So last week I ordered up Zycortal and Lucy began taking predisone, on Monday she started showing some more dramatic symptons such as being weak, falling over etc. Pretty scary stuff. She had her first shot yesterday of the Zycortal and today was a huge improvement, we went on a nice walk and enjoyed the beautiful day. I was surprised at how fast she was able to rebound. More testing in the future to determine the duration of the effectiveness of the shot and we may have to adjust the dose of either medication but I feel we are on the right track. It is good to see a happy dog.

Lucy in her prime with a hard earn late season public land rooster

Good news Steve. Hope it continues to go well.

That's great news. I hope it works for a long time to come.

We brought our shepherd back from the edge of the grave with prednisone. Her blood sugar had crashed to the point where she was unable to walk more than 50 yds. But the steriode brought it back up miraculously and she now trots a 1/2 mile at a crack. This won't go on forever (she has an insulinoma cancer), but we will take it. Why it took months for the vets to recommend it, I do not know. It was the only good thing to come out of 2020.

Definitely some good news. How long do you think it will take to figure out the correct dosage?

Ken

Back in the day people had enough common sense to realize that dogs are not human and vets are not real doctors and when the time came they put their dog down rather than make their short life a life of misery....

Ken,
She will get blood work done every two weeks to determine how long the shot works, in most dogs it is effective for 4-7 weeks.

frAnk: Thanks for your advice but Lucy is hardly living a life of misery and is quite active. This is 30 days ago after several hours of busting snow chasing late seasons roosters. Pretty sure your fat aZZ could not have kept up with her.

Lucy had her second blood test this past Thursday and all her levels were well within the normal range. We test her again in another two weeks. The improvement has been staggering. Things I had attributed to aging such as struggling with going up stairs have disappeared, her strength and stamina seem to be improving, for a bird dog that is closing in on 12 I am delighted with how well she is doing.

Great to hear, Steve. Hard to see our bird dogs age. Harder yet to see them age faster than normal.

That is great news!

Ken

good news, great pix...

Glad to hear