Vally - 221. page

[Vally]

Sheena, how’s your grinning goofball going with his foot. Still showing off his fancy shoe?

Love Vally & Still Waiting

[Vally]

Oh and the dope fell off the bed last night!!! Why does he love to terrify me sooooo.

[Vally]

First of all, Bingo is great this morning. No issues other than having an mum who is too slow to get his food down on the floor for him. I’m very relieved this morning as yesterday morning he had the smaller dose of 1/8th of a 5mg tablet. Today is big dose day!!! So I will go ahead and skip it tomorrow and see how he copes overnight and into the morning before he gets his big dose again.

Patrice, I am completely okay with him remaining on prednisone. His vet and I are both of the opinion that it’s important that he be comfortable and happy. If that means staying on the drug, so be it! It’s just a matter of seeing where we stop. His vet’s words “A little prednisone keeps an old boy happy”. The original intention had been to stay on 2.5mg daily, but as he looked so good at that, we thought we’d try and take it lower, then lower. So I’m thrilled at this point that he’s now on 0.9mg (average) without taking into account the current skip a day testing which brings it down to a whole 0.8mg (average).

Licorice – I found that it stops cyclosporine working – so that’s out in any event.

Kelp – He does take a supplement which contains kelp and spirulina. The spirulina I had read was a problem with cyclosporine, so I cut this supplement down. I didn’t know about kelp though, so I may just drop the supplement completely now.

Perhaps we need a herbal warning set up somewhere here too because I know that’s one of the first things I look to for help with any problem, dog or human. We all want the miracle cure and be able to ditch the drugs but the herbs themselves need a lot of research as (as you point out) they can, on occasion do more harm than good.

Ruth, thank you so much for your comment. Yes it was a lovely day. My nephew was totally relaxed the whole day and enjoyed himself.

This disease has certainly left a scar which hurts at times. Any little thing (and it is minute when compared to the early day battles) and it’s panic stations again. Yes Sheena we would have paid anything to see them bounding about and grumpy because he’s NOT getting his sixth treat for the morning.

Lots of love, Vally & Happy – or maybe that’s Happy & Happy

[Vally]

Ruth, Yes home is the best place for her now for lots of spoiling. Just want to check about her meds. Is she on stomach protection. You didn’t mention it in the email for the medicine chart. Bingo ended up with stomach ulcers from the prednisone. It’s very important.

With timing of doses, as Bingo never needed aspirin, I’m not sure whether aspirin can be given with other meds or food? I’ve charted it up but I’ve kept the aspirin separate. If there’s no need to keep it away from food or drugs, it makes things that much easier. What I charted was:
7am prednisolone (with food)
8am aspirin
6pm aspirin
7pm pred (with food)
9pm atopica

Can anyone spot a problem with the dosing?

By the way Atopica ideally should be given at least 1 hour before food or at least 2 hours after food. If Nula has trouble stomaching the Atopica though, I believe it can be given with a small amount of food, and I’ve also read that freezing the Atopica 1/2 hour before dosing helps if they have trouble stomaching it.

Enjoy yourselves. Nula, I think there’s another biscuit with your name on it!!!

Love Vally & Bingo

[Vally]

Lynda, I too am wondering about whether Cyclosporine has been tried. At this stage with no progress, something needs to be done differently the treatment given so far. Cyclosporine seems to be the drug of choice with this disease now.

Also wondering about an emergency vet. PCV of 10 is way too low to be looking after Honey yourself. As Patrice said, you definitely need a back-up. The vets looking after Honey, are they specialists? That much such a difference with Bingo. We went on for months at his local vet and they couldn’t work out what was wrong with him. He wasn’t critical at that point though. When they suggested an internal specialist, the specialist had the problem worked out immediately.

Regards, Vally

[Vally]

Marcella, I’ve just seen Emberlee’s picture. She really was a beautiful girl.

Vally

[Vally]

Thanks Samantha, you know I still feel so guilty about that.

[Vally]

I think these are probably what we call cane toads Linda. They originally came from South America and were imported here to control pests. Well that worked didn’t it.