Sickie-poo

10/28/12 - Reo has had a "bug" for the past 3 days.  She's been rather lethargic, not eating, drinking quite a bit.  She has also thrown up (mostly water) a few times.  I wondered if she might have caught canine influenza (we've been watching a friend's dog for the past week, and so it made me suspicious). But, the symptoms of canine flu are supposed to be similar to kennel cough, with lots of coughing and nasal discharge.  She has none of that.  All of her functions have been normal, so I was waiting to see if something changed for the worse before I brought her to the vet (I usually am fine with waiting 3-4 days to see if something resolves itself, as long as some food/water is consumed, and there aren't any alarming symptoms).

I made her boiled chicken and sweet potato, which she ate sporadically/unenthusiastically.  I was able to hide her Medrol and L-thyroxine in the sweet potato a few times, but a couple of times I had to force them down her throat (thus making her hate me!).  Today she got to take a nice sun bath, and I think it helped to reset her - it's been rather cold the past few days, so she's been inside mostly.

Anyway, now it looks like she's coming out of it a bit, which is a relief.  I got her to eat some of the ZiwiPeak food, sprinkled with some Welactin, for dinner.  She ate less than her normal portion, but it was something!  I was planning to bring her to the vet tomorrow for a chemistry panel, but if she continues to improve, I'll just guess it was a little bug that she caught from who-knows-where!  Fingers crossed!

All is normal...

10/09/12 - Just a quick update to say that Reo has been off the lutein supplement and the Standard Process Adrenal Support for a few weeks, and we haven't noticed any changes in behavior.  Still working through the PS and Mg, but will stop those when we use up the rest of what we have.

Little Miss Reo has been extra spunky lately - I think due to the fall weather.  The chillier temperatures mean more active squirrels, which keeps Reo on her toes!

Decision for Reo

09/16/12 - Finally, Sean and I have decided how we are going to proceed with Reo.  You may recall that I've been struggling with whether or not to continue to give Reo the retinal protection supplements, as it seems she has very little vision remaining these days.  I have not been sure whether the small amount of remaining vision is worth preserving - she might get around better if she were completely blind.  And, I don't want to continue to give her things that her body doesn't need/can't use.

We have decided not to give most of her supplements any longer.  We will be suspending the following:
- Lutein (her last capsule was given yesterday)
- Phosphatidyl Serine (have about a month left, will suspend when we use the last of it)
- Magnesium Taurate (have about 2 months left, will suspend when we use the last of it)
- Standard Process Adrenal Support (have about 1 week left; just not sure she needs this any more)
- Sardines (these were given as a source of adenosine, which works in conjunction with the Magnesium Taurate)

We will continue to give Reo the Cell Advance 440, Nutramin, and Prozyme, and keep the rest of her diet the same (Welactin, Dasuquin) as we like the benefits of those supplements for older dogs (and Leigh gets these three supplements as well).

I do have a huge amount of guilt for not being more pro-active for Reo surrounding the time of our big move in March of this year.  I really thought that we were "in the clear" since her vision had returned, and I severely underestimated the effects of stress on Reo's vision.  Literally, when we started packing up our house, her vision started to decline.  She then got a toe infection, and allergens in the air were high.  A lot of stress for our little girl (plus lots of stress on the humans, too!), really affected her.  I'm working on letting my guilt go, and taking comfort in the fact that Reo is as healthy as she has been in years.  She is still such a happy dog, and her health truly is the most important part.

We will continue to get blood chemistry and thyroid tests every 6 months, to make sure that we are on the right track with her care.  I envision getting and EI-1 panel from NVDS every year or so, again, to make sure that we are staying on track.  If there are any issues that make me think she may be unbalanced, I may test more frequently - we will just have to play it by ear!

I will likely update this blog less frequently, as I hope (?) Reo will be quite stable.  But, of course I will share any new things that I learn about SARDS, relevant articles, and updates on Reo's condition.  I am also very happy to hear from readers whose dogs have been diagnosed with SARDS, and help in any way that I can.

Fall is around the corner!

09/05/12 - It is hard to believe it's September already - everyone in our household is looking forward to the cooler temperatures of fall!  The past few mornings have been quite chilly, and the dogs love it!  It's a great opportunity for them to lounge around in the warm morning sun, while the air is still chilly.  We're hoping to sneak in one last camping trip this year - we'll see how it goes!

For the past 10 days, we've been watching two of our friends' dogs.  I anticipated that this would be stressful on Reo, so I pulsed her Medrol for a week.  She seemed to do fine, well, other than one of the dogs not understanding Reo's mostly-blindness.  If Reo walked into her, the other dog would snap and growl.  Fortunately, I was home all the time and could correct the other dog before things got out of hand.  Overall, everything went relatively smoothly, but all of us were pretty happy to get down to our normal routine with just three dogs!

Sean and I will be making our final decision in the next week or so, concerning what to do regarding Reo's supplements.  I will post an update once we decide!

Reo's updated obstacle course videos

08/17/12 - Wow, I've been so bad about updating lately!  We've been having a lot of summer fun.  We went camping, and had my parents out to visit, so we've been busy.

