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

YAY PARTY TIME!!!

CELEBRATING WITH YOU!!

HAPPY DOUBLE DIGITS JASPER xxxxxx :D:D:D:D:D

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday from me, too!!!!

:D :) :p :D :) :p :D :) :p :D :) :p :D

Marianne

happy birthday Jasper

Happy 10th Birthday, Jasper!

Happy Birthday Jasper!!!!

Hi Everyone,
Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes for Jasper! I think he had a really good day, even without any special treats. (Marianne, thank you for adjusting his age in our thread title :) ). It was so nice to be home with him where we could just relax all day. That was the best part. I have taken Thursday and today off also, which has been wonderful. I have been incredibly burned out at work, I am hoping that taking a couple of days will recharge the battery some.

Yesterday unfortunately, I was out running errands all day, and spent a good part of the day with my Nana and taking care of things for her. So I don't think Jasper felt that this was any different than if I was at work since I was gone all day. But I plan to spend some quality time with both he and Shelby over the next couple of days now. Too bad I have lots of housework to do too. :(

I dropped off a urine sample yesterday morning for his follow up UPC, so those results should be back some time today. I am worrying about it because we had to switch him off the moderate protein restricted renal diet to low fat diet due to his high triglycerides. I am just praying that the diet change has not increased the protein loss in his kidneys.

His bloodwork from last week looked pretty good for the most part. The triglycerides, while still not near the normal range, went down significantly, so the low fat diet has made a difference. Yay!!! :p His ALP was still very high, and now his ALT was high again. This had gone back into the normal range last time, so my vet is a bit concerned with that.

For comparison, here are the abnormals from 12/16/13:

ALP 2278 (<95 IU/L) H
LDH 288 (<175 IU/L) H
Cholesterol 350 (125-260 mg/dL) H
Triglycerides 1114 (41-115 mg/dL) H :eek: :mad:

And the abnormals from last week 03/12/14:

ALP 2291 (<95 IU/L) H :(
ALT 148 (<100 IU/L) H :( :mad:
Cholesterol 269 (125-260 mg/dL) H :)
Triglycerides 423 (41-115 mg/dL) H :D :) :D

So the LDH is back down to normal this time (not sure what that means, nothing I have read explains the role of LDH very well), but the ALT is back up. It was really good last time at 73.

My vet said that the increase in the ALT could be because of his recent episode of colitis 3 weeks ago and that his pancreas could have been a little inflamed along with that which could cause it to go up. Also he had been off the Denamarin for at least a week while he was sick, which may contribute. So we will plan to monitor that. As far as the high ALP, she said she wasn't too concerned about it. It does not seem to be going down at all, even with the Denamarin. :mad: She was very pleased with the decrease in the triglycerides even though it is still quite elevated. She said now it is not at the level where it should cause problems with his pancreas. I guess 4 times normal beats 11 times normal any day! :)

His electrolytes were all good, right in the middle of the normal range for each. Double Yay!! Based on that we decreased the Percorten dose again by another 0.05 ml. His dose on 3/17 was 0.5 ml, and she said this is where we will keep it as long as he stays stable. This is about half the dose that we started out with initially for his weight.

His kidney values (BUN and creatinine) were in the normal range also, so that was a big relief. I have been keeping an eye on his serum creatinine, because while it has stayed in the normal range, it has been trending upward. In December it was up to 1.01 (0.50-1.50 mg/dL), and the most recent is 0.75. So I am very happy about that!

So I'm very pleased overall, my boy did good!! ;)

Now keeping fingers crossed for the UPC results. I will post that as soon as I hear. Time to do some catching up on the forum in between watching basketball.

Hugs,
Tina and Jasper xo

Hi Tina

Lovely to read these good results and fingers and paws crossed for a good UPC. Those darn liver levels are a mystery but I have to think not going higher is good but they do seem to fluctuate with other health issues going on at the same time, so I think your vet is making sense saying the colitis +/- pancreatitis could have contributed to that!

Lovely you have a few days off, sounds like you needed it and recharging our own batteries is so important when most of the time we are focussing on someone else.

I am doing the same this weekend, just chilling out. I am just contemplating turning the heater on!! NOooooooooooooooooooooooooo too early for that, so I just put socks on instead and a blankie on Flynn while he is having his morning snooze on the couch!

Hi Tina,

Lovely you are getting some time with the gang. :) Jasper and Shelby and Tina, the official gang. LOL

hmm, well, Jasper might not thought it was any different of a day if you were away, but I bet you were glad to just have some time to get things done without work on top of it all.

It would great to have perfect numbers, but that seldom happens with any of us on the forum it seems.

The vet is right, he did just have that attack recently and I know that it takes molly's numbers Months to come back down after they flare up when she has a gastro issue. The liver is like this little gauge that goes up with anything goes wrong it seems.

Have an excellent weekend with the "gang". :)

Remember do something fun!!
hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

So sorry about the Huskers! :(

Jeepers, but there have already been some big upsets in the basketball tournament! :eek: :eek:

Thanks Marianne, it was disappointing, they did not have a good peformance. And it doesn't help that the coach was ejected. :eek: :( Very unlike him. But on a positive note Creighton (located in Omaha) won their game and will advance, so that is great news. I attended both schools but actually graduated from Creighton, so I have dual allegiance for basketball and baseball!!

Yes, some very big upsets. I couldn't believe my ears with the results of the Duke game, had to do a double take. :eek: