Good-ish update on my Katy!

[Jason_C]

Today is day 6 of cutting her Prednisone down to 2.5mg /day (1/2 pill daily). I was eager to do so because she had been showing signs of Cushings and liver disease, so I wanted her off of it as soon as possible!

I had mentioned in another thread that the first day, she was in pretty bad shape! Lethargy, stumbling, not wanting to eat... all of the signs that the end is nigh :-O

I had pretty much decided to increase her dosage again and just accept that she might have a few weeks left, knowing that it would kill her but she was going to go anyway. But as the day progressed, she starting acting better!

She improved a little every day! Until today.

This morning she was pretty wimpy when we got up, and then flat refused her breakfast. I couldn't get her to eat anything at all! So I called the vet, and they moved things around to do an exam and blood work.

All of her numbers look the same that they did in October, so she's NOT in organ failure. Phew!!

But her hematocrit numbers are low. Over time:

Dec 2023: 46.8
Aug 2024: 39.6
Oct 2024: 36.7
Dec 2024: 24.7

A normal range for her would be 38.3-56.5, so she was mildly low in October but moderately low today. Numbers of < 20 would be considered severe.

I made her a dinner of boiled chicken tenderloins, white rice, and spinach, which she ate with gusto! I can only hope that she'll do that again tomorrow. I might mix in two raw egg yolks, too, to see if I can boost her iron.

Any other suggestions on boosting her iron?

Or more importantly, what to do if she refuses her breakfast? :-O

When my Chihuahua (Pepper) had congestive heart failure, I would force feed her with baby food and kept her alive for a year longer than expected! But she suffered a lot more than I realized over that year, and I really think it was a mistake. She spent months of being completely unable to move! She just watched me with mild interest all day, and I would carry her around as needed. I don't mind force feeding Katy if she'll improve, but I desperately don't want to make the same mistake that I did with Pepper!

 

[Sharon7]

The iron in spinach is not well absorbed, contrary to Popeye! I believe red meat has the most iron, maybe organ meat also. It depends on what kind of anemia it is, as well. Sometimes autoimmune diseases for example, will cause anemia. A more than 10 point drop in her hematocrit is definitely concerning, and may account for some lethargy as well.

 

[Jason_C]

My vet sent the sample to a pathologist for a full review, but I don't get those results until Monday or Tuesday. She just looked at her general numbers in her own lab so that I would have an idea of what to do over the weekend. Right now I'm pretty sure that the Prednisone is the cause, and I'm HOPING that it didn't do any permanent damage.

What kind of organ meat are you thinking? I can get beef liver tomorrow if you don't think that it's too rich.

 

[Sharon7]

Just remember if you switch proteins on her abruptly you may get tummy troubles. Yes, liver would be fine in small amounts.

 

[Jason_C]

Just remember if you switch proteins on her abruptly you may get tummy troubles.

True, but when she's not eating I don't have much of a choice :-/ Her Farmer's Dog has always rotated chicken, turkey, and beef, so I HOPE that switching to beef liver will be close enough!

She started feeling better after dinner and her evening BM, so hopefully that means I'm on the right track!

 

[Piper's mom]

Have you tried food toppers for Katy? I buy this for my dogs…https://www.purefish.ca/products.html
more for the omega 3’s than anything) and they love the taste. My brother in law has a very very picky Bichon that would take 15+ minutes to eat and often would refuse to eat and then I gave him some to try with her…less than a tablespoon and she devoured it faster than his other Bichon. It may not be available where you are but there are many different toppers available.
I believe Margi had also posted about something that gave her 13 year old boy more energy than he’s had in a long time as well.
I also give my dogs medicinal mushrooms (Chaga, lions manor and tiger tail)…very good for the immune system. I buy a mix of all 3 (dried and crushed) that can be added directly to the food as well as chunks that I boil and make a concentrated tincture I then can add directly to the food or given as a cool tea.

 

[Jason_C]

I don't think that her issue right now is being picky, but I haven't quite figured out the pattern. Two weeks ago she would eat anything I put in front of her! But now I'm recognizing that the Prednisone was just covering up symptoms of her anemia.

This morning she absolutely refused to eat her Dasaquin chewable. I hid it in her plate of chicken/spinach/rice, she found it and spat it on the floor! She won't eat the FortiFlora chewable or her Zesty Paws 8-in-1, either... all of which she used to eat like a treat.

I barely got her to eat her Prednisone in a pill pocket, too. She spat it out a few times, then I took her to potty and when we came back she (hesitantly) ate it. Then she ate her Keppra in a pill pocket, too.

She'll eat the Full Moon Chicken Strips (always her favorite) and Mother Hubbard crackers (more hesitantly but she'll eat them). But the Country Kitchen Grillers used to be one of her favorites, and now she spits it out, too.

I offered her a teaspoon of pureed pumpkin; she ate it, but it took some encouragement on my end.

Comparing all of that, the Grillers have the strongest smell but she refuses them. The pill pockets smell good, like peanut butter, but she wants to refuse them. The Mother Hubbard crackers have a subtle smell, but she wants to refuse them. But the Chicken Strips have the most subtle flavor, and she'll eat them fine! She'll also eat baby carrots and frozen banana chips just fine. So it doesn't appear to be an issue of hardness, temperature, texture, or smell.

Either way, I'll be on the way to the grocery store for some liver shortly, I'll keep you all updated

If you see this before 6pm EST (her dinner time), any thoughts on whether I should offer the liver cooked versus raw?

 

[Sharon7]

Myself, I would cook it. If you simmer in water you can save the broth to add to food later to tempt her. I do want to say, that if her liver is really damaged, it can cause nausea and food taste changes. That happened to people I know.

 

[Jason_C]

Myself, I would cook it. If you simmer in water you can save the broth to add to food later to tempt her.

Will do! I'm boiling her chicken tenderloins with the rice, anyway, trying to give the rice some flavor, so I can easily add a small amount of liver to the mix.

I do want to say, that if her liver is really damaged, it can cause nausea and food taste changes. That happened to people I know.

Good to know! Her liver numbers were high in her previous visits, but the vet didn't think they were dangerously high. This was the abnormal data from October:

RBC: 5.21
Hemoglobin: 12.6 (slightly low)
BUN: 51 (slightly high)
Anion Gap: 25 (high normal)
ALT: 148
ALP: 3,061 (super high)

The vet said that her creatinine levels, phosphorus levels, and BUN:creatinine ratio were normal, so she wasn't terribly concerned about the elevated BUN. She didn't comment on the extremely elevated ALP, but said that she was thrilled with the results so I guess it's not dangerously high?

I'll find out her numbers on yesterday's visit on Monday or Tuesday. Generally, the vet said that they were "largely unchanged" from October, but she sent it to the pathologist and will send me their results.

 

[Ron Atkinson]

Sometimes I have found presentation is everything.. If she has seen a lot of pill pockets, she may not want them regardless of what is inside. The pill pocket is guilty by association.
I have used peanut butter, cooked hollowed out sausage links and on real tough ones, I have melted his favorite cheese over top of the pill and let it cool before serving. It's hard to separate that yummy sticky cheese from the pill. Just be creative since you are trying to get her to eat something that probably tastes terrible and she really doesn't want.