Winnie the Pooh Settles In

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Well, the last couple of days have been an adventure. Winston (I've decided to keep his name) has been quite sad and timid but he is getting more comfortable.  When he is nervous or sad, he burries his head in my lap and waits to be comforted. He did this to the groomer this afternoon too and the groomer just about teared up by how sweet he was.

 

At home I threw out my futon and turned the guest bedroom into his room. I put his stinky old bed (gotta get him a new one) and his food dishes (these are quite nice so I think I'll keep em) in the room, and I got him some new toys (his owner didn't give me any toys for him, I guess he didn't have any)...

 

Giving him his own room has helped him I think. It is a place to go to get away from bouncy, kissy, Sophie-Bear, and to eat and rest in peace. I've been keeping him in the room with the door closed while I'm at work to make sure he doesn't get into any mischief with Sophie. He handles this very well.

 

When we are at home of course I let him have free reign of the whole place. He likes lying on the cool floor by the front door, or playing with Sophie in the living room. Sometimes he sits nicely beside me and puts his paw on my leg or arm asking to be pet. I don't think there's anything sweeter in the whole world.

 

When I went to bed last night Sophie Bear took her usual spot on floor by the foot of the bed, Penelope started crawling all over me as usual, and Winston stood there in the doorway of my room, looking at me. That's when I realized he was probably confused about where he was supposed to sleep, having been used to sleeping in the basement in his old house. I called him to my side and comforted him and he eventually settled on the floor beside me where he stayed all night.

 

We've gone for many a long walks and he is so so good, only pulling when he encounters the occassional squirrel. In the park, he greeted many new friends with ease and didn't show any signs of discomfort. I can tell Sophie-Bear is proud to show off her new big brother to all her friends. Winston likes to chase balls and sticks and really perked up when we were running on the grass chasing each other. I was so happy to see him come alive like that.

 

This afternoon I took Winston to the groomer, who adored him from the get-go. I was a little worried at first because he was so nervous, but after I picked him up and brought him home he seemed so much happier, and I'm pretty sure his skin is a little less itchy. And Oh Boy, is he ever handsome now with his clean soft fuzzy fur.

 

All Clean Winnie-Poo!

Pretty Soon you'll be as good as new!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Winston's vet was disapointing to say the least. I didn't really accomplish much. he gave me some pills for the allergies which I had never heard of and can't really read his writing, starts with a v - 'van-giberish-P', but talked mostly about food which is probably not what it is. He told me I should wait for the ointment to work on his ears and that if it's not better in a month then to come back and he'll give me something stronger ??. I asked about the growth in his ear and he said things I don't feel like repeating because they were outrageous. He didn't bother weighing him even though I asked and told me if I think he needs to lose weight then I should just reduce his food (fine but by how much? how much does he need to lose...??). I didn't bother asking any more questions at this point.

 

I'm kind of beat at the moment and feeling a little overwhelmed now to be honest. I'll post a better update in the morning. I'll be making an appointment with my own vet which is what I should have done in the first place. I had sort of hoped this guy would be good because his prices are so low (he's semi-retired and operates out of his home at cost, simply because he loves it, but he really should retire completely...)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sherri, Things will look better in the morning. Hugs those doodles and get some rest :)

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Sorry to hear this, Sherri. Sounds like you got Vanectyl-P. Our vet has given this to Lola a few times, but I use a lower dosage than he recommends. Well keep that between us. Winston will be peeing every 10min on this, so prepare yourself.

I hope you have better luck with your own vet. Our vet weighs Lola at EVERY visit, no matter what it's for. You'll get it all figured out, don't worry. Give Winston lots of kisses!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'll have to look that one up; sounds very similar to Temaril-P, steroid/antipruritic combo.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep, Vanectyl-P is the Canadian version of Temaril-P...same exact ingredients, prednisolone (steroid) and trimeprazine (anti-itch drug that also has anti-emetic and anti-anxiety properties). He may be a little lethargic from it (and we've already talked about the peeing, etc.), but it should give him some relief.

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Why do they change the name for Canadian VS US??? It makes things so confusing. I don't understand it!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sure it's some marketing thing. Who has rights to sell what where.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep, it's distributed by Pfizer Canada:

http://www.drugs.com/vet/vanectyl-p-can.html

As opposed to Pfizer USA:

http://animalhealth.pfizer.com/sites/pahweb/us/en/Products/Pages/Te...

 

Same exact thing. And you're right the trimeprazine is an antihistamine, by the sound of it, even though they don't come right out and say so.

I wonder if it's cheaper to just give generic prednisolone by itself and OTC antihistamines separately. Must be, the "P"s are name-brand drugs.

 JD's specialist prescribes generic prednisolone and says to give him Claritin. I love that woman!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

aha, here it is. I had lost track. OK, so I should get generic prednisolone and claratin. Can the prednisolone be bought from a regular pharmacy, or do I have to get it from the vet. I know my vet can prescribe some drugs that can be gotten cheaper from a pharmacist (the people kind)?

 

So the antihistimane in the vanectyl-P will make him drowsy, but the claritin won't? and it's the steroid component that makes him pee? is that correct?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes; the steroids will make him hungier, thirstier, and have to pee more. The Claritin (the generic is loratidine) won't make him as drowsy or lethargic as the antihistamine in the Vanectyl, but the steroids themselves can make them a little bit more lethargic than usual. The nice thing about using the separate generic prednisolone (besides that it's cheaper) is that you can taper off the dose, and adjust it as needed, same with the loratidine.

Right now JD is on prednisolone. He got a pill 3 days running, than one every other day for two weeks, and next week we go to half a pill every other day. He gets three 10 mg loratidine tablets once a day. he and Winnie are about the same size, so that should be right for Winnie, too, but check with the vet. Not all general practice vets are experts at dosages for the various antihistamines, JD's dosage was prescribed by his allergy specialist.

I'm not sure if you can get the generic prednisiolone from the human pharmacy; it would be what they call off-label use, so you'd have to check. Makes no sense, but that's the way it works. The heavy-duty drug for allergic dogs, Atopica, costs twice what the generic for humans costs, but they won't give it to you for a dog, at least not here in the U.S.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yes, you can get prednisolone at the human pharmacy and prednisone , of which prednisolone is a variety is dirt cheap as a generic in the US.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I got 20 mg prednisolone tablets from JD's specialist, and they cost 50 cents each.