Fruitycake Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Our Allie, nongrey, has "lumpy dog syndrome" (dermal hystiocytosis) and the first remedy didn't work for her (super high doses of Niacin and Doxycycline) so they added in Prednisone to the mix. Started on Saturday, and while I knew that it would likely have effects like making her have to pee...she has to go out every freaking two hours or she'll pee in the house and this is killing us. So, anyone else have a dog that was on Pred that can give me some hope? Is there any hope that her kidneys will calm the freak down and maybe need to go out every 4 hours (or, better yet, 6 or 8)? I know it affects how the kidneys deal with salt, and does anyone know if there's a food out there with excessively low salt amounts to help us get some sleep? Would that even help? I'd be perfectly happy to make something myself with rice and hamburger (and chicken feet for calcium) if it would be any help at all in reducing her need to pee.... After a day and night like yesterday/last night, I'm thinking that I'd rather have a lump of dog than have to deal with taking her out every 2 hours and coming home to gallons of pee when we can't. (Sorry boss, I can't come to work today because my dog needs to pee...all the time. That's covered under FMLA, right? <joke>) And we have no fenced yard, so when she has to go she has to go leashed by a zombie human (by 4 AM I was thinking of just plopping her in the neighbor's backyard and being done with it). (In more humorous observation, I know that the zombie apocalypse has started...at our house. It started around 2 this morning, by the second trip outside.... I promise that I will try not to bite anyone.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmom Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 In my experience, they get used to a given dose in 5-7 days. We usually got @ 6 hours overnight at that time. Quote Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in IllinoisWe miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rascalsmom Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 My dog Jack was on a lot of prednisone (actually prednisolone) after he was diagnosed with intestinal lymphangiectasia. I was taking him out EVERY HOUR during the day, and tried to somewhat restrict his water in the evening....unfortunately Jack was not on it long enough to 'adjust'. He developed blood clots and we had to let him go. Quote Phoebe (Belle's Sweetpea) adopted 9/2/13. Jack (BTR Captain Jack) 9/28/05--11/2/12Always missing Buddy, Ruby, and Rascal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan41 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 My girl was on a prednisone for her last 3 months battling lymphosarcoma. It restored her quality of life while not causing any undue hardship for us. At that point she was waking us up during the night for symptoms related to the disease, not necessarily the prednisone, so we didn't consider it a hardship. Wish she was still here waking me up in the middle of the night. Quote Linda, Mom to Fuzz, Barkley, and the felines Miss Kitty, Simon and Joseph.Waiting at The Bridge: Alex, Josh, Harley, Nikki, Beemer, Anna, Frank, Rachel, my heart & soul, Suze and the best boy ever, Dalton.<p> ....for all those hounds that are sick, hurt, lost or waiting for their forever homes. SENIORS ROCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottydog Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Lumpy dog syndrome isn't the worst thing in the world. (We had it with one of our lab crosses.) The "cure" might be worse than the disease. Prednisone is a very powerful drug with a lot of side effects. If it's just a cosmetic issue (ours had one lump the size of a softball and many small ones) I wouldn't use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_daerr Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/198032-nightime-urination-due-to-prednisone/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitycake Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 (edited) Lumpy dog syndrome isn't the worst thing in the world. (We had it with one of our lab crosses.) The "cure" might be worse than the disease. Prednisone is a very powerful drug with a lot of side effects. If it's just a cosmetic issue (ours had one lump the size of a softball and many small ones) I wouldn't use it. The problem isn't that she has a few lumps, it's that her legs have palpable lumps from eraser sized to large grape sized nearly every inch of the way up, and they're still developing more and now she's got some appearing on her stomach and back and neck. A few of them wouldn't be a problem, but this has gotten really bad in 3 months. We first noticed one on one front leg (about marble sized by that time) and checked the other legs and found probably 5 of them. Now she's got probably 50-60 of the darned things, even though she's been on the niacin and doxy for 2 months, and they're continuing to get bigger as well as more numerous. I am wondering how much worse it could get. I don't mind a lumpy-dog in general, but there's something extremely wrong here and it would be nice to stop it from advancing. At least it's cutaneous at this point (nothing on her internal organs...yet), and not bothering her (no itching, tenderness, etc.) but I just want to know it isn't going to continue to her internal organs. The vet says this is the worst case of cutaneous histiocytosis she has ever seen, and she is surprised that it hasn't appeared on internal organs with as bad as she's getting. Thank you for the link, A_daer! I'd searched, but gave up after 2 pages of links. Edited April 16, 2013 by Fruitycake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sirsmom Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 When our Sir was on Pred. it was a nightmare of peeing all over. We were about to try an alternative med our vet told us about with less side effects, but he crossed the bridge. I can't remember what it was but ask your vet about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawthorn Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 For my boy, it was very much dose-related. When he was on a high dose (100mg daily) we were having to get up several times a night, and he occasionally also went in his sleep, but once we got down to the lower doses we had no problems. For us, the pred saved his life, so getting up in the night seemed a small price to pay. Quote When a relationship of love is disrupted, the relationship does not cease. The love continues; therefore, the relationship continues. The work of grief is to reconcile and redeem life to a different love relationship. ~ W Scott Lineberry Always Greyhounds Home Boarding and Greyhounds With Love House Sitting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitycake Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) I just wanted to say that while Al still wants to drink the equivalent of the Pacific Ocean every time she gets near water, and she needs to go out every 4 hours or so, the lumps have been receeding! The tiny lumps aren't even palpable anymore, the collection (almost "turtle-shell-like") of lumps seem to have mostly disappeared, and the largest of the lumps are considerably smaller! The large grape one is about the size of an eraser, now. I'm glad that our vet didn't immediately throw her on Pred, but am glad that when the other remedies weren't doing anything that we decided to go ahead with it. She has said that when they are gone we might want to keep her on the niacin, but taper the pred and hope they don't come back. YAY! Edited April 19, 2013 by Fruitycake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rascalsmom Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Sounds like great progress! Quote Phoebe (Belle's Sweetpea) adopted 9/2/13. Jack (BTR Captain Jack) 9/28/05--11/2/12Always missing Buddy, Ruby, and Rascal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottydog Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Wow! That's great news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Celestrina Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Where do you get your pred? Our local pharmacy sells it for significantly less than the vet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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