylan in a capsule so she didn't have to taste it, but I'm sure she's as tired as I am of me stuffing pills down her throat!
Hopefully we can get her through the weekend without losing too much ground while the antibiotics kick the UTI out, and we can move forward on Monday with whatever next steps.
I will look into the budesonide, and ask about frequency on the pepcid.
Fish is low in calories. Got it. Hm. Did I say, she turned her nose up most definitively on the white snapper (my local grocery didn't have tilapia); raw, pan-seared, or baked. She ate what was glopped in with the tuna, but wouln't eat any that was by itself. So, she prefers the tuna for now. At least she's eating it!
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Good stuff, people. I read something somewhere about budesonide. Have to look that up again.
Tylan is NASTY bitter, and I'd thought of that, too (ick factor). Capsules may be the way to go.
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I haven't read all the reply so if this is a repeat, I apologize.
When I went through this with Misty, it was baked Tilapia. Very clean fish and very good protein.
And of course I added your famous Nutritional Yeast, and pepcid for sure
Baked. Robin said grilled (I think?) I just tried white snapper (they didn't have tilapia). Raw: nope. Pan-seared: hm...nope. Desperation move: canned Trader Joes's Tuna for Cats (tuna, taurine, and vitamins): Yeay! She ate the few tablespoons I dished out to try. So, I added it to some more seared snapper torn up small, with her tylan powder, and she licked the bowl. Except for one teaspoon-sized piece of snapper, which no amount of smearing with tuna would entice her to eat. (Wabi liked it though!
)How often should I give the pepcid?
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Oy.
I've just been reading that pred can be dangerous, even in small doses, if there's a lymphoma. After a few years, though, I'd think that would have become apparent. Right?
Someone pm'd me saying scoping is hard on older dogs, and maybe not to do that route. I'll ask about the pred, up, down, or off! Thyroid, too? I'll ask about that, too.
Since her poop has actually improved from acceptable to pretty darn good since putting her on the raw venison mix, I'm wondering if it's not necessarily the IBD that's putting her off her feed at all. The UTI alone might be enough for that, right? Then the antibiotics (got the pepcid). Her teeth are crappy, with lots of receded gum and some exposed roots. I've been waiting for her to get on real solid footing before attacking what's left of her teeth, but maybe that's the wrong way around.
:unsure All I know for sure is, she's not a happy camper right now.
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Wow! So much to consider, much of it contradictory!
My brain hurts! Okay, I'm taking notes, will do some research, will talk to vet, love the idea of a holistic vet, and will look for one.
The devil's in the details, huh?
Question for Claudia: she's been on a low dose of pred for over a year. 5mg once a day. Can you comment on why you think this is causing the problems?
She's also on Tylan powder, low-dose thyroid, and now ciprofloxacin twice a day for the UTI.
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Robin, she is on pred, but a small dose. Blood tests now at the lab should indicate if she needs more (right?)
So, are you saying you feel beef is too close to bison? We haven't had her on a fish diet, yet. That might be next. I'm in research mode (again!)
I'd really like to do raw (especially if I could get someone else to do it for me!
)Thanks, Batmom. Yeay.
)
DH just left for a business trip to Mexico for three days. I hope she's still here when he gets back!
: I've been drowning myself in information, lately. I'm having a hard time remembering what, where, who ... 
Even being more hydrated, she'd lost nearly 2 pounds since Friday. He says, "Xan, it can't go on like this." That's exactly what I was thinking!
Budesonide Is Expensive!
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
The title pretty much says it all: Where do you buy Budesonide, and what are you paying for it?
I had to leave it on the counter at Costco! $361 for 40 3mg capsules! Yowch!