Zoe By My Side- Our Journey with Cushings

JUst a quick
Hi. Hope you are feeling better. Nice to hear about Zoe
HUgs Sonja and Apollo

Thanks Terri and Sonja for checking in with me. I am starting to get rid of my headache so antibiotics must finally have kicked in;)

I was feeling kinda blue so it was really nice to see you both said hi.:D Do sinus infections make you feel weepy?

Hope Apollo and Corky are well and Zoe says hi to them both. WOOF!

Hugs,
Addy

Hi Addy,

I hope you continue to feel better. When I had my infection, I had a constant pain over my right eye. The infected sinus was on my right side. It affected my ear and my jaw.

I hope Zoe is doing well.

Take care.

Know what you mean.
Sending warm hugs and love your way. Hope you start feeling better.
Apollo sends you his high pitched shriek.:p

Well, I called Zoe's IMS for appointment to discuss urine culture. I was supposed to go for a recheck if anything new developed so thought, okay accidents in the house, that's new.

When I made appointment, they told me IMS is now only there 2 days a week instead of four. i can only get apointments at noon or three two days a week.

Where am I going with this? If I have to load Zoe how can I have a doctor with such limited hours? I am freaking out.

We even discussed in length at the August visit that we don't want to start any lysodren treatment with her if she is not going to be available. She said she wasn't going anywhere, NOW THIS:eek:

I have no good options to replace her. I am really worried about Zoe. I have been noticing she chews and chews on her Kong and then runs and gets a drink of water. Then chews and chews again and runs and gets a drink. If I take the Kong away, she wants to lick and then she ends up licking and chewing on her paw. Now the accidents, I mean I know one for sure was Zoe but the other 2 I am speculating. I doubt it was Koko.

Otherwise she is in such good spirits and seems so good. She lets me pick her up without a complaint, she has not been as aggressive outside, her hair is growing in on her tummy, I just don't know what to think and now I don't even have a IMS.

Okay, this seems minor compared to some of your problems and I should not be having a melt down but I am. I know something is wrong.

Addy

Hi Addy,

You're definitely allowed to have a melt down. I know how frustrated you feel. Since the IMS isn't available very much, you might be able to find a good vet who is knowledgeable in treating Cushings.

You know Zoe better than anyone else, and you know when something is wrong. The accidents in the house could definitely be related to Cushings, and they might also be related to a UTI.

I hope you will be able to find someone that knows what they are doing and will be available when they are needed.

Hang in there. We're here for you and Zoe.

(((HUGS))) for you and Zoe.

New twist to the potty accidents. I found an old stain in a place Koko had an accident a year ago. It is the kind of stain a male dog would leave so now I don't know what to think about the other 2 house accidents I attributed to Zoes.

How do you know when you have 2 dogs and you don't see them do it? What if I think this is from her Cushings and it isn't even her?

I made an appointment with a traditional vet Zoe used to see. We discussed him with IMS and she thought he would be good team member. I see him next week. Wish me luck.

The idiot yard man sprayed our lawn with pesticide even though we told him not to. He said he "forgot":eek: Zoe has soft poos now and I won't know if it is again from her heartworm medicine or the yard. We kept her away from our yard, I even carried her down the driveway for 2 days. I rinsed with water a small section of grass for her but we only use it 2 times a day otherwsie we take her off property.

How long do I have to wait for the pesticide to go away? Does anyone know?

All of this has been such a distration for me I have been trying to research the intermdiate hormones. I have some lysodren questions, but will wait to ask:)

Hope everyone has a good day

Addy

Hi Addy,

Couple of things (I'm a bit behind :o). A page back you asked if raw feeding can cause ph issues, I'm not entirely sure, but it is possible to change the alkalinity/acidity by dietary changes. Before I'd even attempt doing that, I'd want to find out if the ph is actually not normal-ish for Zoe. As in, if she usually has a low ph or high ph, and it stays around the same ph level, it may just be her body level and nothing to worry about.
If however it's usually a 5 ish, and jumps up to an 8+, I'd be getting an appt to check for infections.
Changing the diet to alter the ph may cause other issues (bladder stones for one thing), and I don't know nearly enough about diet to make any food suggestions one way or the other. I know if you were interested in going down that path you would research thoroughly before hand.

Do you have your IMS's mobile/cell phone number? Just thinking that if you don't really have any other options nearby you may be able to call her if she is unavailable in the office at the time. Wishing you huge luck with Zoe's previous vet, I really do hope he is up to the challenge :D

Pesticide- if you know the brand of what your lawn man used, maybe some of the US members may be able to help with that question, or you could look up the MSDS (material safety data sheet) or poisons info on google. If it was me, I'd play it safe and not let Zoe on the grass for at least a week (unless it rains. The stuff I used to use for weeds (bought from th supermarket) said something like "do not use within 3 days of rain", so I think rain dilutes it to almost harmless, as long as she doesn't lick the wet grass, and you wipe her feet when she comes inside. But again, that would depend on what was used - supermarket stuff versus heavy duty.

Love and hugs to you and Zoe,
Jane, Franklin and Bailey xxx

Oh Jane, thank you so very much. I went on line to look at the dip sticks you told me about but I got confused so thought I would just take her in for a culture. That was when I found out about the hours and just had a total meltdown, I felt so defeated. I did see dip sticks that test for PH but I did not realize that if the PH went higher than normal it could indicate infection so thank you for explaining that to me.

I then had a meltdown with the pesticide because it was time for Zoe's heartworm pill and I suspect that it is bothering her poops and now the pesticide muddles the waters, so to speak.

Our plan was to give Zoe her melatonin and lignans, see if she could stay healthy for 3 months and then retest her. The reason I wanted to test her again with a full adrenal panel was because she was ill when we did the first panel and I wanted to see of the numbers changed at all if she was healthier and not having colitis flare up.

What I would like to do and it was one of the treatment options Dr. Oliver had on his sheet for Zoe was to then add a maintenance dose of lysodren. I thought perhaps that way I could see how she tolerates the drug because everything gives her diarrhea. For some reason the melatonin helped her loose stools, I can't explain why. I keep trying to research the intermediate hormones and melatonin and lignans but can't find much info except for Dr. Oliver's.

I know I am all over the place and have too many thoughts to probably sound cohesive, or maybe I need to switch to decaf:D

Meanwhile, Zoe's honey colored spots are slowly turning white; all that is left are the spots on her face and ears and they are fading.

I am hoping the old vet will work with the IMS so that someone is always available and that IMS will be available by phone as well. I see IMS in 2 weeks. I need to interview old vet first.

Thank you for letting me ramble on and on. I need to formulate a step by step plan and not get sidetracked.:o

Hugs,
Addy

Addy,

I would call the lawn service. They are required to keep material safety data sheets on file and should be able to provide you with exact information concerning the material they sprayed and when it is safe for Zoe to use the lawn again.

Scott