Rayz for Cassie please *(p)updated 12/15*

[oceangirls]

Cassie, as I have mentioned, has a chronic respiratory condition and normally does a lot of snorting and sneezing and hacking and reverse sneezing. That's hard to treat in dogs, and although we tried a variety of meds, nothing much helped, so she just deals with it. She is also more likely to develop infections which can be treated with antibiotics. Unfortunately, as my husband eloquently put it, "Cassie is a delicate balance." She doesn't tolerate antibiotics very well, and often ends up with stomach problems.

Anyway, I took her to the vet because she had been coughing for a couple of weeks and it was a different sort of coughing, like she had fluid in her bronchial tubes. He thought based on her history that she might have an allergic bronchitis (maybe compounded by something in the air this time of year), so he wanted to try a bronchodilator and see if that helped her. She had 10 days of theophylline with absolutely no effect. So I took her back and he gave her a tapering regimen of Temaril-P which is a steroid/antihistamine combo. That also had absolutely no effect except to irritate her stomach (which he says is rare for the drug) and to give her all the other prednisone side effects like panting, piddling a lot, and making her stoned. I tried giving it with food and using Carafate, and still we ended up back at the vet's last night because she was vomiting and miserable.

This time he said her trachea was sensitive to touch, which means it's probably bordetella (kennel cough) - somewhat annoying since we did give her the vaccine - which is probably why her symptoms have lasted forever. Her lungs are great (just the inflammation on the x-ray), her heart is great, her temperature is great. He said doxycycline might help since it has some anti-inflammatory effect, but he agreed it wouldn't make sense to start it now.

She got some fluids and the ever popular Cerenia shot, and has not vomited anymore, but she is still in pain and shaking today and doesn't want to eat. I am supposed to taper the steroid to every other day, but I am not giving this dog one more dose. She is MAXED OUT on meds. It is a low dose of steroid and isn't going to suppress her adrenal function to stop it.

Cassie is such an awesome dog, and she always wants to make us happy. Now she is sad, and it makes me very VERY sad that I have unintentionally done that to her.

We could maybe use some rayz .

On another note, we've seen a different vet for this course than the one I usually saw before (this vet office does not make appointments, you just walk in, although you can certainly request a certain one). He's been great and I know was sincerely doing his best to figure this out. While he was talking with me last night, I watched him absent-mindedly stroke all the fur on her head forward and then shape it into a little Mohawk with his fingers . That is also what my husband likes to do to annoy me . When he was done talking, the tech smoothed her fur back before giving her back to me .

[Tex]

Bless her sweet little heart. Sending feel better rays for Miss Cassie & a hug for mom too.

[lotsadox]

I'm so sorry Cassie isn't doing well, Kim. It's so hard to see them in distress and not be able to fix it. I don't blame you for not wanting to give her anymore drugs. It always stresses me out because they are so small and that is so much to put into their system.

Sending tons of Texas and

[Rae]

Not the small spotted dog! She's one of my top three Oceangirls!! Sending rayz from Kentucky for the pretty, pretty princess.

I'm liking it that the vet was stroking her liddle head... Dr Brian does that. Always.

[Lisa]

I hate to hear that the little spotted Ocean Girl is sad :(

I am not sure what to suggest, given you are a pharmacist working with a vet, I got nothing :(

To rule stuff out:
- does she have any other allergy symptoms?
- are their times of the day that seem to be worse than other?
- it it more seasonal? Like did you bring out your Christmas tree or anything recently?

I know this is going to sound totally bizarre, but what about laser therapy on her nose, bronchial area? It helps with irritation / inflammation and will not hurt her tummy.

Lots and lots of rayz.

[Linus]

Oh poor Cassie! Lots of rayz and snuggles for you and for mama, okay?


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[SasatheRusty]

Is she on Pepcid? It's not her heart and no food allergies? Thyroid ok? Perhaps a week off might be good...no meds. What about tramadol for a week? No Lyme disease? Have her blood sent to a teaching school. That's all I have. Prayers sent.


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[Ivan]

Yikes! Lotsa rayz for Cassie. Coughing up so much is hard on the furkids. I wish we could somehow fix that for them.

Holly coughs like that too, from chronic lung & trachea issues. Not as serious as Cassie, cuz no meds over here. Holly also gets inexplicable tummy issues once every few weeks, I'm starting to think it's when she scores something salty (eg, from my dinner plate)? Do these issues go hand in hand?

[RustysMom]

Sending a billion rayz for Cassie. I hope she feels better soon!!!


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[AnnMarieK]

For that sweet spotted girl. I hope she starts the road to recovery right away.