Neuro and cardio case

Re: Neuro and cardio case

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 10:28:28 GMT

[quote user="David Mills"]Do you stop the pred in view of the CHF?[/quote]

I wouldn't.

Re: Neuro and cardio case

Anthony Dennison — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 08:59:43 GMT

I'm not sure what use long-term prednisolone would have in these sorts of cases either, even if there were clinical signs. I would agree with Andrew and taper down.

Omeprazole or Ranitidine are pretty good for clinical SM.

Re: Neuro and cardio case

Andrew Kent — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 08:22:04 GMT

The presence of a syrinx on MRI is not an indication for medication in the absence of clinical signs so if the dog truly has never had clinical signs then I wouldn't have given it any meds in the first place. We screen lots of dogs for SM as part of the BVA scheme and many of them have significant MRI changes without clinical signs - the relationship between the two things is still a work in progress. But this aspect probably needs to be confirmed with the owners or vet that made the diagnosis?

It may be that the neuro drugs were more a conservative way to manage the disc protrusion - in which case they probably were intended to be stopped a long time ago....

So personally I would gradually taper down the pred with the aim of stopping it.

Andy

Re: Neuro and cardio case

Stephen Courtney — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 22:26:20 GMT

100mg of gabapentin once a day seems to be an underdose to me...and I'm not in favour of treating asymptomatic disease....and i don't like preds and CHF together - so I'd be inclined to seek advice from a medicine specialist about how to wean this dog off those meds. the trick would be to do it diplomatically...but the new illness likely will make it easier to explain - priorities change!