Molly, 13 yr, shih tzu - lhasa aspo - Molly has passed

I have to ask, what foods are usually served for Canadian Thanksgiving?

It is so nice to take a break from work, what is that old saying all work and no play makes Jill something?

Give big hugs to Molly.

Hi Addy. We have the same food for thanksgiving that they do in the US. For us it is a celebration of the harvest. So turkey ham potatoes etc. Although most Italians will add in a pasta dish.

We are also having a mixed evening of tapas and some Eastern European items this week with some friends. Canada is a bit of a mish mash heritage wise so we try to do it all. Lol. It can get even crazier at Christmas where our Portuguese family will be starving cod and our Swedish friends will be having a drop in on Christmas Eve where various seafood is served everything from pickled herring ( gag) to lobster and of course a soup with mussels.

My food,experiences have expanded a great deal since I left the US and moved to canada.

I found a low,protein canned food that Molly seems to love. Even better for it perhaps than the vets medical moderate protein. It's a Halo brand chicken food. She has become very picky lately.

Wednesday we go back for ACTH to see if the increase dosage is helping lower her cortisol back down and an ultrasound to check if adrenal tumor is increased ormwhatmidmgoing on with that. Renal panel, UPC, and BP check too. I am a bit nervous. One cause we don't know why her cortisol went up on last test. I am hoping was just something involved with compounding. The other reason is her IMS is on bed rest and out till about March on maternity leave so a new IMS that I haven't seen before. Hate to see new vets when we worked so hard to get everyone on board already and tuned into miss Molly's care. I'll be a basket case I'm sure. Lol.

Molly is getting lots of attention right now. She is particularly glued to our daughter who is pregnant right now. Life is both exciting and nerve wrecking. My MIL says Molly is the queen of the house and we are her hand maidens. There to do her bidding. I'm like. Yea and?! Lol. She deserves it. She has almost made it to 13 and with the potential health issues we will take every day we get with her. I am still amazed sometimes that people see her no think she is a young dog. We just love the little munchkin.

I'll post a picture from the other night.

Hugs all.

Awww, Molly is queen for sure. Hard to say about the cortisol but I too hope it is a compounding issue. If she is feeling good, take it:)

Nice to hear about your soon to be Nana status! That is an exciting time. We were just commenting on how we wish we could "borrow" a little one for a special Christmas show our symphony is having.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I've just picked up some new samples of Honest Kitchen for Koko. They have a new fish diet without the sweet potatoes. I'll have to check out Halo too!

We will know more tomorrow when the ACTH results come back, but the adrenal nodule hasn't changed, so most likely is still not secreting that is not the problem that caused her cortisol to go. Possible it is a compounding issue. As I said we'll know more when her results come back tomorrow. IM will be speaking with the compounding pharmacist about it when they call in the prescription refill.

Her blood pressure was 136, the best it has been since we started down this road of the high blood pressure. So that is good, we had increased her amolodipine and hopefully this is the best dose for her.

We still are waiting on the renal panel results too which should be back tomorrow.

I'm thrilled about the adrenal gland, that is a huge relief. If everything is okay on tomorrows results we won't retest till January. (we didn't redo the UPC as she had just had that a couple weeks ago and it was back down to where it was prior at 2.1)

So, not a bad day, hope tomorrow is also good.

Hooray for lower BP & no growth with the adrenal nodule!! :D Will think good thoughts for the rest of the results.

Curious what Molly's amlodipine dose is ...

Judy, she gets 2 x .625mg amoldipine pills per day. I give them in the evening with dinner. We increased that from 1.5 pills per day.

Really hoping those test results tomorrow are good.... I check up on your little doll all the time.

Man, what a fantastic BP number!!!! And I am so glad to hear that the nodule hasn't grown...YAAA!!!! Crossing all fingers and toes for great renal results.

Hugs, Lori

14 Oct, 2015 on 19mg trilostane
ACTH
pre 60nmol = 2.1ug
post 270nmol = 9.7ug

So, ACTH:

09/23/2015 on 15mg trilostane
Pre 52 = 1.88 ug
Post 406 = 14.7ug

07/16/2015
Pre 34 nmol = 1.23 ug
Post 221nmol = 8.01ug

05/21/2015
Pre 29 = 1.05 ug
post 243 = 8.8 ug

05/07/2015
Pre 44
Post 103

Since we expect the post to only go down maybe up to 50 points on the last 2 weeks, we are upping her dose to 21mg in 2 weeks and then a retest at the 2 week mark after the increase. Hoping to get her post to about 150. Her pre always runs a tad lower than the post for whatever reason, probably why she is so jumpy all the time, she runs low regularly and then when it dumps it's at any stimulation or excitement she reacts like crazy. So a more steady might be helpful to her and help with the protein loss and the BP.

Kidneys are good, this result the BUN was still a bit higher but the creatinine was 14.4 with a high end range up to 30, so that is fine too. YAY!

Overall I'd say this is a good report and a good plan for going forward. We'll see how it works out. I've had to make some arrangements for having the ACTH done at the local vet, who said that yes they use the freezing method, due to not being able to get off work to go to the specialist for these test till at least January. (work issues). Of course anything worrying, you know I'll stop meds and get her in sooner. I don't take chances with my baby. :)

Hugs all, it has been a heck of a journey hasn't it :)

I agree, all in all a good report!