Ibd - Happy Starving!

[Guest vahoundlover]

Happy eating AND money to pay your vet bill and a bit left over

[Guest MZH]

Here's a tip drummed into me by a nurse anesthetist friend of mine who has a very scientific, measured approach to medicine. It's worked wonders for her own greyhounds and has helped mine too. She always reminds me of this: "Whatever you do, when you add or take away meds and supplements, do it one at a time and not every day. If you make even just two changes at the same time, you won't know which change affected them positively or negatively." It's hard to do!

 

Happy's eating and drinking, so if she were mine I wouldn't change a thing right now! I kind of disagree that all the meds are making her worse after hearing that's she's eaten as much as our healthy girl greyhound eats. She hardly ever drinks either, BTW.

 

The xray on Friday will tell you lots! PS. If you decide to go to another vet for a second opionion, you'll need copies of blood work so you might as well get them on Friday. If you ask for them the second you walk in, they'll have time to make copies to hand you when you leave.

[Guest FLT]

Yay for pulled pork!! Nom nom, happy pup!

[TinyMityMo]

hang in there Happy

[rschultz]

lexie has been on the tylan powder over a year 1/2-1 tsp with each meal (twice a day) When i try to take her off it her colitis acts up. I also use dried beet pulp with her food which someone on here mentioned. Will she eat salmon?I don't know if that is good for greys but mine sure seems to love it. I just give her a cooked piece once in awhile. Maybe mix some with kibble to get her to eat? Prayers for u at success.

[krissn333]

Xan, my eyes watered with happiness as I read your update...I imagine you had the inkling to do a great big happy dance! What a good girl! Fingers crossed that her appetite continues to be that good!

[greyhead]

Called the vet. He's sick and out of the office, but good ol' Elsa said she'd call him at home to ask about the naltrexone (and the other things I asked, but she didn't bother with that - oh well). He said, yes, go ahead, since I have it (THANKS ahicks! ), and agreed that an xray on Friday is the thing to do. So, we have an appointment, and it looks like she'll live to see it.

What's the naltrexone for? I musta missed somethin'.

 

SO happy she's eating! Keep us posted. It's hard not to worry about you girls.

[Guest lynne893]

I do not mean to scare you or overreact myself, but our beloved Timber had the same symptoms for quite some time, and it turns out she had alimentory lymphoma (lymphoma of the GI tract).

 

Has Happy had an ultrasound done of her abdomen? That's what diagnosed our poor Timber, who only had a month to live

 

I am sorry to be Debbie Downer, but I just worry about other greys going through what we went through and I wanted to put it out there to you to talk to your vet about it.

 

Hugs, and good wishes.

Lynne

[Xan]

Xan, My vet did a blood count, and an ultrasound. When he saw the mass, he aspirated it, all that came out was blood & pus. His WBC was 90,000 vs 10,000 which showed there was an "absess, infection or cancer". (I'm looking at my daytimer) His fever was 103. At one point the WBC got up to 100,000. The day before his surgery to remove the tumor, he was depressed, wouldn't eat, running a fever & his stomach was enlarged.

The tumor was attached to his liver.

Wow. Well, he didn't mention such high WBC. I'm sure he would have, since we both mentioned the possibility of cancer. Not conclusive, of course, and I guess we'll find out more on Friday.

 

Wow, pulled pork, huh??

 

I love the stuff! :-))

 

Hope this is a break for you guys, and Happy continues eating! If she is drinking, I'd add the Gatorade 50%/H2O 50%. Good Luck and lots of love!

Okay, here's the good news: She has eaten a total of 4 cups of food today, by my estimation. She ate ... A POUND AND A HALF of pork (some pulled, then some "natural" deli slices). Yowza!

 

Here's a tip drummed into me by a nurse anesthetist friend of mine who has a very scientific, measured approach to medicine. It's worked wonders for her own greyhounds and has helped mine too. She always reminds me of this: "Whatever you do, when you add or take away meds and supplements, do it one at a time and not every day. If you make even just two changes at the same time, you won't know which change affected them positively or negatively." It's hard to do!

 

Happy's eating and drinking, so if she were mine I wouldn't change a thing right now! I kind of disagree that all the meds are making her worse after hearing that's she's eaten as much as our healthy girl greyhound eats. She hardly ever drinks either, BTW.

