Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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So, I just got the report back from the full blood panel that was done yesterday. There is some good news and not good news. We'll go with the good first...which is her platelets are improving and her nutriphil count is not as low as before so the bone marrow is starting to recover .
And the not so good news is...she has elevated liver enzymes . Time to start another research project to learn about this new challenge. The oncologists would like for her to start with an over the counter drug called Sam-E . I know I have been asking this a lot, but does anyone have any experience with this drug?
For a dog that was so healthy her entire life, it kills me giving her all these drugs. At the current time is on: 1) Ciprofloxacin to help her bone marrow 2) Rimadyl for pain for the pulled quad muscle 3) Methocarbamol a muscle relaxer for her pulled quad and now 4) Sam-E for her liver.
Oh yah, lets not forget that eating is a challenge. At this point I don't know if she is so picky due to all the drugs she is on or her liver condition. Every meal is a challenge to see what she will eat and I have tried everything. Dog food...she wants nothing to do with that, but will gobble down chicken without a problem. She also likes her veggies...carrots and broccoli. I'm open to any food suggestions anyone my have.
Thanks again for all the support,
Joanie, Doug, and "Fighter" Gaby
My quadpaw Matti has liver disease. I give her denamarin which is a combo of SAM-E and milk thistle. My vet calls it a nutraceutical, (ie. herbal supplements). They are not a prescription so can be purchased thru Amazon (much cheaper than my vet). You can also buy Denosyl which is just the SAM-E alone. It has been amazing. Matti became a new dog when I started giving it to her. I think I didn't realize she felt so bad. It is supposed to help heal the liver.
Lack of appetite is one symptom of liver disorders. Also, proteins like eggs and cheese are good for the liver.
I know the vets know this, but you have to be careful with medications because the liver metabolizes drugs so you might make sure with them.
Hope Gaby starts feeling better.
Marla
My Two Tripawds...Biscuit and Spirit Daisy
SAM-E is cheap at Amazon. I used it for awhile with Dakota and it was cheapest at Amazon when signing up for the monthly automatic delivery plan. You can cancel that plan at any time, but they cut you a break when you sign up. I looked at Costco and they couldn't beat the automatic plan through Amazon.
Hopefully this will help Gaby get back on all 3 and feel better soon!
Shari
Beauty this good takes a lot of sleep.
From my human point of view I would ask the vet about keeping Gaby on a NSAID like rimadly with elevated liver enzymes- in fact it could be the rimadly causing it (again that's my human experience with NSAIDs and liver function).
Tri-pug Maggie had kidney failure and getting her to eat was almost impossible. And again- from my human perspective- when liver enzymes are elevated food is not of any interest, so it makes sense to me that Gaby doesn't have an apatite.
I would feed Gaby what ever she will eat as long as it is not contradicted by the liver condition. Since Maggie sometimes wouldn't eat on her own I had to resort to feeding her with a syringe (which oddly enough she liked!). Have you tried mixing a little dog food with the stuff she will eat? What if you start with the 'good' stuff to get her started then throw in more dog food? Those strategies sometimes worked with Maggie. When she wouldn't start eating I would put something she liked on her tongue, like cheese, and that sometimes would get her started.
Since she likes chicken and veggies maybe you can make her some dog soup... OK now we call it soup for dogs. There are also lots of recipes and ideas you could check out in the Tripawds Nutrition blog.
A couple things to avoid- make sure you don't have any perfume on, or wash with scented soaps, or use scented lotions. Even the plain stuff sometimes is a problem- I noticed Maggie would turn away from my hands if I had recently put lotion on. Also don't get stressed, at least in front of Gaby- it will make it worse. Before I knew it was kidney failure that was making Mag so picky I got really frustrated with her. I would offer her chicken and she wouldn't eat it, then I would offer turkey and she would eat it!!! What is the difference?!?!?!? But she picked up on my frustration and seemed almost more determined not to eat (that could be a stubborn pug thing).
Hang in there- I know how difficult it is to manage multiple health issues.
Karen and the pugapalooza
evelyn said:
SAM-E is cheap at Amazon.
And readers will find plenty of links that help support this community in the Tripawds Amazon Blog !
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Oh wow! I missed this! I'm sorry to hear about Gaby! But I'm so glad it isn't cancer!
Yes, we have used metho-whatever muscle relaxer. We gave it nightly to Comet for a good 6 months. It did seem to help. It wasn't the cure all, be all. But she seemed to be "looser" in the mornings.
When she passed, I had a bunch of hers left over and have taken them myself for muscle spasms from a herniated disc. (it's a human drug) When I asked my reg doc for some, he said Soma works better. However, that's in people! If you don't see relief you can ask your vet if Soma is okay for dogs.
I'm with Karen on the Rimadyl. I'd be suspect about the liver issue being caused from Rimadyl. We ran labs every 6-9 months when on Rimadyl to ensure there wasn't any problems. We never had any but our vet made us run labs because of it.
Sending you lots of good wishes!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
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