What Is Wrong With Mikee ?

[dobelvr]

Sorry this is so long. Mikee has been sick since last October and we still don't know what's wrong. Around the second week of October I noticed he was squinting with one eye. I couldn't see anything wrong but we went to the vet for her to look it over. We noted his weight had dropped from 71 lbs in March to 66 lbs. She examined the eye thoroughly and found no trauma. He went home with antibiotic ointment. She also looked his teeth over and was not happy with them. They had just been cleaned in March and were looking pretty bad. I took home some oravet. She didn't want to do another oral so soon after the last one. We followed the treatment for his eye and used the oravet weekly. His eye improved but he continued to act ill.His appetite really dropped off and I had to become creative to get him to eat. About this time two of my dogs collided with him outside and he slide across the pavement and ended up with a couple of abrasions. He licked these to the point I had to muzzle him to get them to heal. He continued to act ill. He walks slowly with his head down. He avoids the other dogs like he is afraid they will bump into him. I took him back to the vet and had a senior blood panel drawn and did the snap test for lyme and erhlichia. All came back normal except for a low t4 count. We started him on doxycycline anyway. I don't remember the dose anymore but I think it may have been 200 mg 2x daily for 4 weeks. We drew blood for a tick panel and sent it to Protatek labs . This also came back normal. He perked up a little bit the first week or two but returned to his depressed state. We completed the full month of treatment. I took him back to the vet for another hands on exam and it was decided he should get another dental. He also continued to lose weight and was down to 62 lbs. She noted a few small blisters along the gum line. His molars were almost black along the gumline. No foul or unusual odors were noted from his mouth. He was given an injection of clavamox which was good for three days. He perked up after this. He had a second injection to tide him over until the dental. He came through the dental very well but I swear after the third day when the clavamox would have worn off he was less perky. His weight when he went in for his dental was down to 60.6lbs. His appetite was fair with coaxing. We rechecked his cbc and I'm not sure what else and everything was normal.We also drew a thyroid panel and sent it to Michigan State. It took forever to get the results and again only the t4 was low. They recommended no treatment. We decided to try some rimadyl to see if pain is the issue. I gave pepcid with each dose but by the third day he stopped eating. So I stopped the rimadyl. I didn't want to try any other pain meds at that time. About a week later we started him on soloxine to see if there would be any improvement. Its been about two weeks and although he is a bit more alert his appetite has not returned to pre rimadyl status. I took him over to the vet to weigh him tonight. He had gained 2 lbs over three or four weeks after his dental but has now lost it again. I am at my wits end. His appetite is worse the last few days. He was eating three milk bones and one dental bone daily no matter what until I gave him the rimadyl. Now he's hardly eating any bones. I've tried brushing his teeth but the gums bleed on one side and I think it affects his appetite. When this all started he was getting Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul moistened. He wasn't eating it so I switched him to Nutro senior small bites with canned pedigree. He was eating this okay but started not wanting the canned food. So I was giving just kibble moistened with chicken broth. This lasted a little while but then I ended up mixing kibble with either ground chicken or ground beef. He eats most but not all of this. If we deviate from the normal routine he won't eat. So some of this is behavioral but with his weight being so low I cater to him. Anyway I'm waiting to hear back from the vet about what else we can do. He has no visible or palpable growths. No limping. He just looks depressed and unthrifty. I know there are many other tests out there but beyond xrays I can't afford things like MRI's and CT scans. Its very frustrating to see him looking like a ghost of his former self. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. My worse fear is cancer. Mikee is only 8 years old.

[ahicks51]

SNAP test for Lyme and Ehrlichia, but no complete tick panel yet?

 

Have you considered raw feeding for the dental problems?

 

ETA: What FullMetalFrank sez, down below. Oral pain could be enough that eating just isn't worth the pain. Full dental to route out bad teeth may be required.

Edited February 26, 2008 by ahicks51

[CaliforniaGreys]

My God, this is the worst.I so wish I could offer some advice but I don't know what to say other than I feel so bad for this guy.I sure hope that someone with more knowledge than myself can offer some suggestions. All I can offer is a special prayer for Mikee and I really hope he starts feeling better...SOON

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I am certainly not an expert, but to me it sounds like his teeth are really bothering him. Maybe take him for a second opinion to see if he needs extractions, could he have infection actually in the jawbone?

[Guest mandm]

You say Protatek did a tick panel. Was it the standard 4 -- Ehrlichia, Babesia, RMSF & Lyme? If not, I'd have that done. It should be pretty cheap since they already have the blood sample at the lab.

 

In the meantime, I would feed him whatever he will eat, probably not dogfood. Anything he wants. Most likely meat, cooked or raw. In my experience, raw is easier to digest if his stomach is in bad shape. But it seems that they prefer the taste of cooked.

