Tempest Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 As most of you know Ollie has an undefined neurological problem which affects his ability to co-ordinate his limbs and at the moment he's on 3 tablets of Predsinole a day. He's been on them for a good few months now but I'm seriously thinking about taking him off of them due to the increased side effects He pants like absolute crazy on them - if you can imagine how your dog pants after you've been playing a long game of ball - well that's his resting pant, he pants that much ALL the time and there's no respite from it for him and in this heat I've felt so sorry for him He's gone from being a dog losing his appetite to be absolutely crazed by food - he's now started to eat his own poo (which makes him sick most days) as he's literally so hungry on the Preds and I don't think making himself sick is good for him at all I clean up his poop as soon as he does it as much as I can to try to manage this but in the hot weather with the back door constantly open it's easy for him to go out and poop and eat it without me seeing I've spoken to the vet about changing his diet but he's on a good food (Arden Grange) which he's had with no problem until we started the Preds. I think he's just so starving that whatever we fed him he'd still poo eat. I've had Olls for 5 years now and he has NEVER eaten poo until we started on the Preds. When Chris and I eat dinner (which is normally on trays on our laps) he practically has his nose on our plates and he's growled/lip curled when we've tried to move him away so we now have to shut him away when we're eating (he's NEVER had a problem with food his whole life). I've just heard a huge crash from downstairs and Chris told me that Olls tried to climb on to a dining room chair to lick some crumbs off a tray that was there He also drinks like a fish constantly and so needs to wee constantly as a result. I've spoken to the vet and for the last couple of weeks we've been phasing the tablets down from 3 a day to 2 a day and he has worsened on his legs as a result but I really feel like I hate what the tablets are doing to him and I'm thinking about weaning him off them but then at the same time I know that will more than likely shorten the time he has left with us I'm honestly not sure what to do - do we go tablet free and have less time or stay on the drugs and see the horrid side effects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Only you can make that decision. You will do what is best for Ollie. For myself, quality of life is more important than quantity. I had to make that decision with one of my dogs and have never regretted that decision. although I do wish I had longer with her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickentikka Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 3 a day is a pretty hefty dose. Barney was at one time on Prednisalone, it was something like 1.5 tablets every other day. I know when he came off them it had to be a phased withdrawal - you can't just stop. It was a while ago but I can remember chopping up tablets into silly little portions. Has your vet has suggested any alternative treatment, if not perhaps you could get a second opinion. I know it's a horrid decision but surely Ollie's quality of life must come first, it sounds like the drugs have taken away 'your Ollie' anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tobleronie Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Jules I have to agree with the quality of life route Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reds Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 (edited) Sorry to hear Ollie is struggling. I have to say that his symptoms do sound like Cushings The drinking, resultant weeing, crazed hunger, panting and weak hind limbs. If you mean prednisone then that is commonly known to cause cushings as a side effect. I would seriously ask your vet to do an ACTH test asap Edited July 4, 2009 by reds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Grose Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 I personally have always gone the quality of life route and it doesn't sound like Olls is having a great deal of fun. The drinking, peeing and permanently hungry are very common side effects of pred and the panting also. Poor soul, but do wean him off them if you do decide to go that route because after several months on these things his body will be addicted to them. Love and hugs to you all - not an easy decision for you to make Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 3 a day is a pretty hefty dose.Barney was at one time on Prednisalone, it was something like 1.5 tablets every other day. I know when he came off them it had to be a phased withdrawal - you can't just stop. It was a while ago but I can remember chopping up tablets into silly little portions. Has your vet has suggested any alternative treatment, if not perhaps you could get a second opinion. We started off on 1 tab a day originally but as his condition has worsened over the last few months the Preds have had less and less effect so we've had to up them to acheive the same effect if that makes sense. Our vet thinks that there aren't any alternative treatments for this condition (and she assured us that a neurologist would tell us the same thing) so I don't think there's anything else we can do treatment wise. We're reducing the tablets under vetinary supervision so we won't just stop them as I know it's going to take a while to 'wean' Olls off of them. I knew the Preds could cause cushings like symptoms but didn't think it could actually 'cause' Cushings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reds Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 (edited) ETA: Didn't see your post sorry! If it is prednisone he is taking then there should be info. on the Cushings link if you have a google. Here's one page: http://www.newmanveterinary.com/Cushings.html Really sorry you're seeing him suffer Edited July 4, 2009 by reds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reds Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 http://www.kateconnick.com/library/cushingsdisease.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 I agree with the quality rather than quantity of life route - we have to do what's best for our babies, regardless of our feelings (however devastating that may be) Please give Olls a gentle squish for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 It's really tricky isn't it Thing is taking Ollie off the Preds won't exactly improve his quality of life as it will mean he has less control over his limbs and so will fall/wobble/struggle on his legs a lot more but he won't have all the side effects of panting/being hungry/drinking to excess etc. So I think either way the quality of life isn't brilliant if that makes sense - it's choosing which option is best out of the two and I think at the moment I think coming off the drugs is the way to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickentikka Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 It's a tough one Has he seen a neurologist, it could be worth asking for a referral if your vet is unable to diagnose the cause of his problems Give Ollie a hug from me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 It's a tough oneHas he seen a neurologist, it could be worth asking for a referral if your vet is unable to diagnose the cause of his problems Give Ollie a hug from me No he's not had a referral and we had a long chat with our vet about it. He's an elderly lad now and we didn't want to put him through an anesthetic at his age for an MRI. We wouldn't put him through any kind of brain surgery anyway and our vet said that even if a diagnoses was made by a neurologist the treatment of choice would be steroids 99% of the time. So we decided in the end that we'd not really gain anything from seeing a neurologist and didn't want to put him through another anesthetic when the treatment was more than likely going to be steroids anyway. We had a chat with a couple of vets at the practice about it as well as our homeopathic vet and they all said the same thing which I think helped us to decide not to go down the referral route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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