calliecritturs
Posted : 8/2/2008 6:54:02 PM
Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a danged expert on pred -- and not just from the dogs, but from ME taking it.
Pred *can* have a myriad of side effects -- it's VERY individual ... unbelievably so. It can make you moody as heck, it can make you hurt just enough that you don't want to DO anything or it can give you the zoomies. But because it can make you moody if you are lethargic or zoomie just plain DON'T TELL ME I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!!
*grin* (yep, both me and dogs -- seen it lots of times)
Mostly pred just plain messes with muscles. In essence it can make your muscles just plain NOT do what you tell them to do. You may think you gotta pee so bad you're gonna die -- and you CAN'T. You try -- and you just can't. You walk in the house (or out of the bathroom) and wet!
It's just plain that the muscles don't always DO what you tell them to -- I've experienced this personally so much it's not funny.
Pred makes you thirsty and it gives you the munchies. But then you can also get UTIs on it -- *easy*. That was Billy's big bugaboo while taking pred and cyclosporine -- pred is hard on the kidneys big time. AND cyclosporine has, as one of its side effects, UTIs. *sigh* So it hit him hard.
So since Willow's got UTI/kidney issues -- watch that like a hawk. Let her drink all she needs -- and you might need to give her wee pads or whatever SHE is comfy with in the house. You might even think about getting her bitches britches and putting human continence pads in them -- if she's easily freaked because she's having accidents and is bothered by it -- it can be easier than a dog who gets upset over having the accidents (does that make sense?)
She'll still want to go out and you don't want to break housetraining -- but you may want to give her some protection so she doesn't get upset because she's soiled something. Make sense?
But that's one of the big reasons for using the milk thistle -- and honestly, while the dose is so high of the pred -- this is when you *need* to protect the kidneys and liver. The milk thistle just helps protect those organs and flush out the toxins. It won't diminish the effectiveness of the pred.
And pills? Lori -- I'll be honest with you -- Billy as a healthy boy now **still** takes more than 8 pills and many tea pills a day -- some for his heart (L-carnitine, taurine, Co-Q 10, hawthorne) all on the vet's say so, plus tea pills per the other vet. 8 pills a day would seem like *nothing* to me.
The milk thistle can be done just as a ground herb (no capsules) -- mixed into anything from yogurt to tahini or babyfood.
I introduced Megan to the wonderful world of "7 day pill caddys". Rather than trying to deal with a ton of bottles to do meds - you get a few of those 7 day pill caddys at Wal-Mart. Just count out those meds in advance and label one A/M and one P/M. No sorting and dealing with bottles when you're trying to feed her and stay sane. It makes it SO much easier (and you don't forget any pills tha way!!)
or this one:

There are zillions of them at Wal-Mart, Walgreens or the grocery store. It's also way easier to know if you've given them all today. *sigh* (Old Timer's Disease??)
