cello
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Diane I just saw this thread. I am so sorry that Huston has been ill. I will send you many prayers and good thoughts for a full recovery.
Hugs,
Carol Ann.
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Jennifer the really strange thing is that the Prednisone did absolutely NOTHING to help increase Lady's appetite! Her vet said that it was very unusual, as almost anyone on pred has a significant increase in their appetite! Since she has been sick Lady's has gone from a wee bit picky to an eating nightmare! Today was particularly bad and oh so trying on me. She finally finished dinner at about 9pm.
A virtual party would be awesome!
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Greyt news!
Lady is also doing well. We are at the one year mark this week in dealing with PLE and Lymphangiectasia. Lady's check up last week at her Internal Medicine specialist went well, and her blood tests are all completely normal! We did have her weaned down to 10mg of Prednisone twice a week, but her blood protein levels fell at that dosage, so we had to raise her back up to 10mg three times per week. That seems to be the dosage that she needs to maintain normal protein levels.
As far as eating .... well things still somewhat suck in that department. She still hates the two prescription foods that she has to eat, but pasta is keeping her going. This past month I had to reduce the kibble a little and increase the pasta to keep her eating. Even with the mirtazapine appetite stimulant, getting Lady to eat is a huge daily challenge. I admit that there are some days when the first thing I think of when I wake up is "Oh great. I need to get Lady to eat again." It is difficult to know what is the disease and what is behavior related. She wants me to scoop out a handful of food at a time and put it on the dog bed she is lying on. It has to have the exactly correct ratio of kibble to pasta or she won't even touch it. She eats half a meal then refuses to eat any more. Later I give the other half to her on her bed in the family room, and then she will eat it out of the bowl.
Lady's weight dropped by one kilogram (2.2 pounds) over the past eight weeks, but the vet is still happy. Lady had actually gained seven pounds more than her starting weight, so she still has some extra. Her normal weight was 69 pounds and she is now 74 pounds. (She has always been the size of a male Greyhound.)
Next vet appointment with her specialist is in 3-4 months, so that is a great deal of progress!! I am not fooling myself. I know that this is a disease that will likely one day take her life, but for the moment, she is happy and as healthy as she can be. Her tenth birthday is exactly six months away. I told the vet that that was my next goal - to see her turn 10 years old. The vet said that HER goal was for much longer! I hope that she is right.
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Riley LOVES his Busy Buddy bone toys. We have four. He will collect all four and take them to his prefered bed. Sometimes his sissie Lady wants one. She takes it. He steals it back! They have lasted for many years.
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Pudge
in Remembrance
Ducky I am so sorry that Pudge had to leave you. But what a beautiful story her life with you was. You were both blessed to have had each other.
Sending many hugs,
Carol Ann.
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Background: Our nine year old girl Lady has been dealing with Protein Losing Enteropathy and Lymphangiectasia since April 2013. We discovered her illness during routine blood work before a dental. Good thing we did the blood tests as our vet said that she would have likely bled out during the extractions since her protein was so low. We took her to a large specialty vet clinic to see a Board Certified Internal Medicine specialist. We did more blood tests, then she had an ultrasound. Our IM vet says that PLE and Lymphangiectasia cannot be accurately diagnosed without doing biopsies, so we then did an endoscopy with lots and lots of biopsies.
Treatment:
Lady was immediately put on an extremely low fat diet of prescription kibble. We use a combination of Hills ID Low Fat Restore and Royal Canine Gastrointestinal Low Fat. Lady hates both of these kibbles, but they are literally our only choices. Our vet has allowed me to add plain boiled pasta and boneless/skinless chicken breasts to augment the tasteless kibble. Lady now gets about 1.5 cups of a mix of the two kibbles, plus a generous one cup of pasta, plus one ounce of chicken for each meal. She eats it grudgingly and it takes at least four tries to get the two meals into her. This is a HUGE improvement from where we were last spring. At one point I was feeding her one kibble at a time by hand. It was awful. Feeding her took me close to four hours each and every day. Then we added the pasta and life improved! She starting gaining back some of the ten pounds she lost and life was much better for everyone.
Lady started out on 40mg of prednisone each day. In most dogs pred makes them ravenous. With Lady, it completely shut down any appetite at all. We had to add an appetite stimulant to get her to eat anything. Almost one year later we are down to 10mg of prednisone three times a week. We did have her down to twice a week, but her protein levels dropped a bit and she was eating even worse. She is still on the appetite stimulant. She goes back to see her IM vet at the end of this month, and we will see if adding back that third prednisone dose each week has helped her protein levels to rebound.
