Help! My Dog Fainted Last Night-she Is On Blood Pressure Meds! Please Help Us!

[scoobiedooiscoo]

poor sadie she is in our prayers. its so hard to not know what going on and to see them go through things that we feel helpless about. we just found out lacey has liver shunt and are trying to stablize her so she can have further tests to see if we can help her and i know its scarry.

[kay6688]

Originally Posted by saphire

I am so sorry your little girl is so sick. Iam afraid I can't help but will say a prayer for her.

Us too!

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by scoobiedooiscoo

poor sadie she is in our prayers. its so hard to not know what going on and to see them go through things that we feel helpless about. we just found out lacey has liver shunt and are trying to stablize her so she can have further tests to see if we can help her and i know its scarry.

I am so sorry to hear that about Lacey! I will pray for her that she will be ok. The Vet told me about a site called Veterinarypartner.com maybe you can find some research on there. I will check also. It is very scary. I can't tell anything is wrong with my Sadie girl. We have a long road ahead of us with her. I will care for her and do whatever I can. Once I see her suffering my decision will be made for me. I will not let this little girl suffer. Keep us posted on Lacey. I hope she is going to be ok.

[sadiesamie]

Well- The specialist says her kidneys are not failing (thank God)
He said because of that he wanted us to start a quality high protein diet but low in fat. And we have increased her benezepril from 1/4 tab 2xs a day to 1/2 tab 2 x's a day. He thinks she was under medicated with the benezepril. Lets hope! We will re-test her in 30 days. (Urinalysis/Culture) protein/creatinine ratio.

We will re-check her blood pressure in 7-10 days. He also wants us to discontinue the Claritin. he thinks it is causing her bp to raise. so hopefully in 7-10 days when we have that checked it has come down.

The Specialist Vet was cut and dry with us. He said that either by increasing her Benazeperil will either stop the protein loss.. OR… she continues to lose protein and further testing is in order. he called this Glomerular disease.
He said that if her kidneys fail and she will go downhill very rapidly. She will become very sick and very fast. OMG it is going to be a long 30 days!

IF after 30 days... no improvment with her protein loss he will want to do a sonagram and xrays- and then his LAST resort -a biopsy of her kidney. He could not stress enough that the biopsy was the LAST thing he would want to do. FOr one reason- it damages the kidney. he said he has seen benezepril change things for the good in dogs on this med. But- he said unfortunately he has also seen the meds not work and it's very sad. He said things happen very rapidly. (oh how that scares me)

So we have started her on a new dog food tonight. However, because of her having pancreatitis… we will do this VERY slowly over a 10 day or more period so she can handle the food switch and not disrupt anything.

Our last attempt to change her food 3 wks ago made her very sick by the 3rd day… vomiting/diarrhea. So I am praying that does not happen. With her losing so much protein she will be very allergic to several things found in food. I started her on WELLNESS WEIGHT MGT FOOD. it was the only food I could find that was high in protein and low in fat. the specialist said that they make several foods out there and to find one high in good quality protein, good carbs and he wanted us to stay at 5 % fat.

Since I have been researching food for months now- I remembered the Wellness line. He suggested Royal Canin Duck and Potato Light (I am not fond of the ingred in this food) so I went with the WEllness. It is 17 % protein and 6 % fat (the Royal Canin had 23% protein and 7.5 % fat) so my husband and I researched Wellness again and we were impressed after reading info on their site (wellnessdogfood.com) If the wellness does not work for her then I have no choice but to go with the royal canin.

It still makes me nervous b/c the orig vet said "low protein" and now the specialist says just the opposite. It's hard to doubt him after knowing he holds 30 years as a internal med spec. He increased her benezeperil and the orig vet told us that she was maxed out on the dosage. so hmm? makes me wonder.

In the meantime... Sadie is not getting the Claritin and she is itching non stop and i just feel horrible. But I cannot give her the Claritin anymore.
Once she gets on this new wellness food 100% hopefully her allergies will stop. I strongly believe this hills pres food is making her miserable. I cannot wait until we are finished with it.

He suggested the low fat I believe bc of her pancreatitis. SHe is not showing blood in her stool or vomiting. and the specialist did not seem concerned with the pancreatitis at all. just changing her food he said would help that. So low fat is what she needs for right now. If we can bump up to the next level with Wellness we can always do that later on. I just want her completely off of the Hills pres diet. (she was only on the hills d/d for allergies so it wasn't like a something major like renal failure or kidney function food. (once again- the other vet said she wanted her on the hills R/d) The specialist said no. He did however get out his "Hills book of food info" and I hated to see that book. I told my husband that I am not opposed to talking to a nutritionist and My husband wants to just go with what the specialist recommended. high protein and low fat. If i feel the need in a couple months to talk to a nutritionist I will push the issue. someone on YT recommended one (Marcel, I believe)

sorry if i sound like i am repeating myself. it's been a long day. but I wanted to post an update :-) thanks for all of your comments! i really appreciate them from the bottom of my heart. I haven't heard anything on the wellness food thread I started. that makes me a little nervous. I hope it's a good one.

