Pet of the month for February goes to this little girl, Nami!
Nami has been a patient of ours since she was a tiny puppy, over her decade of life we have been treating her for different health conditions.
Unfortunately for Nami, being a Staffy- she has the inevitable Staffy itchy skin. Over the years her owner has been giving her daily medication to try help and maintain her allergies. At one point her allergies flared up so bad, that she needed to have a 6 weekly injection added into her treatment- to try and keep the allergies at bay.
Recently we had a new drug become available and so we made the decision to trial her on this medication instead- she was transferred from Apoquel to Zenrelia and we did not boost her Cytopoint injection once we hit the 6-week mark. She has been on these meds for over a month now and her owner reports that her skin is looking amazing.
It’s always so important to make sure if you feel that treatment isn’t working, you discuss with your vet. We will always do our best to figure out what medication is best for your pet.
Nami has also been diagnosed with an increase in her liver enzymes. Liver enzymes can increase due to a couple of different reasons. Old age changes, nodes/tumours & Cushings disease being the most common causes. Thankfully for Nami, an ultrasound confirmed she just had some old age changes and she is now on daily liver support tablets. To manage her condition, she has bloods taken every 4 months to monitor her levels.
Since 2021 Nami has also had to see an eye specialist as she has what’s called “Dry eye”, a common condition resulting from inadequate tear production or poor tear quality, causing chronic pain, thick, stringy discharge, and red, inflamed eyes. She has regular visits with the specialist to maintain her eye health.
Finally, poor Nami has arthritis. She began limping in 2016 to which x-rays were performed. These showed flattening of her femur heads and some degenerative joint disease in her hips. To keep her comfortable, Nami was started on Zydax injections. These are injections for dogs, containing pentosan polysulphate to treat osteoarthritis, reduce inflammation, and protect joint cartilage. Administered by a veterinarian as a weekly injection for four weeks, they provide 3–6 months of relief by stimulating cartilage repair and improving joint lubrication.
Nami has been through a lot in her 10 years, lump removals included. But once thing she always has is a big smile on her face. We can’t thank her owner Kyle enough for being the best fur dad, she is so lucky to have found you!