Jump to content

Trudy

Administrator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,886

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Trudy

    Symptoms?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    If you haven't been to the vet with him yet, that would be step 1.

     

    Before Ryan got sick, he was a cold weather dog. He did not like walks when the temps were over 60 - it was too warm for him, so he'd be hot. Walk when it was 40 or 50 out and he was a happy dog.

    Now... if we can do a mile at a normal pace, it is a good day, regardless of temp. But we are back down to only being able to walk around the block again due to his leg issue. Soon we'll get back to that mile again and work up from there.

     

     

    As it gets hotter there, you are going to need to adjust the time you walk him so you are doing it when it is cooler out or do short walks when it is too hot and humid out.

    Boston North Vet

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I don't, but there is a great vet in Salem at Harthowrn Animal Hospital. He owned greys himself, one had died before I started going there and the other may well have died as well. If KJH sees this, she will know better as she still goes there (I've moved to NY since).

    Salem isn't too far away, but I can see wanting a closer vet.

    Give them a try and if you don't like them, there are lots of good options around the area.

    Stanley Is Limping

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Ryan was in pain from his hock since Saturday. I have Tramadol in the house but wouldn't give him anything until we knew what was causing the pain. I didn't want him not feeling so bad and trying to use his leg and have that turn into a bigger problem. Once the vet saw him, he said we could go ahead and start giving him tramadol again so he COULD use his leg more.

     

     

    Sometimes a limp is just a limp.

    Another Piece Of The Puzzle

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    We talked to the vet for a while when we picked him up. Good chance there may be an e.coli infection causing this. He was treated for e.coli in Oct. If it grows in these latest samples, we'll be treating him for 6 months.

     

    We'll recheck his protein levels again in 2 months. HOpefully we find something this week from his samples and can treat it. If we can't treat what ever seems to be causing his issues (instead of just treating the issues as they appear), he'll likely be heading for kidney failure this year.

    Another Piece Of The Puzzle

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Seems we are working on a very large puzzle - wonder how many more pieces he has to go through to figure it all out?

     

    Ryan's hock started to swell up on Saturday. We didn't see him do anything to it. You could see a faint bruise and it hurt him to put weight on it, so I didn't think it was a result of him having more clots again.

    Brought him in this morning and they kept him for the afternoon.

    X-rays showed that the swelling was coming from the joint. So he tapped the joint for a sample. It looked abnormal to him, so he pulled some to send out to the lab for testing and kept a sample to culture as well.

     

    He thinks this is all part of the same thing - that we are still getting more info on what is causing him to leak so much protein. We've already treated for a few things that could cause the swelling of the joint, his edema a couple of months ago, his clots... his issues. He's still having issues, so that sort of rules out those things as the culprit.

     

    During pre-surgery bloodwork this morning, the found his albumin level has decreased to below normal now (normal 2.0). He's at 1.6. If he drops to 1.0 or below, that really isn't good. His protein/creatinine ratio was 9.6 in October and 6.something 2 weeks ago. That's getting better (should be less than 1.0), but still very high.

     

    So we are back to things not looking so great for Ryan :(

    Kidney Diets

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Anyway... I've not always been a big fan of kidney diets early in kidney disease unless there is protein loss in the urine but now I'd rethink things a bit:

    So Bill, what is your take on change of diet without evidence of kidney issues, but loss of protein in the urine?

    Ryan's protein level check in Oct was 9.6. Brought in a sample a week or two ago and it is still quite high, but dropped down to 6.? (was 6.something, don't remember and don't have copies of that yet).

    Ryan was on Evo when he started having all his issues. I kept asking about changing his food and the vet didn't want to change anything while he was doing so badly and his opinion was protein levels in the kibble wasn't much a concern. I changed him anyway to the new wheat free Nutro for other reasons. He'll eat anything, but he seems to be doing better on the Nutro than he was on the Evo.

    Protein Level And High Blood Pressure?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    If your vet does surgery, they likely have the ability to do BP checks as I would think (just a guess) that vets would monitor BPs during surgery. I know my vet does.

     

    And correct, you will not get an accurate BP read if a dog is standing - kind of like how a person needs to have a relaxed arm for BP readings... standing is not relaxed due to the pressure.

    Ryan did about a 30 min BP study at our vet in Oct/Nov. I brought in a nasty raw marrow bone and he followed me into the ER where the vet laid out a bunch of blankets on the floor for us, hooked Ryan up and left. Each time he walked in, Ryan's BP spiked :lol

     

    We had the option of laying down outside as well since Ryan is very nervous at the vet, but it was quite chilly that day.

    Henry Is Sick Tonight...

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Seizure meds don't have to be given with food. If he's had BigD and is puking, if is best to skip a meal (still give meds and if you have to give a bit of food that's fine, but not a full meal) to let the stomach settle down.

    You can also give a pepcid with seizure meds with no problems.

     

    He's been on KBr for quite some time - the issues you are seeing are likely from travel

     

     

    I've never been told to give Ryan anything before KBr and he's never had an issue taking his meds without a pepcid.

    Urine Test Results

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Just a thought and likely isn't an issue since you are feeding kibble...

     

    Ryan was doing something similar - he would be peeing in the house and didn't even seem to know he was peeing. Our normal vet wasn't available, so we got the other one in the office. She kept telling me to do all these crazy expensive tests and she was convinced he had something wrong with his liver. I was not.

    Somebody mentioned kelp powder causing an issue in their dog.

    Ryan was being raw fed at the time and was getting a small amt of kelp powder. As soon as I stopped giving him that, he stopped peeing.

    Scooter Had 2 Major Seizures Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    gabapentin is another option.

     

     

    How long has he been on KBr and Ph? It can take a while to get the dosage right to get the right levels in his blood. If you've had his levels tested recently and he was not at the high end of therapeutic, I'd try upping dosages first. If it hasn't been done in a while, I'd check his levels before adding in another drug

×
×
  • Create New...