Coughing less, destroying more... thanks Viagra!

A few weeks ago, one of Skelly's wonderful friends was nice enough to send some samples of the ever-elusive Viagra that he was prescribed. I was going to wait and consult with the doc on when the administration would be most beneficial. Skelly's cough was getting a bit worse, and then he was being a real scaredy dog. I started to think he was getting sick(er) again. I decided to halve the pills and give him 25mg with his evening meds.

Since I started giving him Viagra, I have noticed a marked improvement in the frequency and severity of his coughing! The Viagra helps with his pulmonary hypertension, which may be tied into his dry cough. In any case, I'm pretty excited about his improvement. He's got enough Viagra to last him a few weeks at this rate of consumption. I may have to look into getting some more if it helps him out this much. I just wish it wasn't so flippin' expensive!

It looks like the thing he was scared of was a motorized toy robot arm that was sitting on the coffee table. Since Ian took that to his bedroom, Skelly has not been acting so terrified.

Skeletor has been full of vigor this past week. While I'm not a huge fan of cleaning up his wake of destruction, I am glad to see him feeling good enough to focus on being bad :)

Sophie left her little pink dog bed here, which Skeletor has been using as a toy box. As it turns out, pink isn't his color, so he decided to rip out half the stuffing. Tsk tsk!

This week is the big day!! Skeletor's first Immiticide injection! The first of 2 doses he'll need to kill the adult heartworms. The 2 injections will be given a month apart. This means we've got 2 months of very little excitement in store for this little Tasmanian devil. It's going to be interesting to say the least.

We will have to keep him calm and collected. If his heart rate goes up (which it does on a rather constant basis) it could cause a dead or dying adult heartworm to shift and cause a blockage in his heart. Needless to say, that could be very bad for Skelly.

The doc did say that they can prescribe a sedative if need be. I'm also under the impression that the injection itself will cause a drop in energy levels.

This is the moment we've been preparing him for since day one! Thanks again to all of you for your help. He's come a long way and we wish him the best of luck in being rid of these pesky parasites once and for all!

Go Skelly!

Skeletor's coughing comes and goes

Last week when we got back from the vet's office, I noticed that Skelly's coughing had become more frequent. It was cause of concern throughout the whole weekend. However, it seems that it's now down to a nominal level.

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! :)

At the vet waitin on the doc

Skelly is very excited to be here! He crammed his head out the window when I pulled into the parking lot. In the waiting room he was yelling hi at every person and dog in sight. He was so excited, he made himself throw up a little.

His favorite vet tech took him for a walk around the building so he could see his pals. I was talking with her and she told me about Emma. Emma is a female pit bull that was dumped on the doorstep a month ago here at San Juan Animal Hospital. She and her litter of 7 male pups have been given vaccinations and have been well taken care of by the staff. 

She is roughly 2 years old. She is heartworm positive, and is doing very well. She is on the heartworm preventative, and has put on about 20 lbs since her arrival here at San Juan.

Emma needs a foster or forever home! Please spread the word and let's see if we can help this charming young lady.

Emma is a very sweet dog.

Emma and her 7 male puppies were abandoned at San Juan Animal Hospital. The staff have been working hard to find homes for the pups. They have 3 of the 7 puppies remaining. They all need homes, but Emma will be the hardest to find a home for. She still needs to be spayed and suffers from heartworms. I hope we can find somebody to take her in. Please contact me if you are interested in adopting Emma or her pups: skeletor (at) fuelmultimedia.com

I'm going to try and get some better pics of her. I will update when skelly sees dr fish.

Back to Skeletor...

His red cell count is up to 37%. The normal levels range from 37-55% placing him right on the threshold. This is good news, especially since 22 days ago he was down to an alarming 21%!

Dr. Fish says that his heart sounds better. An x-ray revealed that there are still blockages in his lungs. Dr. Fish said that if we can get the Viagra to help with the pulmonary hypertension, it's possible that his lungs may clear up. He also mentioned that he heard recently that Pfizer offers discounts on the drug in special cases. He is going to call them on Skelly's behalf. Thanks Doc! Let's hope they are feeling generous!

Skeletor weighed in at 56lbs. This is about 4 lbs heavier. I found this surprising, since he seems to have put on so much weight. Perhaps we got a bad reading last time, or maybe since he's barred from exercise, his muscles are turning to fat.

At any rate, he is certainly responding well to the medications! I picked up some more prednisone and vetmedin. We're cutting his prednisone dose in half, and later this week I'll raise his dose of vetmedin from 5 to 7.5mg twice a day.

Our goal is still the same... we want to ween him off the predisone (which is hard on the liver and kidneys) and get his red cell count to stabilize (that means 4 consecutive bi-monthly visits showing normal levels).

When we reach that stage, we should have a tough, healthy, happy pup that is ready to finally triumph over those lousy heartworms!

