Let’s just start with a boolean phrase because why not? How very librarian of me? WARNING, this is me whining.

Jiminy’s bloodwork came back on Friday and his bloodwork was worse than month ago. Well, his ACTH was improving, but his insulin was levels were substantially worse.

The vet put him on ertugliflozin which is similar to Ozempic (human brand name is Steglatro). It’s a freaking pain in the ass to dose because he’s a mini… I’m basically using a syringe to pull the paste out of the large syringe. Oi. Thankfully, he takes it without issue.

His lung inflammation is also not good. He’s on his inhaler which IS steroid based which MAY be impacting his insulin levels. My vet is NOT convinced the inhaled levels will raise levels enough to have a significant impact while my research is showing me that it still could (I went full medical librarian…) We’re talking about adding ventipulmin because the inhaler itself isn’t having the impact it was in the past… I ordered a dog sized spacer because we do need to switch to a different inhaler soon because the equihaler has been discontinued (even if it is the same medication). So yeah. Fun fun.

I’m also exploring a nebulizer. I’ve talked with Flexineb and they feel he’ll fit in the foal size based on his measurements and made some fitting suggestions if the mask is too large. Not quite ready to go that route, but it’s an option.

Anyway, next stop is the vet, again, for Dulcy. She spent the morning peeing about 15-20 times over 90 minutes which is not normal. So she’s getting checked out.

Long time, no post.

Very little and a whole lot has happened. Honestly? I just wasn’t in the mood to blog.

In May, the best Hermione dog was diagnosed with mast cell. She was doing super well and her tumor was looking great. But, time wasn’t on her side and the tumor grew massively and likely spread. We lost her in August. She was my best friend and companion for over 14 years. The best dog I could have ever asked for. My heart is still broken, but it was time and she was ready to go.

We brought Dulcy into the family pretty much immediately. Marble (who is 13-15) is pretty happy to have a puppy around though she can’t move very well. We’re worried we’ll lose Marble soon, but she’s the best, calmest puppy wrangler we could ask for. Dulcy adores her. Dulcy was pulled from a high volume kill shelter in WV and was fostered in Maryland. But she experienced some trauma and is very skittish. It’ll take time, but we think she’ll get over her fear. She’s very comfortable around us and at home. She’s 16 weeks now. The cats are NOT impressed. We’re working on it.

On the horse front, Nay Nay is doing OK. I’m sort of kind of putting him into work, but he’s still NQR. He’s better than he was mid summer, but ultra weak to the right. Not lame, but almost? His hind end is a mess from Lyme and EPM and I just have to buckle down and start building back muscle slow. But it’s hard and he thinks it’s hard and it’s not fun for either of us. He’s pretty good to the left (and as a result, only wants to work to the left). I need to find some good ground work exercises to start doing that are more interesting that what I’ve been doing.

Then there is the problem child. Why yes, Nay Nay isn’t the problem child. That would be Jiminy. He has a whole slew of issues.

1. Asthma
2. Cushing’s
3. Insulin resistant?
4. Laminitis

The asthma/heaves isn’t new. We’ve dealt with it before. Did an inhaler last year and ventipulmin the past (he actually used up all of the BRAND NEW BOTTLE I BOUGHT FOR BATT prior to his inhaler…) Last year the Aservo EquiHaler worked really well (they are, however, discontinuing the darn thing). This year? It’s not a complete miracle. It’s helping, he is FABULOUS for it (I actually don’t use a halter half the time I use it). But, the vet was out for more blood work (see 2-4) and while he’s improved, he’s still wheezing on the right side of his lungs (the left are showing more improvement) and putting more effort into breathing than should be necessary. They’re harvesting a lot of corn, tobacco, and soy beans right now so it’s possible that is making everything worse. So, we’re going to give it a few days/until next week. If he doesn’t sound like he’s improving or he gets worse, we’ll add ventipulmin to his plan. This actually worked better than anything else in the past so hopefully in conjunction with the inhaler it’ll be magic. I can also get a small bottle unlike the mega bottle I bought Batt before we lost him… Oh. Jiminy is also on zyrtec (10 – 2x/day)

We ran blood on Jiminy and it turns out he has Cushing’s. With his recurrent foundering over the last couple of years, this actually makes sense. He’s not fat. He’s never been fat. So, at least this was an answer. He started on a half tab of prascend daily. He’s not thrilled but it may have been the zyrtec that he was suspicious of vs the prascend. Right now he gets his prascend with no sugar added apple sauce and 10 zyrtec squirted in his mouth every day before we turn out. Turns out, this is his preferred method. If you use an old succeed tube? You don’t even need to any of the pills. Grab the sauce, pop in the pills, add a couple drops of water, shake, and dose. It’s fabulous. James approved.

His blood levels also showed his insulin levels were out of whack. But, before we treated that, my vet wanted to treat him for cushing’s for 30 days and retest. So we just hit the 30 day mark and retested today. I’ll share the results when we have them. We’ve been soaking at least half his hay. I’d soak it all, but that would mean cutting him off from Nay Nay in turnout and I cannot do that. Or making Nay Nay eat soaked hay. I am willing to let Jiminy eat or not eat his soaked hay (somedays he eats it, some days I trash it), but I can’t do that with Mr. Ulcers and Gut Issues. But, outside he eats his hay through a muzzle so it’s something. While I’d like to see his levels improve, I’d also like them to be similar if it means that there is something we can address or fix. Since he seems about the same, I don’t actually expect his insulin levels to have improved. Stay tuned.

We’re also STILL dealing with some laminitis. Again with his freaking right front hoof. Again. I am over this. He’s fine. He’s sound enough. And he has no issue wandering around and exploring (they’re both off the grass this year — Jiminy for obvious reasons and Nay Nay because he can’t graze without Jiminy). He sees the farrier next week and my vet wants a really good trim (he has too much toe right now — his feet are growing way too fast). We’re going to drug him this cycle to see if that process makes it easier for everyone.