Your question is valid. Pred is a common medication given for many inflammatory issues, including palliative care. I wasn’t sure what he was on otherwise I would have mentioned it. The side effects are always a concern but keeping him comfortable in a palliative setting is the priority now. I just moved from the suburbs of Denver several months after being there for 3 years. I had two dogs when we moved to Colorado and I came back to Chicago with neither of them. Yes, they weren’t young but they didn’t have any medical diagnosis before we moved. While the veterinarians at a couple of locations we saw were nice, I was not impressed by the care as a whole. It was heartbreaking after coming from an area with access to amazing care. I am so happy you have palliative care supporting Gdog and you guys.
A lot to digest and understand, but you are an amazing parent (parents). I am lost for words, but my heart is there for you. Keep strong (I know you do). May each minute, hour, day continue to be a good day with hope and happiness. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I'm so relieved that medications, food and supplements are helping Graffiti to feel decent. He's such a good boy and we all love him very much! I'm sure Brady is very careful with him now. Dogs are much more tuned in than most people! You are giving amazing care!!!
Dear Kara! I'm sharing your frustration about the vets, experts who have not told you to try prednisone :( it is furking frustrating! But I'm so happy that it works so well for Gdog<3 It's wonderful to see him with good appetite and energetic moods again <3 And I hope now, dear Kara that you can find more time to get some rest as Gdog is more stable now. I suggest you are exhausted beyond words :( You are literally the BEST dogmom in the world, you are giving and doing everything to make this situation the best it can be.
It is so sad that you have to mine deep every day in the field of million miscellaneous informations about doggos health because who should be helping are not willing to/not able to. But I must say that what you bring up to the surface from this deep information mining work is truly GOLD. You have literally saved Gdog's life many times by now, and amazingly extending his quality of life. You are really bringing VALUE to this world. I deeply respect you for not only miraculously saving your doggo's life but with your real-life, usable insights and experiences you are saving other doggo's lives!
You are helping people help their dog much more than many vets - who sadly don't actually care about their patient's life extensioning options. And you are helping people in prevention of diseases: with these amazingly put together meals, the sensitivity and responsiveness to your furbabies' needs, the confident and soothing love that you show them every moment.
I'm lucky for having been following your pages for 2 years now and getting to know your world <3 Since Gdog's diagnosis I'm crying over every post. I'm sharing your pain and fear. The deeper the love, the deeper the pain. You are doing everything so thoughtfully that you are my - and not only mine - role model for being a dogmom. I literally getting more sensitive, responsive and caring dogmom as I'm learning from you. <3 Thank you for saving our beloved Gdog, he means so much to me, and of course Brady too <3 They are the best duo.
Thank you for making an impact in the world. You are really making this world a better place. Sending you and your beautiful boys my deepest love. God bless you. <3
We’ve used prednisone for several of our pups over the years. It was called a “wonder drug” by some of our vets. It has certainly helped our 17 yo beagle navigate some health challenges…but not for our 14 yo Scnoodle who had Cushings Disease. Each dog and each case is so unique. What I will remind you guys and myself, we do the best we possibly can with the information we have at the time. We love our pups to the very end as best we can. YOU are doing that for Gdog…and he knows…🙏🏻❤️🐾
So happy he is doing better. I had to laugh at the picture of him wearing the diaper. Corgis are so expressive. It's like Mom, WTH are you doing to me! My Bonnie has that same look when I put her collar on or when she gets in trouble. Continuing prayers for Graffiti and his family.
“There is a tradeoff worth naming here. To generate that glucose, the body does not just use stored fat. It also draws on amino acids from muscle protein, breaking down muscle tissue as a fuel source. With sustained use, this can lead to gradual muscle wasting, particularly visible along a dog’s back and hindquarters. The body may actually gain weight in fat while losing muscle mass.”
Interestingly, I think this is exactly what Cushings disease is/does.
