# Wish me luck.....new vet



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

I've never had a problem with our vet....let me rephrase that when Kaos was young/healthy and didn't need much I never had a problem with our vet. Fast forward to now. The more we need our vet the more dissatisfied I have become with him. 

Long story short (as the actual one is very long and would bore even the most devoted of dog people) I went in today to talk with him about Kaos and left with such a dislike for him and his "tech" that I called a new vet. Kaos and I are going to her practice to meet her today and let her exam him and give some recommendations for his care. I also just ordered some Duralactin and Zeel that should be here in a couple of days. So I am hoping :fingerscrossed: that Kaos and I like her. I've heard great things, I would love to find a vet that I can trust is doing right by my Kaos as we continue down this long painful road of aging.


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Good luck! Having a vet you like and can trust makes all the difference.


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

Thank you! I've heard she is great, I sure hope so. I would love to have a vet that doesn't look at me like I have 3 heads if I tear up when discussing painful issues with Kaos, and I would love to have a vet that might actually be open to the validity of suppliments. Plus Kaos likes women better so maybe he will be more comfortable.


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

*I am in love......*

Took Kaos for an exam with a "prospective" vet today. I was very impressed. I went under the guise of wanting a second opinion, but I knew if it went well we would be switching all of our records over. She spent over an hour talking and examining Kaos. She had more hands on Kaos in 1 hr than our former vet has in 5 yrs. As soon as I mentioned nosebleeds she recommended testing for tick disease. She said his knee arthritis is pretty bad, he is also showing signs of neurological problems (flip toe failure 2x) She also suspects spinal arthritis. All in all we did COMPLETE blood work....tick, thyroid, CBC, everything. She is starting him on Mobic and gabapentin (sp) and depending on that and how his bloodwork pans out we will add tramadol as needed. Blood results will be in on Thursday, so I will keep you all updated.
In part I have this forum to thank for striving to find a better vet (especially LisaT) whose questions made me really look at how well our vet was taking care of Kaos.


----------



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Good for you and I hope this new vet turns out to be what you wanted out of the other one.

I'm in a similar boat -- everything is hunky dory when all is well, but anything beyond that and it seems like they're out of their league? I feel like a jerk to say that! I am most certainly not a vet, but I have to trust my gut. 

The deciding issue for me is going to be when shots are due again and I am going to ask for titers instead. If they are not open to that, or try to dissuade me, I'm leaving.

My current vet once gave a rabies vaccination to my son's dog without EVER asking when the last one was -- and it had only been about 8 months prior. 

I'm still a little cranky that I got reamed over the coals over switching my youngest to Blue Buffalo. Was told it was a very overpriced food (which is likely true,) but in the same breath was told I should go with Science Diet. Same vet said they'd never heard of Innova (the food I was switching FROM). Really? 

I just don't know how to go about vet "shopping" but I sense it is on the horizon....


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

Sounds like a very thorough vet! Glad you took the steps to find the new vet, many don't 

Will be looking out for the test results when they come in! Be sure to get a copy for your files at home!


----------



## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

It sounds like your new vet will take great care of Kaos.Your right when they are older it requires someone who can look at everything. sounds like you found one.


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

Thank you everyone!! It was so nice to actually feel like she was listening to me. I am a little nervous about the results of all the tests........I am off to the pharmacy this morning to pick up his new Rx's. Hopefully they will help keep the pain managed better. 
Chelle...I felt guilty at first. As soon as I observed her with Kaos and how thorough she was, I realized what we'd been missing for awhile.


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i think you have to like and trust your Vet.
if your new Vet doesn't work out try again.
it's nice that your taking good care of your dog.


----------



## Smithie86 (Jan 9, 2001)

Legally, you have the right to get copies of all the medical records on your dog. There should be no issue there.


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

mysweetkaos said:


> he is also showing signs of neurological problems (flip toe failure 2x) .


I'm glad you found a good bet, but I am very sorry to hear this. :hugs:


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

Smithie86 said:


> Legally, you have the right to get copies of all the medical records on your dog. There should be no issue there.


I'm nervous about the results of the tests....no issue getting copies from old vet or new one. I'm just not sure I want to know the results.



Emoore said:


> I'm glad you found a good bet, but I am very sorry to hear this. :hugs:


Thank you...as soon as I saw that I started to tear up I know it's not a good sign. She said at this point we can hope that the tick test comes back positive because aggressively treating that could help alleviate some of the symptoms...but if tick is negative she said it concerns her a lot. So we will wait for Thursday and go from there.


----------



## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

I do wish you luck and I know exactly what you are going thru. From experience, it is very hard to find a good vet--one who is willing to rethink the diagnosis if the initial one is not working. 

I went thru three vets with my 15 year old BC. None of them diagnosed Cushings, which is not an uncommon disease. They all seem to zero in on one symptom and treat that one thing and ignore the big picture. And their answer always seemed to be some toxic drug that had worse or fatal side effects. Sorry, I get kind of worked up when I think about it. 

