Just thinking of you guys. Sending love. Kim
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Just thinking of you guys. Sending love. Kim
Hi Tina,
How is Jasper doing? Let us hear from you when you can, sweetie.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang
I'm checking in as well and wondering how you and Jasper are.
Thinking of you and sending hugs
Good morning All,
My precious boy is home!! :D My vet decided he was doing well enough and let him go home last evening. I was just too wiped out to post last night, I am so sorry if I caused worry. I know he is home with me now because of all the prayers that surrounded him from all of the Angels here. I don't know how to thank you all.
He is MUCH better, but still not back to normal, which would be expected after he had so much going on. He is getting Hills i/d low fat prescription diet, which he is eating!!! It is so good to see him eat what is in the bowl and not just sniff and walk away. The vet said I can start mixing in his kibble in a day or so, but I am going to wait until he has a completely normal stool before I do that.
He is still having blood, which the vet said would take a few more days to clear. I don't like that of course, but as long as it continues to improve, I will deal with it. He is on Metronidazole 250 mg 1/2 tab twice a day. He has taken this many times in the past, he used to have a problem with colitis, but had not had an episode for more than a year and a half since we switched his food to Blue Buffalo. And never had any blood before, so this was quite scary.
He had another injection of Percorten while he was in the hospital since his resting cortisol is still so low, and his prednisone has been increased from 2.5 mg to 5 mg daily. Again, Marianne, Kim and Leslie, you were spot on about that. Thank you SO much, all of your questions and suggestions prompted me to ask my vet. I asked about getting the resting cortisol to see if the current replacement dose of prednisone was enough since his cortisol had dropped so low, and she agreed it would be a good idea to check it. When it came back still so incredibly low, she said "you were right". I thought, "no, Marianne, Kim and Leslie were right!"
He is also getting Zeniquin 50 mg daily, she decided to start this in case he has a UTI, which if he did, may be contributing to his increased drinking and peeing. Since UTI's are common in Cushpups, and difficult to diagnose with the dilute urine, she just decided to treat. It was started while he was in the hospital so this morning is the third dose.
Now here is the strange thing - I have noticed that since we have been home, he seems to be not drinking very much. It is hard to tell if it is really more like normal and just seems like not enough because he was drinking SO much before, or if it is really not enough. I hope it is nothing to be concerned about, but I will be measuring today. He has only gone to the bowl once since we got up, and that was for just a very brief drink. And last night he just drank a few times. The peeing seems much more normal also. Seems odd since the prednisone was doubled, I would think those issues would be even more increased, and vet said they likely would as well.
To avoid having this post become the next installment of War and Peace, I will post a little later. I want to let you all know what all happened on Wednesday before he was hospitalized.
Again, I don't know how to thank all of you wonderful Angels for all of your love and support. I don't know what I would do without this forum.
Please keep Jasper in your prayers, he has a ways to go, but I am hopeful he will continue to stabilize from this setback and we can continue to work on treating the Cushings and get that stabilized next.
Love and Ginormous Hugs to you all,
Tina and Jasper
Yeah Jasper.... go boy go! Tina, we become very attached as you can tell and it is delicate at times when we have to urge people on... since we are sort of 'strangers' having never met... so we understand any hesitancy people have at taking our advice. LOL Just know our hearts are in the right place and we have seen so much over the years.
I am just so happy and relieved to hear from you... I was getting quite worried last night. I see you have been using Blue Buffalo so I assume that the fat content is fairly low on that food. I meant to mention that sometimes when dogs aren't responding to lysodren we tell people to give it with cheese or other fatty sources because fat somehow helps the lysodren absorb more quickly and be more effective. You might take a looksy at any treats you are giving just to make sure they aren't high in fat given Jasper's sensitivity to lysodren.
My Haley was a walking food machine - she lived for it. (and beer - she loved the smell of it!) Anyway over time I couldn't even give her a tiny piece of white chicken - she'd vomit it right up. It's a cushings thing. Fat intolerance.
OK... enough from me... just so very happy! Time to go put on my red for that game tonight! GBR!!! Kim
Great news on Jasper.....woohoo!!!
yay.. such good news. In fact on my bike ride this morning I said a little prayer for you & Jasper. :)
Woohoo, Jasper!
So glad he is home and hope things settle down very soon!
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang
Thanks so much everyone for the good wishes and continued prayers. My Little Man is hanging in there today so far. He has been eating the prescription diet just fine and has kept all his meds down. Woohoo!!! You guys are so funny, I have always said Woohoo when I am really happy or excited about something, and through the years it has rubbed off on all my friends and they all say it now too. I love it that you guys say it also, it sure gets the feeling across!!
Kim, as far as Jasper's regular food, it says "crude fat 14% min". I don't know if that is necessarily low fat or not. For treats he gets Old Mother Hubbard biscuits. I don't think they are high fat, they are all natural. His soft treats, that I also use to give him his pills, are called Lean Treats. They are labeled as low fat, and I get them at my vets office.
And just so you know, I consider you and others on this site my friends, even though we have never met. The kindness, compassion, caring, and support that you and others have shown Jasper and I can only be considered friendship as far as I am concerned. Not to mention the deep level of understanding we all share when it comes to our furbabies. You guys all "get it", and that is so reassuring.
Ok, back to the game for me. Got my red on too. :D. Go Huskers!!!
Hugs,
Tina and Jasper
Hi Everyone,
Just want to give an update on Jasper. My little guy is hanging in there. He is still not quite back to normal, but is much much better. I got a little worried late Saturday night into Sunday morning when he started to pass more blood again. My vet said to not worry too much about that if it happened, unless it increased significantly, but it is still nerve racking. I stayed home with him all weekend so I could keep a close eye on him. Hard to leave him to go to work today. :(
He seems to be steadily improving each day and I am so thankful. He continues on the prescription food, which he is eating enthusiastically. (Yay!!). :D :) :D :). Tonight I mixed in a bit of his regular food so we will see if he tolerates it ok. His drinking and peeing have decreased to about normal, I am not sure how to explain that since he is continuing on the increased dose of prednisone. He drank an average of about 20 oz of water per day for the last 2 days. He weighed 22.6 lbs at the last check (he has lost about 3 lbs through all of this). He was drinking a whopping 64 to 72 oz per day before he was hospitalized, so I really am at a loss as to why it has decreased so much, but I feel it is a positive sign!
My vet checked in today for a report, and we are going to continue everything as is, including the prednisone at 5 mg daily. She will reassess on Friday, and right now my goal is to have him continue to stabilize and not need to call her before then! She thinks maybe he has has a UTI going on and since we are treating it with an antibiotic, his drinking is normalizing.
I think on Friday she will decide if we should taper him off the prednisone and look at scheduling another stim test to see where we are at with that. I have to be honest, I am scared to death about taking him off the prednisone. I am trying to not think about it, but he has just been through so much with his cortisol bottoming out so badly. I guess I will just have to wait and see what she says.
I appreciate everyones continued prayers for my sweet boy.
Love and Hugs,
Tina and Jasper