Goodbye, Abby

We had to say goodbye to Abby today. We found her at the pound 12 1/2 years ago. She was a faithful member of our family to the very end. I always try to update this group when our pups struggle with sickness for any of you fighting the same battle. 

Abby was diagnosed with arthritis at around 8 years old. We've had her on glucosamine, chondroitin, and fish oil her entire life in an effort to prevent this but there is only so much prevention can do. 

Since we had luck with Meloxicam (NSAID) in the past with another dog, we put her on that daily until she turned 11 years old. This drug served us well. 

At 11, Abby began to struggle getting up and was just "slowing down". We swapped her Meloxicam for low-dose prednisone (5mg) and this pepped her up for about 6 months. Then we upped it to 10mg, then 20mg. By this point, the vet began trying different add-ons. Gabapentin did nothing except make her more wobbly. Tramadol had a minimal effect and codeine made her even more wobbly. 

By this past May, Abby could not get up without assistance. By June, she began defecating while she slept or attempted to stand. She also began peeing and pooping while she walked. Speaking of walking, all summer we have had to gradually reduce her nightly walk until last week when she could no longer walk without falling. She was now falling and "knuckling" every few steps. We had changed drugs again to Amantadine for a few weeks in hopes that something would improve but yesterday we came home to her yelping and not being able to support her own weight (and she had lost 20 pounds since May). It was time. We kissed her between the eyes this morning and said goodbye. 

You know the day you get them that one day, if you're lucky and bond to them, they will break your heart. My only solace is knowing that somewhere right now in a pound or rescue, there is another one waiting for me to find them.

Abby update

Recent news on Abby (July 15, 2021):

• Over the course of a few months, Abby began eating less. It started as a refusal to chew her bones and developed into eating less food.
• After a vet visit, we discovered Abby had dropped from 109 pounds to 90 pounds. The vet also noticed some swelling in her upper jaw/lip area.
• Abby was began a two week treatment of Clavamox for a suspected bad tooth. After two days, swelling was down and Abby began eating a little boiled chicken.
• Three days later, Abby was put under for a teeth cleaning and had two teeth extracted. The suspected bad teeth did not present any pus but the vet thought they were bad. Abby continued the Clavamox for another week and a half.
• During the week and a half, Abby ate very little and developed severe diarrhea. Even after her jaw had fully healed, Abby still was not eating.
• We stopped Clavamox and began prednisone to help with the diarrhea and appetite. Abby slowly began eating again and the diarrhea stopped. She also developed an increased thirst and regular incontinence.
• After three weeks of prednisone, we stopped treatment and the incontinence seems to have stopped as well. Abby is now eating again regularly and we are hoping she will gain some of her weight back.

Update (August 23, 2021):

• Incontinence continued so we but Abby on Proin XR every other day. She seems to be responding well to the drugs and not peeing in the house.
• Three months later, diarrhea returned. Immediately gave Abby 5mg of Prednisone. 36 hours later, Abby had a solid stool. Not sure if that is a coincidence or if the prednisone relieved an inflamed GI tract. We suspect IBS.

Intermittent Lameness

Samson has been pretty limpy for a couple of months, so the vet prescribed 100mg doses of tramadol for him. She said what we had been giving him (meloxicam — it was working quite well for a while, by the way) only helps with inflammation; it does nothing for the pain. We just gave him his first dose of the new stuff, so hopefully it will make him feel better. The vet warned that since tramadol is an opiate, it may make Sam act a little dopey or sluggish. We'll see...

100th Post!

It's our 100th post! So here's a triptych of Samson enjoying a good brushin'. :)

Now back to business... We finished up Sam's prednisone regimen. He did really well while on the prednisone (as expected), but his limp fully returned after weening him off of it. Bummer.

We took him to the vet for a check-up since he's overdue for one of those anyway. The vet said that he'll probably always have the limp and there's nothing to be done about it. He's not a proponent of surgery (in any situation, not just this one), and he says that pretty much our only option is to give him remadyl to help with the pain.

Travis didn't like the sound of that.

After our vet visit and a few days of research, Travis bought some MSM (methylsulfonylmethane, 1000 mg once per day) which works alongside glucosamine to help with overall joint health. He also learned about a common human drug that helps with arthritis and joint pain called Meloxicam. Meloxicam is much gentler on the digestive tract and will not cause upset stomach like NSAIDs; it's also a very affordable $4 for a 30-pill prescription at Walmart, whereas remadyl is $1 per pill. Our vet didn't even mention this option.

Have I mentioned that we're considering switching vets?

Anyways, Travis called a friend at the vet's office and the friend called in a Rx of Meloxicam for us (7.5 mg, once per day). When Travis went to pick up the Rx, the pharmacist at Walmart actually mentioned that it was pretty common for veterinarians to call this in for pets.

We gave him his first pill tonight, so we'll just see how it goes from here. Fingers crossed!