Some days are better than others....

I've been remiss at posting.  In early April we switched Murphy to injections of the desmopressin nasal spray as it's more concentrated than the actual injectable formula.  I started him at .02ml, but move him up a bit o .03ml.

I keep a daily record of how much water is left in the dish at the end of the day, but it's getting harder to go with that method.  Since everyone is spending more time running outside, they all drink more, so the 1000ml in the dish for three dogs just isn't cutting it anymore.  Most days I have to add water because Fuzzy Wuzzy the hairless plays so hard and drinks a lot after playtime.  Still, I never add more than 300-500ml and then there is still a bit left.

Murphy went through a really bad few weeks.  He had all but stopped eating.  He had been enjoying the Beneful tubs, but that went by the wayside.  Then we changed him over to the Natural Balance meat rolls.  He ate that for a few days, then stopped that too.  He dropped several pounds and his hip bones, ribs and spine began to show.  I tried to coax him with all kinds of things, nothing worked.  I was pretty worried since this is how his sister started in the months before her passing.  But it looks like I have managed to figure it out.  He gets fed in his crate now, where he doesn't have to worry about the puppy who frequently tried to hover nearby.

Nights are still a crap shoot.  I put a belly band on him nightly with a Poise pad inside.  The diapers didn't work and regular pads in the belly band didn't either.  The Poise hold about 2 cups if it comes to that, which it doesn't.  The most wet we've had is  4.2 ounce pad (plain pad weighs 1.2 ounces).  My biggest problem is taking the pad off in the morning before I send him outside.  LOL...once he starts he can't shut it off and then that pad weighs about a pound.   I've only done that twice, so it's not been bad.   I track the weight of the pads if they are wet.  He will go a few days at a time with a dry pad.

Next week he goes for another water deprivation test to see if we are making progress.   Wish us luck.

Sigh......

It's been a crazy couple of days.  Murphy had a 3 night run of being dry thanks, I think, to the Proin medication. The eye drops are doing nothing for him, so I approached my vet about injecting the nasal spray vs. using it as drops as suggested by folks on the DI Yahoo group.  I am pretty sure she thought I was on crack.  She said there was no way you could inject the nasal spray, only the actual injectable formula.  I insisted that folks were using it as the nasal spray is more concentrated and hence, a much smaller amount is needed.  She wasn't convinced.

I gathered up all the information from the folks on the group and faxed her all the information hoping she would see that the information was accurate.  Sure enough, she called yesterday afternoon and had confirmed it and decided we could give it a try.  Murphy got his first injection of .02 last night.

Now let me tell you, .02 is an incredibly small amount.  It's about the same about as 2 drops.  On a 100 ml/10 unit insulin syringe, it's 2/10th of a unit, just two of those tiny little lines.  Bifocals?  Hell, you need a magnifying glass.  He has had 2 doses with no change so far, but he seems like he might be drinking a bit less.  If after a few days on .02 it isn't working, I may bump him up a bit.   I have to at least try this, the eye drops weren't working either.  If neither method works, then I think we need to look at this as a possible case of nephrogenic DI, which has little treatment options other than thiazides.