I’ve had Sarge on the 15 mg of Pepcid per day for most of the past two weeks, and I think it is working.
Sarge’s appetite has been decreased since he had the Adriamycin on January 19th; not terribly decreased but he definitely has not been eating with his usual enthusiasm. As a result, I have had to get very creative with the meals over the past few weeks. (Remind me to post the recipe for doggie meatloaf, which I made – and sampled – this past weekend. Quite tasty.)
His appetite has slowly gotten better over the past couple weeks, but last night we seemed to have a bit of a breakthrough. Sarge actually came into the kitchen when I was making their Kongs, and it seemed like he might be interested in our usual “throw the kibble on the striped carpet and use your sense of smell to track them down and eat them” game. We’ve played that game just about every night since I got Sarge, but he has not been interested in searching down the kibble over the past few weeks. Last night he ended up not wanting to do it either, but he did come in the kitchen and show a little interest. Progress.
The best thing is that he ate several small batches of kibble mixed with goodies for his late night snack. And he ate each of the batches with enthusiasm! I was very happy to see that.
Note to self: I’ve been giving Sarge his Pepcid at night before we go to bed, and I’ve served it with his late night snack. Well, I just read on 1800PetMeds that I am supposed to be giving the Pepcid on an empty stomach because food decreases its effectiveness. Oops! Maybe we will see even more progress if I don’t serve food with the Pepcid. Given the frequency of Sarge’s meals though, I don’t know when I’ll be able to manage a Pepcid on an empty stomach unless I stop his late night snack.
I was going to ask the oncologist if I could up the Pepcid dosage to 20 mg per day, but 1800PetMeds made me reconsider. It says “Use famotidine with caution in animals with heart, kidney, or liver disease,” and “When given with azathioprine, famotidine may further decrease white blood cell counts.” Sarge is not taking azathioprine, but chemo, in general, tends to decrease white blood cell counts. And you know I’ve been obsessing about the “cumulative cardiac toxicity” of the Adriamycin. So…..I will not be asking to up the dosage of the Pepcid. We should be able to improve the effects by moving to the “empty stomach” approach.
And, oh yes, what about the weakness in Sarge’s back legs? I took him to my regular vet this past Thursday, and he thought Sarge did not have a neurological problem and he also did not think Sarge has that lumbosachral stenosis. Thank goodness. The vet did, however, detect that Sarge has some tenderness on his spine about 6 inches up from his tail. I believe he said that it seemed to be musculoskeletal in nature, and that it could be arthritis. He started to prescribe a pain med, e.g., Deramaxx but I asked if we should do that given that Sarge has two more rounds of chemo left to go. He reconsidered because he said the Vincristine can be hard on the stomach. So then he recommended that we try giving Sarge supplements of glucosamine. I did a little searching, and this “Missing Link Plus with Joint Support” seems like it might be worth a try. I am going to ask the oncologist about it tomorrow.
I’m very glad that Sarge seems to be feeling better now. Just in time to have another round of chemo. Poor boy.
Hang in there. Only two more to go.
Greyt Matters 
Leave a comment