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TINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope all going well and your just having a wee break and good on you for doing that! I remember you said life was pretty hectic recently.
Love to hear how Jasper is doing though, have not even seen you pop in the middle of the night.
Hope all good in your household
Trish xxxx
Thank you everyone for all of the wonderful birthday wishes for Jasper. We had a great day, so glad I took it off to spend with him. The only thing I am sad about is that he didn't get any special treats or things to eat, because I just didn't want to take a chance with all that has been going on. He was still on the metronidazole at that time to treat the last bout of colitis, so I didn't want to rock the boat by feeding him anything out of the ordinary. :( But we spent lots of quality snuggle time. :D
Jasper is hanging in there. He finished the 2 week course of metronidazole on 3/21 pm. He continues on the FortiFlora one packet daily. I finally restarted the Welactin fish oil on 3/19 (Happy Birthday poor boy :rolleyes: ), because I wanted to restart it while he still had a couple of days left of the antibiotic. Only one change at a time so I can monitor the poops. It has only been 3 days since he finished the metronidazole, but so far so good. The poops have been ok for the most part. And he seems to be tolerating the Welactin, thank the Lord. This is a very important part of the treatment plan, for both the kidneys, and to help lower his triglycerides. He continues on the RC renal MP diet, and on Enalapril 5 mg 1/2 tab twice a day. His appetite has been good. The drinking and peeing are still more than normal, but have decreased a bit. Some days he is not too perky, but he seems to be feeling good overall for the most part.
We had what I would call a milestone of sorts on Friday 3/22. It marked a full 2 weeks since I have needed to call the vet for anything. This is the first time we have been able to go for this long since all of the problems started, so about 10 months or so!! We have made it 1 week a couple of times, and 10 days on one occasion, but never a full 2 weeks. So I feel this is important to note!! :p
I did have to call on Friday to get a refill on his Enalapril and found out that my vet is on vacation for 2 weeks! She will be back on 3/29. At first I was glad I didn't know she was gone, but then felt a little panicky. You know, "what if something happens?!" But later I started feeling like my vet should have at least left me a message that she was going to be gone for that long, especially with all that has happened with Jasper. I don't know, I imagine she felt it was ok since she hadn't heard from us for a week before she left. Actually, she was probably celebrating that she was going to be away from us for a bit, Lol!! I do know who to see in the office in her place. But I guess I still wish she would have let me know. After all, I am pretty sure Jasper is her most complex patient. Just being picky I guess. It's not the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D
I left a message for her to call me once she is back, just so we can touch bases and I can give a report on Jasper, and clarify when we will be rechecking labwork, UPC, Percorten injection, etc. Sheesh, if we don't need anything in the meantime, by the time she calls, it will be 3 weeks since we have talked! Fingers and paws crossed. I had to joke with the receptionist that I was glad to see they were keeping their doors open without our once or twice a week visits!
Hugs,
Tina and Jasper
That sounds like a pretty darn good report, Tina.:):):)
I have my fingers crossed you make it another two weeks:):):)
I'm really glad to here Jasper is tolerating the fish oil. I have nightmares about trying to give that to Zoe:rolleyes::rolleyes:
One second, one minute, one hour at a time, then 1 day at a time, one week at a time, hey we are up to two weeks at a time:D:D:D
LOVING IT:D:D:D:D:D:D
gotta run, Koko is LOCO, flying around the house and the rugs are flying every which way and poor little Zoe is trying to trot after him:rolleyes:
I think they are needing my attention:D:D:o
Sounds like a good Jasper report! Yaaayyyy!!!!
2 weeks, you can do it. Hopefully nothing will come up and you won't even notice she is away.
Addy, hope you have your running shoes on, sounds like Koko is having fun. :0
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin
Woot Woot, for good reports, sending happy hugs from Sim and me....
Very weird, my vet is away for a holiday too, without checking in with me either.. . what are they thinking having a life without notifying us :D:D:D Eek, we haven't driven them away have we :D:D:D
Hope Jasper is behaving himself till the vet gets back. Flynny is doing pretty good, I have him booked in on 9th April for his next BP and UPC checks, thats a couple of days before I go to Australia. So hope he does good while I am away.
See you soon
Trish xxxx
PS Koko is Loco made me laugh Addy :)
Hi Everyone,
My vet got back from vacation last Friday, and I have checked in with her. I will post an update on Jasper in the morning. I just want to post real quick to say that we will be trying a mobile dog groomer for the first time in the morning. I kind of freaked out a couple of months ago after reading that horribly sad grooming tragedy post and the feedback from others about that.
Since Jasper got sick, I have become more and more concerned about leaving him at the groomers for his bath and haircut. I don't know why exactly, I am just nervous leaving him somewhere now. He has gone to this groomer since he was born, and I have worked with her to decrease the amount of time that he spends there. But even with dropping him off first thing and her taking care of him first in the day, he is usually there about 2 hrs or so. He used to be there about 4 hours total, so it is better, but I still don't like it. Just a feeling in my gut I guess.
So I called a mobile groomer and scheduled an appt for tomorrow. I am a little nervous just because it is someone new. Like I said, Jasper has gone to my regular groomer since he was born, and I have known her for about 20 years. So this will be a big change. But I like the idea that it will take much less time, and she said I can sit in the front of the van if I want to while she grooms him, if it doesn't make Jasper anxious.
