Going to the vet....

Hopefully it goes well Sending you and Haley both good wishes!

 

This article may or may not be of use to you, Akari. It does offer some suggestions for lower cost heartworm treatment. X-rays will tell you more about what stage Haley may be dealing with.


I have had two vets read the article. They agreed with the information presented. Both vets presented the concern that owners are more likely to forget to give heartworm meds if they aren't scheduled monthly.

I am very wary of over medicating/immunizing and give heartworm meds every three months from May to November. As mentioned in the article there are less expensive options.


An even more inexpensive option is here:


Sending healing energy to dear Haley.

Very interesting. Makes sence. I like that buy a double dose idea, too. With three dogs, that makes life easier and cheaper!

 

Ok, an update.

We finally found a vet that we are happy with and that takes care credit. They are very nice, and they gave us an estimate for Haley's treatment, and it's $400, compared to $600! So, needless to say, we are all over that. Mom is even wanting to completely switch vets, as much as we love our regular vet, and as long as we've gone to him (around 11 or 12 years).

I just got back from our visit, and I was expecting to only be spending $30 (just the visit, even for our first time there. Other vets around here charge 100+ for a first visit), but they ended up recommending I bring home some Pre-treatment meds and vitamins, which I looked over and was fine with what they were doing. In the end, they wanted more done today than I could pay for ($170 worth of stuff) but they were nice enough to wave the fee of the visit, and drop the X-ray until next time, so that brought me down to 80 bucks, which I was prett ok with. They also sent us home with a sample bag of Science Diet Puppy food, for some extra calories, and suggested we out her on an adult or puppy food (opposed to the old dog food they are on now).

They sent us home with

Prednisone
Panacure (stronger dewormer than the other vet gave her. Probably could have gone without it, really)
Doxycycline (they said she may have to be on this for a while)
Hi-Vite (the vitamin)

Mom is at work, but called on her break, and for sure already likes them. She wants to reschedule as soon as we can It's been a long month, waiting to be able to get her treated, but we're almost there! They said it was good that she didn't have any changes in her behavior or diet or anything, and that it was mostly just weight loss, so that makes me feel better.

 

I'm glad that you found a great vet that is willing to work with you! One thing that I wanted to mention is that prednisone is a pretty potent drug for humans and dogs. Definitely read up on possible side effects and be on the look out for them. My 3 year old German Shepherd was on prednisone for his lupus and he had to be weaned off early because he started to have weird side effects. He was having trouble urinating and would often have accidents because he couldn't control his bladder. He also became anorexic (the opposite of what most dogs do). After weaning him off he still had issues. He had high cortisol levels and wanted to eat nonstop. He had us quite worried but eventually this all fixed itself and he is now back to normal. My dog is a weirdo so you probably will have no issues lol.

 

They just said it would make her have to pee a lot, nothing about any of that. I'll look into it for sure. She's never been on any pills before (just the liquid dewormer, and topical hot spot meds), so don't know if that would add or take away any chances of side effects.

 

Yeah she will probably pee A LOT. They drink a ton so they have to pee more often. I had to take my dog out every 2 hours. Even though we took him out very often he would still have accidents if he got too excited. I hated when he was on prednisone because I had to clean the carpet every time he had an accident. He's 90 pounds so when he pees he pees a lot lol. I think the other side effects my dog experienced are pretty uncommon. The high levels of cortisol are actually the opposite of what is expected. Prednisone replaces cortisol so when on it the body produces less of its own cortisol. After weaning off of it, it is normal for the body to have a hard time adjusting to producing its own cortisol again so levels are a little low initially. Eventually the body picks up the slack and everything returns to normal. What can I say, my dog is odd lol.

 

I'm so glad I have a good vet. One of my dogs has torn both of her ACL's. The vet let me pay $100 month for a full year, both times she tore her ACL.

 

Geesh, crazy dog lol Unfortunalty, this vet still doesn't do payments, but provided they let us pay for everything upfront (it's two visit deal over two months) we can have interest free for 6 months on Care Credit (for over $350). The first round is going to be 320 basically, and the second round 80. Hopefully they'll work it out with us.

 

Just thought I'd share this link, you reminded me of it with the mention of science diet food..... Some interesting discussions going on the the (many) pages that follow. https://forums.redflagdeals.com/quality-pet-food-makers-who-they-really-905185/

Luck with Haley, I've had some experience with prednisone as well; but with one of our horses. Definitely read up on the side affects, but for my mare at least it had an overall positive effect and certainly increased her quality of life again. Lung issues in her case.

 

ScienceDiet is a joke, IMO. We got some samples from TOTW that I was going to use for Bentley, but I've been giving them to Haley instead, so that she can get those extra calories and protein. I just mixed all 6 of those packets in with the ScienceDiet, and have been feeding her 1/2 of the mix and 1/2 of her regular food.