[tbhounds]

I would seek out another Doctors opinion. Are you close the the U of Penn? He might need to have dental x-ray's done to see if it's really his teeth that are bothering him. I know you said that he just had a dental prophy but, unfortunately some clinics are not very good at being aggressive with their dentals. If you aren't close to Penn you might want to try to look for a Dentist in your area.

 

[Batmom]

Might want to get him tested for the fungal diseases (blastomycosis, histoplasmosis), and x-ray his torso/abdomen just to see if there's anything interesting there (heart, tummy, innards).

 

How is his pee/poop? Those both been checked for infection, parasites, kidney issues?

[silverfish]

Time for a specialist referral. I know this could prove expensive, but how much longer can you go on 'waiting and seeing'?

 

My experience with treating this kind of thing with a local vet 'waiting and seeing' and trying different things which seemed to help but only resulted in very short term improvement ended with me losing a dog with undiagnosed kidney cancer.

 

I have only two other suggestions. Since antibiotics have resulted in a short-term improvement each time they've been given, would your vet consider a 'sledgehammer' dose, for even longer than the four weeks you had him on Doxy? Sometimes this has proved effective even though no source of infection has been found.

 

And try emailing Dr Bill Feeman. He's a member here under the name 'Feemandvm' and is so nice and generous about answering queries from GTers. But he doesn't always get in here to check PMs, so email is the way to go. I have no way of knowing what your vet has or hasn't found or looked for in the way of dental problems, or what the state of his teeth are now, or what to suggest re tick panels etc, but Dr Bill will perhaps have some better insights.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[MP_the4pack]

I'm another one voting for a specialist. Red Bank Vet Hospital is the largest private vet hospital in the States if you are anywhere near eastern NJ. Ohio State U has a plethura of greyhound docs most notably, the oncologist Dr. Couto. There is a terrific dentist in Brick, NJ.

 

Good luck.

 

By the way, I am way in favor of pulling teeth that are bad. Pearl had an abscessed tooth that affected her kidneys that gave her hypertension. All this on top of heart disease.

 

By the way, did you check for hypertension? Pearl was feeling poorly when her BP was soaring.

 

 

 

 

[greyhoundlov]

I know you love your baby and are very worried, but 4 months is plenty long enough to wait for an improvement.

 

It's time for a second opinion. Soon.

[Guest AmyN]

This won't make you feel any better, but we went through a very similar experience with our very first greyhound, Gabby, over ten years ago now. He just wasn't acting like himself, was slow and lethargic, lost appetite, vomiting blood, and wound up with a full-body hematoma where you could just see pockets of blood pooled under the skin. We tested for everything under the sun. No one ever thought cancer. He finally died at home in the middle of the night on February 12, 1997. We then discovered it was spleen cancer.

 

He was a very special boy, being our very first adoption, and 9 years young when we got him. He didn't stay very long but he created a very permanent and very deep imprint on our hearts. But he suffered so much from "wait and see" and a passive vet that, when we finally discovered what he was so quietly suffering through, we regretted not having been able to end the suffering for him sooner.

 

I am so thankful that we now have a vet who will be as aggressive as we need her to be. From our vet at the time, the response I got late at night after Gabby had just vomited blood and fallen off the bed when trying to get down was to "let him lie." I was all alone (husband working annoying hours at that time), scared, bewildered, confused, helpless, and had to just sit there with him and watch while he suffered, wondering if he would make it to the morning (he did, that night). It was awful, and I would hate for you or anyone to have to feel that way ever.

 

I'm certainly with everyone else, because it's hard to know what the right thing is to do when you don't know what's wrong. At the very least, you'll know, and you can make a better decision as to the right course of action.

 

My thoughts go out to you and Mikee during this difficult time. I'm so sorry you have to watch him suffer without any answers.

[Guest ss556]

I would agree with a specialist and a dentist, maybe where MP the 4Pack said. Sending prayers for an answer and for your grey.

[patricia]

I know you love your baby and are very worried, but 4 months is plenty long enough to wait for an improvement.

 

It's time for a second opinion. Soon.

I agree!

[Guest CyndiW]

Sounds like you really need a second opinion and/or possibly an ultrasound. They are usually less than $300. When my dogs start to go down quickly and everything keeps coming back normal, the vets usually want to do an ultrasound to see if they can find any abnormalities. Unfortunately, I have had 2 lose a great deal of weight and both turned out to be cancer. Cancer is often very frustrating because you x-ray, run blood tests, etc and everything comes back normal for months but you know something is wrong because your dog won't eat and keeps losing weight. I hope in your grey's case it is the teeth or something else that can be fixed, but hopefully someone will be able to tell you something soon. Keep us posted.