Dewey, the Dachshund

[admin]

Hey Marla

What wonderful news about Dewey’s PCV. You must be thrilled to bits! I’m so pleased he is doing so well. I can’t help on the smelly ears I’m afraid but hopefully it’s nothing to worry about. As Sheena said, just keep an eye to make sure there is no inflammation.
Lovely news :)

Mary and Mable x

[Vally]

Doing the happy dance Marla. Onwards and upwards Dewey!!!

If the ears are okay by the vet, you could try adding a little bit of coconut oil to Dewey’s food. Very good for yeasty smells in a dog’s coat, may help for smelly ears. It’s good for them and Dr Dodds has an article on it:
http://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/47127324583/coconut-for-pets#.VdcFJ_mqqko

I’d only start with a tiny amount though as it can cause diarrhear. Bingo now gets a quarter of a teaspoon twice a day. It’s very good for seniors brain function, and I use organic, unrefined, virgin coconut oil and it’s stored in a dark jar.

Vally & “Who’s a senior”
xxx

[admin]

Marla, Marla, Marla – where are you? How is Dewey? I have sent you several e-mails and not heard back from you. Are you all okay? Please let us know.

Sending huge hugs and lots of love, Linda and Sadie

[Marla]

Well I thought I wouldn’t have to bother you all again in Deweys treatment but we are back! Dewey has been doing fabulous with every 2 weeks gently reducing his meds. He has been holding at 37-38 for over a month with great success! It’s almost like having original Dewey back! Same attitude as well as bad manners!! Lol but we love him – flaws and all!! Today we had an appointment to see how he did with his first week without pred. Not good! He dropped to 31. So vet decided to put him back on pred 5mg once daily hoping he won’t go down further! Am I doing something wrong? He seems so good. Am I on the right course of treatment? I seriously thought we were done with this horrible disease! Any advice right now would help me out tremendously !!

[Vally]

Marla, great to hear from you.

Don’t panic and no, you’re not doing anything wrong. What was the pred before stopping? How did you reduce it in other words. Did you do an every second day dosing.

Maybe try a slower reduction than you’ve just done. Spread it out over weeks, even months.

Some dogs do need to stay on it for life. That’s not a problem. As you say, you have your old Dewey back. If it’s 5mg a day or 5mg every second day, that’s a low dose so it won’t be affecting him much at all. If it keeps him good, I say leave it there.

Keep up the bad manners Dewey, and the good work mum.

Vally & Bingo (who’s Vet says a little pred a day keeps an old boy happy!!!)
xxx

[Marla]

It’s so good to hear from you again! Every 2 weeks we were reducing. I thought this was an acceptable slow reduction. Shows what I know! His last dosing was 2.5mg every other day. He’s still on eltroxin and melatonin. His next appointment is on Wednesday but will I know if he’s dropping lower? I thought I would never forget but now seems like such a blur.

[Brigitte]

Hi Marla!
no you are definitely not doing anything wrong! You have done a fantastic job, Dewey came such a long way!
I looked at these numbers and if it were me, I don’t think I would wait until next Wednesday. Just for peace of mind I would do a quick PCV before the weekend. I know you are very observant and would notice if something would be wrong, but always better safe than sorry, right? An every second day 2.5 dose of prednisone seems like a small dose, but maybe because Dewey is such a little fella it was still too much at once? I am not sure. I totally agree with Vally, maybe you have to leave him on a small maintenance dose for ever. That really would not be the end of the world. If the dose is very small, there would not be any side effects except for Dewey feeling well.
Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Marla]

I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of anything has changed for Dewey. The only thing I can think of is that I have been adding new dog kibbles (grain free)to his diet within the last week. Since being diagnosed in May, I’ve been cooking the liver cleansing diet from dr dodds. The vet recommended that I start introducing him back on dog food since his weight is way out of control. I have followed Linda’s advice with tough love and started cutting the amounts of time he gets fed in a day. Poor Dewey doesn’t like that! Last Wednesday when we were at the vet he weighed 12.6kg and with reducing meds and food, today he weighed 12.9kg. I thought that with pred leaving his system he was going to lose some of the weight but instead that number jumped and his pcv dropped! Very confused! Does anyone think that the food could have made his numbers drop to 31? Other than that nothing has changed for him! If anyone wants to jump in on this I would appreciate! Thanks again you guys!!