Month: May 2013

Update on Maggie the Wonder Dog!

Just a little update on how Maggie is doing…last update was that her kidney values were getting worse and we were keeping her on Prednisone even though it appears as though she doesn’t have “Atypical Addisons”…two reasons…and the biggest reason..is she has improved DRAMATICALLY in her appetite since being on it. The other reason is maybe, just maybe it might still be Atypical Addisons(therefore she would NEED the Pred)…we’ll find out after the next round of blood work that we’ll do next month. Maybe there just wasn’t enough time(1 week) in between starting the Pred and the blood work to help? Who knows but what I DO know is her eating has improved 110%…so much so, we have backed her off a bit on the Pred. After the next check, maybe we’ll drop her even more or maybe move to other treatments for her such as Chinese herbs for her kidneys and a natural coritisone for appetite stimulant. We’ll see…

In the meantime, I am VERY much enjoying watching her eat these days! What a relief to be able to get food into her and not hold my breath to see if she might eat or not. I can now count on the fact she will eat AND I can get good foods into her to help with her kidney disease. One of her all time favorites is raw beef…which happens to be one of the lower phosphorus meats and also may be helping with her anemia. With that, she gets premixes such as Urban Wolf or Honest Kitchen Preference or Wysong Call of the Wild. She also gets raw buffalo rotating with the beef but seems to prefer beef.

Still doing daily subQ fluids – from 200-300 mls per day. She’s such a good patient for me and most times very patient with me! She is still getting Standard Process Renafood, Azodyl and Epakitin for her kidneys…and hopefully those may be helping with her BUN and CREA numbers now that she’s eating better and I can get them into her better.

I know Pred isn’t the “typical” treatment at all for kidney disease BUT it sure does help in the eating department! We’ll see if we keep her on it as time goes on…

Today, we took her for a ride in the woods and a cookout. She got a hot dog – not a “kidney friendly” food BUT it was a beef hot dog without nitrates! Does that count? Maggie thinks it does…hey, it was beef, she says! 🙂 And cheese too…yum!

Most times she looks pretty darn good to me and her coat is improving and her weight better. I don’t want her to get too heavy, though, due to three-legged-ness… She has lost quite a bit of muscling so now I have not only have to help her up the ramp(which has been like that for a LONG time) but now I have to help her down as well…not strong enough to hold herself most times without mis-stepping. Her breath is quite bad at times(kidneys) and her nose gets dry, so I put a cream on it but, all in all, given the fact she’s 13+ years old, only 3 legs due to cancer and has kidney disease…I’d say she’s not doing too badly right now! You, Miss Maggie, are one tough dog!

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Happy girl waiting for her hot dog!

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Papa, PLEAZE hurry up with my hot dog!

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Oh it smells sooo good! Gimme now!

I think her movement is pretty darn good in this video..especially after having stood up most of the time in the Jeep for miles before stopping… her hearing is getting worse…often times, she has to be looking at me to respond to hand movements rather than voice…(or maybe it’s that selective hearing thing?)

Well..that’s all I can update on Maggie right now…until the next blood work…

‘Til then, Maggie says she’ll keep on hoppin’!

Tracy & Maggie

And along the same path we go..

So, today, was Maggie’s blood recheck since last Tuesday(April 25th) being at the vet for the day for IV fluids & recheck on blood levels, after running a fever that weekend of 104.3.  We put her on Prednisone, thinking if it was “atypical Addisons”, this would tell us that because Pred(or cortisone) is the treatment for it – see this quote from an Addison’s website:

“The cortisol, or glucocorticoids, normally secreted by the adrenals must be replaced.  This is typically done with an oral form of prednisone or hydrocortisone.  With atypical and secondary Addison’s the glucocorticoid is the only medication  given.”

I read on another link that before you put down a CRF dog, you should test it for Addison’s.  Well, we skipped the testing(had to order it and Maggie was very ill at the time) and decided to just treat it and see.  We were treating “atypical” version as her electrolyte ratio’s were normal(that would be the “typical Addison’s”).

She made a complete turnaround and very quickly, since Tuesday’s IV fluids and the addition of Prednisone.  I also had started her on a homeopathic appetite stimulant but have quit that as see no need for it now as her appetite is awesome now.  She has done nothing but improve since putting her on Prednisone.  That and the IV fluids were the only change I had done since this started.  She is now moving around in the house better than she has in probably six months.  She can now hold a squat position to pee vs. before that when she was really sick, she had to pee moving along.

So I was anxious to see her blood results as, “atypical Addison’s”, would be a better diagnosis than CRF.   But her BUN number is even worse now.  It is at 130 and last Tuesday it was 90.  It continues to climb in a very short timeframe(IMO).  Her Phosphorus level is a tad lower at 7.2, it was at 7.4.  Her Crea. level, for some reason, wasn’t read on the bloodwork?  Can’t figure out why…  Her ALT and ALKP continue to climb as well, now at 254 and 287 – normal range being 10-100 for ALT and 23-212 for ALKP.

So, I am to continue doing daily subQ fluids(to help with BUN), keep giving her Azodyl(to help with BUN) and just started her back up on Epakitin(phosphorus binder) as now that she’s eating MUCH better, I can add it to her food and she’ll eat it!  Bonus!  Thank you Prednisone.  Never thought I’d say that with me being so naturally minded!  But as my sister, Gina said last week and the vet said the very same thing today…the Prednisone is giving Maggie quality of life in the near end of her life.  She’s eating!  She’s happy!  And that makes us happy!  And she’s eating a raw diet again 🙂  And LOVIN’ it!  That’s my carnivore Maggie!

So, I’m kinda bummed out tonight but at the same time, I guess I now know, for sure, it is CRF.  And if we hadn’t put her on Prednisone last week, it is highly likely Maggie wouldn’t be here right now…. So it has served two purposes…told us by giving it to her, it didn’t decrease her BUN number(and would have if Addison’s) and it’s gotten her to eat again!

So Maggie was a good patient, as always, at the vet’s office…as I watched her “tripawd trot” off with Ann, the Vet Tech, to get her blood drawn, she was very willing to go with her.  She even brought Ann to the weight scale, as I had just weighed her and she thought that is where Ann wanted her to go…it was too cute 🙂  I do like the new vet’s office that I’ve been going to.  They are very compassionate there and Maggie seems OK with it there…They love her and tell me how soft she is when they pet her(that great food she eats!) and how good she is 🙂  That’s my girl 🙂

So Maggie gets to wander around the yard and soak up some sunshine…there’s been plenty of it this week and looking forward to the weekend where I am home all day to watch her enjoy it 🙂  Here’s a few pictures I took of her tonight…

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‘Til next time, Maggie says keep on hoppin’!

Tracy & Maggie