I had high hopes for the changes we implemented after the last two UTIs Monty went through. We started up with a cranberry supplement, had the Prednisone dose lowered, switched to distilled water, and implemented an every other dishwasher cycle bowl wash routine, and yet here we are again just over a week since the last bit of antibiotics ran out, with Monty battling another UTI. This time it came on suddenly first thing Sunday morning. I knew something was up when he woke us up twice between 6-7AM to go out, and then it all came unhinged about the time a group of our friends came over for brunch. Fast forward to another trip to the vet (this time the emergency vet doh!) and another course of antibiotics (this time 14 days of 250mg Clavamox 2x/day). The family vet followed up today recommending a urine culture immediately following the antibiotics to try to figure out if it’s something that can be specifically targeted, as well as a sonogram of the abdomen to see if there is an underlying physical issue causing the sudden and frequent UTIs. For now we’re stuck watching him feel like crap for several hours after the antibiotic dose and doing all we can to keep him comfortable.
Tag: GME (Page 4 of 6)
Monty has been diagnosed with Granulomatous Meningoencephalomyelitis (GME).
It’s been an exciting week here filled with little positives as we’re finally beginning to see more of Monty’s personality extend out from under the drug haze! It’s simple things like attention towards other dogs, interest in long walks, and just plain willingness to hang out that we have been deprived of for so long that we are happy to be seeing again. He’s been off the antibiotic now for about a week so we are keeping a close eye on bathroom behavior to try to quickly spot any new UTI issue but so far so good. I’ve started feeding him a scrambled egg on the days he doesn’t get a chicken breast to keep pumping him full of protein to try to regain some of his lost weight and muscle mass which also appears to be paying off.
We’ve now passed 2 months since diagnosis and he continues to be doing better than anyone anticipated, so if you are reading this at the start of your GME journey take heart and have faith. It’s a difficult road but not impossible, and every moment is worthwhile…
Monty’s second checkup with the neurologist went very well today. After we reduced the Prednisone at the last checkup from 15mg to 10mg, we’re ecstatic to have gotten the go ahead to reduce this to just 5mg twice daily beginning today. This should be a huge step in his treatment since even at the previous reduced levels we were all having trouble dealing with the side effects. After his CBC came back in good shape he received another Cytosar treatment as planned, so he had a bit of a rough go for most of the day. This tends to make him uncomfortably warm and not very social but we are hopeful for what the next few weeks will bring while keeping cognizant that this does increase the possibility of a relapse.
Two weeks have passed and we’ve reached a kind of routine zen between medication doses, bathroom trips, and boiled chicken, but complications continue to pop up up along the road keeping the roller coaster ride going.
For several days last week Monty seemed to be a ghost in the room, completely uninterested in anything more than shifting around from place to place uncomfortably. Then came another urinary tract infection and a trip to the vet for confirmation and more antibiotics. We’ve added 500mg (250mg 2x daily) of dried cranberry as a supplement in the hopes of keeping the UTI issue under control once this round of treatment is over in a few days. This week we’ve seen the return of higher activity levels and interaction with us, more interest in walks, barks for a knock at the door, acknowledgements for noises outside, and in general what seems like much better spirits.
Tomorrow morning we have a follow up with the neurologist for what should be another Cytosar (chemo) treatment and if everything checks out another reduction in the Prednisone dose.
I know I’ve said it several times already but it’s important to remember there will be good days and bad days. We’re just shy of the two month mark from GME diagnosis and the little dude continues to defy the statistics and fight to stay with us, so we keep fighting for him as well. I’m not going to say it has been easy, financially or emotionally, because it hasn’t. We’ve had to and continue to make sacrifices, but it has been rewarding beyond words to have the opportunity to spend just a little more time with him.
Yesterday’s followup with the vet was to check a urine sample to determine if the bladder infection had been knocked off, and it was great to hear that it came back clean. For whatever reason Monty seems to have a hard time with antibiotics in that they seem to make him just seem “off”, so once again we can discontinue antibiotics and hope that his overall demeanor improves.
Not only did they deliver a replacement prescription to replace their mistake, but they included some special treats and a hand signed card with a frenchie on the front from both docs. Thanks Dr Naugler, Dr Johnson, & Katy Trail Animal Hospital, we really appreciated that!
It was a good day today.
It’s surprising how the little things can make you happy; a good walk, some healthy activity, normal poops. Everything was aligned today and we managed a good mile long walk hitting up some of the spots we haven’t been able to get to lately due to the illness and/or heat. We stopped at Main Street Gardens for a break and some water, to take a stroll through the dog park, and to say hi to some of the downtown Safety Patrol that hadn’t seen him for a while.
There was a bit of a mixup at the vet yesterday. I picked up a refill of the antibiotic he is on (Zeniquin) and ended up with 25mg instead of 50mg. Called them today and not only are they coming by tomorrow to deliver a replacement, but Dr Naugler called twice in person to apologize for their mistake.
Monty has lost well over 3 pounds since his diagnosis and treatment began, primarily due to muscle atrophy, which is one of many well documented and not fun Prednisone side effects. Ironically we were warned more to watch for weight gain, and though this hasn’t caught us completely off guard it’s a little scary to see how gaunt our little 33 pound brick of a dog has become. It’s especially apparent that his hind quarters have suffered the brunt of this wasting and are now pretty sure this is the cause of the “weakness” we have been observing. In an effort to combat this we’ve started giving him a whole boiled chicken breast every other night for the extra protein, and he’s loving it.
Spoke with Dr Johnson and Dr Naugler several times over the last few days. It’s nice to have a vet that is so helpful, supportive, and understanding through this process and not treat us as a patient number. The symptoms of infection seem to have dissipated at this point, so instead of another office visit & urine test so soon we’ve moved that back to a week from Friday. They did order another week of antibiotics just to be safe. Monty continues to have good days and bad days, and today he just seemed “off” as there’s nothing specifically you can put your finger on and no other way to describe it. He didn’t feel like going for a walk this morning, and slept most of the day next to me while I worked. If I didn’t have the opportunity to work from home I’m not sure how we could get through this.
In the evening he didn’t want much to do with us and pretty much laid around on the floor moving from place to place in the living room, and really didn’t interact much. It’s nights like this that seem like they are the most painful to get through.
We made another trip to our family vet yesterday due to sudden onset complications from what seems to be a bladder infection. Around lunchtime he began having small accidents every 30 minutes or so around the house, and by our 4pm appointment they were happening every few minutes, heavily stained with blood. Had some tests to see if his kidneys or liver were failing (and the source of the blood) but they seemed to be OK, so we’re back on another antibiotic for a week with a urine retest this Friday. Within two hours of taking the first dose the accidents and the blood began to subside so hopeful this is only a small temporary setback.