CIMDA

Dear all, after 16 days of stella being on 10mg pred twice daily she will have her blood test today. She is doing well eating a lot and gaining weight. Clinically everything is fine, the only thing I noticed lately is that she is a bit weak on her hind legs, walking and then somehow not finding her balance and kind of lowering her hind legs until she stabilzes again. Could it be that she has put on too much weight due to preds and her legs havent kept pace with the increase in weight? or could it be a kind of muscle weakness due to preds? I will wait for the blood result and hopefully be able to reduce preds to 5mg twice daily. I am still very anxious about reduction and relapses and will get the results to you hoping for your comments. If bloods are fine and hematocrit increased again is it ok to keep the reduced dose for only two weeks and then go to to the same dose eod for 3 weeks ? She is still quite agressive with everybody but the closest family, I am not in a hurry but I would like to see her to be her own self again without medication and start all over with training and education, she is very receptive but I am still worried about exhausting her too much. Thanks for your input and I will keep you updated. Elisabeth

Hi, Stella is being weaned off preds very slowly, first 4 weeks of 40mg pred then 3 weeks 30mg and now she has been on 20 mg for 5 days and we intend to go on this dosis for at least ten more days, then do bloods and decide to reduce again or keep up the dose for another week. Up to now (touch wood) no side efffects other than heavy panting and increase in aggressive behaviour. Within the last few days she has started to eat less, not wooping down her food any more with seemingly endless craving for anything edible, but with appetite, and she is a bit less agressive than before, I feel she is more happy with herself  but not depressive or lethargic (God beware)and kind of calming down. Can that be attributed to the lesser dose of preds? Does it show such an effect? I am watching her closely since I have no experience whatsoever with pred treatment and am very much worried about a relapse. Thank you for your input.

My name is Elisabeth Shawky, I live in Cairo Egypt, I have a one year old GSH Stella who was diagnosed with babesia in January and is now treated for as yet undiagnosed autoimmune mediated anemia. She is on preds and being weaned off slowly, so far doing excellently. People at CIMDA have helped immensely with diagnosing and curing her. I have three other dogs, 2 Beagles aged 13 and 8 and one Beagle/Swiss shepherd mix aged 10 who are perfectly healthy.