Lucky: Need House-style differential on her mysterious illness!

I

Isabella

Forums Regular
Hi Everyone,
Kelly suggested I post here.
My Sheltie, Lucky, got very sick last weekend, abruptly. I was away, my son watching her, but he is very careful with her. When my husband and I came back, she had one flaky and red ear, her butt was very red and painful and she was scraping it on the floor. Soon after, she began pooping in many of the rooms (or it had happened while we were gone and we didn't see it right away, as these were mostly unused rooms). The stool was black and looked bloody. She also vomited. WE took her to the vet, who just gave her some Pepcid, and cream to put on her butt and ear (very painful for her where the butt was concerned, and hard for us to keep her clean). Things got worse. She became dehydrated although she was drinking, kept pooping, and would not swallow the medicine. She went to a vet hospital for a couple of nights, and they were able to save her with IV fluids and antibiotics, but don't seem to really know what was wrong. It could have been mushrooms as some other dogs in town had rolled on poison mushrooms and become ill that way. (She smelled awful too). She had been on Metacam for her arthritis (only 5 years old, so I guess the inbreeding of purebred dogs can be a real problem-- before I always had mutts!). The Metacam may have been the problem but she had been taking it for a while. I am not sure what happened. She is gradually recovering. Does anyone have any ideas?
We are going to be very careful with her from now on!
She was overweight & was eating a vet prescribed low-fat diet… but we had a hard time resisting giving her a lot of treats and human goodies. No more!
If people have ideas as to what to feed her, let us know that too?
Thanks!
It's nice to have other people interested in Shelties...
Isabella
 
It sounds like she has ingested something poisonous or off. I would be surprised if it was the Metacam due to the constant diarrhea and the time it took to clear. Plus the itching ear is a sign of an irritant (brushing past something or eating something poisonous). You may want to check your garden for toxic plants and any substances laying around. There was a post recently asking about toxic plants. My shelties have gotten bad gastric upsets from digging up skanky old bones and from digging in freshly laid soil.

I also have a young dog with osteoarthritis (DJD). Its not a common thing in shelties, my dog has no history of arthritis in his family going back 40yrs so I am assuming his is not hereditary.

Have you tried pentosan injections - they are fantastic and have no real side effects. I only give Metacam when its absolutely necessary (generally after a competition). I found a huge difference after the pentosan injections and with him losing weight. He actually lost weight after getting the pentosan because he became more active.
 
Watch the Metacam. I had my Noah to the vet for his usual check up last fall and he was placed on a week's course of Metacm for a limp. THe limp got better, but about a week later, Noah refused to eat and was vomiting. On the Friday night, overnight, he was vomiting blood. I lost him early the Saturday morning. I blame the Metacam for causing a gastrointestinal bleed, and so does the surgeon I work for - he sees bleeds from anti-inflammatories all the time.
 
It's Lupus!

Just kidding. First, get her off the prescription food. Fat is not a medical reason to be feeding corn and sawdust at $3 per pound. Get her on a good quality, meat-based food. Pretty much any food will be better for her. Innova makes some good foods, Blue Buffalo makes good foods. Dogs are not humans. When dogs get fat, you don't reduce the level of fat, you reduce the total quantity of food. It is totally OK to supplement with whole foods. In my house there is no difference between "people food" and "dog food". My dogs eat meat, whole eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. In fact, adding whole animal-based foods to their diet is quite healthy for them. Adding pizza and beer is not. :smile2:

Once you get her food changed, add fish oil to her diet (if you don't already). The Grizzly brand is a favorite.

At that point, once the weight is off, and the diet is good, see if you can get her off the pain meds. They are not without potentially serious side effects.
 
Hi and welcome to the Forum. :smile2: I'm sorry to hear your Lucky is poorly. I don't have any suggestions to offer unfortunatly but I hope she is soon better.
 
My dogs are on opportunistic diet which is combination of raw, kibble, homemade and store bought highest quality treats. I do not like Rx food and would stay from anything processed.
For now if I were in your shoes I would give your pup easy diet with cooked good quality chicken/ no bones/ and rice, add some quality yougurt, pumpkin.
You can use Slippery Elm Bark and Marshmallow/ Althea officinalis/ bought in any vitamin store for soothing digestive tract from inflammation. Some dogs are lactose intolerant though...
Look into Vibrant pets supplements, this forum people love it.
Make chicken broth, add to their drink for improved hydration.
Depending on the arthritis and stage, there are some other methods to help, depending how much you want to do. Your dog is too young yet to not fight arthritis back- you might want to discuss with your vet, herbals, acupunture, swimming, physical therapy, T touch massage, homeopathics. You might be able to find holistic vet to work with you.
 
Not exactly 'House-style' but the top diagnosis on my differential would be HGE or hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. This is presumably what your veterinarians thought as well - often there is no clear 'cause' , it just seems to happen and needs to be treated. I'm sure you can Google it as well as I, here's one link. -
http://www.vetinfo.com/hge-dogs-explained.html

And, of course, as mentioned before here, if it hasn't been brought up i agree with discussing with your veterinarian the issue of further use of Metacam or other NSAIDS in this dog. - Dr. Mac
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top