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Addendum to week 6
The food trial: the big day arrived midway through week 6 and I finally got 20 pounds of ground up goat meat. It didn't look like much. I had started adding potato to their food in anticipation of the switch. I cooked all the goat meat up, and gradually switched the dogs over a couple of days to a mix of goat meat and potato. They love goat meat and potatoes a LOT. I, on the other, hand, am having a hard time keeping up enough freshly made food to keep them fed!
Week 7 Progress Report
The Dogs: they definitely did better on twice-a day prednisone, though I would not say the itching cleared up completely. The antibiotics were finished at the end of week 6. A couple of days after the antibiotics finish, we were to go for a recheck but the appointment is delayed as Dr. G. couldn't see us as she was called away to an urgent surgery. Unfortunately, the timing meant that we couldn't get in until after a long weekend. Over the long weekend, we reduced the prednisone to a once a day dose. Their skin looked pretty good at the end of the seventh week, although they got more itchy. There wasn't much for redness, except a few slight flare ups on their necks and under Asia's tail. Still, it doesn't seem the stopping of antibiotics has had a major impact. I ran out of time for their bath this week though.
Recheck Visit: the dogs looked pretty good, except for the little patches of red under their necks (under their collars) and under Asia's tail. Dr. G was satisfied that stopping the antibiotics was fine, but was not happy with my reports of how itchy they seem. She decided to increase the prednisone a bit and extend the time on each dose level to see if we can't get a bit of relief from the itchiness. A recheck is scheduled in 2 weeks.
Food Trial: the goat and potato diet was a big hit, and I adjusted somewhat to the demands of preparing food for them. Still, Simba went into full throttle food-stealing, getting a mouthful of ice cream, a cookie and some snacks he found on the sidewalk on one of our walks. He seems ultra hungry! Could be the prednisone, or maybe he is just not getting enough food. Either way, we are being exceptionally careful about food-stealing opportunities now. On the bright side, his food stealing didn't result in any changes in his skin.
Next... Week 8: new developments!
