OwnerHandlerFeeder
07-01-2012, 05:37 PM
HI!
I registered today for the first time even though I have been reading as a guest for a couple years. I am Owner Handler Feeder which used to be a joke in our house that my husband and I worked for our dog Kaylee and were slaves to her the way some owners are to show dogs.
We are her third set of owners, she came to us by way of a bad situation and we love her. She was about 2? 3? when we got her, a SHeppard cross with some scent hound, and Doby legs and moles and peak.
She is 12 now and was diagnosed with Cushings 3 years ago.
That is when I found this site.
You helped me to find an alternative place to buy my dog meds (Thank you) and from time to time I compare blood work.
Kaylee has terrible arthritis. As in, hips hurt all the time and xrays last year showed very little cartillage in her joints.
I have seen the myriad of ideas and solutions here for pain meds, herbal supplements, accupuncture etc. Despite originally being a farm dog this princess has a delicate stomach and will throw up anything other than her dry food. For years on ID until I figured out how much filler and cereal is in it and now she is on Canidae - still has some oats but less starch then other foods. The starch free sku is too high in protein for her to tolerate so this works well.
So the supplements and flax oil and vitamin E etc all make her puke.
So I do not give them to her.
Tried the adquan shots for 4 mos - really no change I could see.
To my dismay (I felt like a failure to add more synthetic solutions to her life) I finally put her on Metacam and it helps but is a mask.
Girl has been doing very well over the years.
Last fall she got into something or something in her and I thought she was gone.
She had a bad fever, glassy eyes, and very bad senility. Constant barking and always surprised to see me.
Part of it was her hearing loss but she was also sick.
Finally she refused to eat for 2 days, barfed once that slimey egg white barf (no flecks like coffee grounds thank you) and dehydrated.
After $2500+++ over 3 days, I brought her home - alive - which was not what I thought going in - and all the vet had to say was -
"We dont really know what it was".
Ever since then she has had different moles and bumps that come and go, and some that disappear for good.
I even had some on her mouth biopsied - can back negative for carcenomas.
She eats well, urine is excellent so is stool.
But in the last 2 months her back legs have failed so much it is shocking.
She will not go up or down stairs.
I can see her toes curl under as she tries to push her feet into place.
She has also become very short of breath.
Yes panting is part of cushings. this is not the same.
She cannot go 100 yards without becoming so out of breath she has to stop.
The otehr night I heard her do what I call horking up nothing.
Almost like a cat with a hairball, this yields nothing but a yack type of noise from her but you can see she was struggling to bring something up.
The only time I have heard this before was from a dog with heart disease and too much fluid in their lungs.
Her most recent round of tests were good (regular blood work since her cushings has been well controlled for over a year on 60mg day,) and acutally even her ALT is approaching normal again.
THe elevated ALT was what started this 6 years ago.
I am going to the vets tomorrow to have a talk about the possiblity of heart disease and the meds for it. If she does have a heart problem does it mean she is not getting enought oxygen to her limbs and that has added to the failure?
I am also going to ask about getting a harness for her to help her up and down the stairs and see if it can be of use for walks as she still needs the exercise but the weakness with the panting has put an end to it.
I have seen a lot of very different posts and information here and I guess I am willing to get feedback from everyone.:confused::confused:
I have never really had an issue with the cost of this disease to my wallet so long as it did not dent her quality of life because she has gone through so much.
I was not willing to quit on her if she isn't.
But now I see something on her face - she is not happy.:(
Help me to make the right decision on her meds and her activity.
thank you!:)
I registered today for the first time even though I have been reading as a guest for a couple years. I am Owner Handler Feeder which used to be a joke in our house that my husband and I worked for our dog Kaylee and were slaves to her the way some owners are to show dogs.
We are her third set of owners, she came to us by way of a bad situation and we love her. She was about 2? 3? when we got her, a SHeppard cross with some scent hound, and Doby legs and moles and peak.
She is 12 now and was diagnosed with Cushings 3 years ago.
That is when I found this site.
You helped me to find an alternative place to buy my dog meds (Thank you) and from time to time I compare blood work.
Kaylee has terrible arthritis. As in, hips hurt all the time and xrays last year showed very little cartillage in her joints.
I have seen the myriad of ideas and solutions here for pain meds, herbal supplements, accupuncture etc. Despite originally being a farm dog this princess has a delicate stomach and will throw up anything other than her dry food. For years on ID until I figured out how much filler and cereal is in it and now she is on Canidae - still has some oats but less starch then other foods. The starch free sku is too high in protein for her to tolerate so this works well.
So the supplements and flax oil and vitamin E etc all make her puke.
So I do not give them to her.
Tried the adquan shots for 4 mos - really no change I could see.
To my dismay (I felt like a failure to add more synthetic solutions to her life) I finally put her on Metacam and it helps but is a mask.
Girl has been doing very well over the years.
Last fall she got into something or something in her and I thought she was gone.
She had a bad fever, glassy eyes, and very bad senility. Constant barking and always surprised to see me.
Part of it was her hearing loss but she was also sick.
Finally she refused to eat for 2 days, barfed once that slimey egg white barf (no flecks like coffee grounds thank you) and dehydrated.
After $2500+++ over 3 days, I brought her home - alive - which was not what I thought going in - and all the vet had to say was -
"We dont really know what it was".
Ever since then she has had different moles and bumps that come and go, and some that disappear for good.
I even had some on her mouth biopsied - can back negative for carcenomas.
She eats well, urine is excellent so is stool.
But in the last 2 months her back legs have failed so much it is shocking.
She will not go up or down stairs.
I can see her toes curl under as she tries to push her feet into place.
She has also become very short of breath.
Yes panting is part of cushings. this is not the same.
She cannot go 100 yards without becoming so out of breath she has to stop.
The otehr night I heard her do what I call horking up nothing.
Almost like a cat with a hairball, this yields nothing but a yack type of noise from her but you can see she was struggling to bring something up.
The only time I have heard this before was from a dog with heart disease and too much fluid in their lungs.
Her most recent round of tests were good (regular blood work since her cushings has been well controlled for over a year on 60mg day,) and acutally even her ALT is approaching normal again.
THe elevated ALT was what started this 6 years ago.
I am going to the vets tomorrow to have a talk about the possiblity of heart disease and the meds for it. If she does have a heart problem does it mean she is not getting enought oxygen to her limbs and that has added to the failure?
I am also going to ask about getting a harness for her to help her up and down the stairs and see if it can be of use for walks as she still needs the exercise but the weakness with the panting has put an end to it.
I have seen a lot of very different posts and information here and I guess I am willing to get feedback from everyone.:confused::confused:
I have never really had an issue with the cost of this disease to my wallet so long as it did not dent her quality of life because she has gone through so much.
I was not willing to quit on her if she isn't.
But now I see something on her face - she is not happy.:(
Help me to make the right decision on her meds and her activity.
thank you!:)