Unknown health problem

TBMixBreed · 12-28-2007, 08:21 AM

I have a 17 year old mix breed that weighs about 20lbs. Up till about 3 weeks ago she was a happy, healthy and overall energetic dog. She would run around the yard and never wanted to stop eating. Then recently, almost overnight, her health has degraded rapidly. She has trouble walking. She walks very stiff and at times will stand there and tremble for a second as if she doesn't have the strength to hold herself up. Within the last couple days she has stopped eating, though she acts as if she is hungry, she just won't eat anything. We have been giving her nutri-cal so that she atleast has some sort of nutrients. She is drinking water and will go outside to relieve herself. We have had her to 3 different Vets and they all seem absolutely worthless. They give us no answers, just possible scenarios. All of them want to do numerous tests on her, but she is 17 years old and I don't want to stress her out. These Vets seem like overpaid technicians. They can't diagnose anything without the technology to do it. She has had blood work done and it all looks fine. One of our thoughts was that she had contracted Lyme disease, because she shows a lot of those symptoms and I've been told that Ticks were quite bad this year, atleast in Florida. The Vet we took her to last night seemed very rude and didn't want to really look at her cause he said he didn't have the time and that he needed to leave. Her normal Vet gave us an antibiotic because she seemed to have an infection. Her white blood count was up and was running a fever. Now the infection seems to be gone, but her demeanor is still nothing like herself. Has anyone ever had this happen to there dog and what methods did you use to help? I'm pretty much through with Vets unless I need medication for her. If it is her final days I want to make her as comfortable as possible, but she doesn't seem very comfortable right now.

Shalva · 12-28-2007, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBMixBreed

I have a 17 year old mix breed that weighs about 20lbs. Up till about 3 weeks ago she was a happy, healthy and overall energetic dog. She would run around the yard and never wanted to stop eating. Then recently, almost overnight, her health has degraded rapidly. She has trouble walking. She walks very stiff and at times will stand there and tremble for a second as if she doesn't have the strength to hold herself up. Within the last couple days she has stopped eating, though she acts as if she is hungry, she just won't eat anything. We have been giving her nutri-cal so that she atleast has some sort of nutrients. She is drinking water and will go outside to relieve herself. We have had her to 3 different Vets and they all seem absolutely worthless. They give us no answers, just possible scenarios. All of them want to do numerous tests on her, but she is 17 years old and I don't want to stress her out. These Vets seem like overpaid technicians. They can't diagnose anything without the technology to do it. She has had blood work done and it all looks fine. One of our thoughts was that she had contracted Lyme disease, because she shows a lot of those symptoms and I've been told that Ticks were quite bad this year, atleast in Florida. The Vet we took her to last night seemed very rude and didn't want to really look at her cause he said he didn't have the time and that he needed to leave. Her normal Vet gave us an antibiotic because she seemed to have an infection. Her white blood count was up and was running a fever. Now the infection seems to be gone, but her demeanor is still nothing like herself. Has anyone ever had this happen to there dog and what methods did you use to help? I'm pretty much through with Vets unless I need medication for her. If it is her final days I want to make her as comfortable as possible, but she doesn't seem very comfortable right now.

I think with a 17 year old girl you really have to decide how much you want to do. I totally understand your concern about overdoing it and stressing her out. Now that having been said.... couple things. a tick panel is easy to do and a blood test, I would want to have a full tick panel done if you think that is a possibility. I would probably have a xray or two done to see if there is anything obvious showing up on the xray......

I personally would probably not do an ultrasound or mri or any other tests as you have to decide..... if they told you it was something that they could see on those tests what would you do about it????

