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Poorly dog, any ideas ?FINAL UPDATE

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First, just let me say the vet is seeing my dog, but we don't seem to be getting very far, I thought I'd post on here in hope that someone had experienced something similar with their dog .

Maisie is a 9yr old LabX who has always been disgustingly healthy until 2 weeks ago. Her last day of 'normal' behaviour she was running around in the snow like a mad thing, not sure if that has any significance, but you never know. That evening she didn't eat her dinner ( complete dried dog food ), a little unusual, but I thought she'd eat it during the night ( I leave her dish down incase she wants to snack )still hadn't touched it the next morning, I thought maybe she had an upset tum, but no symptons. She refused her dinner again that night , and subsequently, every night since- she hasn't eaten a meal now for 2 WEEKS ! She would eat dog biscuits from our hand, she was drinking and still excited about her walks -everything normal but not eating. She seemed to be a little stiff when walking and moving about, but she has mild arthritis, so not unusual.

After 4 days of no meals ( just occasional dog biscuits) I took her to the vets ,who diagnosed a soft tissue injury causing back pain. He explained everything and it made perfect sense, the pain had caused her to lose her appetite and I thought maybe lowering her head to the food bowl was painful- explaining why she'd eat from our hands. I thought maybe she had strained something running around like an idiot in the snow. After 3 days on pain killers she was moving around easier, but then started vomiting - just water and bile as she still wasn't eating. Then the vomit became blood stained :o and the vet thought she was over sensitive to the pain killers and they had caused a stomach ulcer :roll: so now Maisie is on new pain killers, antacid and anti nausea medication. She has stopped vomiting, but is STILL not eating.

I've tried boiled potatoes and pasta as the vet suggested, even pushed them into her mouth, but she spits them out. I offered her the water the pasta and veges had been boiled in, as she is still drinking and usually loves this, but she growled at me until I took the bowl away :(

She has not got a temperature, she is not dehydrated, she has the teeth of a 2yr old ( so says the vet )she is drinking and peeing fine. I'm beginning to think the vets' original diagnosis of back pain may be wrong, but having searched the net, can't find anything that matches Maisies symptons. Has anyone had a dog go through this ? any ideas ? I'm so worried about her and am at my wits end trying to get het to eat. We are due back at the vets tomorrow .

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Will she eat meat. Could you try mixinf something like Chappie in with her food, it might encourage her to start eating again. Our GSD Keira stopped eating her dry complete food suddenly and it we didn't mix it with tinned food or gravy she wouldnt eat at all. Have no idea what could be wrong with her though.

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Will she eat meat. Could you try mixinf something like Chappie in with her food, it might encourage her to start eating again. Our GSD Keira stopped eating her dry complete food suddenly and it we didn't mix it with tinned food or gravy she wouldnt eat at all. Have no idea what could be wrong with her though.

 

 

Nope, she won't eat anything. I've even offered her the cat food that she steals every chance she gets. I'm thinking now that the sore back was a symptom of something else, rather than the cause, and the medication has just been treating the symptons rather than getting to the root of the problem.

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I presume the vet has checked inside her mouth for a piece of stick or something lodged in there? Just a thought, although it wouldn't explain why she would eat out of your hand.

 

Sounds like the running around in the snow like a mad thing and then the sudden loss of appetite are connected, but how, I have no idea, except that she may have strained/pulled a muscle, but then the vet is treating her for that. :?

 

Hope she is soon back to her old self.

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Well we have just been for a very short, very slow walk. I wasn't going to take her, but she saw me get the lead for the terrier and got up and came to the door. So we went up the road and back, stopping every few steps for a rest :roll:

When we got back I tried her with the pasta again. She took 10 pieces plus a small dog biscuit from my hand. If she keeps it down it will be the first food in her stomach for 2 weeks. :pray: Keep your fingers crossed pleased.

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Have you tried chicken and rice - you can make it sloppy if that helps. My old GSD had to be tempted to eat from time to time, but never for as long as yours. Chicken and rice always worked though.

 

I wondered about some injury to her mouth so it's painful to swallow- but I would have thought the vet would have checked that.

 

I do hope you find a solution.

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I presume the vet has checked inside her mouth for a piece of stick or something lodged in there? Just a thought, although it wouldn't explain why she would eat out of your hand.

