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!

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.