I have a dog with seizures.... and they suggested an MRI for $1500 bucks ..... I said no.... the reality is that it would tell me if he had a brain tumour but then what would I do about it???? I probably would keep him comfortable and that is it... I doubt I would do brain surgery on him..... as it turns out he doesn't have a brain tumour or he would be dead by now....

my point is you have to really think about what would you do with the results of the tests..... if you would treat..... then do the test.... but it sounds to me like that is not where you are......

this is a hard decision.... I personally would rule out easy to treat things like infections..... lyme, erlichia..... that kind of stuff..... I would probably do an xray to see what shows up but other than that with a 17 year old girl..... I probably would do my best to keep her comfortable and enjoy her while she was with me.... its hard to do what is best for them when it is so painful for us.
s

TBMixBreed · 12-28-2007, 04:23 PM

I'm not going to do a lot, if any, tests on her. The Vet we usually take her to, he told us that he could do the tests but he doesn't really want to either. She is too old to stress her out with tests that may just tell us she is dying. The one animal hospital we took her to always wants to do a bunch of tests and are always saying that they can do brain surgery. The last time we had her there it was an ear infection and they were talking brain surgery. I'll keep trying to get her to eat and I have some pain medication that we gave her a long time ago when she hurt her hips. And if she doesn't get back to normal we'll just stop giving her anything and see how long she lasts. The one Vet told us that it is normal for an old dog not to eat for a couple days and that once she gets really hungry she will eat. It's not looking that way though. If she is in pain I would rather put her down so that she doesn't live out her final days in pain, but a lot of Vets don't want to do that cause they keep saying she looks fine. I'm not sure what they are looking at or if they don't want to do it as much as we don't. Only thing we can do is hope for the best but expect the worst. If she was a young dog we would put her through the tests, but it is too much on an older dog. The tests may kill her by stressing her out too much. Well thanks for the reply. I was just trying to get some other input on the situation. I figured any information is better than what information, if any, we have been given. Thanks.

briteday · 12-28-2007, 04:27 PM

You'll know if it's the right thing to do when the time comes. You have lived with this dog for 17 years and know her best. You will be the only one who knows if euthanizing her is the most humane thing to do. Our thoughts are with you...

Pawper · 12-28-2007, 04:43 PM

Have you tried a holistic vet? My brother is a holistic DMV and they are generally more concerned with your dog then your pocket book, and wont recommend brain surgery for a sprained knee. Some vets...gheesh dont get me started! What I would do is talk to a holistic vet, not so much about treatment but about comfort. Ask about what some natural remedies are that will alievate joint pain, becuase it might be a case of arthritis flaring up to a horrible degree due to an underlying cause. Example: the introduction, but not contraction, of lyme diseaese or something equally as infectious, that cut her immune system down to fight that infection and now rhumatoid arthritis has set in. If the system is aged or supressed, it will have to take all its attention to fight one thing and leave the dog open to something else. This may not be the case at all, just a thought. It could be something as simple as what my brother calls O.A.S.....Old Age Syndrome. She might just be at that point in her life where she is beginning to shut down.

My grandfather was full comanche so I am very strong in my Native American beliefs. He would say that she "is preparing to run with the Great Spirit" and to make her transition a smooth and loving one...he would also advise "when they are ready to run with the Great Spirit who do we think we are to keep them on the ground?" That does NOT mean sit by and watch a dog in need of help die or suffer, but in a case like this she might just be ready to run. Love her through it until she get new legs up in the sky with all my dogs that have run before. My heart weeps for you.

Shalva · 12-28-2007, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pawper

Have you tried a holistic vet? My brother is a holistic DMV and they are generally more concerned with your dog then your pocket book, and wont recommend brain surgery for a sprained knee. Some vets...gheesh dont get me started! What I would do is talk to a holistic vet, not so much about treatment but about comfort. Ask about what some natural remedies are that will alievate joint pain, becuase it might be a case of arthritis flaring up to a horrible degree due to an underlying cause. Example: the introduction, but not contraction, of lyme diseaese or something equally as infectious, that cut her immune system down to fight that infection and now rhumatoid arthritis has set in. If the system is aged or supressed, it will have to take all its attention to fight one thing and leave the dog open to something else. This may not be the case at all, just a thought. It could be something as simple as what my brother calls O.A.S.....Old Age Syndrome. She might just be at that point in her life where she is beginning to shut down.

thats a great idea..... they may be able to direct the poster to alternatives....
excellent suggestion

Pawper · 12-28-2007, 04:56 PM

Thanks! I tend to lean towards the holistic/natural ways......and a lot of vets just flat piss me off. But hey, we're not all perfect are we?

