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

Yay so pleased to hear Jasper is feeling well, great news! Long may it continue :D
Trish xx

Hi Tina
I hope no news is good news and your having a great week!
Trish xx

Yep, Ditto what Trish said! Hope you and Jasper and Shelby are doing really well.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hoping everything is okay and you are not sick in bed with the flu.

We miss you:):):):) Maybe you all missed the cabin and decided to go back. It did sound lovely. What a wonderful escape.

((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for checking in on me and Jasper. I haven't meant to be absent, the past week has been so tough for many reasons. Wicked busy, stressful, and long hours at my job, and then so much sadness on the site. I have been reading and keeping up for the most part and have been crying every night for our members and their pups. I can't seem to shake it. I was absolutely heartbroken at the losses of Maximus and Baxter, and couldn't stop crying. Still crying actually. You would think they were my own dogs. And poor Scoop, and Tipper, and Casey, worrying so much about them. And others too. I have been so upset that I haven't even been able to post on their threads. Every time I started, I just couldn't find the words and was just bawling. I am hoping to do some posting a bit later.

There has been a bit of a setback with Jasper also. I feel guilty even posting about it with everything that others are going through. Last Friday he started hesitating and walking away from his food at times again. This had not happened for a while. On Monday 1/7 when I talked to my vet, she thought it was probably related to the decreased Dex dose - he has been on 1/2 tab (0.25) mg every other day since 12/26. She felt this was a sign that he was not tolerating the decreased dose so said to increase back up to 1/2 tab daily for 4 days to see if it would boost his appetite and then decrease to 1/4 tab but give daily rather than every other day. Today is the first day of 1/4 tab. I don't think I noticed a big difference over the past 4 days. Some meals he will eat like normal, others he will do the walking away business. So far he has always returned to the bowl fairly quickly and finished. In the past, this behavior seemed to be the first sign that his body wasn't feeling so good with the steroid dose and that the dose was too low for his body.

I was so upset about this, because even at the every other day dose, it is still higher than the physiologic dose recommended for his weight. It seems like very time we get close to trying to decrease the Dex to the dose my vet recommends (1/4 tab every other day), he starts not feeling well again. We have never been able to get it down to the recommended lower dose, so have not been able to evaluate whether the increased drinking and peeing are side effects from the Dex, or something else.

I know my vet is thinking more and more that it might be early kidney disease because the drinking and peeing have not decreased at all. We have an appt on Mon evening 1/14 for his Percorten injection, and my vet said she wants to see him then. Usually this is a tech appt so I am glad she will be checking him. I told her his tummy seems bigger, I imagine this is from the steroids. I worry so much about the long term effects of the steroid dose being higher than it should be, specifically the effects on his liver.

Also, for about the past couple of months or so, his nose has been kind of crusty. He has always had kind a of dry rough nose, but this is worse, and a couple of times there has even been a crack that looks sore. I have been putting pure vitamin e oil on it daily and that healed the cracks. It helps with the crustiness also, but it is still a problem. It also seems like he has some gunky stuff in his nostrils. I have been cleaning that carefully with moist q-tips, and started with saline drops in each nostril about a week ago. Unbelievable that he lets me do all of this, but so far so good. So I will have the vet check that too. I hope that isn't something else going on.

Any feedback or thoughts would be appreciated. Again, I feel guilty even talking about all of this with all that others are dealing with. And I need to somehow get perspective on things. I just care so much about everyone's babes, I can't help the sadness.

Thanks for listening, and as always, for the support.

Hugs,

Tina and Jasper

My boy, Harley had a dry, crusty nose. I believe his high blood pressure attributed to his nose appearance. When we were able to get his high blood pressure under control, his nose cleared up.

Has Jasper's BP been checked?

Oh Tina {{HUGS}}.

It is hard sometimes to read things that are sad. This past week or so has had too many on here and we have all spent so much time in tears.

However, that being said, never feel bad about posting anything going on. We worry about you guys if we don't hear you know. :) Even in the midst of other things, you and Jasper are important to all of us.

Jasper, jasper, jasper. He really doesn't like those lowered doses does he.
My golden was on prednisone for years and I could never get her decreased to where she should have been.
I'm glad the vet is seeing him though and maybe can make some determination about how he is doing. You just never know with Jasper, he seems to react differently to every medicine than expected.
Do let us know what the vet says and I'm sure others will jump in with their comments too.

And don't be scarce! Sometimes when you feel down the best thing in the world is share it and get through it with friends. That is what we are all here for, to support each other. That means supporting you too!

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

My Haley got a very crusty scabby nose to the point I had the vet check it out and I can't forget what he said it was but he gave her an ointment that I believe was an antibiotic but it has been years so I'm not sure.

Hang in there and know that we have all been thinking about you and worrying so when you don't feel like posting just write HI we are ok and we'll get the message. :D

Sending love and hugs,
Kim

Oh Tina,
((((((((((((((((BIG HUGS))))))))))))))))))))))))

Sometimes a break is exactly what is needed so no worries, we dont want you to be in tears.

I hate the fact that I have to continue Zoe's metronidazole, I worry about her liver and the side effects but I cant seem to get her off that last little bit so sometimes we have to weigh the good with the bad.

I am really glad your vet is seeing him and hope there is some insight for his poor nose.

Just know we are always here for you and we understand. I know it is hard to read about all the pups and wonder if yours is next. You end up feeling all kinds of emotions.


(((((((((((((((((((((((((((MORE HUGS)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Hi Tina,
I know what you mean.. It has been hard to see all the suffering. :(

I wish you didn't feel guilty. But, I do know what you are saying. I hate to post things about Boriss when I see so much sadness going on. But, everyone is here to help no matter how big or small you feel your problems are. We are all here to support each other in good times & bad.

I wish I could give you some feed back on what is happening with Jasper. But, since I have no experience with those things I can't give any advice.
I just wanted to pop in to let you know we care about you & Jasper & your worries big or small.

hugs