Thinking of you and Molly!
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Thinking of you and Molly!
So back from the vet's.
Molly's BP - good in the 140's consistently so that is Very good.
Eye doctor - Molly's retinal bleeds that she had previously have scarred over, with no retinal detachment (breath huge sigh of relief)
Some new smaller retinal bleeds
The small cataracts have not changed in size.
All of that is very good and I really do think that her Ocu-Glo eye supplement has helped to maintain the size of the cataracts as the eye doctor was explaining that is what it helps to do, keep them from growing too large, real fast.
If she gets red in her eyes, then she is getting irritation and we'll need to bring her right in for a topical treatment. If we can catch anything with her eyes early, it is better.
So, now we are waiting on the ACTH and the UPC results, which I should have tomorrow. The IMS will call.
You know two weeks ago I was in the same spot, everything was going well, and bham that UPC was high, so I'm almost afraid to get my hopes up that things are progressing well there too..nah..I'm too optimistic. I do have high hopes that things are well in the UPC deparment and hopefully the cortisol department too.
hugs all!
Wow her BP number is great!!! Hoping with you, that you get excellent results from her other tests, however, we all know how that UPC can become falsely elevated, so if it is, we'll just not worry so much about that, ok? ;)
Love and hugs, Lori
So glad BP and eye exam results are so good--will think good thoughts for the UPC!
Attagirl Molly!
Auntie Suzie is proud of you! <<< Doing the Happy Dance
Whew! What a relief! Such great news! Go team Molly!!! ;):o
Sharlene,
I hope all goes well w test results, and so happy for you re: eye issues. Reminded me that some good news is better than no good news.
YAY! I have no idea if this is valid or not but we are gonna say it is - with the BP good, the kidneys will have calmed down and that UPC will also be good. :cool:;)
Hi gang,
I don't have the written results yet but I have the call in numbers.
She isn't responding to the increase in her kidney medication, with her UPC going from 2.4 to 2.7. Not a significant increase, but considering the increase in medication, she should have gone down, they were hoping for a decrease of 50% not an increase.
So question, has anyone switched from benazepril to enalapril and seen a change? The general thought of the IMS is that there would be no difference.
The next option is to add on an ARB - Losartan. There isn't a lot of studies in dogs on this. In the US they have seen good results, and my IMS has one dog on it here that is responding. There aren't too many choices left in the protein losing kidney medication area though.
So, I don't have the pre number but she told me over the phone the post numbers for the ACTH.
20/22/2015 (2 weeks ago)
pre - 166
1 hr post - 339
2 hr post - 389
03/18/2015
pre
1 hr post - 326
2 hr post - 356
So a small drop this time but not much. The drop after 30 days on the first dose was greater than this one of an increase of 3 mg.
So, for the moment she is staying on 11mg, because with the wedding and company at the house and boarding during different events that require a lot of people at the house, we'll keep her on current dose, then increase to 15mg and see if bringing down the cortisol more, might help the kidneys as we are running low on options there.
That is the current plan.
So, two things I need to find out, would switching from benazepril to enalapril make a difference in the UPC.
Anything at all about dog reaction on kidney protein loss using Losartan in addition to benazepril
got to run back to work.
hugs all
Sharlene -- I've done some research on using ARBs in conjunction with ACE inhibitors. I came across one article that seems to answer some aspects of your questions -- caveat is that it is very, very technical, having been written by and for vets. Here is the link for the article:
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com...ric-drugs-dogs
What I can glean from this 2013 article is that the preferred ACE inhibitor is enalapril and that losartan can be used with it if the enalapril does not lower levels on its own. I would need to spend some more time reading the article to discern why the enalapril is preferred.
I'll do some more research on enalapril vs. benazepril and will let you know what I find.
I know the UPC numbers were not what you were hoping for but it does sound like a difficult issue to treat. A big hug for Molly and you!