I know this because when we were trying to figure out what was going on with my dog, I thought maybe it was something adrenal—either Cushings or Addison’s. In my dog’s case, it was actually a pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor), but we explored other adrenal disorders first. We ruled out Cushings because he didn’t have any of the physical characteristics you mentioned. It’s interesting to know prednisone can essentially replicate the effects of Cushings because they can create the same affliction—hyperadrenocorticism.
This is such a good observation, and you are right. What I described is essentially the same mechanism. Prednisone mimics cortisol, and with sustained use, it can produce the same picture as Cushing's from the outside. The distinction being that one is the body overproducing cortisol on its own, and the other is you introducing it externally. Same downstream effects on muscle, fat distribution, and adrenal function either way.
I am so sorry about your dog's pheochromocytoma, that is such a difficult road to navigate, especially with the diagnostic process involved. I hope he is doing okay.
He had a very high risk and costly surgery last month but he made it through. It was an existential nightmare of grief and logistics and research and it felt like my life sunk into a black hole for two months, but things are finally starting to feel normal again. He has to have ultrasounds every 4 months for the rest of his life and he’s a husky mix so his coat has to be majorly shaved every time, but those things are a small price to pay in the end. I really hoped Gdog was a candidate for surgery. I prayed hard for his fungal test to come back differently.
This is such good information! I am tempted to write up the drug names in an emergency doggie file for future reference.
My two are about 2.5 years old and you never know what the future holds.
As I read what you write I wonder if My Midnight had cancer. All the vet said was he had tumors and if it was his dog he would “let him go”. Midnight was 12 years old and an over weight lab/golden retriever mix. That boy loved food. He never got over the puppy life of a big family and “fighting” for food time. He was my very first dog as an adult. He has a special spot in my heart.
I wonder why vets/doctors don’t tell you everything. Why do you have to do the research and the networking ? isn’t what they get paid for ?? I don’t know there will ever be a good answer. But it happens.
So what does the CBD do in his heavy lifting cocktail of meds? Prednisone does the appetite and helps with the inflammation. Gabapentin is good for pain of all sorts. But what’s left for CBD - calmness??
Kara and Chase know you are loved and prayers go up all through the day from all parts of the States and world I am sure keeping G-dog and y’all in YHWH’s ears 😁.
Make sure you two take care of yourselves too.
Thank you and God’s blessings be with you. 💜💜💜🐶🐶🐶🙏🙏🙏
I am so very very happy at how well he has responded I continue to pray daily and I hope that the good days vastly outweigh the bad. Gdog is such an amazing fighter, I don’t know how anyone could do other than love him and support you guys through this journey as best as we can.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to provide these amazing updates to everyone loves him and Brady pig as well as those going through something similar
I’ve said it a million times, you are your pet’s advocate! No one loves or knows them like you. We must do our research and not just blindly follow what we are told! If not us, then who? Your little friend is depending on you 🥰
RN here: please be careful with this medication (steroids in general)- it generally works amazingly well at first but side effects slowly creep in. It causes much longer healing times/dramatically slows the healing process and makes you far more susceptible to infections/weakens your immune system. Since this sweet doll baby is so vulnerable right now please use this with caution ❤️ Give that furry potato a big squeeze for me!!! DM me if you want more info/med questions although I’m a human nurse haha @kayallenfabian
Graffiti is such a lucky dog to have pawrents as loving and as careful and as informed as you are. I feel for parents who don't know to ask, or what to ask. And I'm so sorry you've had to go through what you have, without benefit of certain kinds of knowledge from your vets. You're careful not to blame them, which is gracious, but I'm still appalled that you only got to where you are through your own diligence. I've discovered osteopathy for humans, and the difference in focus and communication and treatment is enormous. Might be interesting to develop a veterinary branch, as well. Best wishes to all of you, always, and thank you for your willingness to share. (((HUGS)))
Your question is valid. Pred is a common medication given for many inflammatory issues, including palliative care. I wasn’t sure what he was on otherwise I would have mentioned it. The side effects are always a concern but keeping him comfortable in a palliative setting is the priority now. I just moved from the suburbs of Denver several months after being there for 3 years. I had two dogs when we moved to Colorado and I came back to Chicago with neither of them. Yes, they weren’t young but they didn’t have any medical diagnosis before we moved. While the veterinarians at a couple of locations we saw were nice, I was not impressed by the care as a whole. It was heartbreaking after coming from an area with access to amazing care. I am so happy you have palliative care supporting Gdog and you guys.
