[Gpdd] HEALTH: Hershey's clogged

[warmbreath at comcast.net]

Have you been reading the article I sent  last night to the list titled 
e.c.?  The Metacam is very necessary and its much less likely to cause 
stomach problems than any other pain reliever/anti inflammatory.  The 
problem is much more likely she ran low of water not the Metacam hurting 
her, her brain needs that anti inflammatory effect to fight the damage from 
the parasite off.  I am glad her neurological symptoms are going away, but 
that's partly the anti-inflammatory work of the Metacam so dont cut it out. 
Plus she is very sensitive to pain and part of her improvement is due to not 
being in pain, when she hurts she's less likely to eat and drink, again 
giving the parasite a chance to rear up again. Penny's article from the 
breeder links the rise of e.c to being dehydrated, it makes it easier for 
the parasite to get into cells. So hydration is key to fighting e.c. and 
keeping her stasis from coming back. Dont beat yourself up for loss of 
syringe for 1 day, just pick it up again, it just shows you how important it 
is!

Sounds like you have done an excellent job of training her to be a good 
patient, coming to the cage bars for water syringes, how wonderful!!

Also is she still on Cisapride?  if not, did you taper her off, if not that 
would clog her and put her back into stasis? So its not just the loss of 
some water if she's not on a Cisapride or Reglan or if it's not tapered off 
when quitting. Remember stasis is a symptom more than a separate disease. 
Metacam is necessary part of treating stasis because stasis hurts. Have you 
switched to Reglan? Keep these 2 , clearly still needed.

Is she still on flagyl?  What is her weight and her dosage? Did you have a 
chance to read what I wrote about side effects of flagyl?  Will your vet 
switch to Panacur or oxibendazole? She needs to be on an anti parasitic/anti 
helmetic for several weeks.

I still recommend the Baytril as well  It's the 3 drugs together that cure 
her and repair the damage done, plus keep up the Vit C, you can crush a 
chewable and put it in the syringe water. Repairing the damage is what 
allows her to bounce back to her old self, sometimes the body's regenerative 
power just needs a little boost.  : ))

It's a long hard row to hoe to get over this illness, you will make slip 
ups, you cant help it, none of us can, just pick up and keep going, your 
ability to keep going is that extra ingredient that will see her through 
this. Have you noticed how every day she loves you more?  Do whatever it 
takes to keep her hydrated, if she's not to gassy maybe she should be eating 
romaine, make sure its dripping wet, that helps.See what the vet says, start 
out slowly and very wet.  Keep up the Gas-X (simethecone) if she is still 
gassy.  Feel her stomach every day, twice a day is better, the gentle tummy 
massage helps keep the gut working food to the poop chute, same with gas, 
its a wonderful treatment, also the warmth treatments to her belly, and 
holding her so her hind end is higher than her front, just as Dana Kremples' 
article at http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html , it gives many 
wonderful hints on helping her though this. The sub Q's are a good idea 
since her poops are small and hard again unless she has so much she feels 
sloshy, that would mean her kidney's cant handle the volume of water, but 
the best indicator is the moist poops, that's when she's getting enough 
water.

Sorry these seem to be so long, its just that all her treatments and meds 
are interconnected, you have to keep going with the whole boat load for a 
while. You see that as how quickly she slipped back toward stasis, dont 
discontinue the Metacam, that and the simethicone will be the last to go 
along with the antiparasitic.

Have the vet check her front and back teeth to see if her teeth have 
overgrown due to eating less hay, this could account for noisy water bottle 
sounds and why she might be inefficient at drinking. if your vet doesn't 
know about g.p. teeth we can provide her with that info, but she would need 
a tool called bucol(sp?) separators to do the treat teeth, make sure she has 
them.

It's wonderful she's still going, its all your fault : ))),  : )))   Sandy 
and Sammy

Joanie wrote:
" This morning Hersh was very noisy, as she was yesterday, but she didn't 
want to eat. It finally occurred to me that some water might help, which is, 
indeed what she wanted, and she drank most of the morning. I didn't think 
she'd need it, as the water in her drinking tubes was lowering, but I 
suspect she's still not drinking efficiently and that most of it went to 
waste. She certainly was giving it a try! She sure is efficient with the 
syringe. I feel terribly for not syringing her yesterday. Now we're back to 
no droppings. Augh! If only............. clip........
I also need to know if I'm to discontinue the metacam, which can affect the 
gut. I wish I could give her greens, but I'm waiting an okay for that, too"