I used Duralactin on my BC but it turned out that it was not inflammation that was causing her problems - but it certainly didn't hurt to give it to her and maybe it helped. I also found a great herbal product to stopped urine leakage which is common to older dogs, especially females. 

Fingers crossed you find a vet that will listen to you and that will still be listening if you come back because the first treatments did not work.


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

*Blood results are back*

First let me say...is it possible to get "good" results and it make things worse?
So the vet called, she will be getting me hard copies of all the numbers, but here's what she said.
Thyroid....good, near the low side but in the clear for good. So that's good right? Just means he's fat because he is in too much pain to exercise.
Tick.....all negative and no markers in his other blood work to say other wise. Should be good news, but I was truly hoping maybe it was tick to explain the neurological problems, nosebleeds, and sudden advancement of arthritis symptoms

All other numbers were fantastic to quote her. So I should be happy, I'm trying, but I'm not. What all this means is his arthritis is bad.....worse than we thought. Not only are both of his knees shot, he has arthritis in his spine and it is moved into the hip region (no displaysia they were rated good, I guess the arthritis can still set in?) I should be happy....why am I crying? Sorry to rant. On the good side the new "cocktail" of gabapentin and mobic are making him seem very comfortable. He wants to walk so bad....she told me to hold off until Saturday to allow more meds to get in his system before I take him out to walk. So there it all is. I will post complete numbers once I get them.


----------



## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

chelle said:


> I'm still a little cranky that I got reamed over the coals over switching my youngest to Blue Buffalo. Was told it was a very overpriced food (which is likely true,) but in the same breath was told I should go with Science Diet. Same vet said they'd never heard of Innova (the food I was switching FROM). Really?
> 
> I just don't know how to go about vet "shopping" but I sense it is on the horizon....


This reminds me of my experience with Jazz. He had major digestive issues but at the time was on a food he was doing well with. The vet actually suggested I switch him back to Medi-cal (which he had problems on) because she wasn't familiar with the food I was feeding him. I found a new vet that day.


----------



## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

mysweetkaos said:


> First let me say...is it possible to get "good" results and it make things worse?
> So the vet called, she will be getting me hard copies of all the numbers, but here's what she said.
> Thyroid....good, near the low side but in the clear for good. So that's good right? Just means he's fat because he is in too much pain to exercise.
> Tick.....all negative and no markers in his other blood work to say other wise. Should be good news, but I was truly hoping maybe it was tick to explain the neurological problems, nosebleeds, and sudden advancement of arthritis symptoms
> ...


I'm sorry your sad. I understand your feelings. Sometimes you hope the cause is "X" because you can fix it. It's never easy seeing our babies uncomfortable.


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

fuzzybunny said:


> I'm sorry your sad. I understand your feelings. Sometimes you hope the cause is "X" because you can fix it. It's never easy seeing our babies uncomfortable.


Thank you. That is what's hard....I was hoping there was a tick issue, so that we could hope that some of the increased pain/neuro symptoms were due to a reaction from his immune system. But, that is not the case. So I have some duralactin and zeel I just ordered so hoping with the new meds and adding those suppliments he can have a few pain-free even if highly medicated months. The new meds do not make him groggy though, so that is nice that he seems more comfortable and fully aware. He's out right now trying to get Sherman to hold still long enough so he can put his head in his mouth


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

How old is Kaos? Have you looked into stem cell therapy? How about laser treatment for pain? Stem cell therapy looks very, very promising for arthritis.


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

Jax08 said:


> How old is Kaos? Have you looked into stem cell therapy? How about laser treatment for pain? Stem cell therapy looks very, very promising for arthritis.


He's 9.5. I haven't looked into either of those. I will do that now. Thank you. Our new vet did recommend looking into acupuncture..so that is on my list to look into as well.


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

never tried acupuncture but have heard good things about it.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

You might also look for an acupuncturist who is into Chinese Medicine. CM's did wonders for my arthritic girl, as well as acupuncture. 

Something else to ask the vet about is Acetyl Glucosamine injections,,kinda like adequan but much more affordable..I did this with my acl tear aussie, and worked GREAT for him..

Keeping fingers crossed the meds work for him,,he sounds like he's feeling better already tho! so that is GOOD


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

JakodaCD OA said:


> You might also look for an acupuncturist who is into Chinese Medicine. CM's did wonders for my arthritic girl, as well as acupuncture.
> 
> Something else to ask the vet about is Acetyl Glucosamine injections,,kinda like adequan but much more affordable..I did this with my acl tear aussie, and worked GREAT for him..
> 
> Keeping fingers crossed the meds work for him,,he sounds like he's feeling better already tho! so that is GOOD


Thank you. I have some names so I will be checking acupuncture next week. I will also look into that Acetyl. I knew you or someone had mentioned it when we first started adequan, but I was so overwhelmed at the vet the other day, I completely forgot. We had discussed with the new vet as to whether we would continue adequan treatments or not.....we were still on the fence. He sees "some" improvement on it....but only at much more frequent dosing than label usage. She was ok with doing off label recommendations...but we were unsure if the so so improvement was worth the hefty price tag. So we left it at let's see where the new meds take us before we make that call. So I will definetely look into the other option. He does seem more willing to interact today....which I am taking as a sign that he is in less pain. We haven't readded tramadol to the mix yet...we are trying to save that for "bad" days or once he starts exercising again he may need a little extra pain relief the first few days.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I think you've got a good plan going I had used adequan at one point, and found I saw some improvement the first couple of injections but after that "nothing"..sometimes you have to try a few different things to see what works best.

