I just spoke with Dr. Chick about the coughing issues. He prescribed a cough suppressant that I can go pick up and keep on hand in case Skelly has another bad spell.
I also asked Dr. Chick is he thought the elusive Viagra might help with Skelly's coughing. He said that since the Viagra treats the pulmonary hypertension, which is contributing to the cough, that it could indirectly treat his coughing.
I double-checked to see if the Viagra was safe to give him with his current regiment of meds and the doc says it's ok.
If anybody has a rich uncle or grandpa with a few viagra to spare, send 'em Skelly's way :)
You can email me skeletor (at) fuelmultimedia.com to request our mailing address.
Since he does have a bona-fide prescription for the stuff, I don't see any legal issues with helping a puppy out.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention... the nice folks at San Juan Animal Hospital gave Skelly a cool tag that says "San Juan loves you." Thanks for taking such good care of him! :)
You need to make a button that has his picture and says "Skelly needs your Viagra"
ReplyDeleteI'll wear it all over Europe :)
Old ladies will be scouring the closets for it. lol
Love Mom
I love the button idea!!
ReplyDeleteYou've probably mentioned, but what strength Viagra is he being prescribed? I'll do a good Google search and see what I can find.
ReplyDeleteOh Skelly! You need your viagra!!!! :-(
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how to help except to donate but I appreciate how you'll need so much more. I cannot believe that this potentially life saving drug could be so expensive and elusive. I can't believe vet science can't find alternatives! Poor Skelly! :-( Hang on in there Skelly - there must be a way to get you viagra!
Take care
x
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ReplyDeleteI had to search to find it myself. Skelly's Viagra prescription is three 20mg doses per day.
ReplyDeleteOne Canadian pharmacy online supposedly sells 10 100mg tablets for $85. Assuming they are legit, this would be 1,000mg. 50 doses of 20mg each. This would last Skeletor 16 2/3 days at his full prescription.
I am sure that anything is better than nothing, so supposing I could get a hold of the stuff, I'd probably (after consulting Dr. Chick) administer 20mg, twice a day. This means that 1,000mg ($85) would last him 25 days.
At the reduced dose, it's just $102/month. That is no chump change, especially when compounded with the cost of his heart medications. However, it's a far cry from $1,000 / month!
This may be worth looking into. I'll try and ramp up the fund raising efforts and hopefully business will pick up so I can give it a try.
One thing to mention... I have not calculated shipping from Canada, which may be $20 or so.
You may also want to price the generic heart pill version of Viagra called Revatio. This also treats pulm. arterial hyp. and is called sildenafil - should ask vet dr. if this is ok. The sildenafil sells in 20mg tablets in blister packs of 10 ea. Note: The smallest Viagra dose is 25mg so a 100mg pill can be evenly scored 2x. It may be harder to score the 100mg tablets into five equal doses of 20mg each (razor cut may not be even, pills may crumble etc..).
ReplyDeletePlease check out the World Health Org. Fact Sheet dated January 2010 on not purchasing counterfeit medicine and what to look out for:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs275/en/index.html
Hopefully, we will have a workable solution for Skelly very soon.