[kalina82]

sounds like you got really good advise from the specialist. I really liked reading your last post. I'm hoping the food change will help her out with her allergies and protein loss. Wellness is a great food. Canidae senior is also a good choice for high protein and low fat. I"m really excited for you guys and i hope you start seeing a change soon. As far as switching her food over i would do it extremely slow. put like 5 pieces of the new food in and then slowly increase it by a few pieces each meal until she's switched over.

Good luck!!!!

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

Well- The specialist says her kidneys are not failing (thank God)
He said because of that he wanted us to start a quality high protein diet but low in fat. And we have increased her benezepril from 1/4 tab 2xs a day to 1/2 tab 2 x's a day. He thinks she was under medicated with the benezepril. Lets hope! We will re-test her in 30 days. (Urinalysis/Culture) protein/creatinine ratio.

We will re-check her blood pressure in 7-10 days. He also wants us to discontinue the Claritin. he thinks it is causing her bp to raise. so hopefully in 7-10 days when we have that checked it has come down.

The Specialist Vet was cut and dry with us. He said that either by increasing her Benazeperil will either stop the protein loss.. OR… she continues to lose protein and further testing is in order. he called this Glomerular disease.
He said that if her kidneys fail and she will go downhill very rapidly. She will become very sick and very fast. OMG it is going to be a long 30 days!

IF after 30 days... no improvment with her protein loss he will want to do a sonagram and xrays- and then his LAST resort -a biopsy of her kidney. He could not stress enough that the biopsy was the LAST thing he would want to do. FOr one reason- it damages the kidney. he said he has seen benezepril change things for the good in dogs on this med. But- he said unfortunately he has also seen the meds not work and it's very sad. He said things happen very rapidly. (oh how that scares me)

So we have started her on a new dog food tonight. However, because of her having pancreatitis… we will do this VERY slowly over a 10 day or more period so she can handle the food switch and not disrupt anything.

Our last attempt to change her food 3 wks ago made her very sick by the 3rd day… vomiting/diarrhea. So I am praying that does not happen. With her losing so much protein she will be very allergic to several things found in food. I started her on WELLNESS WEIGHT MGT FOOD. it was the only food I could find that was high in protein and low in fat. the specialist said that they make several foods out there and to find one high in good quality protein, good carbs and he wanted us to stay at 5 % fat.

Since I have been researching food for months now- I remembered the Wellness line. He suggested Royal Canin Duck and Potato Light (I am not fond of the ingred in this food) so I went with the WEllness. It is 17 % protein and 6 % fat (the Royal Canin had 23% protein and 7.5 % fat) so my husband and I researched Wellness again and we were impressed after reading info on their site (wellnessdogfood.com) If the wellness does not work for her then I have no choice but to go with the royal canin.

It still makes me nervous b/c the orig vet said "low protein" and now the specialist says just the opposite. It's hard to doubt him after knowing he holds 30 years as a internal med spec. He increased her benezeperil and the orig vet told us that she was maxed out on the dosage. so hmm? makes me wonder.

In the meantime... Sadie is not getting the Claritin and she is itching non stop and i just feel horrible. But I cannot give her the Claritin anymore.
Once she gets on this new wellness food 100% hopefully her allergies will stop. I strongly believe this hills pres food is making her miserable. I cannot wait until we are finished with it.

He suggested the low fat I believe bc of her pancreatitis. SHe is not showing blood in her stool or vomiting. and the specialist did not seem concerned with the pancreatitis at all. just changing her food he said would help that. So low fat is what she needs for right now. If we can bump up to the next level with Wellness we can always do that later on. I just want her completely off of the Hills pres diet. (she was only on the hills d/d for allergies so it wasn't like a something major like renal failure or kidney function food. (once again- the other vet said she wanted her on the hills R/d) The specialist said no. He did however get out his "Hills book of food info" and I hated to see that book. I told my husband that I am not opposed to talking to a nutritionist and My husband wants to just go with what the specialist recommended. high protein and low fat. If i feel the need in a couple months to talk to a nutritionist I will push the issue. someone on YT recommended one (Marcel, I believe)

sorry if i sound like i am repeating myself. it's been a long day. but I wanted to post an update :-) thanks for all of your comments! i really appreciate them from the bottom of my heart. I haven't heard anything on the wellness food thread I started. that makes me a little nervous. I hope it's a good one.

the food the specialist suggested also had to be low in sodium and potassium. WIth the high blood pressure this would help her. The WEllness contains no added sodium and I want to say it was like 0.11% sodium and .0.18% potassium. and then the high protein low fat.

The food seems so bland. they are liking it. Poor things aren't chewing their food again yet since the Hills Pres diet is rock hard... they had to swallow it whole. :-( Wasn't until I tried to bite a piece in half one day to see that it was NOT that they loved the food so much they swallowed it whole. They could not chew it. I sometime saw them but they just could not do it. And I really hated to see that. I mean- I can't imagine myself not chewing my food. (the vet reassured me that it was not harming them to digest it)
It's so funny watching them pick out the new food first. :-)

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

the food the specialist suggested also had to be low in sodium and potassium. WIth the high blood pressure this would help her. The WEllness contains no added sodium and I want to say it was like 0.11% sodium and .0.18% potassium. and then the high protein low fat.

The food seems so bland. they are liking it. Poor things aren't chewing their food again yet since the Hills Pres diet is rock hard... they had to swallow it whole. :-( Wasn't until I tried to bite a piece in half one day to see that it was NOT that they loved the food so much they swallowed it whole. They could not chew it. I sometime saw them but they just could not do it. And I really hated to see that. I mean- I can't imagine myself not chewing my food. (the vet reassured me that it was not harming them to digest it)
It's so funny watching them pick out the new food first. :-)

If anyone knows of other foods too- you never know if this one will work out for us. It wasn't easy, I researched so manyyyyyyyyy foods. desperately trying to find something that was not pres.

[SophieRose]

Something that I do for Charlie due to his dental surgery and only a few molars left on the bottom. Each night, I measure his kibble, place in a container, cover with water, then seal with a lid. That container goes into the refrigerator overnight, and he has two meals a day that I mix with wet food.

Swallowing the kibble whole (hoovering) is very hard on their stomach. Sometimes I forget, and Charlie is given dry kibble. His tummy rumbles and causes gas. So, I have written a note to myself to prepare his food before we go to bed.

The nutrition is not lost and there is only enough water to soften the kibble (I can squish a piece between my fingers). His digestion is excellent with this method.

Also, I warm the kibble in the microwave to take off the chill.

Warmly, Deborah

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by SophieRose

Something that I do for Charlie due to his dental surgery and only a few molars left on the bottom. Each night, I measure his kibble, place in a container, cover with water, then seal with a lid. That container goes into the refrigerator overnight, and he has two meals a day that I mix with wet food.

Swallowing the kibble whole (hoovering) is very hard on their stomach. Sometimes I forget, and Charlie is given dry kibble. His tummy rumbles and causes gas. So, I have written a note to myself to prepare his food before we go to bed.

The nutrition is not lost and there is only enough water to soften the kibble (I can squish a piece between my fingers). His digestion is excellent with this method.

Also, I warm the kibble in the microwave to take off the chill.

Warmly, Deborah

I would love to do this for them but I cannot convince my husband. he doesn't want me to add water to the food. I told him they need moisture and he says that they drink water so they should be fine. well i did it this morning and they LOved it! he told me- I wish you wouldn't do that. so i don't know what to do. I give them canned senior innova about 3 times a day as a treat and for their meds and the love it so much. every time i go to the fridge there is my sadie girl wanting more and more. I don't give in to her and it's so hard.

[sadiesamie]

the Wellness is working good so far. Sadie's itching has eased up a lot. can't imagine how she will be once we finish up the old yucky food. :-)
still moving slow right now she is at the 1/2 and 1/2 stage. Oh and I also picked up the Wellness bites yesterday. They about bit off my fingers they loved it so much. again, don't want to overdo it but they love this so much!!! they make my heart smile when I see them this way. :-)
Sadie is only on her soloxine (for thyroid) and the beneperil for protein loss/bp. we will check her bp next week and pray that it has come down since we raised the beneperil and Stopped the Claritin.

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

the Wellness is working good so far. Sadie's itching has eased up a lot. can't imagine how she will be once we finish up the old yucky food. :-)
still moving slow right now she is at the 1/2 and 1/2 stage. Oh and I also picked up the Wellness bites yesterday. They about bit off my fingers they loved it so much. again, don't want to overdo it but they love this so much!!! they make my heart smile when I see them this way. :-)
Sadie is only on her soloxine (for thyroid) and the beneperil for protein loss/bp. we will check her bp next week and pray that it has come down since we raised the beneperil and Stopped the Claritin.

looks like she's doing good on the new food. I hope her BP has dropped. Its cases like this where i wish you could get a portable BP machine for home use to monitor it on a daily basis.

