14 year-old Shih Tzu With Recent Cushing's Diagnosis

[Squirt's Mom]

In looking for canine side effects with suralfate they mention constipation as about the only one for dogs - however for humans they list nausea, and other digestive upsets. The timing does seem suspect, huh?

[jmac]

Yes, Leslie, it is a little suspect. I've searched extensively on the side effects for dogs and found the same thing, constipation. I did not, however, think to look at side effects for humans. Thanks for thinking of that. My vet doesn't think it should cause any issues, and she's been on it for 3 weeks straight, so it definitely didn't affect anything right away, which is also weird. She took it for a week at first, then we had a three day break before going back on it (because her stool was dark again).

The vet did more research and said Hannah should take it for a full 4 weeks to get the (potential) ulcer to heal completely. We are so close to four weeks (without those three days). I'm thinking of either skipping it tonight or trying it 2 hours after her food to see if there is any difference.

It's so hard with all of her other meds to space everything out. Here's the list of her meds: Sucralfate, Pepcid, Denamarin, Cosequin, Atopica, Hydroxyzine; then she gets Tacrolimus drops and NeoPolyDex ointment put in her eyes, and then I have keto wipes and a steroid cream and spray for her skin, as needed. It's like a pharmacy over here.

I am proud of the fact that for the last three weeks I have been able to give every med at the correct time. It is so hard to space them out because some need to be on an empty stomach, they can't be too close together, etc. I set alarms for all hours to make it work. It will be wonderful if we can eliminate the sucralfate, as I'll be able to sleep again, and we won't have to be so strict with when she can eat.

Thanks for looking into it, Leslie!

Julie & Hannah

[jmac]

Here are links to videos of Hannah. The first one is showing her trying to walk in the morning when she was having trouble. The second one is showing her last weekend with no problems. Even in her cone, she's still a happy camper!

http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/jm...tml?sort=3&o=0

http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/jm...tml?sort=3&o=1

[molly muffin]

Oh gosh those two are so cute.
There is a marked improvement I think between video 1 and video 2. The cone might throw her balance off a bit if she is having some rear leg problems, which might make it look worse than it is without the cone on. You'd know about that. In the second video though she looks to be doing pretty good and no falling over.
Just adorable though. I love how she makes her bed with the blanket. Molly does that too and it always is such fun to watch.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[goldengirl88]

Julie:
I too have given Tipper this to Tipper, but not on an empty stomach. She has issues with acid reflux and I thought it might be helpful to her throat if she had any lesions from the acid. She is still having the throat issues and as you know going to the hosptal tomorrow for it. I didn't notice any stomach upset or anything, but her stool was harder. She didn't get constipated as I gave her pumpkin. She would fight me when I had to give it to her though, so it either bothered her stomach, or she hated the taste, because she is smart and when I give her something that helps her she is wanting it again.I have stopped giving it to her. I will try and remember to ask the Dr. at the hospital about it for you. Hope your baby is doing well. God Bless You and Hannah
Patti

[addy]

Hi Julie,

How is Hannah? I was tryin to watch the videos but for some reason they were not playing on my lap top. I must have something set wrong.

How are things? Just checking in to let you know I am thinking of you.

[Skye]

OMG those are adorable little videos!!!!! she was "nesting" I LOVE IT when they do that. so precious. and she was just zipping right along with her little cone. lol........zip zip zip!!!!

[Trish]

She is SO adorable... Love her, she is so gorgeous with a evil cone on and all. I am just signing up to photobucket so I can share videos of Flynn, should have done that ages ago... stay tuned Hope she is a having a good day Julie xx

[jmac]

Hi Guys,

I haven't been on too much lately-busy with Hannah, the end of the school year, and trying to get yard work done. I have my staff party at my house in a week and a half. I've kind of just needed to focus my attention on Hannah, Izzy, and my hubby during my free time lately.

I just wanted to give an update on Hannah. I think she was starting to have some back trouble again, after improving from a few weeks ago, so she got a laser treatment.

She also had a change in her appetite a few weeks ago. I thought it may have been tied to a medication but stopping it didn't really change much. She is off and on about eating, but usually wants to eat around 8:00 or 9:00 at night.

My vet also recommended doing a fecal occult blood test to see if there is blood in her stool, since after treating her for the possible stomach ulcer, her stool returned to a darker color. It isn't black, and it doesn't look like coffee grounds or anything, but it is so much darker than her stool used to be. It used to be a golden/light brownish color, and now it is a darker brown, but the inside is usually a lighter color. Of course, I have no idea what normal is, but there was just a significant change one day, and I hadn't changed her food or anything else. When she was on the sucralfate it was lighter, which worries me. So the vet wants to do the test.

I had to switch her to a vegetarian dog food for at least 3 days before the test. It took a little over a week to transition her, and she doesn't love the food either. We were in the middle of a prescription hydrolyzed protein (HP) diet to see if her itching is due to food allergies. They recommend this because the protein source has been modified so the dog's body cannot recognize it. Unfortunately she also got the weird appetite in the middle of that, so between not wanting to eat sometimes and needing to switch to the veggie food, we didn't get too far. It's frustrating because that food was not cheap, but at this point I just want her to enjoy eating, so as soon as we are off this strict diet I'll let her eat the food she likes.

I'm hopeful I can take tomorrow's stool to the vet. I transitioned her fully on Thurs., so it's been 4 days. I'm worried about what they'll find, but have no idea what we'll even do if there is blood. I'm not doing an endoscopy on her, so we really won't know if it's an ulcer. Maybe we just go back on the sucralfate, regardless. If it is some sort of tumor I won't do anything anyway, so really I'd just keep her comfortable.

If we find out there is no blood, then she can go on a steroid if needed. Since her itching has not resolved and she is still in the cone, I'd really like her to live a little more comfortably, and I'm willing to try a steroid, since we really don't even know if she has Cushing's. She sure doesn't have the appetite, and her water intake isn't crazy. The only real symptom she has is rear end weakness.

I just wanted to give you an update on us. Thanks for checking in. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thinking of all of you and wishing you and your pups the very best,

Julie & Hannah

[molly muffin]

Hi Julie,

I think you are doing really great and giving Hannah as happy of a life as possible.
Poor thing, with all the back problems. I wonder if the different food changes she's been through has just sort of messed with her appetite? Molly gets off food when I start trying to change things around, then she gets the runs and things just are not normal for awhile. Usually until I go back to the SO, which she leaves sometimes and eats other times. Her poop changes by how much she eats too.
It's good sometimes to just take the time to spend with hubs and pups. It makes life just seem okay when you can have the time to do that.
Hope you have a wonderful staff party. End of year ones are the best!! hahaha

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin