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

Hi Kim! Yes, I have thought the same thing about the change over to the dry food and decreasing the pred at about the same time also. :rolleyes: I remember I even asked my vet about it because I thought the initial plan was to wait until he was all the way transitioned to the dry food before doing anything with the prednisone. She said to go ahead and decrease it. I think the reason for this is that she was hoping to try to have Jasper go without the Percorten injection this month as the IMS had suggested as a possibility to try. We are on kind of a timeline with that as it is due 11/23. She wanted him on the lower pred dose for a while before we tried that. Right now, the plan is that he will get the injection on Friday, because he is not stable with the prednisone and other things right now. Of course that will also depend on the cortisol result from yesterday. Ugh, it is so complicated! :o

How do I find Glynda's post, is it under the resources section?

Tina and Jasper

I have a few minutes to search the forum... if i don't post it, it's because i had to go to work. lol. We'll find it.

I found the article and the focus is on diabetes mellitus - skimmed it as I have to go... could have sworn it discussed DI but I don't have time to read the whole thing right now... if it is meaningless... forgive me! :o

http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/201...ceridemia.html

Hi Tina,

When was the last time your vet did a full blood chemistry or even an in-house mini chemistry which includes kidney values, at least one (ALT) liver enzyme and glucose. Can you get a copy and post the results here? I would be most interested in the glucose.

Glynda

Thanks for the link to the article Kim, it was not meaningless at all. It related to diabetes mellitus, but I read it anyway because it pertained to mini schnauzers with high triglycerides, which Jasper has also. :rolleyes: It was interesting, I love reading Dr Peterson's articles.

I talked to my vet today and the resting cortisol drawn yesterday was still < 0.4 ug/dL, so it has not come up at all. :( I think the lab must not be able to measure a value lower than this because the result always says < 0.4.

Glynda, I verbally obtained the lab results you were asking about. My vet said the last blood chemistry was done on 10/22 and it was all normal except for an elevated Alk Phos which was 1869. This was higher than the last check, she said it had increased due to the prednisone. The ALT was 53, and glucose was 110, which said were both normal. I will get a copy of all of the labs I am missing when we go in Friday for the Percorten, and can post the complete report with reference ranges then.

I asked about diabetes insipidus, and we discussed that. She basically said that she had been considering that as a possibility more about a month ago, before Jasper had those 2 1/2 weeks where the drinking and peeing had significantly decreased and some days it was even normal. She said that you don't see that happen with DI, that usually it is progressive, so she feels it is less likely since he had a period where his drinking was better. She is really wondering if the increase in the drinking/peeing isn't a function of the Addison's, and we see it start to go up when he is getting ready to get into trouble with the Addison's.

She said she has not completely ruled out the possibility of DI, but said it is very rare. She said she has only seen one case in 15 years. She wants to give the higher dose of Prednisone a chance again and see how he does. He will also get the Percorten injection on Friday 11/23 as scheduled.

So that is where we are at with things now. He ate pretty good tonight with some canned food mixed in. Thank you all so much for all the kindness and support extended to me and Jasper.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and their pups. :)

Love and hugs,

Tina and Jasper

Thanks for the update. Your vet sounds on top of things as always. FYI the other reason I brought up DI is because we've seen it here a bit and the ones I can remember were all schnauzers. Kim

Happy Turkey Day and GO BIG RED! ;)

OMG, GO BIG RED is right, how did I not mention that?!! :D ;)

Thanks for the compliment toward my vet, that really means a lot coming from you. When I asked about DI, she paused and then said "I wasn't going to mention anything about that". She knows how I am about details and didn't want me to worry more than I already am. We both kind of laughed about it. She was very open about her thoughts once I asked. She even said that the diagnostic water deprivation test is very risky and she doesn't do it, just like Leslie mentioned. Sometimes I think I drive her nuts with all my questions, but she is always very patient. I appreciate her so much.

Hugs from me and Jasper

Jasper had his Percorten injection today. My vet decreased the dose by another 10%, so he received 0.8 ml. It has been 5 days since the prednisone was increased back up to 5 mg daily. He has been eating good with a bit of canned food still mixed in, and seems to feel much better again overall, I'm sure due to the higher pred. His drinking and peeing continue to be excessive, but are a little less over the last day or so. Hopefully it will continue to trend downward! My vet is going to call in a week to check in and get an update.

I got printouts of a bunch of labwork. I need to go through it and will post his last chemistry results that Glynda was asking about a bit later.

Hugs to all,

Tina and Jasper

Well, it might not be the best suggestion for clear thinking when reading lab results but the first time I brought molly's home to go over, I sat down at the table with the results a piece of paper and a great big glass of red wine.
It took a while to get through. The bottle moved to the table nearer to the glass, the papers were all over the place and I was a mess over all. Of course by the end of it, I had what I needed to know and didn't really care that the table was a complete paper zoo. (probably the wine thinking there)
LOL

Good luck!
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hiya Tina, I am so pleased to read that little Jasper starting to feel better. That pred is amazing stuff!:) I believe Addisons like Cushings takes a bit of playing around with until you get the right dosage. Some dogs need more-some less. Sounds like you're on the right track with Jasper, now.
Hugs to you and your little man
Leah