What Causes A Confused Canine?

[robinw]

Doxy won't treat some of the more common TBDs found in greyhounds. Before Phene was diagnosed and treated for babesia, he too acted very strange (even for phene, who is one of the more "eccentric" greyhounds i've met) . Babesia isn't treated with doxy.One thing about TBDs and greyhounds...you probably know this already, but some of these dogs move around so much that they are exposed to lots of TBDs, even some that aren't native to his area. I had one hell of a time finding a vet to test phene for babesia because the offending brown tick doesn't live in Ontario, so if the doxy doesn't clear things up, it might be worth running the full TBD panel.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Have your vet do a full neurological exam and she may need imaging studies done of her skull.

 

Her vet isn't recommending any imaging studies (like an MRI). For one thing, Jacey's "episodes" are minor--so minor at this point that she's not even going on any drugs to control them (beyond doxycycline, in case we've got a TBD). For another, he feels that an MRI would not be helpful. It might show nothing (for a lot of money), or it might show a tumor, which almost inevitably would be untreatable. In either case, it's a lot of money for a test that gives no way to help the dog. (Meanwhile, in his exam and the lab work, he saw nothing alarming.) An EEG might be useful for diagnosing this as epilepsy, but only if we could catch her having an event; since her episodes were never sleep-related, we can't even induce an event by knocking her out. And if it's epilepsy, there'd still be the question of what triggered it. Epilepsy that starts in dogs older than 5 often is tumor-related, so an MRI might confirm that--but leave us with nothing to do about it. (One site says that epilepsy usually is diagnosed in dogs aged 3-5; Jacey is 7 and a half.)

 

So, at present, we're treating as if there's a TBD. After that, we wait to see if there are more episodes, if they happen more often, if they become more severe. I have an emergency supply of Valium for if she should have more severe seizures or start having cluster seizures on a weekend.

 

Of course, this is Spacey Jacey, who's been known to do crazy stuff ever since I got her. Today, at a meet and greet, she went for a drink from a water bucket, and she decided to stick her front leg in the bucket while she was drinking. I wondered if she were having an episode as illogical as her early bathtub-standing events, but it appears not: when I called her, she responded, she didn't have her tail tucked, and she was fine. She just wanted to stand with her foot in the water bucket.

 

Way to go, goofy girl!

 

[Guest MZH]

Tick testing at Protatek isn't likely to be $100. Just a year or two ago you could get 5 different things tested for about $70, IIRC. They have a "greyhound special" (discounted price!) and have devoted a whole page to greyhounds and tick diseases and symptoms on their website. Here it is. They're great - and fast; I can't count the number of times we've used their services.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Doxy won't treat some of the more common TBDs found in greyhounds. Before Phene was diagnosed and treated for babesia, he too acted very strange (even for phene, who is one of the more "eccentric" greyhounds i've met) . Babesia isn't treated with doxy.One thing about TBDs and greyhounds...you probably know this already, but some of these dogs move around so much that they are exposed to lots of TBDs, even some that aren't native to his area. I had one hell of a time finding a vet to test phene for babesia because the offending brown tick doesn't live in Ontario, so if the doxy doesn't clear things up, it might be worth running the full TBD panel.

 

Babesia usually causes anomalies in the dog's bloodwork, doesn't it? Jacey's lab work this week was flawless. But we'll keep Babesia in mind. (One Babesia site says not to treat the dog just because you get a positive tick-panel, but only treat if you're seeing anemia or other blood problems. Jacey, thankfully, isn't showing anything like that.)

 

Jacey-Kasey was named for the only track she raced at: she's a JCKC dog.

[robinw]

Phene's tick titre was borderline normal, but the nasty critters were visible in his blood. His symptoms included acting strangely and low energy, even for a greyhound.He raced at Plainfield in Ct. but I'm pretty sure he grew up in Florida.

 

Good luck! I hope she's better soon.

[greyhead]

SIBO - small intestinal bacterial overgrowth - presents with diarrhea, not with neurological signs. Testing B12 and cobalmin without diarrhea or really any gastrointestinal problem at all isn't an effective use of your money. Have your vet do a full neurological exam and she may need imaging studies done of her skull.

B-12 anemia can result from any number of things, not just SIBO. Intestinal malabsorption can also result, for example, from hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism and *lots* of other things. And there may be no GI manifestation at all.

Edited October 24, 2010 by greyhead

[KF_in_Georgia]

Back at the same place for a meet and greet today, and Jacey did the foot-in-the-water-bucket trick again...more than once (and in more than one bucket).

 

But I think I figured it out. At home, she drinks from a stainless steel dish, and the water is rarely more than an inch deep. At the M&G, white plastic buckets filled with water are used to weight down the canopy at the corners so wind doesn't blow it away, and the dogs are welcome to help themselves to the water. But the water in the buckets is deep--10 inches or more.

 

I think Jacey's not clearly seeing the water level in the white buckets. Today, I watched her stick her head in a bucket--and come up spluttering when her whole muzzle went under water. After that, she stuck her foot in the bucket and held it there while she drank. I think she's sticking her foot in the bucket to give her a guideline on the water level. When her foot was in the bucket, she never stuck her head in too far.

 

And, in all fairness, I have to say it's not an issue of vision trouble. In that funny light under the canopy, even I had to stick my fingers in the water to see where the level was. At least, that was the case until Jacey stuck her foot in and left bits of dried grass floating in the water. (Oh, and the canopy is set up in a grassy field, and there's an old carpet on the ground. She wasn't suffering from burned feet.)

[robinw]

I think Jacey's not clearly seeing the water level in the white buckets. Today, I watched her stick her head in a bucket--and come up spluttering when her whole muzzle went under water. After that, she stuck her foot in the bucket and held it there while she drank. I think she's sticking her foot in the bucket to give her a guideline on the water level. When her foot was in the bucket, she never stuck her head in too far.

 

Loca did the same when she drank water and I never thought anything of it .

[KF_in_Georgia]

I think Jacey's not clearly seeing the water level in the white buckets. Today, I watched her stick her head in a bucket--and come up spluttering when her whole muzzle went under water. After that, she stuck her foot in the bucket and held it there while she drank. I think she's sticking her foot in the bucket to give her a guideline on the water level. When her foot was in the bucket, she never stuck her head in too far.

 

Loca did the same when she drank water and I never thought anything of it .

 

Jacey's never done it before this weekend. And today she went to all four buckets on the tent and dirtied up the water.

 

Because her earlier episodes were not noticeable problems but just seemed like oddball behavior (such as standing in the bathtub), I'm on the alert every time she exhibits some untypical behavior. But when she has an episode, she looks miserable, she isn't responsive to anything around her, and she's not quite "right" for several minutes. Today, she answered to her name, she drank water right away, and she happily trotted off after she'd had her drink with her foot in the bucket. Today, at least, there was a method to her madness.

[Batmom]

She could be looking for a way to cool herself off. I might consider getting her off the thyroid meds for a time, until she "dries out" in order to have a full panel, and certainly checking her blood pressure.