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

WOW look at you DIY girls with your great ideas! Hope you figure something out Tina and the ABs help with the UTI. Was he having these little accidents back when the last UPCR was done? If so, that might explain that little rise he had? x

Hi Tina

I was just on Dr Peterson's blog and came across this article, might be of interest to you with Jasper's recent troubles. It specifically discusses incontinence in Addison's pups. Hope there is a tip or two there might help you guys! Hope the antibiotics are going down without a hitch. x

http://animalendocrine.blogspot.co.n...edium=facebook

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. Trish, thank you for the link to Dr Peterson's article. I had seen it and read it very recently, and in fact had printed out a copy at that time, that was before the most recent issues with Jasper. I am not sure if his medication regime is contributing to the problem or not. I feel like we have fine tuned it pretty well, but it is certainly worth revisiting with my vet. My concern is that his kidney issues are getting worse. :(

It has been a rough week and a half or so. Jasper started the zeniquin for the UTI, which appeared to be helping as he has had no further accidents in the house while I am home with him. This is usually how we have to gauge improvement, as he always has increased urinating. He is still having accidents in the house while I am at work, I need to get this figured out, I am exhausted from all the constant clean up.

Well, by about the 5th day (4/25) he started with appetite problems and not wanting to eat. He also seems to have low energy and is quite mopey. This has happened before with zeniquin, but not sure it has been quite this marked. I struggled to get him to eat all last weekend and talked to my vet on Monday. She suggested that I give him cerenia for 2 days to see if it helped (I had 2 doses at home), and if it helps she would send home 5 more doses to give daily till the zeniquin was finished. It didn't seem to make a difference, so on wednesday 4/30 I picked up reglan to give twice a day, and we stopped the zeniquin for 48 hrs to see if this made a difference, with the plan to restart zeniquin at that time if he was doing better. She said if he wasn't considerably better we would be concerned that something else was going on.

Well he is a bit better with the reglan but still very tough to get him to eat. He hasn't completely stopped eating, but eats only a bite or two at a time, walking away while chewing, dropping food out of his mouth, etc. It takes him quite a while to finish, whereas when normal, he finished his portion by eating steadily until it is gone.

We have a previously scheduled vet appt this morning for his yearly "wellness" check, and he is due for his rabies vaccination this year. I had previously discussed my fears about him getting the rabies shot with all of his issues, but she is firm that it is needed and is not contraindicated with any of his issues (addisons, kidney issues, liver issues). I have had 3 separate conversations with her about this, and she has been reassuring with all my fears. But I am not sure now with this eating issue going on, I will have to see what she thinks this morning. So now I guess he isn't exactly well for his wellness visit. :( I am feeling so discouraged and frustrated because he was eating just fine and seemed to be feeling fairly good before we started the zeniquin. I felt sure it was the problem, but I don't know why he isn't snapping out of it now that he hasn't had a dose since Tuesday pm. Not to mention that the UTI treatment has been interrupted.

I have been following along on everyone on the forum. Between working so much overtime at work and all the cleaning I just haven't had time to post. I am hoping to do some catch up today after we get back from the vets. I am just worried about the "concern that something else is going on". I guess we will see. This dog is going to drive me to drink. I know you all can relate. Sorry to be so discouraged, I think I am just tired. Thanks as always for listening.

Hugs,
Tina and Jasper

Dear Tina,

I am so very sorry that you and Jasper are having such a rough time right now. I'm afraid I have no insight to offer regarding the disruption in appetite, although due to the timing, I would also be very suspicious that somehow the medication altered the balance of something. As to how to fix it, I do not know. :(

As far as the vaccination question, I know that people here hold varying opinions about vaccination in the face of other health issues. For what it's worth, I'll go ahead and offer my own. For dogs who live in areas where rabies is present in the wildlife population, I do think vaccination can be reasonable even in the face of many chronic medical conditions as long as the dog is stable and the condition is being addressed and appropriately managed. However, no vaccination of any sort ought to be given while dogs are acutely ill or an unknown disease process is at play. That is a warning that is actually included by the vaccine manufacturers. Right now, Jasper is unwell for a reason that is yet to be known. I absolutely would wait to administer the rabies vaccination until after you've had a chance to sort things out and Jasper has normalized once again.

Marianne

Oh Tina, I am so sorry that you and Jasper have had such a tough time of it. We worry so when they don't eat and aren't acting like themselves. Constant clean-up sucks too! :o

I have very strong opinions regarding rabies vaccination/ boosters. I would personally NEVER do it with an ill (unstable) pup. Buddy's became due when he was terminal. I did not do it!! I would get feedback from you vet and ask about a possible exemption in Jasper's case, since he's not well and isn't likely to be out among the wild population. THEN GO WITH YOUR GUT!!! That's my advice for what it's worth.

Please keep us posted. xxxxxx

Hi Tina,

I, too, am so sorry Jasper is having a difficult time lately and pray the solution is found and easily corrected soon. For what it's worth, I agree with Marianne on the vaccines - no way, no how would I allow them to be given as long as he is not well. ;)

I bought a carpet shampooer last month but haven't been able to use it yet. Meanwhile the carpet...~~sigh~~, yes a constant job! After getting trapped inside this past winter they have decided in is as good as out. :rolleyes: I see linoleum and rubber non-skid doggy boots in their future! :p

Keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

I agree, I wouldn't do any vaccines while Jasper is not himself.

I think the problem likely is the zeniquin. It is listed as a side effect. It could be that some dogs are sensitive to or even allergic to some degree to the drug, but I think you need another drug for the UTI and I wouldn't give this to Jasper again.

In fact, one of the warnings is to not give this to dogs with kidney problems already.

I think Jasper will bounce back from this since you've stopped it, but I bet it is super exhausting, along with work and constant cleaning.

Sending you big hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

Hi Tina

Oh no, hope it is just the antibiotic causing this. I know Flynny has had problems with some of these upsetting him and putting him off his food. How has the vet appointment gone today, really want to see some good Jasper news!

I would not want to give a vaccine either when he is unwell, I am so pleased here in NZ we do not have rabies so the dogs do not get vaccinated for that ever. One of my friends was in Turkey last year and she got bit by a stray dog and had to have a course of injections so she did not get rabies :eek: Nasty. xx

Hi Tina,
I'm so sorry to hear Jasper is having problems with his appetite. It's so hard to have that constant worry hanging over your head...it's such a bad feeling and I can easily understand how it can get the better of you.
Hopefully another day or two off that med and Japser will begin to get his appetite back. It's not like our schnauzers have easy disgestive systems..maybe it's just taking time for him to bounce back and feel hungry, and he is eating a bit.
I can't imagine the vet would disagree about just postponing that rabies shot until Jasper is 100%...especially if he's not running around the forest with racoons.
I guess Jasper doesn't use the puppy pads?? Maybe you could spread some out anyway and he'll end up going on them by chance? If he usually goes in "regular" places and you put a few pads on those spots and he might just start using them...maybe worth a try, it can't hurt.
I'll be keeping fingers crossed that tomorrow he will show some improvement in the eating department and start feeling better.

Barbara

Thanks so much for the support, and especially for the feedback about the rabies shot. Marianne, your opinion is shared by my vet. But I had made up my mind he was not getting it today, and the validation from all of you really helped. Thankfully it wasn't an issue at all with my vet, she immediately said we need to wait until he is back to normal. (Whew!) I was just a little anxious about it because on a previous conversation, I had asked her about sending in a letter so that Jasper could be exempt due to his illness and all his issues. She was very firm that he needed the vaccine, and that it wasn't contraindicated for him. It is a law here that he be vaccinated every 3 years, and she basically said that his issues did not qualify for the exemption. We had a couple of subsequent conversations about it and she answered all my questions and was reassuring. So I was a little worried that she might think I was using this situation as an excuse to delay it. I don't live out in the country, but I do live right near a farm, and a small wooded area and creek, so there is wildlife around.

She was disappointed that Jasper wasn't feeling significantly better. She examined him and that was all ok. She decided to check all his labwork to see if his Addison's had become unstable, and to look at the kidney and liver values. She also checked a CBC. Everything was mostly ok, whew! The ALP was increased some since last time, and the ALT was up a bit also. :( She said she was not concerned about those. The electrolytes, BUN and creatinine were WNL. So that was a huge relief. She wasn't completely sure but is thinking that maybe his stomach just got really upset from the zeniquin this time. She also went ahead and got a urine specimen to send for a culture. His urine was dilute as usual, sp gr 1.009, and ph 7, 3+ protein. :mad:

We started pepcid AC 10 mg 1/2 tab bid, and will continue the reglan 5 mg 1/2 tab bid for the next few days and see how he does. Zeniquin still on hold. She will call with results of the culture, probably Monday, and go from there. He did eat a bit better to tonight, so maybe we are moving in the right direction now.

Sharlene, I told my vet that I don't think I like zeniquin, so we are on the same page there! I am thinking I don't want him to have it anymore either. And yes, I was aware that loss of appetite is listed as a side effect, and also that it says to use with caution in dogs with liver or kidney disease. Unfortunately there are a lot of antibiotics that say to use with caution with kidney disease, including metronidazole. I have asked her about that in the past, and she said it was ok.

Trish, that is awful about your friend. It would be scary enough to be bit by a stray dog in your own neighborhood, it would be terrifying in a foreign country.

Barbara, yes, I do put the pooch pads out in the areas he has been having accidents. I have 8 of them placed strategically, both upstairs and down. He uses them, but he also has accidents on the carpet in addition. He was accustomed to using the pads when I was able to confine him in the kitchen, and he was very good about using them. So I am not sure what is wrong now. :(

I was planning to do some carpet cleaning tonight but I am just too tired. I will need to try to tackle that tomorrow.

Big hugs,
Tina and Jasper xo