 

Sounds like the running around in the snow like a mad thing and then the sudden loss of appetite are connected, but how, I have no idea, except that she may have strained/pulled a muscle, but then the vet is treating her for that. :?

 

Hope she is soon back to her old self.

 

This is what I was thinking as I read your post as this is very similar to what happened to our 2 year old black lab Mille just over a week ago.

 

She had been running around in the snow, having a lovely time, only difference was that she couldn't have her tennis ball to play with as she kept losing it :roll: .

 

Anyway come the Friday evening I put her dinner down for her as usual (dry food) and she started to yelp and then walking backwards. She then started crying/yelping quite loudly and shaking and didn't want to be touched but did want to sit on OHs lap.

 

At that point he phoned the vets - of course our surgery was closed due to the snow but the emergency vet called us back and said to take her straight over to their surgery, still our practice but quite difficult to get there in the snow.

 

Although the vet examined her thoroughly she couldn't find anything obvious and dosed Mille with some painkillers and antibiotics and then the following morning they gave her a sedative and examined her again.

 

When they looked down her throat they found a tear - out of sight when simply looking in her mouth - it was nasty and needed stitching. The vet said the most likely cause was that she managed to impale herself on a stick :shock: . OH says that Mille was searching around in the snow for something to play with in the absence of her beloved tennis ball.

 

I know I could just be putting 2 and 2 together here but it might be worth getting your vet to go in and have a more indepth look. It was our vets first suggestion - we were the ones who were a little sceptical as we hadn't seen Mille do it :doh:

 

She's on the mend now and back on her dried food :wink: I hope your dog is on the mend soon - I know it can be such a worry.

 

Lisa P

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So sorry to hear she is poorly, they are such a worry aren't they? :(

 

I might be stating the obvious (sorry :) ) but did the vet run any blood tests at all ? Or offer to do any internal examinations/xrays?

 

Bracken had a "funny turn" before Christmas, she went off her food and after many tests it did result in her being very poorly and is now undergoing treatment.

 

How are Maisie's hips/back legs? It may be arthritis? :think: If so we found that glocosamine helped her loads.

 

Keep us posted how she's going and I really hope she is perky and back to herself soon. :pray:

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Lisa, I did wonder about a stick injury - she loves chewing sticks ( think that's why her teeth are in such good condition ), but the vet checked her mouth and it was obvious, even to me, that the way she was standing her back was uncomfortable- she was sort of hunched up, didn't want to straighten out.

She hasn't had any blood tests or x rays yet as vet was sure he'd sussed what it was and thought blood tests would just come back negative and a soft tissue injury wouldn't show on an x ray.

I defrosted a little cooked chicken for her earlier and she has eaten that - in 2 sittings :roll: , plus a little more pasta, think she has had the equivalent of a small snack now - but I'm still so pleased that she is eating and keeping it down, :clap:

Maybe the vet is right, but it's just taking much longer than he thought for the tablets to work , I'll see how she goes tomorrow, hopefully we won't need to go back to the vets just yet- esp as my car has chosen this weekend to breakdown :roll: just what I need on top of vets bills- a garage bill !

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Just an idea, what about some kind of blockage, maybe she has swallowed a piece of stick and it is wedged. She may be able to cope with small pieces of food and drink but maybe a large amount of food in one go is too much for her to cope with. An xray would show something like that, personally I think I would ask for an x-ray, it's been going on a long time and surely she must be getting weak from not eating.

A friend of ours had a Labrador who managed to swallow a kebab stick and it took their vets about 3 weeks to work out what had happened by which time the dog was extremely ill.

I really hope she shows some sign of improvement.

Kind regards

Nicola.

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We didn't go to the emergency surgery this morning as she seems a little brighter. She actually stood up and wagged her tail when I went into the kitchen this morning, and she managed a full length walk this afternoon - trotting along and tail wagging, unlike yesterdays stop start amble. Not sure where she found the energy as she is eating such tiny portions, she's had about 5 teaspoons of rice and fish so far today.

I don't get my car back from the garage until monday evening, I'm hoping she'll keep improving and we can go back to the vets then. If she isn't eating bigger portions by then I will ask for an X ray.

