Prognosis
It really is such a relief to know that the problem has been diagnosed. The vet said that the best case scenario would be that Jake would respond well to the prednisone and we could begin weaning him off within 4 months of treatment. As he progresses, we would reduce the dosage little by little until he is completely off. However, the chance that he would relapse within weeks, months, even years later is very possible. Then he'd have to go back on the steroids. The worst case scenario would be that Jake would not respond at all to the treatment. Fortunately, that is not the case. Jake is doing better each day. Like yesterday, for example, each time I ran upstairs to get another load of laundry, he was hot on my trail. He followed me around everywhere. He takes the stairs like a champ. The next milestones will be when he can jump onto the couch or bed or into the car. I know those days are coming. Unfortunatley, our vet also said that Jake would lose most of his muscle mass during treatment. His abdominal muscles will soon be gone and be replaced by a round belly - not that we'd love him any less!
We will definatley keep you posted on his progress. With all of the positive vibes from Boxer World - I know he will only get better
!
