Stomach Issues And Now Can't Walk

[EffieGrey]

Carmen got diarrhea on Sunday night. She goes through this from time to time, so we didn't think much of it and took away her food and cooked up some chicken in prep for a bland diet.

 

Monday night she was throwing up a lot, so we made a vet appointment for Tuesday. We went yesterday, and she got a subcue for dehydration, and subscriptions for carafate, flagyl and pecid. She was feeling better after the vet appointment and ate a good bowl of chicken & rice.

 

This morning, she was very lethargic. We went to the park, and she walked around a little, peed and had a little more diarrhea and then stopped walking completely. I had to carry her to the car, and carry her into the house. She will stand fine, but won't actually walk. She lay down in the house while we called the vet. Steve hugged her around her shoulders and she screamed. The area where she had her subcue is still puffy, and the muscles around it are spasming. She's at the hospital now, and will be x-rayed to make sure she doesn't have a blockage, but I really think the problem is the subcue site. Is this possible if they didn't do the subcue correctly?

 

They can't tell how her muscles are spasming, because she shakes like crazy when she's nervous, so her whole body is shaking. We tried to tell them, but I feel like we got brushed off by the tech.

[Guest RooRoo]

How scary for you and Carmen. Sending you good thoughts and well wishes all over the place!!!

[Guest Javagirl]

Leah,

I wish I had more knowledge because I'm a new greyhound mom but I'm really concerned for your pup and I've got my fingers crossed for you. I actually clicked on this thread because my Ladd is going through some of these issues right now as well and I've been thinking of taking him to the Vet also (We're doing the boiled chicken and rice meals for our lethargic, 'statuing' grey - however, his spirits are high and he's playful at home). Please keep us updated and good luck to you and your Carmen.

Kristyn, Kerwin and Ladd

[Trudy]

Not that it will help now, but do you have a video recorder or a digital camera with video or some way to take a quick video.

I took some video of Ryan shaking in case we needed it (he also shakes like crazy at the vet), but the vet could feel the spasms through his shaking.

 

Hopefully they figure out what it is and its an easy fix.

[Guest charmsmom]

Frankly, I doubt the sub-q was done wrong. I've had to do it by myself on my 16 pound cat several times with no training other than a saline injection and it's not difficult. It IS possible that there was some contamination in the fluids, though that's not highly likely. The fluids may make him a little squeamish because they're sloshing around and that might make him yelp.

 

I really don't know what's up. Is it possible for dogs to get meningitis??

[EffieGrey]

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Our vet showed up and looked at her and thinks that her not walking is caused by the subcue. They ran bloodwork, and it didn't show anything. She has a lot of muscle pain in the area where they did the subcue. They did give her some pain medication and will give her a prescription of pain meds for the next few days.

 

They will keep her this afternoon and send her home tonight. She should be OK in a few days. Phew! She will not have a subcue ever again. Effie had one once, and did not react like this.

 

I have given subcues to many animals, from my rat who needed daily subcues for months to sick guinea pigs (I do guinea pig rescue). I've never had a one react like Carmen!

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I was giving Kona subQT fluids 3x week. The lump usually lasted around 24 hours. Kona's skin would ripple/spasm for a while after giving it (I thought it was dependent on the temperature of the fluid going in). As mentioned by another, SubQT is pretty hard to mess up.

[pabozem]

What's a subcue? I've never heard of it.

 

 

 

[EffieGrey]

A subcue is an injection of fluids under the skin to rehydrate (subcutaneous fluids).