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Mystery Illness


Guest greyt_learner

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Guest greyt_learner

Feel free to move this if necessary since it's not a greyhound in question.

 

My friend has a dog she rescued from the pound years ago - she doesn't know the breeds involved. Anyway, a couple of months ago the dog started limping on it's front leg, became very lethargic and wouldn't eat. He was obvoisly in pain when he tried to stand up and walk. Then he started forming scabs on his skin and his fur was falling out. She took him to the vet who did $700 worth of tests including TBD's she says. They thought it might be bacterial or viral and ran tests for those. While they waited for test results, they started the dog on antibiotics, anti viral and goodness knows what else. He did seem to respond to one or more of the meds and was back to normal in a few weeks, but the tests the vet ran all came back negative so it was still a mystery.

 

Well, a week ago, he had a bad relapse, but the limping is on a back leg this time. The vet basically said they can't do any more - they have no idea what is wrong and she will have to see a specialist if he doesn't respond to the barrage of meds they have him on again. I just wondered if anyone on here had experienced anything like these symptoms and had any ideas of what might be going on and what she may be facing.

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Sounds like a TBD. Tell her to try doxy and see if he gets better. She will know in a week. If they are in crisis, the test for erlichia can and does many times, come back negative. 5mg per # of body weight twice a day.

 

The other things that come to mind are fungal and usually don't have a good outcome (like blastomycosis -- or however you spell it)

Diane & The Senior Gang

Burpdog Biscuits

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Guest eaglflyt

I'd inquire if they tested for all TBDs and not just the snap-4 done at the vet's office. The snap 4 doesn't test for Babesia and some other TBDs. I'd suggest sending a sample to Protatek Labs for full testing.

 

Another possibility might be an autoimmune disease. Have they done any testing along those lines?

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Guest greyt_learner

Burpdog, she says they did a fungal and it came back negative too - forgot to mention that, but I'll pas on to try the doxy. Is that something the vet will give her on request?

 

Eaglflyt, they probably just did the basic - I'll tell het to check.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll be seeing her this afternoon.

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Guest greyt_learner

I quite agree Burpdog, I don't know which antibiotic they have him on now, but doxy is most certainly worth a try. I looked up the Ehlichea and it sure sounds like it could be that - I'm sure they didn't keep up the meds for 8 weeks before, so this may be the next phase of the disease if he just went into a remission last time.

 

Thanks again for the advice - I'm off to see her now.

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