Mazey and her TPLO

[Boxergirl]

That's really great news and I'm so happy for you! I know you are very relieved. Are you considering keeping her on the benadryl and famotidine? Most boxer people consider it maintenance, particularly after a diagnosed MCT. We usually choose cimetidine rather than famotidine, but that's most likely because it's what we've all done over the years.

 

[sjdavenport]

The oncologist said he's usually comfortable discontinuing the diphenhydramine after the tumor is removed and found to be low grade. Just in case, I am planning on continuing it until at least her next several rechecks if the abdominal u/s and aspirates come back fine. We're definitely continuing the famotidine too for her GI ulceration. Right now, we're thinking that the vomiting blood/GI ulceration might have been a red herring. She had a similar episode a year ago, so we're still unsure of the cause. Both episodes were during times of increased stress and when her separation anxiety was really flared up, so the current theory is that she had some stress induced gastric ulceration. I chose famotidine over cimetidine for a couple of reasons. First, she is nearly impossible to pill. She gets wise to hiding pills in literally anything. It only works once, and then she treats anything you give her (including her food) like it's poison. She is easily the most difficult animal I've ever pilled. I swear she can hide pills in her esophagus for five minutes before spitting them up when I'm not looking. Right now I'm having to give her 10 separate pills a day, which can get incredibly frustrating. Famotidine is once daily, while cimetidine is multiple times daily dosing. I know that doesn't exactly seem like the best reason, lol, but I'll take whatever relief I can get! It is also more potent than cimetidine, and I've read a couple studies claiming it is more effective. Cimetidine also inhibits hepatic cytochrome P-450 drug metabolism pathways, while famotidine does not. So cimetidine can increase the pharmacological effects or toxicity of many drugs (like benzodiazepines, antidepressants, beta blockers etc). We're currently trying Zylkene for her anxiety, but if that doesn't work, we may move her to something like fluoxetine, and the last thing I want to worry about is drug interactions. Have you had dogs with mast cell tumors? If so, what was the ultimate outcome for them? The elation that the histopath report brought today has kind of faded, and now I'm back to worrying (it's what I do best) about recurrence, lurking mets, and survival times.

 

[Boxergirl]

Thank you for the info on famotidine. I'll do more reading about it. Yes, I've had dogs with mast cell tumors. Before Ella, all of my dogs have been boxers and they're MCT magnets. Greta had one on her leg at age five, grade two stage one , clean margins. Difficult healing due to location and depth and not enough skin to suture, but she remained clear until she died at ten from cardiomyopathy. My other boy, Ed, had a lump on his chest that turned out to be cancer, grade one stage one, removed with clean margins. It was small and healing was pretty quick. I lost him at age ten to Addisonian crisis - go figure. I kept both dogs on a regimen of benadryl and tagamet after their MCTs. I have had many friends with boxers that had tumors graded and staged higher than mine with varying degrees of successful removal and treatment. I know you have access to tons of information, and I totally get that she's hard to pill. Please consider keeping her on benadryl and Famotidine if it won't interfere with other meds. Anecdotally, it really has seemed to make a difference with all the boxers I've known. Recurrence definitely appeared to happen less frequently on the dogs that were on the regimen. The boxers I have now are clean of lumps and bumps so far.

How bad is her anxiety? I wonder if there are natural alternatives that may help and would ease your worry about interactions. I highly recommend Composure Pro. It contains Thiamine, L-Tryptophan, L-Theanine, and Colostrum Complex. With my vet's approval, I also add additional L-Theanine. It works as well for us as the Fluoxetine and Alprazolam did.

 

[sjdavenport]

I'll keep her on the benadryl and famotidine and hope this is the end of it. We'll recheck her liver and spleen aspirates in a month. What I have her on, Zylkene, for her anxiety is a natural product derived from a protein found in milk. I've heard good things about it from some vets who have used it on their own dogs, so I decided to give that a try first rather than going straight for a "true" drug. I don't think she'll need anything long term, just to help her get through everything going on right now. I went from being home with her quite a bit and coming home for lunch every single day, to feeling like I'm never at home once I started clinics. Unfortunately, this coincided with her TPLO surgery, which meant she had to be confined away from the other dogs, who she is quite dependent on. My boyfriend is also picking up a lot of extra days at work to try to get all of the hefty vet bills we've had recently paid for, so the dogs are all at home alone even more. She has had two other times where I felt like I had to start her on clomipramine temporarily for separation anxiety. The first was my freshman year of college where they required me to live on campus, and I had to leave Mazey with my mom. The second was when my apartment was broken into and I came home to find Mazey hiding under the bed. Both times, her separation anxiety from being away from me (even when other people were home) skyrocketed. My boyfriend says she's doing the same type of thing now (sits at the door or window and cries) when he's home with her but I'm not there (and we've all lived together for 4 years). I'm hoping the Zylkene will get her through this transition, and I think she'll be fine once her incision heals, her leg is stable, and I can start leaving her out with the other dogs. If it doesn't seem to help, I'll definitely keep the options you mentioned in mind. I'm not exactly eager to add any more drugs to her regimen.