Thanks for the suggestions and thoughts everyone, nice to know so many care :)

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It is quite possible that what your vet has said is true. Acuter pain can cause anorexia. Some anti inflammatories can cause gut irritation and this can be more of a problem for animals that are not eating as there is nothing else in the stomach when the tablets are taken - resulting in vomiting. I would feed little and often (4 times a day). If she isn't vomiting and has no diarhoea she can eat anything that she likes really. Frying food makes it more palatable as it releases the smell. Adding little garlic can also make food more palatable. Smoked fish can be good to tempt too. Fluid is obviously really important so soups can be good but I would avoid milk. I don't know many dogs that are feeling off colour that would be tempted with pasta, potatoes and veg :? Some would struggle with them when they are feeling well :lol: Feeding her from a height may help if she has a sore neck or back so popping her bowls on a box or similar may help. Once she starts eating she should go from strength to strength as she will feel hungry when her stomach empties. Be careful with the amount of exercise though as she should not be using up valuable energy and shouldn't be doing much if she has a back injury. If she doesn't improve then bloods and xrays may well be suggested.

 

Good Luck :D Keep us posted :D

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I was going to suggest putting her bowl up higher......we use a small bucket (like you get catering mayo in, or maxi packs of fat balls) upturned with the bottom cut out & their bowls sat inside, very easy to get and just the right height for our Labranutters.

 

I hope she does recover soon, they are more of a worry than children aren't they, at least children can tell us where it hurts......

 

Sha x

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Well I hope ( fingers crossed ) that we are seeing a slow but steady improvement. More standing up and tail wagging today, another walk ( we go at her pace - she leads the way )and she ate a whole weetabix with warm water for breakfast.

ChuckyMama- I agree, I've given up on the rice and pasta - unappetising at the best of times. I've decided to give her what I'd give the kids if they were ill ( hence the weetabix :D ) and now I have eggs to spare, I'll try her with some scrambled tomorrow. I don't think her back is bothering her too much now - not judging by the positions she's been in in her bed :lol: I hope it's just a matter of getting her appetite back to normal.

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So glad to hear she's a little perkier :D

 

Scrambled egg works here for Bracken when she's off her food. :D

 

 

She wouldn't touch the scrambled egg ( and it was a lovely one of Muppets as well :lol: )and also refused another weetabix. She will still eat her dog biscuits ( little bone shaped ones that she has as a treat) but won't eat the little biscuits that form part of her complete food - I've even piucked out the bone shaped ones hoping to fool her - not having any of it, can't help wondering if it's psychological- as she'll eat her 'treat biscs'. She ate a sausage last night, and stole the cat food this morning ( first time in 2 1/2 weeks and I didn't tell her off ! :o ) I can't make my mind up whether she's still feeling ill, or whether she's being fussy- she's a lab, she's never fussy ! :lol:

I bought her some tins of Chappie dog food as I read it's the most easily digestible , thought it would be a treat for her as she never has tinned food, but she turned her nose up at that as well. OH says she's just had a couple of mouthfuls now, but it is puzzling.

On a brighter note, my car should be back from the garage this afternoon, so we can get to the vets.

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Another update, and not a good one. Maisie has got through the week eating just enough to keep going, she finished her medication yesterday and promptly threw up 3 times this morning.

Back to the vets and he took blood. He rang me with the results about an hour ago. Her organs are functioning normally, she's a little anaemic, but the worst is her white cell count- supposed to be 17 ( ? ) but it's over 50 ! the machine had trouble counting them. The vet says he's no expert, but he thinks he's identified leukemic cells. A sample has been sent to the pathologist for his opinion and we should have the results in a few days. But at the moment it looks like my poor pup has leukemia.

I'm taking her back tomorrow for a cortisone injection, which should make her feel better and improve her appetite, but once we have the official diagnosis , we'll have to make the hard decision of when to let her go. :cry:

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Oh gosh I am really sorry. I didn't want to post before but I had a labrador who developed similar symptoms at age 8 - she stopped eating and her back was so painful that she suddenly couldn't even lay down. When we took her to the vets they kept her in and found that she had leukemia.

 

Our vet said that it was very unusual and he had seen very few cases before. She had to be PTS.

 

So sorry - I didn't want to say anything before as I knew that it was rare and I didn't want to worry you needlessly

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