So, we've passed about a year since Reo was confirmed to have her vision return.  Here is one of last August's videos for reference (many more videos archived on my blog!):

August 2011 course

Since this time, her vision improved in the fall/winter, but then took a huge backslide as her stress kicked up due to our family's cross-country move. My thought was that when we moved, she had no vision whatsoever. She received another series of DepoMedrol injections, hopefully to help reset her system, and she did improve.

Lately, I've been wondering if she has any vision at all, or if she's just mapped things out. I do find it curious that she bumps into things a lot. I would have thought if she were totally blind, she would have mapped things out better. I spoke with Caroline Levin about this, and she said it's been commonly
reported in humans that low-vision is more difficult to navigate than no-vision. So, I don't know what is going on. Certainly sometimes, it seems like she can't see anything - she can't track a cotton ball like she used to.

But, recently, I took some new obstacle course videos for curiosity's sake - now I don't know what to think! I think she could still have a little vision left.

August 2012 #1

August 2012 #2

August 2012 #3

She seemed to have the most problem in the last video, getting caught between the gutter downspout and the strawberry flat! But because I've never had a blind dog before, I'm not sure if dogs can do exercises like this obstacle course based on their other senses?

Reo appears to have the most trouble in the shade/light transition, which I think is worthy of note (she always seems to do better in full sun).  There is no doubt that she does not get around as well as she was one year ago, but I don't think that she is completely blind, as she can get around some of the obstacles and not crash into them like a fully blind dog would.  I feel certain that she is completely blind in her right eye, and she has some minimal vision in her left.

I'm not any closer to making a decision about whether to continue all of the retinal protection supplements, or to just suspend the and let her become fully blind over time.  I need to do some more thinking about that.

SoCal Vacation

07/25/12 - Earlier this month, we took a trip to Southern California, where Sean is from, for a vacation with his family and some of our friends.

We brought Leigh and Reo along on the trip, not only because we love them and love traveling with them, but because it's way less expense and stress on the dogs.  Even though it costs $500 round trip for  both of the dogs to fly with us on United (OMG!), we wouldn't have it any other way.

I pulsed Reo's Medrol every other day while we were gone, to help mitigate her stress.  With the exception of all the noise/bustle in the airport, and not wanting to be in her carrier while in the airport (on the plane she is fine, but not in the airport - weird - so I solved the problem by carrying her until we were ready to get on the plane), Reo is an incredible traveler.

We do a lot to try and keep their routine while on the road (this means getting up extra early with the time change in order to potty/feed them breakfast!), including bringing their favorite bed for riding in the car.  We drove about 900 miles in 10 days, so their comfort was important!

Here are a few pictures of Leigh and Reo in the car, in their bed, with their car harnesses on.  :)

For part of the trip, we had a beach house with Sean's family, and it included two smaller children.  Leigh and Reo aren't used to children noise, so it was a bit stressful for them, but overall they did really well.  I brought some of their favorite toys, and Reo "killed" them every day - so cute.

Sean and I took a couple of days to explore some new wine country for us.  We went to Ojai and also Santa Rita Hills/Santa Barbara County.  It was a really nice road trip, though it was very hot inland (I made the mistake of wearing jeans one day, as it was barely 70 on the coast...but was punished in Ojai when it was about 93!!).

Here are a couple of photos of the dogs "wine tasting".

Okay, so they were flopped out at our feet while WE tasted wine.  :)

They're such great travelers, and I was so proud of Reo for hanging in there!  That being said, both dogs and humans were so happy to be home, to our quiet household, familiar surroundings, and daily routine.

Sixth EI-1 Panel

07/17/12 - Annnnd we're back!  I'll write a subsequent post about our two-week trip to California after this, but first I wanted to post Reo's most recent blood panels.

	Reference Range	16-Mar-11	30-Apr-11	15-Jun-11	4-Aug-11	4-Jan-12	25-Jun-12
Total Estrogen	30 - 35	35.19	35.15	35.11	35.06	35.04	35.05
Cortisol	1.0 - 2.5	8.43	7.03	0.97	0.82	0.68	1.4
T3	100 - 200	62.7	72.12	87.92	156.94	135.29	169.94
T4	2.0 - 4.5	0.87	1.15	1.6	3.99	3.21	7.17**
IgA	70 - 170	50	53	57	65	67	66
IgG	1,000 - 2,000	722	754	883	946	973	970
IgM	100 - 200	74	76	87	97	97	97

Estrogen is about the same as her last panel in January.  It is possible that this number is Reo's "normal" now, being an older dog.

Cortisol is now within normal limits (I was a little surprised at this!).

T3 is normal, but T4 is quite elevated.  I put two asterisks next to this number, as Reo was on a course of Clavamox (antibiotic) for her uveitis.  Dr. V feels that the T4 is elevated due to this, and so is not concerned, especially as T3 is normal (T3 is the more "active" molecule in the body).  We will retest her thyroid in another 6 months, so we will keep an eye.

Immunoglobulins are more or less where they have been for the past year, just slightly low.  It's possible that these numbers are also Reo's "normal", as she is an older dog.  I likely won't have these tested again, as she seems to be pretty consistent now, and can probably save a little money by only testing estrogen/cortisol/thyroid.

Overall, I feel just fine about Reo's results.  As she is not symptomatic right now, I am satisfied that she feels good, has normal liver/kidney function, and reasonable hormone levels.  :)