Printable View
Tina, I am impressed! It is so nice to have an IMS in our state now and they seem to be on top of things as is your vet! Overall great news and a solid plan. Keep us posted.
I know what you mean about using your thread as a timeline/reference - it is really easy to go back. You might want to periodically save the thread to your pc for safe keeping. (just as a backup)
Good job mom! Thanks for the update. Kim
Thanks so much Kim! Yes, it is a blessing that we have an IMS in Nebraska now. I forgot to say in my last post that my vet sent Jasper's complete report of everything that has gone on from the beginning, with dates, etc, but she just focused her questions on the two issues I listed. So he is aware of everything. I am sure it took her quite a while to get that all together. I appreciate her so much and feel very lucky.
At the risk of sounding stupid, how do I save a copy of my thread to my pc? I have often thought that I would like to save it somewhere just in case.
Hugs, and thank you again for your ongoing support,
Tina and Jasper
Hi Tina-
I'm so glad to hear Jasper is in a good place and that you got lots of good news after your vet appointments. I'm glad you saw the IMS and that he and your vet are in contact and in agreement. That is always helpful! It sounds like the food transition is going well too! Hopefully someday you can take him off the Hills diet altogether, but at least for now the diarrhea is under control and Jasper is willing to eat the dry food.
As for coming back to the forum to check on what was going on/keeping a record/I do the same thing! It is a wonderful place to come to refresh my memory if needed!
I hope that work will calm down for you soon and that Jasper continues to do well!
Julie & Hannah
There might be an easier way but I go to "thread tools" upper right side and select "printable version" - you get the page of the thread. I copy and paste that into a word doc. 20 pages means you do it that many times but you have it.
If someone has an easier method I'm all ears! :D
Tina, thank you for stopping by and checking on me and Zoe. I alway check on you and Jasper too. I am glad things are working out with the IMS and with the colitis. It is sogood to have that under control. When I had to transition Zoe from her prescription diet, I had to go very slowly, one teaspoon a meal sometimes.
Thank you for the tip about Zoe standing next time for her blood pressure. It is a life saver for sure:):):) She gets so stressed but I cant say I blame her with all the poking, etc and frequent visits.
(((((((Hugs))))))))))))))))
Tina! omg! A Plan!! We have a plan. LOL Doesn't it feel good to at least have a plan in place and know what you are aiming for in the coming weeks, months ahead. Something has simple as making the diet change, deciding on the injections, it all gives one a sense of at least semi control of a situation which has waaayyy too many days of out of control stress. You have had plenty of those. You and Jasper both really deserve to have a controlled, relaxing holiday season. :)
Thanks for stopping by and saying hi to Molly's thread. People here are so great!
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin
Yay Jasper & Tina!! sounds like things are moving in the right direction. I am like you. I like to document everything here. Anyway else in my house & there is a good chance it will get lost. :rolleyes:
Glad things are flowing smooth for you.
Thanks for the kind words everyone. We are continuing the food transition and so far so good. Jasper is continuing to eat well, and his poops look good. I am going to decrease the canned food again tomorrow. My vet called last evening for a report and feels he is doing well enough to start tapering the prednisone again. :eek:
He started with the decreased dose this morning. It is now 2.5 mg daily, down from 5 mg which he has been on for the past 3 weeks after he stopped eating and broke with colitis. Even though he did well on this lower dose for over 3 weeks when we tapered him the last time, I am a bit worried about decreasing it. Logically I know it should be ok, but I just get scared to rock the boat because he has been feeling so much better.
My vet plans to check in again in a week, and if he is continuing to feel good, we will need to discuss whether or not he will get his next injection of Percorten, which is due 11/23.
I have noticed that his drinking and peeing have increased again over the past week or so. :( It had been better for about 10 days, but now is increasing again, and we are back to going out at least once during the night again. I can't really explain either the decrease or now the increase as no meds had been changed during those times.
So my goal is to not have a need to call the vet for anything for the next 7 days. That would be a record at this point! :D :cool: :rolleyes:
Hugs,
Tina and Jasper
Happy weekend Everyone!
I have Jasper completely transitioned to the dry prescription low fat i/d diet as of last evening. He had his second full dry meal this morning and he is eating it all. A bit less enthusiasm than with the canned food, but he finishes. Hope that will continue. Poops have been good so he seems to be tolerating it well! :)
We started tapering the prednisone again and decreased the dose to 2.5 mg daily starting 11/13. I think he is doing well with that also, although seems to maybe feel not quite as perky as on the higher dose, but I will keep an eye on that.
Last week I noticed that his water intake was trending up again. It started a few days before we decreased the prednisone, but after looking at my journal this morning and comparing dates, it significantly increased beginning on 11/13, the day we decreased the prednisone. On 11/13 and 11/14 he was back up to drinking 7 cups (56 oz) per 24 hr period. He had been drinking around 35-40 oz/day for about the week prior, then kind of crept up to 48 oz for two days, then the 56 oz like I mentioned. Well, for 11/15 and yesterday 11/16 he drank a whopping 72 oz per day! I was off work yesterday and I was literally letting him out every 1.5-2 hrs. We are back to getting up at least twice or more during the night again to go out. Ugh! :eek: :eek:
Looking at the dates, it seems to correlate a lot with decreasing the prednisone, but this does not make sense to me. The IMS felt that his increased drinking and peeing was likely medication related and recommended decreasing the prednisone, which we had in the plan anyway. I would think the water intake should be trending downward with the decrease. I realize that Jasper has not followed the rules for anything else through this journey, so maybe this is another example of that. :confused:
He had a period from about 10/24 to 11/10 where the intake was consistently about 40 oz per day or less, and some days it was even normal. He had a colitis flare during that time, and was on the higher 5 mg prednisone dose during that time, so I don't know the explanation for the more normalized water intake. Now I really don't know what to think. Today he seems to be almost constantly at the water bowl.
Thank you all for any opinions or feedback.
Hugs,
Tina and Jasper
Hi Tina,
Yay on a successful transition back to dry food for Jasper.
I'll let others comment on possible reasons for the water intake changes and prednison. I'd just be guessing. My thought is that the prednisone maybe makes him feel better, but not as thirsty, whereas when the pred is lowered that changes somehow. Remember pred is addictive and they have to be weaned off of it, so how the body reacts to that lowering could manifest in different ways and Jasper has shown himself to be pretty sensitive to medications.
Anyway, hopefully someone else has experience and a better explanation. I'm just guessing.
hugs,
Sharlene