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One Problem After Another


Guest Layla_mom

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Guest Layla_mom

I'm extremely frustrated with my vet and wanted to vent/ask for advice before I bring my dog in again today.

 

10 days ago, my 7.5 year old girl went in for a visit to treat what looked like a bladder infection (straining/spurting urination, some blood spotting). The vet said she had a slight fever, but still just sent me home with 7 days worth of ammoxicillan (which i've since been told is laughable that my dog would need only 7 days, especially since this infection presented w/ a fever and blood). They also did full bloodwork and urinalysis.

 

The vet also told me during that initial visit that we should come in for a dental to remove some teeth.

 

The days following that visit, my girl deteriorated. stopped eating, became extremely lethargic, panting constantly, and more blood appeared in her urine.

 

Brought her back in to the vet for xrays. They saw no stones/anything unusual.

 

Bloodwork came back "inconclusive" of anything. UA came back "inconclusive" of any bacteria. (???)

 

As i was leaving the vet that second time, i said "by the way, how's her temperature now?" and the vet says "oh, good idea! we should check that!" :angry: She disappears for 20 minutes and then returns, without my dog. Tells me she had a dangerously high fever (104.6 i think) and they were giving her subcutaneous fluids and will put her on 5 days of anti-inflammatories.

 

5 more days on the antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and she was doing soooo much better. eating again, not panting thru the night, had energy back, daily temp was good, etc. still some straining/frequency of urination. but all signs seemed good.

 

when her meds ran out, i called the vet and asked to get more immediately (as she still wasn't 100%).

 

first day on the refills of meds and she's presenting w/ all these different symptoms now :(

 

she's drooling from her left side of her mouth. she's sloppily drinking her water. like half of it falls out of her face when she's drinking it ??? she's off food again. she has thick, sticky saliva in the back corner of her mouth. her back tooth looks worse than ever. she's more lethargic than ever. she's panting again. her temp is only slightly raised though.

 

bringing her back into the vet again today shortly.

 

i know this has been a long story, but basically: i'm losing faith in my vet. it's obviously frustrating when all of their tests come back negative, but my dog is clearly sick. And today i feel like they're going to suggest emergency oral surgery before anything else. And since my dog is still sick from the original issue, I'm not comfortable with this idea.

 

also: are these two "sicknesses" really unrelated? is it just a coincidence that she had a raging bladder infection followed by critical mouth issues?

 

i just want my girl to be healthy. she's so sad right now. and i'm so frustrated by not being able to help her.

 

tia for your advice.

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Guest GreysAndMoreGreys

I would be tempted to ask for the top of the line antibiotic to treat the bladder infection and also if she has an infected tooth.

If it needs two different antibiotics I would again ask for the best. Not just the cheapest or the "old school" stuff.

 

Some vets rely on the old school antibiotics such as Clindmyicin (sp) but there is a newer drug out that seems to work better and is just one pill a day. Zeniquin

The Clindmyicin would have been cheaper for us but the Zeniquin I was informed might work better and would be not as harsh on our dogs stomach.

We went with the Zeniquin and let me tell you, knocked that infection out.

 

I wouldn't feel comfortable either having my dog put under at this point. I would want the infections knocked out before any surgery.

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Guest Layla_mom

I would be tempted to ask for the top of the line antibiotic to treat the bladder infection and also if she has an infected tooth.

If it needs two different antibiotics I would again ask for the best. Not just the cheapest or the "old school" stuff.

 

Some vets rely on the old school antibiotics such as Clindmyicin (sp) but there is a newer drug out that seems to work better and is just one pill a day. Zeniquin

The Clindmyicin would have been cheaper for us but the Zeniquin I was informed might work better and would be not as harsh on our dogs stomach.

We went with the Zeniquin and let me tell you, knocked that infection out.

 

I wouldn't feel comfortable either having my dog put under at this point. I would want the infections knocked out before any surgery.

 

good idea on the switching pills. when we first put her on the ammox, she stopped eating. the vet said "maybe she's allergic, but i doubt it."

 

but i just checked online for "allergic reactions" (to ammox) and it said:

 

Side effects when using amoxicillin include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. If an allergic reaction occurs, symptoms include rash, fever, swelling of face or limbs, difficulty breathing, rapid heart beat and incoordination.

 

 

Maybe she’s having an allergic reaction to the pills? These new symptons started 10 minutes after I gave her the first pill from the new batch on Saturday. Also, I didn’t mention previously, but she has been SUPER incoordinated lately. Today she freaking smacked her face against the hutch when leaving the kitchen. ??!! And she almost walked into the door on the way out. And all last night her heart beat was so fast that I thought she was ready to keel.

 

(crossing fingers this is allergic reaction over emergency oral surgery needed)

 

 

 

I’m going to ask the vet about switching her to a diff antibiotic.

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Guest Stripeyfan

Get a 2nd opinion from a different vet if it's at-all practical!! We struggled along with our old vet for nearly 3 months when Kelly started having GI problems... long story short, they kept denying malabsorption, the problem he turned out to have (diagnosed within 24 hrs by our new vet) was what was wrong with him, and my honest opinion is that if we hadn't gone to our new vet, he would not be with us now. I could kick myself for not changing vets sooner as I believe his problems would be far less serious now if we had. But we trusted our old vet because we thought, they're qualified, they're the experts. Not always true.

 

Good luck and :grouphug to your girl.

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Whereabouts are you located? I'd see a different vet. If she's got a bad tooth, she'll need heavy-duty antibiotics and the tooth out as soon as it's safe to do so.

 

Urinalysis while the dog is taking antibiotics probably *is* going to be inconclusive, even if the antibiotics aren't the right ones for that infection. We here have always had miserably bad luck with urine cultures, but most people find that for a major UTI, it's worth doing a culture and sensitivity, start the dog on antibiotics, and change the antibiotics if need be when the culture comes back.

 

When dog is taking antibiotics, may also find it helpful to give 1 regular-strength pepcid (10mg famotidine is the nice cheap generic), wait 30-40 minutes, feed a meal or substantial snack (slice of bread will do), then give the antibiotic. You can give the pepcid 2-3 times per day.

 

Hugs and best luck with your sweet pupper.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Guest Smiley

I'm so sorry you and your baby are going through this. I know how frustrating this must be. I just wanted to throw in our experience with a mouth abcess. Smiley had thick (very thick like glue) drool that would just hang from his mouth and he was lethargic and very "off". Our vet found an abcess in his tongue of all places. He lanced it, drained it and put him on heavy duty antibiotics and all was well. It did take two visits to get this resolved-the first time we brought him in for the drool and the antibiotics helped initially. A few weeks later it got progressively worse and they found the abcess while he was under sedation. When we brought him in for that visit, the vet took him back right away to sedate him and explore his mouth. It does sound like you've got something going on that needs to be rechecked and a second opinion might not hurt if you're not feeling comfortable with the care your girl. Good luck and keep us posted!

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