 

The xray on Friday will tell you lots! PS. If you decide to go to another vet for a second opionion, you'll need copies of blood work so you might as well get them on Friday. If you ask for them the second you walk in, they'll have time to make copies to hand you when you leave.

Good idea.

Yes, the scattershot approach we've taken is blurring the picture, but maybe it's everything together helping. For now.

 

As DH says, it's no time yet to go over the moon. She's been bumping along for awhile, up and down. I am philosophical, and yet I have hope. We'll see what we see.

 

lexie has been on the tylan powder over a year 1/2-1 tsp with each meal (twice a day) When i try to take her off it her colitis acts up. I also use dried beet pulp with her food which someone on here mentioned. Will she eat salmon?I don't know if that is good for greys but mine sure seems to love it. I just give her a cooked piece once in awhile. Maybe mix some with kibble to get her to eat? Prayers for u at success.

Wow! I've only been giving 1/2t with meals! That seems like a lot. But if it works, then it works! Glad to know you've gotten your girl's colitis mostly under control.

 

Xan, my eyes watered with happiness as I read your update...I imagine you had the inkling to do a great big happy dance! What a good girl! Fingers crossed that her appetite continues to be that good!

 

What's the naltrexone for? I musta missed somethin'.

 

SO happy she's eating! Keep us posted. It's hard not to worry about you girls.

Naltrexone in low doses seems to help to support immune function, and helps with IBD, but they're not sure how it works. At least, I don't know enough of the lingo to make sense of it.

 

I'm actually going to hold off on it, just now. Like Marcia said, things are going good right now. Let's not fix what isn't broken. We hope. For now. It's ready at any time I change my mind.

 

Now, let's hope I can find a store to sell me more pork tomorrow!

Pogo is howling. I'm not supposed to be out here after he's been tucked in bed!

Nighty night, all.

 

Lynne (missed your post!), I guess we'll find that out on Friday. I'm so sorry about your Timber.

[krissn333]

Good to not add more right now...sounds like you might have the right combo!

 

Did you note what time of day it was when she was so happy to eat? Maybe also make note of if she'd been doing anything directly before (had she just had a nice poop? Maybe a small romp in the yard? etc...).

 

Oh, Mr. Pogo, your ma is coming to bed now! (I pulled out a green fleece blankie here last night and it reminded me of the "P" embroidered blanket we sent for Pogo back when he was still "Puppy" )

[Guest Energy11]

Morning! How is she today? How are you?

 

 

[duncan41]

I am thankful that we are all here to wish Xan, Happy and her family a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that today brings another improvement, no matter how small, in Happy's condition. Sending healing white light and prayers and hugs of comfort.

 

[greyhead]

I am thankful that we are all here to wish Xan, Happy and her family a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that today brings another improvement, no matter how small, in Happy's condition. Sending healing white light and prayers and hugs of comfort.

Same here!

[galgrey]

Wonderful to hear Happy is eating! I will continue to send out all manners of good thoughts for your sweet girl.

 

[CaliforniaGreys]

I am thankful that we are all here to wish Xan, Happy and her family a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that today brings another improvement, no matter how small, in Happy's condition. Sending healing white light and prayers and hugs of comfort.

Same here!

 

Ditto here as well!

[Xan]

Good to not add more right now...sounds like you might have the right combo!

 

Did you note what time of day it was when she was so happy to eat? Maybe also make note of if she'd been doing anything directly before (had she just had a nice poop? Maybe a small romp in the yard? etc...).

 

Oh, Mr. Pogo, your ma is coming to bed now! (I pulled out a green fleece blankie here last night and it reminded me of the "P" embroidered blanket we sent for Pogo back when he was still "Puppy" )

I've been keeping a record of everything for the last week and a half or so. I can't make heads or tails of it, really.

 

This morning, not so enthusiastic, though she ate a little of the deli ham. She also drank on her own. Yeay! But, and this is downright amazing, she hasn't pooped since night before last!

 

Still have all my fingers crossed we're going in generally the right direction, which will make baking this double layer vegan pumpkin cheesecake tricky, but whatcha gonna do?

