Cairo, 8 year old staffordshire bull terrier just diagnosed

I feel absolutely sick with worry (and all this worry isnt' doing my Addison's any good). I've got to pop out this afternoon so I'm wondering if I should go into the other vet and ask them about their experience with cushy pups.

I would, and ask if they are willing to work with a knowledgeable owner?? I just looked on Dr. Mark Petersons blog. This is what he says:
Stopping the prednisone abruptly can cause destabilization of the metabolism. So that is your answer, he must be gradually taken off. The recommended rescue dose is 0.1- 0.2 mg. Any polydipsia or polyuria going on you must reduce the dose. You will need to get Cairo's file, so the new vet can look it over. Just be
honest and tell them your concerns about Cairo's safety. Wishing you luck, and hoping this new vet will be a better choice for you and Cairo, as you don't want the same situation you just had. Blessings
Patti

We're arguing with ourselves about the 2 x 10mg pred doses a day. He had 10mg this morning and certainly seems more like himself but we're not sure about the 10mg at night. My mum's wondering if we should give him just 5mg instead of the 10mg and instead of not giving him any. The peeing seems to have calmed down as well. Yesterday he seemed to be desperate for a pee all the time but today it's a lot more normal.

I will certainly be querying about weaning him down. My mum says to wait till we take him back to our vet on Friday and see what she says and if we're not happy, then we'll hot foot it to the other vet. I know what she means but I'm still worrying

I would think you could tell if he needs the pred tonite or not. If he seems to be backsliding, I would give what the vet recommended. ;)

In another one of his responses I read that some vets prescribe higher doses to help with inflammation , etc. for a short term use only for a few days and then gradually reduce the amount down (usually by half each decrease) to the ideal maintenance dosage. So I hope that's what your vet is doing to jump start his system tho 20mg seems quite high.
I wouldn't know how but if you do, maybe you can try to get on Dr. Peterson's blog and ask him and see what he says? Google - Q&A: what's the ideal prednisone dose for dogs with Addison's diease? - and go from there and I hope you will be successful talking to him. You will see many links to him.
In regards getting a new vet, how about try to find a good IMS (you may have to travel a long distance) and get a consultation? If your vet is otherwise nice and willing to work with you, follow the new IMS's direction on how to treat Cairo from now on but get all testings done by your regular vet as that will save you a lot of money. Be upfront about it with your vet and all three of you are going to work as a team to treat precious Cairo. You may need a referral from your vet but you're not obligated to see who she normally refers her patients to. You can research and find the one you like and it could end up who she recommends.
That's what I ended up doing with my dog and the costs are less than half with our regular vet. She just performs tests for us and I must say she is not thrilled about it as far as I can tell. When I think about my Ginger's well being and I'm her ONLY voice, magically it takes all the fears away that I had toward any professional and I become brave:eek: to my surprise. You just have to make her understand that you, the owner makes the final decision for YOUR dog and not her.

I hope Cairo gets better really soon but be patient as it takes time, weeks or months to find out what's really going on inside their body and how to stabilize their whacked hormonal balance back to ideal level. I'm so sorry you have go through all this but things will get better. I will pray for you and Cairo.

Thanks all. I'm just away to take him for his evening outing so I'll see how he is. If he has less energy than this morning, we'll maybe give him 5mg instead of 10mg of pred. I don't want him pinging off the ceiling by giving him too much.

I did think of contacting Dr Peterson - I have before when we had no synacthen here for his advice and he was lovely and replied quickly.

What's an IMS? I'm not sure if we have specialist vets here. We do have the veterinary college about 100 miles away but you need a referral there and it's whether my vet would do it or not - but if you don't ask, you don't get.

This will teach me for feeling smugly satisfied that Cairo was doing so well. It's brought us down to earth with a crash though I was worried if I'd recognise the signs that all was not well but I guess at least it's shown me that I did recognise the signs but I most certainly wouldn't have wanted this to happen just to show me :(

Hi Alison

I've been reading your thread I'm from Scotland too and used a fab IMS internal Medicine Specialist if you demand your vet refers you then they have an obligation to do so. Let me know where you are and I will see if I can help with the IMS. I used a fab one.

IMS = Internal Medicine Specialist

Good and good. I'm sure Dr. Peterson will reply quickly as he sure will recognize the urgency in Cairo's situation. Please, let us know what he says.

That's wonderful that Tracy can help you with finding an IMS in your area, a good one. There are good ones and not so good ones from my experience.
Just request for a referral to see a specialist which I think is within your rights as a patient and probably she will refer you to whom she usually works with who you're not obligated to go to. If there's a better one around, go see that IMS. I hope Cairo keeps improving.

We're just back in from a short walk - he wanted to go further but we're not risking it. He was skipping along, although he was panting - but so was I because it's quite warm here today. He is having rather long pees. The higher dose of pred this morning seems to have worked a bit better though we're still wondering if we should be giving him another dose tonight :confused: