Nikki may need re-load (update: I had to let Nikki go)

Hi, all, I am really glad I found you again!I had to board Nikki for six days while I went to Florida for my daughter's wedding.When I picked her up yesterday she was totally despondent. Her caregiver said she hardly ate, had really loose stools and just slept the whole time.I was going to take her to the vet today but she started to rally a little, so I decided to wait and see, because the vet is so stressful for her.Before our trip, I had her stimmed and her acth was post 8.7 after 2 months on maintenance at 200mg twice a week.The vet wants to re-load but Nikki feels so bad and is so weak now I don't know what to do.Is it possible that stress made her cortsol go down or would it go up? I was thinking about waiting til the end of the month to re-stim because I don't think her number would change that much, and she needs to recover from this stress, if possible.Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I hope she starts to feel better after being back with you!! They say you shouldn't treat a dog with Lysodren if they are sick or not feeling well. IMO, I agree with your vet that you will have to re-load, but I would definitely wait until she feels better. I can't comment on other factors influencing her cortisol levels - I would just be guessing - I can't figure it out with Wylie either!

I'm glad you found us!

-Susy

Hi Sharon,

I'm glad you and Nikki found us! :D

I second what Susy said about treating a sick pup. Typically, stress will cause the cortisol production to increase, but with these cush pups, you just never know. Some of them simply don't do "typical" ! :rolleyes::D Did the people where she was boarded have to dose her while she was there? Did they dose her with her not eating, etc?

Trying to get an accurate result if she is that stressed might be difficult. But if she is not improving steadily and fairly quickly, I think I would have her checked out just to be sure nothing else is going on. Maybe your vet's staff would let you and Nikki stay in your car until it was time for her to be seen and that might lessen the stress on Nikki.

Hoping she is better soon!
Hugs,
Leslie and the girls

Thanks Leslie and Susy! They did dose her on Friday when she wasn't eating much.She's not eating dog food now but will eat any human snack I give her. She has terrible diarrhea, so it's probably best she doesn't eat today.Maybe her insides will get a rest, then I'll try pumpkin and Forta Flora tomorrow. If she's not getting better she will go to the vet Thursday, or I will at least talk to her.I knew when I left her she would have some problems. I just hope she can recover.

Sharon, as we discussed before your trip, & the site went down, a reload is going to be unavoidable with that post of >8. Illness/stress will normal raise the cortisol level even further. As the others have already mentioned, you DON'T GIVE lysodren to a sick pup EVER, no matter what the problem is.

Debbie

Hi Sharon,

I think it sounds like Nikki needs to see the vet sooner rather than later - it sounds like it is possible that she has picked up some sort of infection while at the kennel. If the diarrhea is bad she may well be quite dehydrated and her electrolytes may be depleted especially if she isn't eating and if the diarrhea has been going on for some time.

Until you can get her to the vet offering her some Pedialyte or similar may help her a lot. If it is late at night and you can't get hold of any then something like a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar in 2 pints of water is a fair substitute. I'm not 100% sure on those measurements so I'll go check and edit if necessary.


Oops! Not enough salt - or sugar! Good thing I checked. See: http://rehydrate.org/faq/how-to-prepare-ors.htm
http://rehydrate.org/faq/how-to-prepare-ors.htm

and another one: http://www.recipezaar.com/Oral-Rehydration-Salts-230966

One other thing - be very careful regarding your hygiene while cleaning up and handling Nikki while she is sick - depending on what is causing the problem some of these things can be passed on to humans!

Good luck and keep us posted.

Alison

I understand what you are going through. I have to leave my dogs at a kennel 3 times a year at 10 days at a time. I leave them at the same kennel as they are very good to them. About a year or more ago, I left them,when I got home for the first time I had to consider the thought that I was going to have to set Nike free from her pain. She was lethargic, could hardly stand or walk. I cried and cried then gave her pred thinking it cant hurt and it did not. In fact within a couple hrs she was back to her normal self. So even though her stim numbers were excellent she still dropped down, I believe due to the stress. Have you talked to your vet about giving pred to see if it helps your pup now? Now when I leave them, Nike gets 5 mg of pred daily ( she is a 85 lb dog so the 5 mg is a tiny bit for her) but it has made the difference and I wean her off when I get home.
Good luck with your pup and I hope Nikki feels better soon.
Sharon, Nike and Kenai

Another thing just occurred to me - you may want to check that Nikki's medication (Lysodren) was done correctly while you were away. Is it possible they thought it was an every-day med?

Alison

PS: I see Leslie has touched on that already but it might be worth double checking especially if more than one person was involved with her care.

Thankfully, I only left one capsule plus a pill pocket. I am worried that it was probably given when she was not eating, ie empty stomach.But Nikki seems better today, but still won't eat her dog food.She'll eat anything else. I'll probably try cooking egg and rice with chicken broth if she doesn't eat her normal food later today. I do know she will never be boarded again.

Did you speak to your vet about maybe trying a bit of pred to see if that helps?