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Hi everyone.. just joined... i lost my dog Maia on the 31st...still devastated over it.. i keep looking for answers and i know i wont be any definitive ones but if i get some ideas, then maybe i can try and wrap my head around it. She was going to be 15 this coming December. I know she lived a good life.. in fact she had had been battling cushings(we believe) for the past oh i dont know, almost 5 years. She was having symptoms of it, had her tested with LDDS test and it came back negative. So the Dr and I said we will keep it out there on the table and can revisit if need be and retest down the road. So i was giving her the lignans and melatonin combo the whole time, and she was doing good on it, i think her symptoms were getting worse. I changed vets a little over a year ago. This past spring i was going to get her retested again, this time ACTH test but he didnt have any in at the moment and well we kind of just swept it under the rug and i kept giving her the natural supplements. Also back in 2015 she blew out both ACLs... had surgery done on just one of them because i didnt have the 5k needed for both, and with crate rest etc she did recover pretty good. Went on lots of walks, did develop some weird gait a little bit down the road, her old Dr recommended putting her carprofen, to which i declined because she wasnt limping or anything and i feel as some of these vets just want to hand out pills like candy. Anyhow, about 15 months ago she developed a weird cough with gag at the end of it... her new Dr and i talked and we thought it maybe COPD.. but my bad i didnt get it actually checked out, as her activity level was still good etc. and she didnt cough all the time. .. never ever coughed during exercise, was only if she was laying down or in the morning and sometimes during the night. I noticed for a little while as well that her exhales were kind of weird, like more forced out, and you could feel her belly tighten to push out the air. never had a problem inhaling etc, and never seemed like she was struggling to breathe. again we figured COPD or because of the cushings they can get calcification in their lungs. so for the past few months or more she has been sleeping a good amount, but again cushings, older age, was having bad arthritis issues, i mean getting worse and worse, its to be expected right? she has been on CBD for a little while.. was getting higher vitamin C as i read thats good for arthritis, we gave her esther C. she was getting krill oil more recently... 1000mg of milk thistle for her liver and glucosamine supplement, liquid kind we got from tractor supply. she also got probiotic as well. a few weeks ago we put her on gabapentin, 100mg twice a day.. again no NSAID because i was scared of what they can do and with her age and liver enzymes being higher for a while, she seemed kind of ok for a few days and then developed ataxia (read end weakness) so we decided no more and weaned her off. btw, she had also been taking on and off nutrivet chewable aspirin... sorry, forgot to say that.. and it was working decently but i think she was getting too far advanced hence the reason to go with actual meds. So i called my vet and we decided to try meloxicam and amantadine...read some good things about BOTH and how they work great together. So based on her weight she was to get a quarter of a 7.5mg meloxicam and 50mg of amantadine once a day. Sunday the 30th gave her her first dose, and she did good all day..even seems slightly better, in fact she went up half our steps on her own even jumping up the last couple steps. I was stoked.. Monday the 31st came, gave her second dose in the morning... we went to work.. but have cameras on our house.. around quarter to 11 AM she was on the landing of our stairs and howling and barking, i think she developed seperation anxiety.. and around 3:30 pm my wife came home.. she was laying in the dining room.. quiet.. had pooped on the puppy pads we had lined around the house because of her arthtitis being bad.. the poop looked good except in the end was a little diarrhea looking.. anyhow, she was like sleeping and snoring, out like a light.. my wife was cooking her lean burger that we supplemented with her kibble.. normally she would come out as she smelled it etc.. but she didnt..so she checked on her..and was just lethargic and weird... but thought well ok, off day... then she heard a weird whimper and i guess she moved from her spot and walked about 10 feet and pooped a little more which was mushy and peed a little and just collapsed... she offered some burger and a treat and she didnt want it... i rushed home thinking allergic reaction to the meds... called her vet who is further away and they just said no more amantadine...well from the time i got home, she was getting worse.. had these weird shivers... was drooling a little... couldnt get up... and then its like she slipped into a weird coma.. shallower breathing... i was on the phone with some vets in the area but they couldnt get her in so we rushed her to the ER which was still around 50 minutes away.. she was semi with it on the ride, lifting her head up a half dozen times... finally got her to ER.. they came out and brought her in saying she looked pretty critical.. then i got the call.. they did xray image..bedside ultrasound... she has significant pulmonary edema and then went into cardiac arrest.. i asked if the meds maybe played a part to which i was told no they didnt think so...and then when i said well maybe the amantadine? and she said maybe a slight chance it pushed her into that but doubtful.. has anyone experienced anything like this at all?? i did consult with a few other vets.. two of them who are cardiologists at a University.. the one said her heart did look a little enlarged and maybe she had a valve issue or maybe had an embolism, pulmonary thrombo as cushing patients are prone to these etc.. but also said doubtful the meds caused this... the last cardiologist at another university looked her summary over and the xray image and said he didnt see any enlargement on the image.. its only one image and was taken of her left side.. but looked like she def suffered from a primary pulmonary issue... so now im look wtf?? i get told yea heart enlarged to no i dont see any enlargement...even my regular vet said it didnt look that big to him... he ha seen ALOT bigger.. but again maybe a valve issue or pulmonary hypertension etc.. not sure there are any vets on here but i can send the image and summary to them if they want. Just seems like it happened so quickly.. again she was not well before this.. with the breathing issues, and sleeping alot etc.. she did also skip some meals at times but i dont think she cared for the lean kibble she was on.. one last thing too, her summary did say her heart walls looked really thick and not contracting well.. just at a loss.. im sorry for such a huge story and it seems like im all over the place.. Thanks to anyone who has any insight. I cant find many bad reviews on meloxicam or the amantadine
Thanks!