And, because it's what we can manage, I have a $2 off PurinaOne coupon (also recommended by the vet....) and will soon be emailed a $4 off $20 for Pet SuperMarket that I'll use at PetSmart to get some PurinaOne. Unfortunately, we just have to get what we can. I don't know if they make a puppy food or not, though. They just said to put her on something with more protein and calories, though. I will look around though, and see if I can find something in a good price range for me that will last a decent amount of time... I'd rather not buy Purina, but I have to get her fattened up.

On a good note, she's going back Thursday, to be dropped off and to get her first round of treatment. I don't know, since it's at 8:30 in the morning, who will taking her (me or mom) since we both are supposed to be at school at that time. But, she's getting it done, and that's all that matters to me.

 

Uuuuuugh, this crazy dog just puked all over the place!! The only thing that had changed is part of her food (Purina one Beyond, because of coupons), AND mom didn't give her food or meds this morning (I left for work early). She's not been on the meds long enough for missing a dose to have such a negative reaction I wouldn't think (12 hours AFTER she should have taken it), so I'm going to blame the new food. She's always had a sensative stomach to certain things. Anyways, I didn't give her that food, and only fed her two cups of her other foods (one of the mix of totw's and one her Kirkland stuff), her meds, and a price of bread to soak up any yuckies left in her tummy. She was also running around like an idiot when I got the food started and when she threw up, so now I've gotten her to lay down and chill out.

But, she goes to the vet tomorrow, to start her treatment. I have to leave my baby there until friday afternoon

I'm going to take that food back tomorrow. I may get her a bag of something like Innova or whatever. I have a $10 off any bag of Innova (its supposed to be expired, but my print sucks and doesn't print the text on coupons very well so I may get away with it) and $4 off $20. We'll see what they have.

 

The Science diet for dogs is a joke, the Science diet for cats is not however.

 

Did you guys know that vets get a portion of the money from selling Science diet. That's why it gets recommended for dogs

 

Vets and Doctors get paid to recommend the meds they do. The same way big corporates used to bribe senators to gain support for their companies. It is true for almost all things your vet will use(down to the brand of needles) doesn't mean it is bad for your animal, but science diet for dogs is too high in protein from what I hear and is too big of a dietary change for most dogs to take lightly. With cats it can take 6 weeks to ween them onto SD, of course, cats have a higher protein need. SD focuses too much on proteins. Still, it is better then a lot of the big store brands. IAMs is a good brand imo, as is blue buffalo.

 

The Science diet for dogs is a joke, the Science diet for cats is not however.

How is their cat food any different?

Did you guys know that vets get a portion of the money from selling Science diet. That's why it gets recommended for dogs

Yes, vets and ScienceDiet are in cahoots. It's disgusting.

Vets and Doctors get paid to recommend the meds they do. The same way big corporates used to bribe senators to gain support for their companies. It is true for almost all things your vet will use(down to the brand of needles) doesn't mean it is bad for your animal, but science diet for dogs is too high in protein from what I hear and is too big of a dietary change for most dogs to take lightly. With cats it can take 6 weeks to ween them onto SD, of course, cats have a higher protein need. SD focuses too much on proteins. Still, it is better then a lot of the big store brands. IAMs is a good brand imo, as is blue buffalo.

The price for IAMS vs what you get is rediculous. I don't like them. And they are nowhere near as god as other foods you can buy for that price. They aren't exactly a junk food, but there is certainly more bang for your buck out there. My general rule, if you can buy it at a human store, it's no good (but in some cases you have to do what you have to do).

The ScienceDiet she was eating fine with no problems. She's been on it as long as the meds (a week), so I don't think that's the problem.

She threw up again, too. This time all her food (obviously). I gave her a price of toast (stupid mom made me) and she does seem to be keeping that down. No interest in drinking, but all the interest in the world for food of any kind. Very strange...

 

I'm very against feeding table scraps but that's just me

 

I'll give my dogs table scraps, but I don't want my dog food to!

 

They use different recipes for the two Akari, as I said, they over focus on certain parts of the food(protein, etch) which is not the best for dogs, but is fine with cats. I am only used to recommending what I can get locally, Iams happens to be one of the few better brands that we can get. It is normally that, blue or SD. There are better foods out there, I was't looking to start a debate here or excuse any food brands, just put out what I have learned so far.

 

I didn't want to, either I was just curious/just sayin'

I will say though, we sell this Newmans Own stuff that is all organic and such at Publix, and it's not half bad. Not the greatest out there, and a ton of grains (the dry food is, but the canned food is all meat, broth and added vitamins and minerals), but because there are no nasty by-product meals and such, it's probably the best food to buy at a grocery store. Come to think of it, perhaps I'll see how much it is.... (I was reminded by all this after I saw a can of their wet food onthe counter that I got for Bentley as a treat. It was the only canned food with out any sort of chicken at all).