A day without regurgitation

I'm pleased to report that I did not clean up a single pile of puke all day! Yesterday, Dr. Fish advised me to stop giving Skelly the Vetmedin so we can figure out what's making him hurl his biscuits. It looks like we nailed it on the first try. Vomiting and Nausea are side effects of both the Vetmedin and the Doxycycline. Given Skelly's reputation, it's only suitable that he suffers any possible side effect!

It would seem that his strange behavior and lack of appetite can be explained by the nausea. Let's face it, nobody acts like their normal chipper self when they are struggling to keep their food down.

Skeletor has lost weight during all of this. We're hoping that he'll start putting it on soon. He has done very well today. He rolled around on the couch rubbing his face into the cushions (which I've decided he's allowed on now hah!) After all, what are a couple dog hairs and some wear and tear on the cheapest couch and love seat they had at Sticks n Stuff when compared to the comfort and morale of this sick little pup? We can focus more seriously on his manners when the threat to his very existence has been neutralized!

He was even allowed on my bed yesterday.

Spoiled doggy alert!!!

Today he literally devoured a big bowl of food that I whipped up for him consisting of 1/3 can of dog food and a ladle of beef and carrot soup drizzled over a half cup of dry kibble. I was just nervously awaiting the chunky waterworks but he kept it down!! Way to go, Skelly!

This is really great news considering just a couple days ago he was so weak that he wouldn't even try to chew anything. I was lucky to get him to lap up some broth. I've been cooking soup for him quite often these days. Usually I can pick up some beef neck or marrow bones for about two bucks. Boil this for an hour with some carrots and pearled barley, et voila! Skelly goes gow-gow! Soup is also great because it's all kinds of hydrating. Another added bonus... it doesn't stink the house up like liver!!

Speaking of hydration, I got him one of those 2 gallon water dispensers and he's scared of the bubbles that float up as he drinks.

Yes, this is the same dog that just lies there as you vacuum or shampoo the rug 6 inches from his face!

He's also been perfecting his door opening skills. I've been trying to teach him to open the door when he wants to go outside. It's tough because we usually keep it locked.

He's not quite well enough to care much about toys like he once did, however I was letting him lick some mashed potatoes off a wood spoon earlier and he wanted to take the whole spoon from me. We played tug of war just like old times :)

I hope he continues to improve. I know we need to get him back on the Vetmedin in order for his heart to repair itself. Dr. Fish may prescribe something for the nausea so he can get his food and meds. So far, we're at a standstill on the Viagra. Dr. Fish told me that we'll come up with something. The Viagra was prescribed for a reason, but that kind of money could also be used to cure the root of Skelly's ailments, the heartworm infection itself.

Skeletor seems energetic

I really hope it's not fleeting, but Skeletor seems to be in high spirits today. He has not exactly been chowing down on food, but he is really excited about treats.

Melanie bought him some of those greenies pill pockets. So far, they have worked every time!

I've managed to fill 3 of his 4 prescriptions now.

He's got the Prednisone to battle anemia. He's got the Vetmedin to help his heart. He's got the Doxycycline to fight infection. I ran into a snag when it came to the Viagra.

Viagra is a strange drug. Everybody knows its primary usage. Not many people know that it is one of the only drugs used to treat pulmonary hypertension (the constricting of the pulmonary blood vessels connecting the heart and lungs.) The reason not many people know this is because pulmonary hypertension is not a very common disorder. (please note: I'm not a doctor, I'm just explaining this as I understand it. Check with your doc before taking anything I say here as medical fact.)

That being said, Viagra while widely known, is not very widely prescribed. As a result, it's very expensive!  Before today, I had a limited understanding of what "very expensive" meant as it pertained to prescription drugs. Unfortunately, I have been enlightened. 

Dr. Rod explained when we went and picked up Skeletor that Viagra did not come in 20mg doses. Skeletor has been prescribed three 20mg doses per day. No big deal, we'll just need to go to a compounding pharmacy to have it filled. As luck would have it, I know a couple of very nice guys who own a place called Smart Pharmacy here in Jacksonville. One of their specialties is compounding! Compounding in this case means taking the drug in powder form and precisely measuring it and putting it into capsules.

So, Bill and Greg were nice enough to offer Skeletor the Viagra at cost (meaning they would make no money off of the compounding, nor the sale.) Alas, a month's supply would cost roughly $1,000 after the discount!!!

Bill made some calls on Skeletor's behalf to see if any of his colleagues knew of a supplier offering the drug in powdered form which might offer a marginal savings. No such luck.

I am hoping that the Viagra is the least vital of Skeletor's prescribed meds. I have put a call into Dr. Fish to get his thoughts on the drug. Perhaps we can find a cheaper alternative. I'll post when I have more info.

Picked up one of these nifty water dispensers so that I can keep this guy hydrated.