Thank you, Taylor. On the one hand, I
would like to take Jenna off prednisone to see if this is the reason behind her current troubles, but am not sure how to properly reduce it if she's taking the lowest allowed dose, and I'm terrified she'd become unable to walk again, or that her eye pressure might shoot up. I'm surprised to hear it won't cause Addisons, that's all you see when you read up about it.
I'm also afraid of causing other disease
with the medicine, which I can't deny could be happening now, so we're between a rock and a hard place, but I guess there's not much else we
can do. I know steroids usually need tapering, like a one day off, one day on for weeks kind of schedule, and it concerns me that her vet didn't agree. Her vet wanted to switch her back to NSAIDS (metacam) to control what they thought was inflammation of some kind in her central nervous system which was causing the spinning and wobbling and inco-ordination. And yes, we did treat her for inner and middle ear infections although there was no real sign of that. They presumed this was all due to a tumor or cerebellar decay. But metacam never really worked on this issue like prednisone did. Once we started it, she was back to living an almost normal life till I started noticing the advancing fur loss, coupled with the heightened anxiety and house accidents, and now that she's tired all the time. I do realize that might be because she's almost 12 years old and it's a cold winter for us here in the pacific northwest, but it's so hard to see her like this.
She's been on prednisone since last March and they gave me a few weeks to a few months with her at that time. Of course that was a best guess without proper diagnostics. If she had a pituitary tumor could that have been why she had vestibular symptoms and ataxia? And then could that be why she's showing Cushing's like signs now? Or is it more likely all due to the pills? How is the best way to find out without putting her through too much stress? She's terrible with blood draws because she fights like mad and then she's uncomfortable for a long time afterwards because she hurts herself by struggling.
She has some degree of arthritis in her lower back and rear legs, perhaps even her forelegs, and this was also a reason to put her on steroid treatment.
I'm uncertain if the Alkphosphate test has been run, I can call and check on that. But I do know her vet recommended for her to just have the LDDS, when I asked about it around a month after her dental, because she doesn't think the ALP is reliable enough. She also wanted to do an abdominal ultrasound which at the time was kind of pricey and I didn't have the funds for but now we're on a payment system so I would like to request that again if it will show whether or not Jenna's adrenal glands are intact. I imagine they'd be a bit hard to see on such a tiny dog but that's the only reason I can think of that her vet would want to do it.
Jenna has been having accidents in the house since we moved from Alaska. I put it down to stress of the move originally but when it kept happening we took her to the vet (a different one from the current vet) and she surprised us with the news that Jenna was going blind. This was based on Jenna's iris atrophy which was something I hadn't noticed previously. So we put her accidents down to her changing vision and the anxiety it ramped up in her. She had no UTI or any other sign of illness at that time...that was almost 4 years ago.
I mention it because her cataracts formed quickly after that and have matured to a point where I believe Jenna only sees a fraction of difference in light changes now, if anything, and so if I'm not taking her out preemptively and she suddenly feels the need, she'll potty on the carpet or linoleum. But she doesn't make too much wee and what I notice most is the frequency of needing to go which has increased in the last few months.
When feeding her, we've changed her from the vegetarian diet she was on since 2013 when she got vasculitis and the vet in Alaska, where we were at the time, said it was due to meat protein. She now eats Purina EN that's a chicken and rice pate. She really likes it and would probably try to eat a whole can if I left it on the floor. At times her lower abdomen begins to look very full and tight and I worry that even the amount I'm feeding, which I'm conservative with, is too much. She does eventually settle after a meal but I see her relax quicker if I put a few kibble on her plate after she has her canned food. That way she gets that "extra treat" she's looking for but I'm not feeding her anything sugary or over the top that could make her bloat up. I might note here again her horrible gas. I don't know exactly what causes that, if it's just how she eats or what she eats.
One other thing...she used to have beautiful pink insides to her ears before beginning the prednisone...now the skin looks darker, almost a dark grey or light black...is this the skin change that they call nigricans? Could it indicate that she's developing diabetes and wouldn't that show on a CBC? She's a very skinny dog in my opinion, but not all diabetics are obese. And the skin color change happened within a month or so of starting the prednisone. Is it possible that there's already other damage to her system from taking it this long? What tests should be performed to determine that?
Taylor, do you see the melatonin and lignans helping with Callie's symptoms? Does she have fur loss also? The vet practice owner didn't seem to think it would do all that much, but he's not the vet treating her. I think he finds 'alternate cures' to be hokum.
But I would really like to find the best of both worlds in Jenna's treatment. I almost dread giving her anything else to have to take at the moment, but I'm very conflicted as to how to approach this the best way. And...well...quite frankly I feel we're running out of time. Some days she just looks so spent and weak, but I'm in my 50's and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel every one of those 5 decades. But Jenna is quite probably going to be my last baby and she and I simply can't enjoy life without one another. She's gotten me through so very much...how can I not go to great lengths to make her golden years the very best they can be?
Sorry to wax so maudlin. I'm desperate and at the end of my rope these days.
Thank you so much for all your advice, it helps to have someone else to speak to about these things who understands.