buglady wrote:
"kate" wrote in message
s.com...
Today is day 3 and we were hoping for some kind of a turnaround, but to
no avail!!
He is off his food big time today and has found a quiet place in the
garden to rest tonight, rather than his bed.
I will ring the vet in the morning as we had planned and advise no
change and I guess then we go onto the pred...Gee I hope we get a
positive there!!

....................Well, rats, but it's just as well you did it as most
likely the two tick diseases have now been ruled out. I hope you do get a
response with the pred. Did the vet consider Addison's disease? That can
cause intermittent lameness and lack of appetite among other symptoms. Many
times there are no blood changes until the dog is very ill.

Hi again,
Have been so busy... haven't had time to go on the net.
Thanks for advice on Addisons... not heard of it.
Latest is - yesterday Vet 1 rang to say that the lab in Brisbane had
sent an interim report that there was a sign of an organism, however,
they have to grow it further to see what it is. This is from the joint
fliud from the tap.

Rang Vet 2 to adivse on Vet 1 report , plus reported on result of doxy.
Result of doxy was ...condition same, but decided to keep medication up
till we hear results of culture.
Appetite only good when offered raw chicken necks.!!!
Not yet on pred... waiting game still !!!!! Hopefully we'll hear in
the next day or so.
Thanks again - much appreciated.
Cheers,
Kate

buglady
take out the dog before replying

kate wrote:
buglady wrote:
"kate" wrote in message
s.com...
Today is day 3 and we were hoping for some kind of a turnaround, but to
no avail!!
He is off his food big time today and has found a quiet place in the
garden to rest tonight, rather than his bed.
I will ring the vet in the morning as we had planned and advise no
change and I guess then we go onto the pred...Gee I hope we get a
positive there!!

....................Well, rats, but it's just as well you did it as most
likely the two tick diseases have now been ruled out. I hope you do get a
response with the pred. Did the vet consider Addison's disease? That can
cause intermittent lameness and lack of appetite among other symptoms. Many
times there are no blood changes until the dog is very ill.

Hi again,
Have been so busy... haven't had time to go on the net.
Thanks for advice on Addisons... not heard of it.
Latest is - yesterday Vet 1 rang to say that the lab in Brisbane had
sent an interim report that there was a sign of an organism, however,
they have to grow it further to see what it is. This is from the joint
fliud from the tap.

Rang Vet 2 to adivse on Vet 1 report , plus reported on result of doxy.
Result of doxy was ...condition same, but decided to keep medication up
till we hear results of culture.
Appetite only good when offered raw chicken necks.!!!
Not yet on pred... waiting game still !!!!! Hopefully we'll hear in
the next day or so.
Thanks again - much appreciated.
Cheers,
Kate

buglady
take out the dog before replying

Kate again,
Well latest is we are on the pred with remarkable results. Started on
2 tabs per day and now after 1 week, on one tab in the morning. He is
still maintaining good movement etc on lowered dosage. Appetite is back
and he seems much happier in himself.
However, we still do not have a diagnosis, so we are still not out of
the woods yet. Vet 1 still thinks it is probably an auto immune
disease.
However it is so good to see him have some normal quality of life for
now.
Thans again,
Cheers,
Kate

kate wrote:
Kate again,
Well latest is we are on the pred with remarkable results. Started on
2 tabs per day and now after 1 week, on one tab in the morning. He is
still maintaining good movement etc on lowered dosage. Appetite is back
and he seems much happier in himself.
However, we still do not have a diagnosis, so we are still not out of
the woods yet. Vet 1 still thinks it is probably an auto immune
disease.
However it is so good to see him have some normal quality of life for
now.
Thans again,
Cheers,
Kate

Kate, my kerry blue terrier was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease at
age 6. He had a terrible time getting up but when we took him to the vet
the adrenaline was up and he walked fine so it took some time to
diagnose. He was on cortizone tablets for some time. However, this
caused pancreatitis so we had to be careful about what he ate. Also,
because cortizone suppressed his immune system it left him open to other
diseases. He died aged 10 of urinary tract cancer. Get your vets to tell
you the possible side effects of the drugs your dog is on.

Fitzie

Fitzie wrote:
kate wrote:
Kate again,
Well latest is we are on the pred with remarkable results. Started on
2 tabs per day and now after 1 week, on one tab in the morning. He is
still maintaining good movement etc on lowered dosage. Appetite is back
and he seems much happier in himself.
However, we still do not have a diagnosis, so we are still not out of
the woods yet. Vet 1 still thinks it is probably an auto immune
disease.
However it is so good to see him have some normal quality of life for
now.
Thans again,
Cheers,
Kate

Kate, my kerry blue terrier was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease at
age 6. He had a terrible time getting up but when we took him to the vet
the adrenaline was up and he walked fine so it took some time to
diagnose. He was on cortizone tablets for some time. However, this
caused pancreatitis so we had to be careful about what he ate. Also,
because cortizone suppressed his immune system it left him open to other
diseases. He died aged 10 of urinary tract cancer. Get your vets to tell
you the possible side effects of the drugs your dog is on.