Junipurr · 12-28-2007, 09:35 PM

I have a dog with chronic tick fever. He's had it now for 10 years. His symptoms quite stumped the moronic doctors until one finally listened to me and tested for tick fever since his blood work showed infection. It's a simple bloodtest that's sent off to a lab. The "cure" for it is a very inexpensive antibiotic, Doxycyline (sp?). If yours should have it make sure they give the antibiotic for a full 45 days. Mine was only given for 15 and it wasn't enough and the virus set itself in deep and didn't let him go. When he has a flare-up, which hasn't happened in 2 years, I give him Colloidal Silver now among other homeopathic and natural things instead of the drugs. He's done much better and doesn't have as many strange symptoms.

With my guy it seemed to happen overnight as well. Severe limping, lethargy, lack of appetite but continued to gain weight, he even had face swelling. And I wasn't in an area that was known for tick infestations.

Hope this helps. The holistic vet idea is a good one, I wish I had one around here.

Annamarie · 12-30-2007, 03:33 AM

I wouldn't go with expensive tests, but I would do bloodwork and maybe a urinalysis, things that are non invasive. the thing that concerns me most is the weakness in the hind end. in the end, if it's something that can be fixed to give her a few more happy years then I would go for it, but if it's something that means she's just going to suffer, I would let her go (if it were my dog). 17 years is very old for a dog, she's had a long happy life

*hugs* it's not easy to decide, but when it's time you'll just know.

TBMixBreed · 12-30-2007, 09:20 AM

We are going to take her to the Vet one more time and tell them we want minor tests done, nothing to stressful. I want her tested for anything like Lyme disease. We had bloodwork done a couple weeks ago and she had the signs of an infection, high white blood cell count, low red blood cell count and 104 temperature. But the Vet, and this was an emergency room Vet, couldn't tell us anything close to what's wrong with her. So we basically put her through the stress of leaving her in the hospital for the day for no reason. They had give us Cephalexin, but she was having a bad reaction to it. When we took her to the Vet on Thursday her fever was gone. We were giving her Clavamox, I believe it is a form of amoxicillin, after we stopped the Cephalexin. That's when she started to look good again and then just declined really fast. She is starting to have diarrhea, and it is a little orange, and she has vomited a couple times. She will not eat or drink anymore. I have been using a syringe to squirt water in her mouth and she will drink that way. And we are also giving her Nutrical so she atleast has some sort of nutrients. We won't do an MRI, because the only thing an MRI will really tell us is that there is something majorly wrong with her, like a tumor, and if that is the case we are not putting her through surgery. She probably wouldn't live through it. We are going to try a little more and then if nothing can be diagnosed we will make our final decision. I'd like to let her pass naturally, but she looks so uncomfortable.

Shalva · 12-30-2007, 09:34 AM

I think what you are doing makes alot of sense. I am sorry to hear that she is not doing well.... please keep us posted as to what you find out.
S

TBMixBreed · 12-30-2007, 02:15 PM

I just want to thank you all for your support. We took her to the Vet this morning and he didn't have to do any tests and told us that by listening to her heart that it was enlarged and it was failing. We had to have her put to sleep. I'm sad, yet feel better that she doesn't have to suffer anymore. Atleast she lived a long life. Thank you.

Shalva · 12-30-2007, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBMixBreed

I just want to thank you all for your support. We took her to the Vet this morning and he didn't have to do any tests and told us that by listening to her heart that it was enlarged and it was failing. We had to have her put to sleep. I'm sad, yet feel better that she doesn't have to suffer anymore. Atleast she lived a long life. Thank you.

I am so very sorry
s