But that's all beside the point LOL I'm taking Haley to the vet today. She's not gunna be happy with me next time to sees me!! >.<

 

If you want a rundown on the brands and quality therein sk reading through that link above is a good start. I'm pretty sure there's some biases going on, but what I was able to research on m own agreed with most of it.

And here's a vid link I found talking about pet food ingredients. Sadly she is not about to name the brands outright (wouldn't want the companies coming after her I guess) but you can tell by looking at the bags of food which they are, even if the labels are obscured:

 

Good video

The link you posted above, Shine, I don't particularly care for. They done explain their system all the way, and it seems that it's organized by recalls. Not that recalls aren't bad, but they happen. Just because a recall has happened to a food (be it human or pet food) doesn't necessarily mean it shouldn't ever be fed again. I think when feeding a food that has been recalled in the past, you should look into WHY it was recalled and then decide from there, instead of just deciding that it's been recalled at some point and the company as a whole is no good. Perhaps I misunderstood the organization, etc, of the list, but that was the way I saw it.

Also, the vet just called and Haley is really sick. Perhaps she's eaten something toxic in her attempt to fill her tummy when she missed feeding and meds yesterday morning...? They aren't going to do her treatment today, and I don't know how long they'll have her. She was acting fine yesterday and this morning (besides the puking last night). She still hadn't drank anything over night, but was all about eating this morning. I only gave her a cup of food with her meds, and a sweet potato and duck treat this morning...

 

I hope Haley improves!

 

They said she has a puss filled uterus, and that it would require emergency surgery... Another 700 bucks.

But you know what they did?? They gave her the stupid heartworms treatment AFTER they told mom they couldn't give it to her because she was too sick! After that conversation mom called our regular vet to schedule for the surgery (and because she's really getting fed up with this vet) and he said that she needed that surgery more than the treatment, as soon as possible. So she made an appointment for Monday, and called the other vet back to tell them she was going to pick her up as soon as she could, and they had already went ahead and given her the treatment anyway!! So now we have a severely ill and unstable dog, with a uterus that could, like, explode at any minute, and those freaking idiots thought it would be a good idea to inject her with with a highly toxic medication and hope for the best, after I told them this morning that she had been throwing up (which of course, they are swearing up and down I never said anything about). Really awesome.

Mom has been in tears all day, as have I, and I'm so flippin' mad that they would even THINK treating her for the heartworms would even be a priority right now. I'd rather be typing all sorts of things, the likes of which would probably get me kicked off the entire Internet <.<

 

Has she been spayed?

 

No, she hasn't. She's never been near an intact male though, except Bentley (who is just barely too young) and Dweezle when he was younger (which was forever ago, as he's 8 now). Doesn't exactly mean much, but none the less. Spaying just never happened for her.

 

This is one of the reason you get your dogs spayed. All sorts of nasty stuff can happen!

I really hope she pulls through for you! I've had my little girl in multiple times for surgeries. I know how it feels.

 

Putting the aside though, they should have taken into consideration what was more life threatening, which would be getting her in surgery, and NOT giving her the treatment until she was felling better. When she was younger, I didn't have any say in what happened to her, so there's no point in telling me that.

Mom just called them back and they were going to leave her alone all night! The whole point of being at the vet is so they can keep an eye on her... So she said they would let me pick her up, and then we would have to bring her back when they opened tomorrow, and then we would have to pick her back up tomorrow when they were done with her (when ever that would be).

 

Ok. So, we brought Haley home that night and back to the vet early Friday morning with no incidents. They sent her home, and she was fine all night until sometime early this morning. I heard her moaning real early, but didn't think anything about, as she's an early riser, and moving around makes her moan (she was gated in my walk in closet). Mom came in to get something out of the drier, and woke me up because one Haley's teats was really swollen and she didn't even want to get up. It's huge and rock hard. She's also been limping a bit, but I can't decide if it's from her being locked up for several days (she is old after all), from the shots they've given her in her back (heartworms and flea, the second of which we did not consent to...), or if because that thing was hurting her yesterday, and has only just now shown itself, or perhaps a mixture of these.

Anyways, I called the vet, and we're going at 11. It was going to be at 9:30, but they called and pushed us back for all the emergencies coming in (which I suppose is understandable). They said we could come in now and just wait, and we'd be seen when they got a chance, but I don't want to do that to Haley because she's really uncomfortable. Mom had to make her get up to get her out of my closet, and I had to make her lay down so that she wasn't walking around and maybe causing more damage to herself.

She seems alright otherwise. She ate (not as enthusiastically as usual, but I don't blame her, she's ouchy), shes moving around pretty fine, but getting up and down is hard for her, and she gets a really sick look on her face when she does.