I started looking into this based on the feedback of others on the forum. We only have 2 mobile dog groomers in town. It is quite a bit more expensive, but it will be worth it if it is less stressful for Jasper and he is more comfortable. I have to give him extra dexamethasone to compensate for the increased stress on his body. He got his regular every other day dose today, and I will give him a dose tomorrow morning also to help with the stress.
So wish us luck. I really hope I like this lady, because I really like the idea of him just being out in the driveway in her van rather than having to leave him somewhere. I can keep an eye on things this way. ;) She will be here first thing in the morning. I will let everyone know how it went.
Hugs,
Tina and Jasper
Will be thinking of Jasper and you. He might like a personal spa day in his driveway;););)
I feel so bad Zoe cant really do the groomer anymore. Iwas trying to give her a haircut on her face, trying to match it to Koko.
Did you ever give a snapping alligator a new do:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
I'm sure it will go just fine. If only we lived near John we would not have to worry!!!!!!:):):)
Hi Addy. Lol, spa day in the driveway. Yes, I have often wished that I lived near John, and my grooming worries would be over!! And so sorry that Zoe wont let you trim her face, that would be tough if she was snippy. I would not want to approach with scissors. :eek:
Well the appt with the mobile groomer went well. She was very nice and calm, seemed very gentle, soft spoken, and seemed genuinely concerned to know all about Jasper's health issues. She did pretty well with the haircut. There are a few minor adjustments that will need to be done with his beard and face, but this was the first appt, I am sure we can improve the next time. For now, I am going to try to do a few snips here and there to adjust. I am not good with eyebrows, so wish me luck! Jasper had an extra dose of dexamethasone to counteract the stress from being groomed and so far is doing ok. And what a huge relief to not have to leave him anywhere for a few hours. Not to mention that he won't be exposed to other dogs with his compromised immune system.
I gave my vet an update on Jasper last Friday 3/29, and we talked again briefly this past Friday. Jasper had his monthly Percorten injection on 4/1. The dose was lowered by 10% again, so he got 0.4 ml. We are still looking to wean him off it in the future. We need to recheck electrolytes to see how those are doing, which is included in his plan.
Here is the current plan:
- Continue on Enalapril 5 mg, 1/2 tab twice a day
- Continue on Dexamethasone 0.5 mg, 1/4 tab every other day
- Continue on FortiFlora one packet sprinkled on food once daily for 30 days (he will be done with this after supper tonight)
- Continue on Royal Canin Renal MP prescription diet
- Recheck a chemistry profile around the beginning of May, to include kidney and liver values, and electrolytes
- Recheck UPC at the beginning of May
- We may recheck the triglycerides at the same time, although preferably we want him on the Welactin for a 3 full months before rechecking (Welactin was restarted on 3/19)
- We will probably get a baseline cortisol at the same time also, just to verify that he is likely permanently Addisonian
- Continue to measure water intake
I asked about rechecking the UPC sooner, and she said that it is slow to show improvement with treatment, and she has found that it can be discouraging to recheck it sooner (i.e. monthly), because it may not show any improvement that soon. I guess that makes sense. I am anxious to see what it is now, but sure don't need any more discouragement! My vet said we are doing everything we can as far as treatment for the kidney issues, there aren't other options, so I continue to pray that the treatment will stop the progression of the proteinuria and kidney disease.
I am worried about him finishing the course of FortiFlora. His poos have been much better, and I would say they have been mostly normal for the last week and a half or so (Yay!! :D). I asked my vet about continuing the FortiFlora. She said it wouldn't be a bad thing, but she prefers to stop it after the 30 day course. She said if his poops get soft again, we can start him back on it. She seemed to think that he didn't need to be on it all the time at this point. It will be done tonight, so I guess we will see. I am just hesitant to change anything that seems to be working!
He is eating well on the prescription diet with the Welactin added. His drinking and peeing are about the same - less than it was when he was drinking up a storm, but still more than normal. He is drinking about 3 1/2 to 5 cups a day, it should be right around 3-3 1/4 cups per day according to his weight.
It seems to me that his abdomen isn't as large as before. I am hoping that this means his enlarged liver has decreased in size now that we have been able to get the Dex dose down to a physiologic dose. I am hoping his liver enzymes will go down also, but I am not sure if that is realistic or not.
He seems to be feeling pretty good and is happy. I am so thankful for that. I will just feel better once we have some labwork to validate that his little body is indeed doing better. I am still scared to death about the kidney stuff and am praying hard about that. I treasure every day with my precious boy. Thank you all for your continued support.
I hope everyone and their babies are having a peaceful weekend.
Hugs,
Tina and Jasper
So glad to hear that the mobile groomer worked out. I think any time you change groomers, there are a few adjustments to be made. Perhaps next time, now that you know what was done differently you can talk to her about how you would like those areas to be trimmed to.
I know for Molly we can go with a shaped beard, face area, or we clip it down to a puppy cut, where they trim the beard off. I admit this does keep her cleaner for longer. Somehow she always manages to look like a slob with the long beard. Puts her whole face into her water bowl, then into her food bowl and well you can just imagine. Still I do sometimes have the shaped beard cause it's cute. Thank god I don't have to worry about eyebrows! I do have to worry about bangs in her eyes and her eye lashes grow like you wouldn't believe, very long. I've hard this is actually a disease, but it never seems to have affected anything other than just being long and having to be trimmed.
Hopefully Jasper will be fine without the FortiFlora. However, if not, he could always go back onto it if needed. Jasper as we have said many times writes his own book.
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin