Day Seventeen

Well with the holidays getting in the way I am a few days late to updating the blog. So far we've been on the cyclosporine now for a whole 17 days! So far so good. I'm starting to see improvements to him not being so itchy all the time. He is able to be pet quite a bit and get his love and attention that he so LOVES to get from people and not end up in a total itch fest! This alone is a HUGE accomplishment for him he hasn't been able to be doted on and not get the mega itchies for quite some time now.  I don't have much to really fill in and say for the blog so I'll let the pictures do my talking for the week.

Neck close up - December 28, 2012

Tummy area, look the redness is subsiding! - December 28, 2012

NOM NOM NOM Cheese Treats - December 28, 2012

Side view - December 28, 2012

Under the armpits - December 28, 2012

Nap time, photos are exhausting - December 28, 2012

Look my sister is trying to get cozy and sleep too - December 28, 2012

Ta ta for now, I have to get my beauty rest - <3 Festus 

Day Seven

Well, Festus has had 7 doses of the Cyclosporine now and while the changes haven't been huge, there has been some improvement which is amazing in his world. He hasn't been itching himself as much and he hasn't been itching the moment you touch him. He still has some itchies but he isn't on any antihistamines at all anymore so that is a total positive for him.

He hasn't had any vomiting or diarrhea since the two incidences earlier on in this week either. Total bonus for him and ME!! Overall he's been enjoying the extra time and attention since I took most of last week off work have been home with him.

Cyclosporine - This is what he gets all wrapped up in that deli meat and then he GOBBLES it right down. 

Hey MOM!! Don't look at me I'm trying to have a nap in here. - Belly Shot - December 18, 2012

OK OK, I'll get up. 

I should add that he does not appreciate being woken up from his naps. He cherishes his naps like they are gold, he will appreciate it only if you are waking him up for two reasons. Snuggling with his momma, or for Dinner, other than that you'll get the stink eye and a lot of moaning and groaning. He really is an old man at heart deep deep inside somewhere. Sidney the boxer wanted in on the photo shoot so she ran into her kennel to get a piece of the action. 

Ok now I'm awake, I see you have freeze dried liver, is that for me?? 

(at least in this photo Sidney doesn't have crazy eyes)

Yes, I have no shame, I bribe the dogs with treats. Festus LOVES freeze dried meats, liver being one of his favourites. One of these days I'm going to get him some dehydrated duck feet and see what he makes of those, or perhaps some rabbit ears. Now the real reason Sidney wanted in on the photo shoot is revealed, she's a PORKER, anytime she gets an inkling that there is going to be food around edible or not she all over it like a fat kid on cake. 

Obligatory sitting pose - December 18, 2012

Although little progress to his hair growth which will take roughly a month for that to come in at least most of the redness from itching has almost vanished. Little bits of pink skin but nothing like last week where his skin was an angry aggravated red from his constant itching. 

Closer belly shot - December 18, 2012

Here you can see that his skin is pink and not red like it was last week which is a total improvement  from the reduction in itching. 

Hind Feet - December 18, 2012

His hind feet aren't red and wet from him sucking on them anymore which I haven't caught him doing while I've been home. 

Ok and back to your regular scheduled programming, NAP TIME. My belly is now full of yummy liver and I must catch up on my beauty sleep now. Until next week :) <3 Festus.

Day Three

Thought I would give an update before the weekend as I don't think I'll get a chance to update this weekend.

As I type all is quiet in the house the prince has decided to nap and give me a break. I've taken the past few days off work to monitor Festus to ensure that he doesn't have any bad side effects. Needless to say I've had a big shadow following me around the house. Those of you with danes will totally get what I'm talking about.

Festus - Snoring like a log - December 14, 2012

Man oh man do these pills STINK, even inside the gel caps once you open them they smell horrid! I can't imagine if I had to take these myself I would be gagging the entire time trying to swallow these things. Hopefully I'll never have to experience taking them, for humans cyclosporine is used for organ transplant patients. So quite the heavy duty drug. Tonight I am filing a 3 month prescription at Costco as the side effects that he has had on them haven't been anything too major that we can't handle. The one I was worried about was dizziness along with hind end weakness and poor coordination. Thank goodness he doesn't seem to have any of those. We went out to the soccer fields to play fetch at night time and he was completely normal. He is still able to also go up and down the stairs and run and walk on the laminate flooring in my house just like normal. For that I am super thankful for, now for the medication to kick in for him. The big test will be Monday when I go back to work how he does while he is home alone for a few hours. I tell ya, this dog is beyond spoiled rotten, he is super sweet though so it makes it all worth it.

The only side effects so far that he has had (which could be total pure coincidence) is that Tuesday night he had a restless sleep however, he was up itching as he is off all his antihistamines, so likely not the cyclosporine causing that issue as he's slept normally since then. Wednesday evening on our walk he had a little bit of soft poop but again this was also right after playing ball at the fields and vigorous exercise usually causes him to have a little softer of a stool once he gets excited. His poop since then has been back to his normal nice raw poops. He also vomited yesterday but not anything huge, just some water and carrot mixed in, this was post cyclosporine and he didn't bring up the pills which is a plus. He also acted completely normal up until then and after the incident as well. It was more of a burp and up comes the water than a real vomit as there was no stomach pumping or heaving associated.

Day One

I thought I would start a blog for my dane's journey while on cyclosporine to put down my thoughts and ramblings as well as have something to compare weekly progress with him through his journey. 

I guess I should first introduce him and give a brief history on what we have done in the past to help control his skin allergies. Festus is his name and itching has been his unfortunate game. He has had ups and downs with his itching a lot of misdiagnosis along his road to recovery. Along with his skin allergies he is also Hypothyroid, basically his thyroid doesn't function on its own anymore (if it ever did). 

Festus - July 2012

Festus' Thyroid history:

It all started roughly after Festus was a year old with some minimal hair loss on his neck, chalked it up to a new collar with a plastic buckle on it that he had a reaction to. Went back to using his other collars and it seemed to not get any worse but not get any better either.

Few more weeks went by a little more hair loss and a few bumps on his neck area (underside of neck), so I took him to the vet for the vet to have a look at it, we took a biopsy of it and sent it off to the lab. The lab came back with no real abnormalities other than inflammation. Treated with course of antibiotics (cefalexin) for 10 days and vanectyl-p no changes other than we realized he doesn't respond well to vanectyl-p or prednisone, he literally pees himself, so it is a drug we attempted to stay away from.

Few more vet visits to see what was going on, and everything was inconclusive. Neutered him at 18 months, he blew through the anaesthetic took a lot to get him down, and to keep him down thank goodness a neuter is a quick procedure. Before the neuter was done I had a full cbc/chem screen, clotting panel, Free T4, Total T4, everything was in normal ranges,thyroid was within the normal range although a low normal. If I knew then what I know now I would have had him started on a low dose of soloxine. We attributed the hair loss to hormones and snipped his precious jewels away. After his neuter his scrotal sac swelled up HUGE, we couldn't do a scrotal ablation as the gas was starting to wear off while he was still under. That became slightly infected, another round of cefalexin.

In the mean time his hair loss proceeded to get worse, he became more and more itchy and more and more ornery. He didn't want to listen or retain knowledge.I thought it was stubborn teenage dane age and brushed it off. He unlearned how to walk on a leash, and just seemed to not behave himself overall. We took him to two board certified dermatologists, a holistic vet, and two separate traditional medicine veterinarians. The dermatologists tested for thyroid (as did the other three), as well as did the allergy blood work and allergy skin testing. He has a myriad of allergens that he is sensitive to (cooked chicken being the absolute worst for him and mold).

Fast forward to April 2011 and thousands of dollars later. We tried shampoos, sprays, supplements, food changes you name it we’ve likely tried it. I took him back when he was really bad, last ditch effort on his blood work, told the vet to just run it we did another cbc/chem screen Free T4 and Total T4 through Idexx lab. FINALLY he showed to be hypothyroid. His level was 4.6 for the Free T4 (tested by equilibrium dialysis) normal range is 7.7 – 47.6. Total T4 was 10.1 and normal was 13.0 – 53 (one of the few copies of blood work I have). We put him on thyro-tab (generic soloxine) 0.3mg twice a day. This did help him out to get him comfortable and we noted some improvement. 6 weeks later we tested him and he was bumped back into ‘low normal’ range. This vet wanted him to stay on the 0.3 dose and continue there, I didn’t see the ranges that I wanted Festus to be at so I upped his dose to 0.45mg twice a day, he did a little better still. I talked to the vet he didn’t agree with my choice to up his dose as in his words “he is too young of a dog and shouldn’t be on thyroid meds”. So another switch in vets this time to a different holistic vet, more blood work and an increased dose to 0.6mg twice a day. We rechecked him put him on different supplements including zinc and B vitamins. Some changes but she kept on telling me his blood work was in normal range and we didn’t need to adjust it.

I had troubles not seeing further progress in him, trying her supplements so I switched vets again about 3 weeks ago and saw copies of his blood work, he was STILL in the low normal when the prior vet was testing him and telling me he was well within normal ranges. Just shows that you should be receiving and LOOKING at copies of their blood results. The new vet upped his dose to 0.9mg twice a day and has been more aggressive with his treatment which is what we have needed to get his thyroid stable. Since going to Dr. Johner at Northwest Veterinary Clinic we have seen some amazing progress with him still ups and downs though. We have done several rechecks on his thyroid and have him at a stable dose of 2.5mg of the brand name Soloxine twice a day and he is finally in the high normal range, which is where he should be for his age and breed. 


Present day - December 12, 2012 - Atopica/Cyclosporine MOD Time!!

Now the main reason for the blog. I've started him on cyclosporine MOD (aka Atopica). After a long discussion with the vet we've decided to give him a three month trial on the cyclosporine to see how he does and cross our fingers that it works. For a dane this medication is quite expensive but if it works it is totally worth it for my handsome blue boy to be happy and to live itch free. His initial dose is 300mg once a day every day 2 hours before dinner time as it is to be given on an empty stomach. Well as empty as possible, he gets a small piece of deli meat just enough to wrap the three pills all together so that he will just gobble it right down the hatch. I also am giving him the cyclosporine separate from his Soloxine as to not give any stomach upset. 

Now that his thyroid level is under control, we have moved onto the diagnosis that it isn't just the thyroid causing all his skin issues but accompanying it is Atopic Dermatitis. Hence the need for the cyclosporine MOD.

Now onto the photo documentation of the blog (the most important part) to hopefully see some visible improvements. 

*All photos were taken this morning, he officially started on the cyclosporine last night.*

Festus - Neck close up - December 12, 2012

Festus looking all GQ  - December 12, 2012

Festus - Body shot - December 12, 2012

Festus - Front leg/foot close up - December 12, 2012

Festus - belly/armpits - December 12, 2012

Festus - armpit area close up - December 12, 2012

This by far is his worst area on his body.

Festus - Hind foot close up - December 12, 2012

His favourite body part to suck and chew on.

Cookies to those who have made it through reading this first blog. I promise the rest of them will be much easier (aka shorter) to read through. I will be trying to update weekly. Likely I will be updating on the weekends though so the next update to come this weekend in only a few short days.