The get actually just called mom, and they told us to bring her in right away. I gues she's using an other vet at the old five that she likes better than the one I had seen the first time I took her there. He does seem a lot nicer, which may keep us at this one. Who knows with mom.

 

Good luck! I hope everything goes well. Sounds like the poor girl is in a lot of pain.

 

Wow, auto correct fails...!

Anyways, yeah, she's really uncomfortable. I don't know if she's hurting, or it's just awkward for her to move around or what, but laying down and getting up isn't her favorite thing right now. Once she's up or down, she's fine, but going in between isn't something she likes doing.

The vet did a saline rinse on her uterus, and it did not bring back any puss or blood, so he's not sure if it's infected or not. He wants us to do an ultrasound to confirm or not whether it is a problem or not, but as they are closed the test of the weekend, there's not anything we can do right now about it. She's going to call Monday, and they gave our records to an emergency vet, and gave us their information should we need to bring her there while they are closed. The wants her to stop lactating and gain son weight and such before he spays, but will do an emergency spay should it be needed incase of an infected uterus.

 

How's Haley feeling today?

 

She's good. Kind of sulking around. I'm sure it's mixture of the heartworm treatment and her possible uterus thing. She wants to move around, but at the same time, she wants to lay around and sulk. She's restless, but her tummy doesn't feel good. She pooped when we got home from the get yesterday morning and it was kind of soft, so I got her some Pedialite, which she won't drink. She's drinking water though, and ate fine and takes treats, so whatever.

Her stomach area is kind of bloated, but I'm not sure if it's because we are increasing her food and changing it, and it's making her gassy (she about stunk me out this morning!!), or if she's swollen inside.

The vet gave her some sort pain meds that she can have every 8-12 hours. It seems to liven her up a bit, but she still doesn't like getting up and down. Mom said her back legs were kind of shaky yesterday, too, when I was at work, but when I got home around 11 last night, she seemed fine, and was moving around and such (which she isn't allowed to do lol). Both of her shots were right into her back, next to her spine, maybe that has something to do with it. And I'm sure her treatment doesn't help.

Over all, she's not bad, though. Just mopey, really lol

 

Bentley snuck in Haley's cage

 

Is he trying to make her feel better? Cuteness level rising.

 

I think he just wanted to be included LOL He likes the pillow and comforter in there.

 

Hey guys! Dropping in with an update on Haley.

We were in the back yard today with Dweezel locked up (because he tries to eat Bentley) and the other two out and about. Bentley FINALLY got grumpy Haley to play with him, which means she's feeling loads better (before she'd just glare at him, or turn her head away, or growl at him, and she's not usually one to ignore an invite to play a game of chase), and today she was chasing him and playing with him. Because of her treatment though, she's technically supposed to be on cage rest, do that the dead worms can't break off and cause a blood clot, so we only let her play with him for a few minutes, which she was wore out after anyways, as the last thing she did was face plant right into the ground before we could stop her (kinda hilarious, but she really shouldn't be up and about anyway).

Also, the vet gave her some kind of high callorie liquid vitamin stuff to put on her food when mom went to pick up her refills of prednisone and doxycycline. It's called Nich Quick-Start. It's like 160 calories per 10 mLs!

 

Wow! What a lot Haley has been through! Poor old gal. Please follow the vet's instructions to the letter. Even a few minutes of play can cause a clot which can kill her.

I'm confused, did she have her spay surgery yet? Pyometra (uterine infection) can be quickly fatal if the uterus ruptures.

Did anyone look at the inflamed mammary gland?

She has been through so much. Please give the dear old girl some scritchies from me. I'm sending good thoughts and healing energy her way.

 

We are lol she basically got to run as long as it took for us to catch her. That dog is quick on her feet!

No! Two of the vets thinks she has it, but won't risk pitting her under to do it, and one of the vets doesn't think she has it -_- I think that if two of the three think is possible she has it, then it needs to be taken care of as soon as we can, but it's not my money, so all I can do I bug mom about it and hope she listens a single freeking thing I say.

Yes, the vet who doesn't think she's got an infection. He said it was a false pregnancy that got a little crazy, and it did go right back down to normal after a couple days. Our regular vet looked at it too and didnt think it was much to worry about as long as it was going back down quickly. He did suggest a tumor, but thought that how big it got over night that that was a stretch to say. But as I said, it went back down and has not bothered her since, so it's something we've chose to leave alone for the time being.

Thank you. This is what happens when you leave your animals in the care of your poor, single mom for a year, apparently.. -_-

 

aw poor baby I hope she gets to feeling well soon. I agree... leaving a pet in the care of a parent is the worst thing ever! I left my cat with my mom for a bit and my mom decided that she didn't need her thyroid or liver medicines... when I picked her up and brought her to the vet, she was severely under weight and the vet was scared her liver was shutting down. Won't be leaving my cat with my mom ever again!

 

Get better soon Haley!