Please put Gretchen on your prayer or good thoughts list.

[DOTLDaddy]

Gretchen has not been feeling very well the last several days. Hardly eating, lethargic, and just not being herself. We took her in this morning to see her vet. Found out right away she had a fever of 104, and somewhat raspy sounding lungs. The vet recommended chest x-rays, which we did. There is a slightly suspicious looking area on one of her lungs, which our vet is 90% sure is nothing, but she wants an expert radiologist to look at the digital "films". There is a small possibility of the big "C", but our vet does not want to make that call yet. Like I said, she is pretty sure it is nothing . . . . The radiologist will look at them in the near future, but it might not be for a week or two. The radiologist travels around to a lot of different vet offices, looking at cases that require an experts knowledge. Our vet said the time lapse will have no bearing on the prognosis or treatment options, if it comes to that.

For the fever and whatever is causing it, we came home with Amoxicillin and Metronidazole. They also took blood for a CBC, and will let us know about that tomorrow.

[Code2High]

One thing you could consider would be contacting a holistic vet or an accupuncturist that works with animals. You might not be able to solve the problem, but nutritional or accu approaches can many times mitigate allergic/auto-immune issues.

If you could dial things back a little, perhaps she could be on a lower dose, or feel better on the dose she's on.

[colliehauler]

Mikko is on 1/2 a pred a day. The vet had me cut it to 1/2 every other day but the raw nose came back so it's 1/2 every day along with niacin and doxy-cycl 2 times a day. Gretchen might have to be on her med's for life. It's heck to get old but it sure beats the alternative.

[DOTLDaddy]

dturm wrote:
....
Are you going to try to go to Gulf coast??

Doug

Nope. 😞 We cancelled everything a week ago when we realized Gretchen could very well not be stabilized by the time we left on March 9th.

The last couple days have gone pretty well, however. 1/2 pred in morning, 1/2 pred in evening, plus the two eye drops at the same times. If we can't get her "cured", we are hopeful to at least get the routine down to just the eyedrops, in time.

[dturm]

If this is lupus, the skin biopsies taken at the beginning should have showed it (I think).

If the pred is working and needs to be continued, do it.

I've had animals on pred for years. In a dog of Gretchen's age with appropriate dosing and monitoring there is a fairly low risk of creating a problem compared to what is going on.

I suppose another immunosuppresive drug might be tried, but her condition is so rare (and basically undiagnosed) we'd be guessing what to use.

Are you going to try to go to Gulf coast??

Doug

[Code2High]

CatandJim wrote:
Quality of life, even if it means the "big gun" medications, is your primary focus and Gretchen is going to benefit from all of your efforts. She and I may have that autoimmune thing in common but I have faith you, Garland, and your team of vets will keep working to get her back on track.

Hang in there!

X2

[kokosfriend]

Our beloved furkids can certain cause a lot of work and worry, but worth it always

Barb and the 4 chocolates

[Dashonthedash]

I have a friend that had a beloved German Shepherd named Rocket who had Canine Lupus. Treatment kept it under control, and allowed him a long life, just with a pair of large, red, naked ears. I even wrote her a song, based on "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" called "Rocket the Red-eared Reindog" that she still treasures. Point is, dogs are very resilient and, chances are, she will be fine with the proper treatment.

[CatandJim]

DOTLDaddy wrote:

Dashonthedash wrote:
.... Have the vets ruled out canine lupus? ....

That diagnosis has not been brought up by the four vets involved in Gretchen's case. I did a quick look-up of CL symptoms and, luckily, Gretchen does not display the vast majority of them. I will, however, mention it the next time I see the ophth vet on March 15th.

I hope that it's not Lupus...says someone who knows all too well what that means for a human. I'm glad she doesn't present with many of the symptoms, that makes me hopeful.

[DOTLDaddy]

sher9570 wrote:
...I sure do wish her well.
Sending good thoughts and prayers for all of you.

Sher

🙂

[DOTLDaddy]

colliehauler wrote:
Mikko has Collie nose and he takes prednisone every day. If he does not his nose goes from raw to scabs back to raw. I do worry about the long term effect but do not see an alternative.

What's the old saying, "You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't".

[DOTLDaddy]

Dashonthedash wrote:
.... Have the vets ruled out canine lupus? ....

That diagnosis has not been brought up by the four vets involved in Gretchen's case. I did a quick look-up of CL symptoms and, luckily, Gretchen does not display the vast majority of them. I will, however, mention it the next time I see the ophth vet on March 15th.

[colliehauler]

DOTLDaddy wrote:

RBak wrote:
....As for the prednisone, my hubby has to take a maintenance dose every day....

I suspect that may very well be Gretchen's future.

Mikko has Collie nose and he takes prednisone every day. If he does not his nose goes from raw to scabs back to raw. I do worry about the long term effect but do not see an alternative.

[Dashonthedash]

I remember you mentioned a lot of red bumps on Gretchen's skin earlier. Have the vets ruled out canine lupus? Whatever it is, I hope the disease remains under control. Max had to take eyedrops for almost his entire life due to Pannus, but it didn't seem to bother him. I do remember being told that autoimmune eye diseases can be aggravated by exposure to UV rays, so maybe Gretchen can be fitted with a pair of stylish sunglasses.

[sher9570]

Sometimes these drugs are such a lifesaver even though we would rather not have our dogs on them, they have a purpose and that being Gretchen's health and well being...I sure do wish her well.
Sending good thoughts and prayers for all of you.

Sher

[DOTLDaddy]

CatandJim wrote:
....
Hang in there!

Thanks for the pep talk! 🙂
We are just hoping to see that little light at the end of the tunnel soon.😛