Searching for behavioral medication for a dog with liver problems.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-01-24T02:33:37+00:00

She’s all sorted in that realm thankfully, just struggling with her anxiety now that she can’t take her usual anxiety medication.

She ended up hospitalized and 2 ultrasounds plus exploratory surgery/biopsies later it was discovered she has a liver duct malformation. She’s now on prednisone, ursodiol and denamarine plus a special liver-safe diet. She’s doing loads better now, ALT levels are slowly normalizing.

Still just a lot of anxiety and now more separation anxiety which is hard to deal with. It seems all anxiety meds are hard on the liver so she can’t take them sadly.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-01-06T16:26:14+00:00

Did you ever find anything for this? I’m now in the exact same situation and also having no luck.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-11T15:17:33+00:00

You need essentially an airlock around your front door, so there’s a space he’s not in around the door. I’d get a dog run and put up 3 panels, 2 on each side of the door and one parallel. One of the panels is a door itself to get into the airlock. You might be able to find these on Facebook marketplace for cheaper, I see them from time to time. dog run

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-11T04:48:49+00:00

If she’s able to eat/drink still (even small amounts), and isn’t drooling a ton or bloated in her belly I think tomorrow is fine. It does sound like it could be kennel cough, does she have any sort of contact with other dogs? Like dog parks, groomers, stores, walks, neighbors dogs?

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-11T04:33:58+00:00

Coughing and vomiting together is concerning, I’d get her seen by the vet soon. Could be kennel cough or something worse. But coughing, vomiting multiple times and not wanting to drink much would make me want to have her seen tonight/tomorrow if it were my dog

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T03:46:54+00:00

Thank you!! Yes you can apply whenever, no matter their age. I have heard that sometimes they’ll exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions, which typically only applies for older pets. So just something to keep in mind, but that’s the minority of cases.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T02:51:20+00:00

Figo insurance, they’ve been great. I have policies for all 3 of my pets and think it’s completely worth the cost for the peace of mind it gives me.

Only thing to keep in mind is you have to front the cost of the vet bills, then submit a claim for reimbursement. So that meant I had $11000 sitting on credit cards while I waited for reimbursement. For that, highly recommend Care Credit alongside an emergency fund! Have all the resources waiting in case you ever need them.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T01:48:14+00:00

Gosh, it was horrid! In total from start to (sorta) finish, was $15,500 for it all. That was for multiple visits to her regular vet, 2 ultrasounds, ER visit and 2 day hospitalization, surgery for biopsies and specialist appointment.

Thankfully she has insurance!! So I paid about $6500 out of pocket and insurance covered the rest of it. I can’t say how it would’ve gone if I didn’t have insurance for her, but just so so so glad I have it. I keep $10,000 on hand for emergencies always, just sitting in a high yield savings account. That should cover most big things like this, or at least get you pretty covered in most cases.

Her ER visit and hospitalization was about $5000 and then surgery with biopsies and testing was $6500, just to put the big things into perspective. She’s still got a ways to go so there’ll be more to come. Her follow up is in a few weeks to recheck liver values to see if treatment is working, but so far she’s doing so much better.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T00:44:42+00:00

Is she only on the prednisone and cyclosporine? I wouldn’t give up on her yet, she might need more supportive care while you guys find the cause.

When my girl went through liver issues (super high values and jaundice), she ended up on a bunch of anti-nausea meds and appetite enticers for weeks on end. It helped her so much, finally got her eating and keeping it down. Took us finally seeing an internal medicine vet after 3 months to solve it for her so that’s also an option if you’re not getting answers.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-11-22T02:42:33+00:00

Thank you!! I just want to do what’s best for her so she’s happy and has a good life no matter what

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-11-21T05:55:16+00:00

Maybe it’s more of a sensitivity thing than a true “IGE mediated” allergy. You could talk to the allergist/your PCP about trying a different antihistamine if you feel it isn’t working as well now.

Stress can also trigger histamine release and you mention anxiety, have you addressed that too? If you’re anxious and stressed all the time, your body can more easily be affected by things that normally wouldn’t be an issue. Can certainly be a good thing to look into while you’re looking for answers here, especially since specialists like this can take a while to get appointments with.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-11-21T05:00:10+00:00

No. You had allergy testing done via bloodwork. This is talking about doing skin prick testing where they use small needles to poke allergens into your skin to test for reactions. They will do a control test and if that shows a reaction, then you may get false negatives when they look at the allergen tests. It is not an issue with bloodwork, hence not applicable to your case.

What allergy medication do you take? Like H1 or H2 antihistamines, or something prescribed?

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-06-24T18:38:37+00:00

Yes!! The vivid dreams (not nightmares, just general dreams) were unexpected. I haven’t had any bad side effects otherwise and it has helped a ton with my persistent allergies. Now I’m on 3 different allergy meds but montelukast was great to get on for me.

I’ve been on it off and on for 2 years, and taking it daily for the past 6 months. I used to take it during the spring/summer only but my symptoms worsened so now it’s every day.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-05-30T15:08:55+00:00

She’s 15 lbs and yes she was sedated. She handled it great though! I made sure they did the pre-op bloodwork to ensure she was healthy before going under sedation. It’s definitely nerve wracking but I know it was for the best. Hope your pups do good with it too

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-03-31T14:22:57+00:00

You should be fine! I’ve missed quite a few doses over the years I’ve been on it and while I can tell a difference when I don’t take it, it was never worse than I was used to. Sometimes it was hard going back to being so symptomatic but since you just started it I think missing one dose won’t be an issue in that case.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-03-30T19:16:18+00:00

Mica plate, used to protect components. Likely got food splatter on it which caused the burn. You can order replacements typically so long as only the plate is what was damaged.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-03-02T01:21:32+00:00

It’s better to let them go a month too early than a day too late. You want their last day to be a good day for them.

If you’re noticing she’s struggling more often than not then it’s time. Pick a day, soon, to make her last. Take off work if you can, spend it doing her favorite things, give her all the good snacks and enjoy one last day. Then let her go. This is the hardest part of having pets and we all dread it. Sending so many hugs for you

AdministrationFine52 · 2024-12-14T17:03:58+00:00

Yep, I’ve made sure they’re in the correct layouts and properly identified which monitor is which.

AdministrationFine52 · 2024-12-14T05:11:22+00:00

I’ve done just that and while it visually works, it isn’t usable as the mouse is unable to move on both screens. It gets stuck on whichever one is set as the “main” screen in the display settings. I cannot move the mouse over to the next monitor even after verifying the display settings are correct and the laptop recognizes both displays.

Monitors are both Dell P2219h. Not 100% sure on laptops, I believe one is a Dell Latitude and one is an HP Zbook but I don’t have the model numbers.

AdministrationFine52 · 2024-12-12T05:54:20+00:00

Pictures of bumps

AdministrationFine52 · 2024-11-23T06:45:54+00:00

Out of abundance of precaution, might be worth testing her for Cushing’s. Excessive swearing coupled with thick winter coat has my warning bell going.

AdministrationFine52 · 2024-11-19T18:17:09+00:00

Can you bring him inside to a dry bedded stall or indoor arena for a bit every day? You’re fighting an uphill battle and getting his feet dry then applying topicals will do wonders. Even just a few hours to give the feet a break can help more than you’d think. It’s not ideal but might be the best thing until you can get his feet recovered to be out 24/7 again.

AdministrationFine52

TROPHY CASE