He had such a great day Friday, and into Saturday morning, then he started to paw at his face. This, I have learned, is not a good sign. While his spirits have not diminished, there are new sores in his mouth, and the discharge from his eyes just will not stop.
Last week we went from 20 mg./day of Prednisolone (a variation of Prednisone), to 40 mg. For me, this was not a happy change. And, of course, it has not stopped the progression of the disease. Now the conventional vet wants to go from 40 mg. to 80 mg.! When I used to take Prednisone for my asthma, I took 30 mg./day, at the highest dose. And my conventional vet is murmuring 80 mg./day for my dog, who weighs a fraction of what I weigh? When is it time to just say "enough is enough", and let things falls where they fall?
I do not want to give up on my dog, but when is the treatment worse than the disease?
Through it all, he has remained the happiest, sweetest boy...never resenting anything we had had to do to, and for him. Always greets the vet with joy, and a snuggle. Always agreeable, no matter what they do to him.
I'm not looking forward to my chat with the conventional vet today. I don't know what to do.
I could just take the Prednisone plunge, or hold off, and hope the Chinese herbal therapy kicks in...the 'blood heat'. The homeopathic vet suggested it would take at least 14 days for that to kick start healing. Do I drag this out another 14 days (well, 11 now)? Another 11 days of up/down? Another 11 days of pain and discomfort for my dog?
This is so horribly difficult. What a bitch of a disease. I hate the words "auto-immune". If I never have to hear them again, it will be too soon.
Poor Ty, I am sorry to hear that he is still fighting this. I wish I had some advice to give but I don't have any experience with this drug. I did some Internet search and here is one website that talks about dosage. I don't know how reliable the site is and you probably already researched many hours. But this is what the site posted "Prednisone dosage for inflammatory diseases ranges from 0.1 to 0.3 mg per pound of weight. It needs to be administered twice a day for the duration of time recommended by the veterinarian.
ReplyDeleteIn case of autoimmune diseases, the dosage is between 1 mg to 3 mg per pound of weight and is usually administered thrice a day. Again, the number of days that the medicine needs to be taken depends on the duration advised by the veterinarian.". I hope he gets feeling better soon, I have been thinking about him.
Thank you, Vicki. It's been a rough road to travel. All I want is to relieve his pain, and see him back to his normal self. He just turned 10. He's too young for this...so much life in that boy.
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