Down the Cushings Road Again -- Abbie, 15 year old beagle is now at peace

Just dropping in to give some hugs and belly rubs - You and Abbie can decide who gets which. :D

Hi, all! Abbie spent a few hours at the vet Thursday -- the only test result we have so far is with regard to her blood pressure and, unfortunately, both the systolic and diastolic levels have gone up 20 points. That was an average of five readings. This was the first BP check since we switched one of her meds (from telmisartan to benazapril -- she is also on amlodipine).

What happened from the time I picked her up was bizarre ... the tech who works with her brought her out to the waiting room and told me that, unfortunately, he was unable to get her to drink any water as I had asked him to make sure water was available. He said he put down a full bowl of water and Abbie proceeded to knock it over -- towards him so he got wet, she didn't! He then put down more water and she did exactly the same thing. :confused: Abbie has never done something like this before. So she had been there about three hours without access to water. I took Abbie outside and harnessed her in the car. Usually Abbie lies down and sleeps after being at the vet -- this time she would not sit still and was extremely agitated for the entire 20 minute ride home.

As soon as we got home she ran into the kitchen and drank her entire bowl of water! :eek: I honestly didn't even think about it being a problem until she went up on the bed and proceeded to throw up a huge amount of white foamy liquid. She was still quite agitated and took a flying leap off the bed -- it was not a soft landing and I was so afraid that she had hurt herself. Thankfully, she seemed okay with regard to her neck/back but still wouldn't rest. I decided to give her melatonin and, about a half hour later, she finally laid down. The rest of the afternoon and evening she was fine and has been fine since.

I have been doing a lot of reading about DI but didn't find anything with regard to why a dog would act this way, whether related to DI or not, when water was withheld. Anyone ever seen anything like this?

The rest of her test results (UPC and chem panel) should be available Monday or Tuesday. The vet decided to add a urinalysis to again check the specific gravity.

My Harley was a bit particular with his water, when he would come home from the groomer he would drink the entire bowl of water and I know his had water available to him at the groomers. The only thing I could think of why he did this is because at home he was given distilled water only, it made me wonder if the water at the groomers had a taste that he did not like. :confused:

I only had a couple times where mollys bp was controlled while on the amoldipine and benazepril. We just didn't have as much control as I would have liked on that.
Maybe what Lori said is right, she didn't like something about the water at the vets. Maybe if she has to go back again, take a thermos of water from home for her?
Is she still on gabapentin? How is her back doing?

Hi! I had a long conversation with the vet last night, going over Abbie's latest test results. Only change on super chem is that her potassium is now even more elevated (6.4 compared to 6.0 on 8/6; range, 3.6-55). The UPC continues to be extremely high at 6.1 (compared to 6.6 on last check). In light of the increase in blood pressure and potassium levels, we decided to take Abbie off of benazepril and, for the time being, just continue the amlodipine. I will take her back to vet in two weeks to recheck her blood pressure and electrolytes. (It will be a short visit and I will wait for her to try and avoid water issues.) If neither has come down, we will have to figure out a different game plan. I just wish the telmisartan was affordable as the combo of that and amlodipine seemed to be a good one. Nothing we have tried has brought down the UPC so that goes on the back burner for now.

The vet said that elevated potassium can affect quite a bit in a dog's body and it is his hope that, if we can get it down, her PU/PD will improve. Interestingly, her urine is definitely concentrated now so that rules out diabetes insipidus.

Sharlene -- I never had to start the gabapentin. The combination of three times a day tramadol and deramaxx has worked great in terms of pain control. Abbie has a lot more energy (she even went for a 30 minute walk yesterday), is interested in food again and is very willing to get off the bed to go outside. We went to the chiro today and, although she still has discomfort in the lumbra sacral area as well as around one rib (probably left over effect from neck surgery), overall she has improved. We have an appointment for next week and, if everything is stable, we will go to every other week treatments. The vet said we can leave Abbie on the tramadol and deramaxx indefinitely.

Hydralazine is another medication that is used for high BP, an excerpt from an article:

Quote:

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Hydralazine, a direct arterial dilator, is often considered an emergency drug due to the rapid reduction of blood pressure after parenteral administration. This drug has been used after renal transplantation surgery in cats to control hypertension.33 Hydralazine can be used orally in dogs and cats as an alternative antihypertensive drug when amlodipine and ACEIs do not satisfactorily control patient hypertension. The possible adverse effects of hydralazine include symptomatic hypotension and tachycardia; therefore, it is particularly important to initiate hydralazine therapy at the low end of the dosage range and gradually titrate upward to effect.

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http://www.vetfolio.com/cardiology/t...ase-compendium

Lori

Hi, all! Abbie is having minor surgery tomorrow to remove a wart on the top of her head. It has been slowly growing for several months and, because of that slow growth, we were just on a "watch and wait" plan. However, yesterday it started to bleed. I am not certain if Abbie rubbed her head on something to aggravate it or if it started bleeding spontaneously. Either way my vet and I agreed it was time to take it off -- it really does look kind of nasty at this point. The vet is going to give Abbie a sedative rather than anesthesia and then give her a shot to reverse the effects when done. I am going to ask him to do a quick teeth cleaning if he has time. I brush her teeth but there is some tarter on them.

Before he starts the surgery the vet is going to check her blood pressure and take blood for an electrolyte check (which were already scheduled for tomorrow).

I am hopeful that she won't need to have a collar on -- she would be so much happier without it. Think good thoughts for my baby!

Tons and tons of good thoughts and positive energy being sent your way. Give our dear Abbie some extra hugs and kisses from her Auntie Lori ;)

From all of us as well....

You got it! What time is the surgery?