Jasper (12 yr old Mini Schnauzer) is now at peace

Oh gee Tina, it doesn't matter if Jasper does or does not have cushings as far as being a member of this forum. You've been a member of the family for quite awhile and we don't tend to let go of our families hands. We all hope that Jasper in fact does not go back to cushings, that he finds that happy medium once again. We have some here that have gone Addisons and are still there. It's just the nature of the beast so to speak.

Not sure what the not eating is about. The pred should be controlling the cortisol so it doesn't go to low. Maybe some of the others can give some thoughts towards that issue. At least he's not vomiting or diarrhea.

It's a good sign that he ate the canned food. If the other isn't agreeing with him tummy right now though, he probably wouldn't eat it. Molly gets like that. If her tummy is upset, or she doesn't feel so good, she won't eat her normal food. I end up having to mix in another type to get her going. Usually a bit of can on top of the dry will do the trick though. She won't necessarily eat it all once every time, but more graze at it.

Hope Jasper perks up soon.

hugs,
Sharlene

Thanks for the update. IMPORTANT - please tell me you bought Pepcid AC and not regular Pepcid. Don't ask me what the difference is because I cannot remember but I DO remember being told NOT to give a dog Pepcid and that only Pepcid AC is tolerated.

Hopefully someone with a better memory can elaborate but I didn't want you to give Jasper something that could hurt him.

Hugs,
Kim

PS how bout that game? geez. ;)

Hi Kim,

Thanks for the info about the Pepcid. I got scared for a second, because I examined all the variations of Pepcid on the shelf and dont remember seeing a regular Pepcid, only Pepcid AC and Pepcid complete. My vet said to get Pepcid AC, she said I could get the generic form, so I did because it was lots cheaper. The only active ingredient is famotidine. She said to get the 10 mg dose and give Jasper half a tab, 5 mg daily. There is a maximum strength which is 20 mg per tablet, so you have to watch the dose. Is it the Pepcid complete that you are thinking of that could be harmful? It has some other active ingredients in it in addition to the famotidine. I hope it's ok, because I already gave it to him. :o

Yeah, we sure lucked out with that game. The turnovers and muffed punt returns, sheesh! :rolleyes:

Hugs,

Tina and Jasper

Hi Tina,

What you got is the right thing, Pepcid AC. The ingredient that you are looking for is the famotidine only.
I had to look it up on a vet info site, but that is what it said.

Hope it works for Jasper and he starts to feel better.

hugs,
Sharlene

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
You did good Tina! Just had to check. Thanks Sharlene for checking it out for us.

Kim, so glad you mentioned it!! I wouldn't have even known that if you hadn't.

It's all about team work! This forum is a family team. :)

hugs,
Sharlene

Well, Jasper has had a rough past few days. I struggled to get him to eat over the weekend. At first he would eat some canned prescription diet late Saturday and part of Sunday, mixed with a bit of his regular food. He was getting the pepcid and Cerenia for nausea. Sun evening he barely ate with much coaxing, and Mon AM he wouldnt eat at all, even the canned food by itself. My vet had said that if I couldn't get him to eat over the weekend I could drop him at the office on Mon morning and she would take a look at him. So that is what I did.

He was there all day. His physical exam was ok. They checked his urine which showed 3+ protein, which she said she was concerned about since the urine is so dilute. I don't think he has had that before, and if he did, it wasn't that much. Based on that she rechecked the kidney bloodwork and it was all normal. (I don't have copies of the labs yet). She did an abdominal X-ray to see if there was anything going on in his belly GI-wise, and it didn't show anything abnormal. She sent the urine off for a culture to see if maybe he has a UTI which could account for the protein.

She is not sure exactly what is causing him to not want to eat. She switched him to purina EN prescription diet, he was eating that right down at the vets office. Also, she thinks that maybe the decreased dose of prednisone (2.5mg) is not enough to keep him feeling comfortable. He had been on the lower dose for about 3 1/2 weeks and doing ok, and we had hoped to try to decrease it further. He started to seem less interested in his food last week. Saturday he went to the groomer. I watched him real close and he seemed ok, but then the eating went downhill over the rest of the weekend. I am thinking that this may have been enough stress to really make him not feel well. We have increased the prednisone back up to 5 mg daily. She said that he might be a dog that needs a bit higher dose to feel well. She is hoping that this is what has caused the loss of appetite.

So he was eating the new food well, seems to like it, no problems. Yesterday I came home from work and he had had a large amount of diarrhea. :( I immediately panicked, but there was no blood thank God. My vet was not in the office but I talked to another one of the Drs there. He is now on home cooked hamburger and rice diet which he is eating and tolerating, and metronidazole. The last liquid poo was about 2:30 this morning, so he is showing improvement thankfully.

So I don't know if he got diarrhea because of the new food, if it is colitis that has flared up, or of it is because of the Addison's and low cortisol. My vet is out for a couple of days, so unless she calls to check in tomorrow, we will need to discuss the plan on Friday.

I really am trying to stay positive, but it just seems like it is one thing after another for my little baby. He is such a good boy and doesn't deserve all of this. It doesn't seem like my poor Jasper can get a break. It is so hard to see him feeling so poorly.

Hugs,

Tina and Jasper

Dang hard to know the cause of the runs. I can share that canned pumpkin firms up the poop faster than anything I've ever seen. Get the plain pumpkin not the stuff with spices. Only give between a tsp and a TBS at a time (twice a day). What I have done is freeze the remaining pumpkin in little bags for future use if you don't feel like making pumpkin bread ;) Give Jasper a hug for me. Kim

Poor little Jasper..:(
I hope today is a better day for him & you.

Awwww Tina, sorry to hear that little Jasper hasn't been well. Leslie is right about the canned pumpkin for diarrhea- it works a treat, if you can get them to eat it. I bet you Jasper loves eating 'human food' When they stop eating like that, you try anything. Maya hardly eats any doggie food anymore!:)
I hope he feels better soon, I know how worrying it is for you. It does sound like it could be Addisons related. Those are the typical symptoms, diarrhea, lack of appetite. Lets hope Jasper benefits from this pred increase.
Thinking of you both.....
Hugs from me and Maya