A lot to digest and understand, but you are an amazing parent (parents). I am lost for words, but my heart is there for you. Keep strong (I know you do). May each minute, hour, day continue to be a good day with hope and happiness. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I'm so relieved that medications, food and supplements are helping Graffiti to feel decent. He's such a good boy and we all love him very much! I'm sure Brady is very careful with him now. Dogs are much more tuned in than most people! You are giving amazing care!!!
Dear Kara! I'm sharing your frustration about the vets, experts who have not told you to try prednisone :( it is furking frustrating! But I'm so happy that it works so well for Gdog<3 It's wonderful to see him with good appetite and energetic moods again <3 And I hope now, dear Kara that you can find more time to get some rest as Gdog is more stable now. I suggest you are exhausted beyond words :( You are literally the BEST dogmom in the world, you are giving and doing everything to make this situation the best it can be.
It is so sad that you have to mine deep every day in the field of million miscellaneous informations about doggos health because who should be helping are not willing to/not able to. But I must say that what you bring up to the surface from this deep information mining work is truly GOLD. You have literally saved Gdog's life many times by now, and amazingly extending his quality of life. You are really bringing VALUE to this world. I deeply respect you for not only miraculously saving your doggo's life but with your real-life, usable insights and experiences you are saving other doggo's lives!
You are helping people help their dog much more than many vets - who sadly don't actually care about their patient's life extensioning options. And you are helping people in prevention of diseases: with these amazingly put together meals, the sensitivity and responsiveness to your furbabies' needs, the confident and soothing love that you show them every moment.
I'm lucky for having been following your pages for 2 years now and getting to know your world <3 Since Gdog's diagnosis I'm crying over every post. I'm sharing your pain and fear. The deeper the love, the deeper the pain. You are doing everything so thoughtfully that you are my - and not only mine - role model for being a dogmom. I literally getting more sensitive, responsive and caring dogmom as I'm learning from you. <3 Thank you for saving our beloved Gdog, he means so much to me, and of course Brady too <3 They are the best duo.
Thank you for making an impact in the world. You are really making this world a better place. Sending you and your beautiful boys my deepest love. God bless you. <3
We’ve used prednisone for several of our pups over the years. It was called a “wonder drug” by some of our vets. It has certainly helped our 17 yo beagle navigate some health challenges…but not for our 14 yo Scnoodle who had Cushings Disease. Each dog and each case is so unique. What I will remind you guys and myself, we do the best we possibly can with the information we have at the time. We love our pups to the very end as best we can. YOU are doing that for Gdog…and he knows…🙏🏻❤️🐾
So happy he is doing better. I had to laugh at the picture of him wearing the diaper. Corgis are so expressive. It's like Mom, WTH are you doing to me! My Bonnie has that same look when I put her collar on or when she gets in trouble. Continuing prayers for Graffiti and his family.
“There is a tradeoff worth naming here. To generate that glucose, the body does not just use stored fat. It also draws on amino acids from muscle protein, breaking down muscle tissue as a fuel source. With sustained use, this can lead to gradual muscle wasting, particularly visible along a dog’s back and hindquarters. The body may actually gain weight in fat while losing muscle mass.”
Interestingly, I think this is exactly what Cushings disease is/does.
I know this because when we were trying to figure out what was going on with my dog, I thought maybe it was something adrenal—either Cushings or Addison’s. In my dog’s case, it was actually a pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor), but we explored other adrenal disorders first. We ruled out Cushings because he didn’t have any of the physical characteristics you mentioned. It’s interesting to know prednisone can essentially replicate the effects of Cushings because they can create the same affliction—hyperadrenocorticism.
