CIMDA

Thanks Jo, I have a supply of Omeprazole left over from her last steroid high and have started that again as well. Hoping for an improvement over the next few days.

So we are back on high power preds again. Starting from the beginning but actually in a much better start place with a dog who nowhere near as poorly as she was when first diagnosed. Hopefully we are doing the right thing by her. The referral vet suggests we may be able to reduce the dose a little quicker this time around but we'll take is a step at a time. The prognosis is still good long term so fingers x'ed.

Thank you Jo,
We've spoken to our vet today and she is going to contact the referral vet. This seems to be the way things are going. Mouse has been brilliant today however, hoping she can keep it up

Quick update on Mouse. We managed to reduce her preds to 3 mg a day. We've now encountered a relapse. She's been stiff and limpy for a couple of weeks now, we've upped the preds first to 4 now 5 mgs. We haven't seen as much improvement as we hoped. She's OK in herself, eating and drinking normally and seems to walk off the stiffness. The rain isn't helping as she's a lurcher and lurchers don't do rain! Speaking to the vet on Monday to see where to go from here. Hopefully she'll pick up again soon and we can carry on with her taper. She was doing so well. She has now been on steroid treatment for 8 months and on the positive side is so much better than when we started.

Thanks for the reply Jo,
We reduced Mouses Preds to just 1 (5mg) tablet a day around a week ago. All signs are good, she's had some good, longish walks since and is enjoying herself in the garden. She had a little run a couple of days ago. She's interacting with us more and spending less time just laying around. Remembering that as a lurcher her normal state is upside down on the sofa! I think that after nearly six months of struggling with this horrible disease we are finally getting somewhere. Fingers crossed.

Hello. I thought I should share my experience so far. Mouse was diagnosed with IMPA at the end of February, she has followed the recommended drug protocol on this site as prescribed by out referral vet. Her recovery has been text book to the point of reducing her pred to every other day. We noticed she was getting periods of stiffness and some pain in her joints again. This would happen every few days and last for about 2 days. Our vet recommended we step back to the daily dose of 7.5mg once a day for another 4 weeks. This seems to suit her and she was fine for more than two weeks then had another couple of days stiffness. She is eating and drinking normally, regaining some of her cheeky personality but still a bit slow on walks and hasn't had a proper run since January. We are expecting to try the drop to every other day again next week. I'm really hoping we are not seeing relapse. Could the stiffness and slight lethargy be symptoms of steroid use rather than return of the IMPA? I'm really hoping so as she's doing so well, from a very poorly indeed little lurcher in February to about 90% her old self now in July. Before becoming ill she was 17kg, she dropped as low as 12kg prediagnosis and is now 18.5kg. I'd like to get her back to full fitness, she's just 5 years old and was a very fast girl who lived to run.