Well, we spent most of the afternoon at the vet with Doc. Just took a long time to get checked and discuss our plan of action. Below is a run down.
Doc did seem to be coughing more last night and today and his eyes were definitely bloodshot, however today at the vets...
Checked Doc's temp and it was great.. no fever at all.
Checked lymph nodes and none were swollen, all normal.
Aspirated a lymph node and it was ok, they didn't find anything.
Took a sample from one of the lesions again and checked it, but didn't find anything. (although I had used my homemade spray on his skin lesions day before yesterday with gentian violet in it, which is an old time antifungal, so if there was any sign of blasto there, I may have negated the skin sample).
I talked with the vet about the Mira Vista urine test. She had no experience with Mira Vista and said they have their own lab that might offer the same type testing, but it would probably cost $150 for the urine test. She didn't seem to put a lot of faith in the blood or urine testing for blasto, but I told her to go ahead with the urine test, but I requested that they use Mira Vista and send the sample to them for the testing. She said if there was a cost offset, they would credit me back incase the test wasn't as expensive with Mira Vista, so I certainly couldn't complain with that.
We then discussed meds. She wanted to put Doc on another round of antibiotics, but I politely declined. I really couldn't see any reason for it, as he had already been on a good dose of cephelaxin and if he had anything bacterial, I'm thinking it should have already cleared up. We discussed antifungals and she suggested the ketoconazole, but I told her I wanted to put Doc on fluconazole instead. She was ok with it and prescribed what she called a middle of the road dosage. Only thing is, what she came up with seems to be a little on the high end, if I am figuring everything correctly. We re-weighed Doc again and he has actually lost back to 109lbs.
Merck Vet Manual has the fluconazole dosage at 2.5 - 10 mg/kg sid (once daily).
She basically prescribed 1000mg per day for Doc. The highest mg fluconazole (from Walmart) comes in is 200mg, so she prescribed two and 1/2 tablets of 200mg fluconazole twice daily for 10 days. At that time, we will re-evaluate and go from there.
I guess my question to those who have dogs on fluconazole, does this sound right?? I guess a 1000mg just seems like a lot, but may be it's not. Just wondering if this sounds about right for his size?
The vets are great, don't get me wrong, but they go from patient to patient. They aren't sitting there dwelling on blasto, researching or brainstorming like a concerned owner would be. Many have never even seen blasto and those that have, may or may not be up to date on all the latest. In a busy vet practice, I can understand.
It may just be my paranoia, but I kinda got that impression when I asked about the Mira Vista testing. You could kinda see a frown or two crop up, even though they accomodated us and did the test for us. While I wouldn't go as far as to say they were reluctant about anything, they just seemed like it was a little on the tedious side. Like I said though, it may just be me. They did do what I asked them to, so I am greatful that they at least listened.
I am getting ready to give Doc his first dose of fluconazole here shortly.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments,
Lou
Author
Topic: Update on Doc Holliday (Read 1468 times)