[sadiesamie]

Lets pray that discontinuing the Claritin has lowered Sadie's blood pressure. She is completely on the new food now. we did this over a 12 day period. she is not eager to eat this food though. I don't know if i should wet it a little. my husband is not fond of the idea of wetting the food. I can't seem to convince him that they need more moisture. I put the food down and she just scratches at her bowl. She eats it but she is not crazy about it. she is still itching but not as bad as she was. i assume it will take a while yet now that she is completely switched over to the new food.

i will post an update on the bp check today. i am so nervous to go to this appt!

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

Lets pray that discontinuing the Claritin has lowered Sadie's blood pressure. She is completely on the new food now. we did this over a 12 day period. she is not eager to eat this food though. I don't know if i should wet it a little. my husband is not fond of the idea of wetting the food. I can't seem to convince him that they need more moisture. I put the food down and she just scratches at her bowl. She eats it but she is not crazy about it. she is still itching but not as bad as she was. i assume it will take a while yet now that she is completely switched over to the new food.

i will post an update on the bp check today. i am so nervous to go to this appt!

how did her appt go? what's her bp???

why won't your husband let you wet the food? what's the big deal?

[sadiesamie]

Sadies bp today after 5 readings averaged 163. This has come down IMMENSELY! as her highest reading on 11/2 was 285! she will have prot/creat test and urinalysis and blood work in 3 wks. Now i am praying her protein loss has eased up. Discontiuing the Claritin and increasing her benazeperil has done wonders. i feel like I can breathe again.

Oh and i also asked the specialist about wetting her food and he said it didn't matter if we did or didn't. He still sees tartar build up on teeth regardless if feeding wet or dry. I came home tonight and wet the food and it sat and got soft for maybe 10 minutes, BOTH DOGS DEVOURED! THEY LOVED IT! so i told my husband that i did that so maybe he will not be so opposed. I personally think all of that crunching on dry food it worst bc then it gets stuck on their teeth and it stays there until it dissolves away. This way it's got to be easier to digest and also "better" for their teeth. they still have milkbone bisquits that they love and they can crunch on those. (veryyyy small amounts of these they have) 1/2 total of a small biscuit per day for each dog. so maybe it would be a good thing. I like the idea of wetting. It just has to be easier on their little tummies. I like to see them eat good. I hate when they fuss over their food. And wetting this food brought out the flavor so they could enjoy it. I love my girls to pieces... i want to see them enjoy their food when they eat it. :-) it's all about them! my little angels.

can't help but thinking of the "OREO theory" when it comes to wetting or not wetting dog food.
You eat Oreo's without milk and you LITERALLY have cookie pieces just smashed everywhere in your teeth. As opposed if you had dunked them in milk first. It would NOT get all stuck in your teeth. Same idea... ya think? :-)

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

Sadies bp today after 5 readings averaged 163. This has come down IMMENSELY! as her highest reading on 11/2 was 285! she will have prot/creat test and urinalysis and blood work in 3 wks. Now i am praying her protein loss has eased up. Discontiuing the Claritin and increasing her benazeperil has done wonders. i feel like I can breathe again.

Oh and i also asked the specialist about wetting her food and he said it didn't matter if we did or didn't. He still sees tartar build up on teeth regardless if feeding wet or dry. I came home tonight and wet the food and it sat and got soft for maybe 10 minutes, BOTH DOGS DEVOURED! THEY LOVED IT! so i told my husband that i did that so maybe he will not be so opposed. I personally think all of that crunching on dry food it worst bc then it gets stuck on their teeth and it stays there until it dissolves away. This way it's got to be easier to digest and also "better" for their teeth. they still have milkbone bisquits that they love and they can crunch on those. (veryyyy small amounts of these they have) 1/2 total of a small biscuit per day for each dog. so maybe it would be a good thing. I like the idea of wetting. It just has to be easier on their little tummies. I like to see them eat good. I hate when they fuss over their food. And wetting this food brought out the flavor so they could enjoy it. I love my girls to pieces... i want to see them enjoy their food when they eat it. :-) it's all about them! my little angels.

that bp is EXCELLENT!!!! omg it came down so much. i'm so happy for you guys.

as for the food, yeah it doesn't matter if its wet or dry for their teeth. if they're genetically predisposed to have bad teeth there is nothing you can do about it. glad they enjoyed the wet dry food.