Fitzie

Hey Fitzie,

Yes I know what that is about when you go to the Vet. My dog took
forever to pick up and manoevure into the car. Once we got there it
was party time, sniffing around etc.
I'm sure the Vet thought I was making it up when I told him of the
dog's deterioration.
We are very aware of the effects of pred. Already he has had 2
decreases in dosage in 2 weeks.
He is still very good which we are pleased about as we have seen no
deterioration since the lowered dosage.
We realise there will probably be a point where we will have to say
this is the correct dosage that will give him quality of life albeit
the side effects, however, we are hoping to be able to rid him of the
pred altogether if posible.
The worrying thing for us presently is that while he has come back
physically, big time, we still do not have a diagnosis after 12
weeks!!!!!
We still have to be guided by the Vet on whether/what we test him for
next. We really want to know what is wrong with him and from what you
have said and from what I have researched,I do not want him on pred for
any length of time. It has given him a quality of life we could not
have envisaged 3 weeks ago, but we are not naive enough to know this is
not for good. It's a waiting game again.

Cheers,Kate

kate wrote:
Hey Fitzie,

Yes I know what that is about when you go to the Vet. My dog took
forever to pick up and manoevure into the car. Once we got there it
was party time, sniffing around etc.
I'm sure the Vet thought I was making it up when I told him of the
dog's deterioration.
We are very aware of the effects of pred. Already he has had 2
decreases in dosage in 2 weeks.
He is still very good which we are pleased about as we have seen no
deterioration since the lowered dosage.
We realise there will probably be a point where we will have to say
this is the correct dosage that will give him quality of life albeit
the side effects, however, we are hoping to be able to rid him of the
pred altogether if posible.
The worrying thing for us presently is that while he has come back
physically, big time, we still do not have a diagnosis after 12
weeks!!!!!
We still have to be guided by the Vet on whether/what we test him for
next. We really want to know what is wrong with him and from what you
have said and from what I have researched,I do not want him on pred for
any length of time. It has given him a quality of life we could not
have envisaged 3 weeks ago, but we are not naive enough to know this is
not for good. It's a waiting game again.

Cheers,Kate

Hi Kate

My dog was finally diagnosed because we happened to see a different vet
on his next visit. He took a blood sample and sent off a report to the
Werribee Vet Clinic, which is also the teaching hospital for Melbourne
University in Vic. I made an appointment for my dog to go up there but
the vet rang to say that they agreed with his diagnosis.

After the first bout of pancreatitis, we stopped the cortizone but he
began to be in a lot of pain quite quickly so we had to change his diet
to really bland things. Even with the pancreatitis and the cancer, that
first time after he ran down to greet me after being on the cortizone
for one day, I still think it was worth giving it a shot. It gave him
three years that he wouldn't have had otherwise.

Keep us posted.

Fitzie

Fitzie wrote:
kate wrote:
Hey Fitzie,

Yes I know what that is about when you go to the Vet. My dog took
forever to pick up and manoevure into the car. Once we got there it
was party time, sniffing around etc.
I'm sure the Vet thought I was making it up when I told him of the
dog's deterioration.
We are very aware of the effects of pred. Already he has had 2
decreases in dosage in 2 weeks.
He is still very good which we are pleased about as we have seen no
deterioration since the lowered dosage.
We realise there will probably be a point where we will have to say
this is the correct dosage that will give him quality of life albeit
the side effects, however, we are hoping to be able to rid him of the
pred altogether if posible.
The worrying thing for us presently is that while he has come back
physically, big time, we still do not have a diagnosis after 12
weeks!!!!!
We still have to be guided by the Vet on whether/what we test him for
next. We really want to know what is wrong with him and from what you
have said and from what I have researched,I do not want him on pred for
any length of time. It has given him a quality of life we could not
have envisaged 3 weeks ago, but we are not naive enough to know this is
not for good. It's a waiting game again.

Cheers,Kate

Hi Kate

My dog was finally diagnosed because we happened to see a different vet
on his next visit. He took a blood sample and sent off a report to the
Werribee Vet Clinic, which is also the teaching hospital for Melbourne
University in Vic. I made an appointment for my dog to go up there but
the vet rang to say that they agreed with his diagnosis.

After the first bout of pancreatitis, we stopped the cortizone but he
began to be in a lot of pain quite quickly so we had to change his diet
to really bland things. Even with the pancreatitis and the cancer, that
first time after he ran down to greet me after being on the cortizone
for one day, I still think it was worth giving it a shot. It gave him
three years that he wouldn't have had otherwise.

Keep us posted.

Fitzie

Hi Fitzie,

Were you using the prednisone tabs or injections???
Cheers,
Kate

kate wrote:
Hi Fitzie,

Were you using the prednisone tabs or injections???
Cheers,
Kate

Hi Kate

We had blue tablets. We called them his little blue pep pills. I don't
know if they were labelled as prednisone. The vet just said they were
cortizone tablets. They were the only tablets our dog took without us
having to disguise them.

How's your dog going?

Cheers

Fitzie

Fitzie wrote:
kate wrote:
Hi Fitzie,

Were you using the prednisone tabs or injections???
Cheers,
Kate

Hi Kate

We had blue tablets. We called them his little blue pep pills. I don't
know if they were labelled as prednisone. The vet just said they were
cortizone tablets. They were the only tablets our dog took without us
having to disguise them.

How's your dog going?

Cheers

Fitzie

Hi Fitzie,
Yes the little blue tabs are the prdenisone.
He is improving slightly each day, even though we have halved the
dosage now and hope to cut it back even further soon. They certinly do
the job, although we still cannot lose sight of the fact that the
problem is still undiagnosed, so therefore he is still not being
treated for the ailment. Hoewever his quality of life is so much
improved.
Cheers,
Kate