Could use some good thots...Snickers has IMHA

Oh Karen and Snickers--we're still pulling for you. I'm so very very sorry.

 She's actually doing 'well' today imha wise... she has energy, can breath well, is in good spirits and asks for belly rubs, wants cuddling and follows me around.

The kicker is the eating and the nausea. Last night I spread out a 3/4 small cat size can of Hills syringe fed over several hours and she ate a few pieces of boiled chicken... "yay" I thot. Then, she went out and vomited all over the backyard around midnight. I didn't see pills so she likely got SOME of her meds so I just sank into the snow and sobbed. It's so hard not to blame myself, did I overfeed her, push it too far? I guess I did, and she's just THAT nauseus. So today we listen to her and see how that works. She got all her meds this morning with just 20 mls of baby food. Here's hoping she keeps it down and the vet has an answer for this one. This dog so desperately needs to eat to make new blood, I mean I'm sure she's pulling on the reserves in her body but soon there won't be any.  I've tried darn near everything and she can't have a lot of things due to the meds. She is so TURNED OFF to eatting. She's on pepcid and this other thing to coat her stomach but I'm wondering if they have any actual anti-nausea/appetite stim drugs. God I sound so desperate, I guess I am.

C'mon Snickers, ya gotta eat babe.  Good thoughts and hugs for you.

They should have something to combat nausea. I think I got some for Ellie awhile back. I'm loooking through my papers--yes, here it is:

metoclopramide (reglan) and at 50lbs, she took 5mg every 8 hours.

Just checking it.  C'mon Snickers, you can beat this baby.  

Karen, please don't blame yourself.  You're doing everything you can to help her and she's lucky to have you.  There's nothing wrong with sitting down for a good cry every once in a while.   

Yes!! There is a specific anti nausea med that they give Willow all the time.  It's NOT the Metro which is really an antibiotic also.  When my DH gets home I'll have him tell me the name of the medication.

There is an anti-nausea type drug called Cerenia that works excellently for vomiting.  It is often given during chemo.  Available as an injectable or pills.  I work in a vet hospital, we just started using it, but it works great!

Yes, that's the one!  Thank you!

Go ahead and cry it out--this disease is UNFAIR and cruel, both to dogs and their people.  Emma's vet kept telling me that her keeping her appetite was half the battle--if they can just find something that will settle your baby's tummy, it sounds like she might already be doing better otherwise than Ems was at this point.  Chicken soup?  I dunno...but still praying!

YOU CAN DO THIS, SNICKERS!  Shoot, I'll treat you to a steak dinner myself (via PayPal) to celebrate once you're through this!  :raises right hand: I mean that.
 

Yes, we got cerenia today! Injected today and in pill form for the next four days (can only take it up to five days for some reason). She has eatten small amounts... but I'll take that, b/c she did it on her own as well a little. Two tablespoons down the hatch and staying there is better than 1/2 a cup down the hatch and coming up later.  The vet was excited about the cerenia's possibilities for her.

We'll see how it goes. Good news is that her liver values are just fine and her jaundice decreased from yesterday! If I could only get some food in her I think we'd make a tiny bit of headway in this particular battle, on this particular day.Her red cell values were down just a smidge from yesterday but not enuf to panic about.  She's had accupuncture each time she was there as well.

Thanks for the good thots everyone they are so incredibly appreciated. 

 She's dropped to 39 pounds from 48 originally... 20% of her body weight in under two weeks. Editted to add.. I forgot the really good news. Her white blood cells are UP a little today as well! 

A quick update since I just talked to her --

She took her back to the vet this morning and the pack cell volume/hematacrit is holding (YAY) ... they gave her the Cerenia (apparently can only give it for a few days and then 'off';). 

Metranydazole is "Flagyl" -- that's the antibiotic that also calms the 'gut' (specifically the intestinal tract).

Methylclopramide is Reglan and that's pretty specifically an anti-nausea drug ... but the Cerenia affects the brain more directly.

Basically (and I'm pulling background from both a liver-problem dog and a renal-failure dog) -- nausea isn't always just nausea.  Sometimes nausea is actually feeling sick to your stomach (caused by something wrong with the stomach making you sick or in the case of renal failure the toxins from that dumping into the stomach directly). 

Then there is nausea caused by the brain (somehow perceiving nausea whether or not there is a true cause for it) -- for example, when the liver is upset, liver toxins shunt directly to the brain which *causes* that nauseus feeling when, in truth, the stomach isn't upset -- the brain just thinks it is. 

Ok -- that's the end of what I know ... but the hope is the Cerenia will help her begin to eat again and convince her she CAN keep food down. 

They decide so darned quick that food is the enemy.  I went thru that in a big big way when Foxy was sick with that liver infection.  "No, food caused this so I ain' never gonna eat again!"  And man it was SO hard to convince him otherwise.  And the strength of will they can exert is unreal sometimes.

I'm sure Karen will post when she gets time ... but since I just got off the phone with her and I knew she had been to the vet I figgered I'd update a bit.

Willow's like that too, she stops eating because she knows that's what causes her problems.

Good news, Snickers. Keep on eating, good girl! Eat something extra yummy, tonight, and feel LOTS better. Food is GOOD!