I have also used tramadol in the past , long term , worked great for Sami but didn't do a thing for Dodge Dodge seemed to get stomache upset from it, so when you go for it, watch for that...But again, Sami tolerated it really well, and she was on it daily for atleast a couple years,,I could definately tell when I missed a dose ..


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

JakodaCD OA said:


> I think you've got a good plan going I had used adequan at one point, and found I saw some improvement the first couple of injections but after that "nothing"..sometimes you have to try a few different things to see what works best.
> 
> I have also used tramadol in the past , long term , worked great for Sami but didn't do a thing for Dodge Dodge seemed to get stomache upset from it, so when you go for it, watch for that...But again, Sami tolerated it really well, and she was on it daily for atleast a couple years,,I could definately tell when I missed a dose ..


Thank you...I am really just at the point of not wanting to leave any stone unturned and want to try everything we can to prolong his life. He is hands down the best dog I've ever known and can't imagine not having his nose jammed up my rear every time I stop fast or turn around:blush: Kaos has been on tramadol...no bad side effects, we just kept having to up the dose to be effective. Our old vet would only prescribe tramadol in less than 1/2 the dose seen to be effective and refused to offer any other relief options....besides telling me, maybe you should see a surgeon about his knees (which are so gone with arthritis it isn't funny and we did see a surgeon 2 yrs ago who said K was not a good candidate for surgery)...the only other advice he would give is "arthritis is the number one reason big dogs like this get put down" So long story short he was a poor excuse for a vet and not willing to try options. Anyhoo sorry for rambling....that is one of the reasons we switched vets is I don't believe treating pain is done most effectively with one avenue, I think you need to attack it from different areas (inflammation, spasms, etc). Luckily our new vet is of the same mind set as we are. So again sorry for rambling, thank you for all your advice and I will keep you all updated.


----------



## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

What supplements is he currently on? I have had my seniors on extensive supplement regimes and it has helped a lot. 

Also, try to find a vet who does both acupuncture and laser therapy.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I agree with the laser to,,helped Dodge immensely as well...I also had Sami on meloxicalm, the human form of metacam, that combined with the tramadol did wonders for her...the meloxicalm only came in 7.5 mgs pills, 1/2 one daily did the trick for her..and it was MUCH cheaper than the metacam..

Sami's knees were shot to, one surgery at 7 years of age, but at around 11, she was really loading up with arthritis,,it really stinks when their minds are still so sharp, but their bodies fail them


----------



## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

BowWowMeow said:


> What supplements is he currently on? I have had my seniors on extensive supplement regimes and it has helped a lot.
> 
> Also, try to find a vet who does both acupuncture and laser therapy.


He is currently on 
Fish oil
vit e every other day
glucosamine/msm/chondroiton
>also contains mussels, bromelein, etc
ester c
I just added duralactin and zeel as of today

What else would you recommend if you don't mind me picking your brain?
Oh yeah we were doing Hy?? acid...I just ran out and need to get more
We are looking at an acupuncturist next week....I have some referrals. Will also ask vet about laser therapy.



JakodaCD OA said:


> I agree with the laser to,,helped Dodge immensely as well...I also had Sami on meloxicalm, the human form of metacam, that combined with the tramadol did wonders for her...the meloxicalm only came in 7.5 mgs pills, 1/2 one daily did the trick for her..and it was MUCH cheaper than the metacam..
> 
> Sami's knees were shot to, one surgery at 7 years of age, but at around 11, she was really loading up with arthritis,,it really stinks when their minds are still so sharp, but their bodies fail them


It does stink he is the same old dog and wants to have the same old activity level....he just can't. It's frustrating because the rest of him is and always has been so healthy
Meticam/meloxicam....that is what I was calling Mobic. He just started that with the new vet along with the gabapentin (neurontin). He takes the mobic 7.5 mg every 24 hrs with the gabapentin 100mg 2x a day. She said she started low so we can always adjust the numbers.

Thanks again everyone......I wish I'd found this site 9 yrs ago...everyone is always so helpful

ETA....we get the mobic at target on their generic list so it was $4 for 20 pills which is a 40 day supply. Good deal. Gabapentin is not on their list so it was $21...but well worth it


----------



## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

Your new vet sounds wonderful, glad you decided to switch.


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

Did you ever get a copy of the blood results?


----------