This is a horrible disease to deal with. We know that there is no cure - only the hope of a remission of sorts. I have lived the past 11 months feeling like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thank God that at least for right now, I have my happy bouncy girl still with us. Eating will always be a challenge, but other than those issues, you would never know just how sick Lady really is. She has gained back all the lost weight plus an extra four pounds! Her coat is now shiny and healthy looking and her belly has lost the prednisone pouch.
I sincerely wish you the best of luck. Please feel free to PM if I can be of any help.
Carol Ann.
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I am so sorry.
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I used a Medipaw for Specky when she had her toe amputated. Love that product!
http://medivetproducts.com/products/#medipaw
Specky used the RED MEDIUM size.
The boot is expensive, but it saw Specky through her toe amp, and my foster through a seven week broken leg repair.
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Gracie Rose, you brought so much joy to so many people during your life. You will be missed by the many people who loved you and your fun loving ways.
Charla I hope that all the special memories that you have of Gracie Rose will bring you comfort in the days ahead.
Many Hugs,
Carol Ann & Riley Roo
Miss Charla? Dis here is Riley Roo talking. I am so sad dat Gracie Rose had to leave you. She was da bestest girlie friend a guy could ebber ask for. I will miss her so much.
Hugs,
Riley ub da broken
hearted Roo. 
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Our girl Lady was diagnosed through endoscopy last April with PLE - Protein Losing Enteropathy, and Lymphangiectasia. She is only allowed to eat special prescription ultra low fat kibble made by either Hills or Royal Canine. Both kibbles are like cardboard since they have almost no fat (ie. no taste) in them. She hates them. I too tried the grinding of the kibble, but took it to a new level by mixing the ground kibble with cooked boneless skinless chicken breast meat and broth and baking it on cookie sheets. We broke the sheets of food up into cookie size pieces and she ate them for a while. Finally her Internal Medicine specialist allowed me to add boiled plain pasta to her diet. I firmly believe that adding the pasta saved Lady's life. She finally started to gain back some of the weight she lost and now eats fairly well. Not great, but enough.
For us, we know that Lady will never truly be well again ever. We will be walking a fine line of balancing her nutritional needs and keeping her in what I guess could be called a remission or sorts. Luckily we have been able to reduce her prednisone dose from 40mg per day to 20mg per week. Fingers crossed that she continues to tolerate this new lower level that we started four weeks ago. About every third week she has an 'issue' and we have to give her Tylan Powder antibiotic for five days to calm her digestive track down again.
I wish you good luck. Having a dog with these kinds of issues is not an easy road. At the height of her illness I was spending about four hours each day trying to get enough food into Lady to keep her alive. Now I probably only spend about 30 minutes, so this seems like bliss!!
Carol Ann.
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Goodbye EZ. You were loved by so very many people.
Robin and Garrett I hope that the wonderful memories you have of EZ will bring you comfort in the days ahead.
Many hugs,
Carol Ann.
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I have not watched the segment yet, but one thing comes to mind. Veterinary practices have changed SO much over the last 20 years or so. Think about it, it used to be that you took your dog to the vet once each year for his shots and a check up. If they got hurt or obviously ill then you took them back - but more than likely that was a one way trip if the dog was very ill. You went by what the vet said - expensive tests and cancer surgery and chemo were not routine suggestions from your local vet. There was health care for people, and health care for your pets and no one expected them to be at the same level. You fed them Purina Dog Chow, gave them giant rawhide bones and table scraps. They were the family pet - we loved them, but our entire lives did not revolve around them. And surprise, surprise they lived to 14!
Fast forward to today. Modern veterinary techniques have advanced to the point where Fido can have pretty much the exact same treatment for the same conditions as a person can have. If you can afford it. If you want to put your pet through that.
So now we are left with the ethical dilemma of where do you draw the line? Are you a bad person if you make the decision to euthanize instead starting a painful and expensive treatment plan? Do we have the moral imperative to seek out the latest and greatest experimental treatment to show our pets how much we love them? Should we blindly agree to whatever tests and procedures the vet recommends without thought to cost? Do we take out a second mortgage so that Fido can live an extra six months? Dogs are not linear thinkers - they do not mourn the fact that they will die tomorrow because all they can think of is the pain that they are in today. You cannot rationalize with a pet that they must go through pain now but that there is a chance that they will live to see more tomorrows.
