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I've got a question; it feels a little bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but here it goes... Backstory: My 13yo beagle has terminal liver cancer, a humongous tumor. Also a heart murmur and cough indicating heart failure? Poor boy. The plan is to medically alleviate symptoms as they come, and then when we can't anymore, obviously it's time to put him down. He's a bit of a slow walker, feels bony with low muscle mass (despite gigantic tumorful abdomen), can't hop up on furniture anymore, is finicky about eating (wet food, with chicken and rice in, hand-fed), and has very frequent diarrhea. But his attitude is still good! He's still wanting to be involved with the family, following us wherever we go, likes going on (very slow) walks, little tail wags when he sees someone he likes. I don't think we're at his "time" just yet. Everything we've done is at the advice of the vet, but the vet doesn't respond very much when I leave messages through the receptionist anymore. Maybe he's all out of ideas? Maybe he's too busy to talk to me every week? Maybe the internet has a second opinion that I could present to him? The diarrhea is the part that concerns me most. Pro-pectalin helped for a while many months ago, but eventually it came back. We tried imodium for about 2 doses but it didn't help at all and the vet thought if it didn't work after 2, it wouldn't ever, so we stopped. We kept on with the pro-pectalin, but also added a probiotic powder once daily. That helped for a few weeks, but as of about a week ago we're back to very-soft to definitely-diarrhea poops every day. Rarely does it seem to be "urgent" diarrhea, as he can hold it fine for about 4 hours no problem. It's just very soft, or all liquid. Sometimes mucousy. Sometimes with a little blood at the end. Current meds: Denamarin Advanced, once daily Prednisone, 5mg, once daily Probiotic powder, Pivetal, 30g, once daily Pro-Pectalin, 1.5 tablets, every 8 hours I'll edit with the actual names and dosages when I get home and can look at the bottles. Just curious if any vets possibly reading this are like "Oh! For diarrhea, X is a good shot. Ask your vet about X." Extra edit: We have also tried metronidazole twice; the first time it helped, the second time not so much. Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Sep 30, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 20:31
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Took him to the vet again for an exam and blood work, and the vet wanted to see if he had fluid in his abdomen that could be drained. They were actually able to drain almost 6lbs of fluid (holy poo poo). He went from like 28.x lbs at the start of the appointment to like 23.x lbs when we left, but his healthy weight is around 30 and without the fluid you can see that he's just so drat skinny and boney. We also increased his prednisone from 5mg 1x day to 10mg 2x day. It helped for like 12 hours, he finally ate chicken and rice for the first time in like 4 days, but still thinks dog food is gross. But now we're on day 6? of this inappetite fight, and the diarrhea is still there, and now he won't even take his pills wrapped in turkey. Long ago he decided peanut butter, cheese, and pill pockets were not cool, so deli turkey was always our guarantee for getting the pills down. And why are so many pills chewable?! They're so goddamn huge, sick pets don't want huge chewable pills! I'm rambling. This is so loving hard. I thought the $350+ fluid drain yesterday would buy us some time, or at least some comfort and happiness for him so that we could love on him in his last days. The vet estimated he has about 8 weeks left in him, but I'm thinking I need to give Lap of Love a call, like, soon. You can't have a boney dog not eating. And he struggled so hard against Entyce liquid appetite stimulant when we tried it last time. gently caress. gently caress.
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Oct 5, 2022 19:26
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Thanks so much for y'all's kind words and ideas. We took him in that evening and the vet was concerned that he seemed really dehydrated, so they gave him sub-Q fluids. He was hesitant to try IV fluids due to the heart issues, apparently it's a stage 6 murmur which I googled and it says that's the worst. They also gave an injectable antibiotic since he wouldn't take the pill, and something else I've now forgotten; another steroid? He also had us buy a can of gentle GI food from them, but of course he didn't eat a lick of it; I could have told them that...... I slept on the floor with him that night and the next morning there was still no improvement, the only thing he wanted to do was to go outside and lay in the grass, chin-down. It was a pretty clear sign that he was just tired. We're all just ... tired. I called the vet to let them know I was planning to have him put down, and to ask how many steroid pills I could give to keep him most comfortable until the afternoon appointment. He said 4 pills, which I gave in hollowed-out hot dog chunks, it was only a small struggle. My boy *loved* hot dogs. We got an appointment with an in-home euth vet at 1:00, so my husband and I WFH for the first half with him in his bed between our desks, snoozing. Then at noon we took a short walk, a quick trip to the near-empty dog park (his favorite), and then came home and ate an entire hot dog. The vet came and we set up a blanket outside in our back yard. While setting up, he actually wandered off behind our shed where there was a big pile of leaves, and started digging to lay down. He's never done that before, so that was a clear sign to me that he knew it was his time. I carried him over to the blanket and we gave him lots of love as the doctor did her thing. It was so peaceful, and I hiiiiiiiiiighly recommend doing this at home if you can. It's expensive ($400 + $350 private cremation) but goddamn this was so much more peaceful than a car ride and an exam room, and then an empty car ride back. I will always have a savings account for that, for future pets going forward. The doctor had a basket with blankets, and we gently set him in there and my husband carried him to the vet's car to take to the crematorium. Husband cracked a joke: he was a "paw-bearer" ahaha. One last laugh for the 3 of us. It's so weird, the house was so empty this weekend. We also left for 12 hours and didn't have to have a plan for someone to let him out to potty, or to give him a pill. My dad put his cat to sleep earlier this year and my in-laws don't have pets, so this is literally the first time since the day I was born that there isn't a single pet in my family. I used to spend so much time on PI in 2007-2011-ish, my pets are my life. I feel so weird and empty. I don't want a new buddy right now but I don't want the empty either. quote:It also helps to have another dog at hand leering at them for the peer pressure.
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Oct 10, 2022 17:43
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My (1 yr 10 month) all-indoor cat somehow has both hookworms and roundworms diagnosed by a fecal at the e-vet last night (salmon-colored pure liquid diarrhea is ALARMING). We’re assuming her brother does too, so she had first dewormer treatment last night (first of 5) and he’s getting his first treatment tonight when she’s getting her second. The vet instructions were to disinfect absolutely everything to kill off eggs so that she doesn’t reinfect herself by stepping in and tracking/licking paws. We have a Litter Robot so disinfecting this whole thing is going to be A Chore, but I am wondering what the timing should be to start scorched-earthing everything. Like, litter box probably has lotsa worm eggs in it right now, but since the cats are early in treatment they’re probably both still pooping more eggs out? so it’d just add more eggs into this little litter ecosystem I’d think? Also cats are very, very dumb and always decide to get e-vet sick at dumb times for example the night before I was scheduled for abdominal surgery, so I’m typing this from bed and will be instructing my husband and friend to do all this for me. Oy. Honestly I’m just happy she has a diagnosis, because she’s had poopy problems since we got them a year ago and fecals came up clean. Apparently it could have been the wrong part of the life cycles. If she produces a proper consistency turd for the first time ever by the end of this I’ll be so happy.
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Mar 5, 2024 23:20
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