Tbd Symptoms

[Guest LittleGreys]

Hi All,

 

I guess this is a spin-off of my post yesterday (asking about Dr Couto, cancer only?). Several people have suggested TBD. My vet just doesn't think that is what it is due to the lack of other symptoms, circumstances, etc.

He is the brief "jist of it", dog is 18 months old, has a fractured spine (happened at approx 4-6 weeks of age). Came to me very painful, no muscle mass, etc. After several months was doing greyt! Then this spring became painful. Has good days and bad days, sometimes good for several weeks. She eats, drinks, pees, poops, no diarrhea, no vomiting, no fever that I have noticed anyways, no joint swelling. No rashes, no bruising, nothing. Just joint pain. We have done bloodwork, normal. I have done the 4x Snap test, negative. Haven't sent out a tick panel, as my vet is reluctant. I have never seen ticks on my dogs here at home, but know they are out there, if I forget to Frontline the cat, she gets ticks. I took two Greyhounds to Greyhounds in Gettysburg, despite Preventic collars, there were ticks crawling all over my other Greyhound (never found any attached, just crawling, yuk!), but didn't see any on this dog.

We took more x rays yesterday, but didn't see much other than the healed spinal fracture. My vet thinks all the joint pain (her neck was also very painful yesterday) is coming from the spine and from the other joints compensating for her painful back. Finding another vet is not an option, my vet is the best in the area, and I work there, so must tread lightly.

I did take her to another vet hospital for the laser therapy, which I thought helped, but now don't think so.

So anyway, I guess my question is does anyone else have a dog with a TBD and no symptoms other than joint pain??

She is on doxy.

Thanks for any help!

Sue

PS She is doing better today, so we will postpone the trip to Dr Couto for now. If she gets worse, will definitely contact him.

 

 

[ahicks51]

*nudge* *nudge*

Tick panel.

*nudge* *nudge*

 

[Guest greytbookert]

I agree... a full tick panel is in order. If nothing else, it will rule out any TBD's and then you can go from there. It is worth the money!

[Guest mandm]

Tell the vet to "humor" you with a tick panel. Then you are implying that it is you, not him/her, who is being irrational.

 

With my last TBD dog I got a tick panel which was negative. I was surprised -- glad, but I knew I would have to figure out what was wrong with him. 3 months later, he had gotten sicker and I was almost positive it was TBD. So I took him back to the vet & said just treat him with Imizol, which covers the two most likely TBDs. I figured his was one of the odd tick panels that showed a false negative. The vet was not so sure and said "humor me with another tick panel." It's just a nice way of getting what you want. The 2nd panel came back positive. Good thing because she would not have wanted to treat, although I would have insisted. It was worth the extra $125 to maintain good relations.

 

I've had 2 TBD dogs, so I don't have a whole lot of experience, but more than I would like. Symptoms can be weird. They are not always the classic textbook symptoms, like low platelets, that vets are looking for. I would think joint pain by itself is a classic symptom. But the vet thinks it is explained by the spine injury. He could be right. Or not. TBDs are tricky. The place to start is with a tick panel.

Edited September 26, 2007 by mandm

[Greytlady94]

There are many, many possible symptoms but the individual may show only one symptom, none or a whole bunch. When I was reading your post my instinctive response was going to be "the day my vet refuses to listen to me is the day I find another vet"...then of course I read the rest of your post. So maybe the suggestion of "humoring you" is something you can try. Have you shown your vet the long, long list of "possible symptoms"? If not I would take that to work as back up. In the end you have to do what is best for your dog, I know you have considered a trip to OSU and that may be the best thing to do if you possibly can.

[Greytlady94]

There are many, many possible symptoms but the individual may show only one symptom, none or a whole bunch. When I was reading your post my instinctive response was going to be "the day my vet refuses to listen to me is the day I find another vet"...then of course I read the rest of your post. So maybe the suggestion of "humoring you" is something you can try. Have you shown your vet the long, long list of "possible symptoms"? If not I would take that to work as back up. In the end you have to do what is best for your dog, I know you have considered a trip to OSU and that may be the best thing to do if you possibly can.

 

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[Guest mandm]

Just read your other post about Dr. Couto that mentions that you were going to start Pred. I think I have that right. Anyway, as I understand it, you should eliminate the possiblity of TBD before starting Pred, as it can have terrible results for a TBD dog. Just another reason to get a tick panel.

[Guest D_MansMommy]

Lots of useful info here on Gt clicky It helped me a great deal when we thought D-man had a TBD.