Poor Emma Nems!

jennie_c_d

Lori, I don't know how you do it, with all that beautiful fluff! I have a hard enough time with smells and staining and wetness related issues with Emma's little behind.

I was very lucky Willow only had two accidents in the whole time.  But, she did catch on to me wiping her with doggie wipes or those Cottonelle ones after every other time she went out or so.  And, we did a lot of brushing.  But, there's not as much fluff--she's lost a lot of her coat. 

I actually had a harder time with her mouth and her lips cracking and bleeding from constantly being wet from being in the water bowl. 

When you tried the Denosyl did you give it after fasting?? 

Jennie, I'm so sorry that Emma has had to start phenobarbitol.  Hopefully the low dose will keep Emma seizure free.

Hugs to you, Emma, & the little hairless one.

 I did use the Denosyl after fasting. She doesn't puke Denosyl, but she pukes any other form of SAMe I try. It's pretty expensive, and it doesn't seem to make any difference, in her, so I don't use it.

The vet says her supplements should be fine, but to call and get her in immediately if there's any sort of reaction. I think I'll be waiting til Monday to start back on the supplements, LOL. Emma's not herself, but not having seizures, and her head doesn't hurt. I'm only giving her half doses, because it's knocking her on her butt for a few hours, after I give it. She's having very nasty, loose stools, and I don't know if that's related, or not. She hasn't had anything else, different. Meh.

Oh, believe me I know how you just wish that this wasn't happening.  And, the last thing she needs is poop issues now too--can she take an Imodium or something to help that--Willow has no trouble with a child's dose.

 I haven't ever given her immodium, so I don't know. Ha! The problem with never giving medicine until the dog HAS TO have it.... I have no clue what she tolerates. Poor, little monkey girl.

I'm thinking about giving her a bit of chamomile, with her dinner, but I don't know if chamomile is a good idea. It's a calming herb, and the phenobarbitol is knocking her out, already. A bit of boiled yucca wouldn't hurt, though, I don't think....

We had a walk, a little while ago, and she was ridiculous. She wouldn't swim in the pond, and she kept wanting to get into the neighbor's pond (which she's never done before). I had to put her on a leash! Emma never wears a leash!

Willow acted pretty odd on her meds too--she wouldn't go near her dog beds the whole time.  She started sleeping in the kitchen to be near the fridge too.

Hopefully, Callie will be around soon I'm sure she'll have some herbal ideas for you. 

  This may be a little OT, but if Emma and Willow can tolerate tofu, some posters on K9 Kitchen have had luck with using it to control leaking. It's the phytoestrogens in it that help, like in some of the natural products made to help with hot flashes. For reference on how much to use; for a 60 pound dog, a pound of tofu a week added daily to food seems to work.

 Unfortunately, LOL, soy makes seizures worse. When I took her off of tofu, the seizures got better. Go figure...

She's sooo groggy and unresponsive, and  she's still got diarrhea. I added pumpkin, but it hasn't helped. I'm calling the vet, tomorrow. I don't want her on this medicine if it's going to make her not herself. It's a long term thing. We need to find something that works better. She's itchy, and restless, and gassy, and just meh.

 Poor Emma - my parents' dog is a seizure dog and she did very well with a diet change, but now they have to change the food because the formula changed, so we have our fingers and toes crossed that she doesn't need to up any med doses.

Did you discuss Potassium Bromide with your vet?  Oreo is much more tolerant of KBr than pheno and it's a lot gentler on her system in ADDITION to controlling her seizures much better than pheno.  She's on a minimum dose of pheno (probably not even therapeutic lol) and a relatively low dose of KBR whereas with pheno alone she was maxed out for her weight (and side effects).

I think the urination thing is due to the increased water consumption, and at least for Oreo that increased thirst decreased after a little while on the drug if I remember correctly.

Here's hoping miss Emma feels better soon - the first few days are the roughest for sure.

 I did ask about it, but they said they don't like it as much, and do it if the pheno doesn't work. From what I've been reading, it'd be better, for her, since she has a history of liver issues. The diet change helped tremendously,for years, for Emma. When she quit eating soy, dairy, and grains, she slowed down soooo much. She had seizures every six months, for four years. Not bad, at all.

I'm calling them, tomorrow, to talk about it, either way. I don't like this, at all.  She seems a little better, today, but she's still on such a tiiiiny dose. Half of what they prescribed, which was already very small. I'm glad I didn't give her the whole thing, to start out. She would have slept through the whole day. At least she's getting up to drain the water bowl and pee.

Poor Emma!  I hope you can find a good solution soon, we will send good thoughts your way.

I don't have any advice other than there was an article in WDJ this month about pancreatitis and according to them, dogs on both KBr and PB together have a much higher risk of pancreatitis.  I'm sure your vet would be on the lookout for this if it were the case, but thought I would toss it out there.

PM or email me if anyone wants more information about this from the article, although it didn't really go in depth in this particular area.

jennie_c_d

She's sooo groggy and unresponsive, and  she's still got diarrhea. I added pumpkin, but it hasn't helped. I'm calling the vet, tomorrow. I don't want her on this medicine if it's going to make her not herself. It's a long term thing. We need to find something that works better. She's itchy, and restless, and gassy, and just meh.

  Poor Emma; I hope Callie comes along with some herbs to try instead of the pheno.
 

 Callie and I have been emailing. I'm looking to get her in to a holistic vet, hopefully this week. If I can get her on some herbs, and monitering, to help her.... I'll be MUCH happier. I don't even care if we have to use drugs, as long as they don't make her feel worse than she did before.

Jennie, if you decide that you want to put Emma on denosyl again, PM me.  I have 3 boxes of the 90mg size that we aren't going to use.  I'd be happy to send them to you for Emma. 

So sorry you had to start her on that PB crap.  My Lab did so much better when we switched to the potassium bromide.  Poor Emma nems.