This is such a good observation, and you are right. What I described is essentially the same mechanism. Prednisone mimics cortisol, and with sustained use, it can produce the same picture as Cushing's from the outside. The distinction being that one is the body overproducing cortisol on its own, and the other is you introducing it externally. Same downstream effects on muscle, fat distribution, and adrenal function either way.
I am so sorry about your dog's pheochromocytoma, that is such a difficult road to navigate, especially with the diagnostic process involved. I hope he is doing okay.
He had a very high risk and costly surgery last month but he made it through. It was an existential nightmare of grief and logistics and research and it felt like my life sunk into a black hole for two months, but things are finally starting to feel normal again. He has to have ultrasounds every 4 months for the rest of his life and he’s a husky mix so his coat has to be majorly shaved every time, but those things are a small price to pay in the end. I really hoped Gdog was a candidate for surgery. I prayed hard for his fungal test to come back differently.
This is such good information! I am tempted to write up the drug names in an emergency doggie file for future reference.
My two are about 2.5 years old and you never know what the future holds.
As I read what you write I wonder if My Midnight had cancer. All the vet said was he had tumors and if it was his dog he would “let him go”. Midnight was 12 years old and an over weight lab/golden retriever mix. That boy loved food. He never got over the puppy life of a big family and “fighting” for food time. He was my very first dog as an adult. He has a special spot in my heart.
I wonder why vets/doctors don’t tell you everything. Why do you have to do the research and the networking ? isn’t what they get paid for ?? I don’t know there will ever be a good answer. But it happens.
So what does the CBD do in his heavy lifting cocktail of meds? Prednisone does the appetite and helps with the inflammation. Gabapentin is good for pain of all sorts. But what’s left for CBD - calmness??
Kara and Chase know you are loved and prayers go up all through the day from all parts of the States and world I am sure keeping G-dog and y’all in YHWH’s ears 😁.
Make sure you two take care of yourselves too.
Thank you and God’s blessings be with you. 💜💜💜🐶🐶🐶🙏🙏🙏
I know about Pred, my wife takes it at times,
I am so very very happy at how well he has responded I continue to pray daily and I hope that the good days vastly outweigh the bad. Gdog is such an amazing fighter, I don’t know how anyone could do other than love him and support you guys through this journey as best as we can.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to provide these amazing updates to everyone loves him and Brady pig as well as those going through something similar
Love and prayers to him (and y’all)
I’ve said it a million times, you are your pet’s advocate! No one loves or knows them like you. We must do our research and not just blindly follow what we are told! If not us, then who? Your little friend is depending on you 🥰
It is so frustrating. I often wonder why certain things are not brought up. So glad he is doing better!
RN here: please be careful with this medication (steroids in general)- it generally works amazingly well at first but side effects slowly creep in. It causes much longer healing times/dramatically slows the healing process and makes you far more susceptible to infections/weakens your immune system. Since this sweet doll baby is so vulnerable right now please use this with caution ❤️ Give that furry potato a big squeeze for me!!! DM me if you want more info/med questions although I’m a human nurse haha @kayallenfabian
Graffiti is such a lucky dog to have pawrents as loving and as careful and as informed as you are. I feel for parents who don't know to ask, or what to ask. And I'm so sorry you've had to go through what you have, without benefit of certain kinds of knowledge from your vets. You're careful not to blame them, which is gracious, but I'm still appalled that you only got to where you are through your own diligence. I've discovered osteopathy for humans, and the difference in focus and communication and treatment is enormous. Might be interesting to develop a veterinary branch, as well. Best wishes to all of you, always, and thank you for your willingness to share. (((HUGS)))
Sadly the human medical system is no better. You have earned yourselves a place in heaven for your care of the little loaf.
Best serbants ever, counting all the breaths. 💜
GDog is the best! He is not going to give up, and will reward you with all that he is.