The potential costs of having a pet now a days are much higher than they used to be years ago. On the one hand we are all thrilled that our beloved Fido can live longer and healthier. On the other hand, at least for those of us who have lived with catastrophic illness in our pets, the risk of future vet bills can keep us awake at night. I'm really not sure where the happy medium is this equation lies, but I guess it is different for each of us depending on many factors.
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One thing that I now do, is I keep a very tall wooden baby gate just outside the slider that we use to come in and out of the yard. Whenever we go out, I slide it in front of the door as a more evident visual reminder to the hounds.
Hoping that Robin is just busy today and iker is alright.
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SO glad that he seems to be fine. A friend of mine lost a hound from doing just that. Instantly.
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Awesome update!!! So happy for you and your girlie!
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Prayers for Molly.
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We just went through this with our 10.5 year old girl Specky. She had a 10cm mass on her spleen, with nodules on the liver. Chest rads were clear, so we opted to do the splenectomy to give her a chance since splenic tumors are 50/50 benign/cancerous. We took our boy Riley in right before the surgery (this was all done on an urgent basis the day of the ultrasound) to donate blood for her. Specky unfortunately did not have a good outcome. Her liver was much more involved than the ultrasound indicated, and we decided to let her go while still under the general anesthesia.
I most sincerely hope and pray that your Molly has a better outcome and gets to enjoy a lot more time with you.
Hugs,
Carol Ann.
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I am so very sorry.
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I am very sorry to hear about Maya's illness.
I too have a girlie that has low protein. Her name is Lady and she was diagnosed six months ago at age 8.5. The low protein was found during routine blood work for a dental, since we thought that that was the reason that she was eating so poorly. We did numerous blood tests, and were referred to the animal specialty hospital here. The internal medicine specialist started with an abdominal ultrasound and then did an endoscopy. They took lots of samples from her intestinal tract during the endoscopy, and sent them off for pathology. The results showed that what she has is called Protein Losing Enteropathy and Lymphangiectasia. We are treating these conditions with an extremely low fat diet of prescription kibble, and with prednisone. After six months, she has now gained back all the weight she lost, and her blood protein levels are in the low normal range. We have been able to reduce her pred to 10mg every other day.
I hope and pray that you find the answers for your girl, and that she too can be treated. Lady's condition will never 'get better' - it will be a chronic lifelong condition that we manage. If Maya ends up with the same condition, please feel free to contact me if you need any support.
Carol Ann.
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Check where ever you throw your poop bags after walks.
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Specky Mekker - ZMS Ugo Jo Speck 4/1/2003 - 10/21/2013
It is with great sadness, and broken hearts, that we share that Specky had to leave us to start her journey across the Rainbow Bridge. She was 10.5 years old.
A large tumor on her spleen, and nodules on her liver were found while doing a splenectomy. She passed peacefully.
Specky has always been a whirlwind of fun and games! Never before had we seen a dog spin in a circle, on top of an ottoman, while tossing a toy in the air - and catching it. Her zest for life was shared with everyone who met her. She was our 'party hardy' girlie - always ready to chase a squirrel or throw a toy or give your face a thorough washing. She was the very best kisser! Whether we were gone five minutes or five hours Specky met us with joy on her face and kisses galore.
Our home will be so quiet now without our noisy, loving, special girl. Thank you Specky for giving us eight years of being a part of your crazy, wild and fun life. We will miss you always. Until we meet again.
Carol Ann & Dan.
Specky's famous You Tube video of her 'surfing' on the living room area rug!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zviQY3WGC4
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We had to let Specky go on Monday. She had a large tumor on her spleen, and while doing a splenectomy numerous liver tumors were found.
Thank you for all the help and suggestions. I just wish we could have saved our special girl.
Carol Ann.
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Here is an alternate recipe that I am using.
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Thank you! I am going to go and get the wheat germ and molasses for this next batch. Specky has an appointment with the vet tomorrow, and we will see where we go from here, but likely an abdominal ultrasound.
Carol Ann.
hearted Roo. 
Slick Arrow Aka Dammit Arrow 2/14/01 - 7/2/14
in Remembrance
Posted
I am so very sorry Judy. Arrow will always remain a part of your heart - never forgotten.
Hugs,
Carol Ann.