[RobinM]

When Beau was put on the pred in the very beginning, he would eat 4 pounds of fish a day and little to no poop because he was starting to absorb with was a wonderful thing. I hope the same thing is happeneing with Happy.

[Xan]

Thanks Robin. That's what I was hoping.

She did have D this evening. Really, how could she not?? So much pork and bbq sauce? Not nearly representative of how much she ate, but still D.

However, she also did not eat today. I hope tomorrow's xrays are revealing.

*sigh*

[Guest Energy11]

Good Luck tomorrow with the x-rays, and lots of love from us here.

 

 

[ahicks51]

What's the naltrexone for? I musta missed somethin'.

 

SO happy she's eating! Keep us posted. It's hard not to worry about you girls.

Naltrexone in low doses seems to help to support immune function, and helps with IBD, but they're not sure how it works. At least, I don't know enough of the lingo to make sense of it.

 

I'm actually going to hold off on it, just now. Like Marcia said, things are going good right now. Let's not fix what isn't broken. We hope. For now. It's ready at any time I change my mind.

 

Naltrexone is a bit of a stab in the dark; it's been around for decades as a drug used to manage opiate drug addiction. It blocks the "high" by logjamming the opiate receptors on cells.

 

For some reason, when used in very small doses (1/10th that used for managing opiate addiction), naltrexone has some odd effects on the immune system. For one, beta endorphin levels go up. For another, it seems to cause cells to create more opiate receptors on their surface.

 

The net upshot is that it has been used off-label for management of IBD in humans, as well as for a number of other autoimmune disorders including multiple sclerosis, ALS, lupus, etc. It has also shown some merit in combating cancer- probably one of the benefits of its immune-boosting properties.

 

On the bright side, it's safe, has virtually no side effects, and only one drug interaction: opiate painkillers (including Tramadol), which is a shame as it would be an ideal candidate with respect to management of osteo otherwise. On the down side, it takes a while for it to take hold, so it's a "long and slow" drug in terms of its benefits.

 

Very good to hear Xan is eating.

[Guest tammara]

I just read through all this this morning... How much you have been through. I hope you get some answers today.

[Xan]

What's the naltrexone for? I musta missed somethin'.

 

SO happy she's eating! Keep us posted. It's hard not to worry about you girls.

Naltrexone in low doses seems to help to support immune function, and helps with IBD, but they're not sure how it works. At least, I don't know enough of the lingo to make sense of it.

 

I'm actually going to hold off on it, just now. Like Marcia said, things are going good right now. Let's not fix what isn't broken. We hope. For now. It's ready at any time I change my mind.

 

Naltrexone is a bit of a stab in the dark; it's been around for decades as a drug used to manage opiate drug addiction. It blocks the "high" by logjamming the opiate receptors on cells.

 

For some reason, when used in very small doses (1/10th that used for managing opiate addiction), naltrexone has some odd effects on the immune system. For one, beta endorphin levels go up. For another, it seems to cause cells to create more opiate receptors on their surface.

 

The net upshot is that it has been used off-label for management of IBD in humans, as well as for a number of other autoimmune disorders including multiple sclerosis, ALS, lupus, etc. It has also shown some merit in combating cancer- probably one of the benefits of its immune-boosting properties.

 

On the bright side, it's safe, has virtually no side effects, and only one drug interaction: opiate painkillers (including Tramadol), which is a shame as it would be an ideal candidate with respect to management of osteo otherwise. On the down side, it takes a while for it to take hold, so it's a "long and slow" drug in terms of its benefits.

 

Very good to hear Xan is eating.

Xan has no trouble eating (that would be me). It's Happy I'm worried about.

Ahicks, the one side-effect you listed was some sleeplessness the first week. Why give it before bedtime, then? I wanted to pm you but your box was full.

 

I should have given her some last night, but the truth is, I forgot. I was sitting there watching her be uncomfortable, shifting around, running over everything I could offer her, had offered her, dosed her with, had left to dose her with ... and didn't even think of the naltrexone. I swear, my brain is mush.

 

It's been a long sad night, again. Poor Happy!

[Batmom]

 

Sending more prayers and some hugs too.

[Guest Energy11]

Sending love and hugs for you and Happy today.

[Remolacha]