Don't Know What's Wrong - Round Of Doxy Make Sense?

[Meandmy]

Last Monday Tori (who will be 13 in a few weeks) started acting like she was feeling a bit off. Nothing I could pinpoint, I just knew she didn't feel well. Still eating, still wanting to go for walks, just a bit lethargic. By Tuesday night she had gotten worse and didn't want to go for her evening walk. Tuesday night she was up panting quite a bit and couldn't seem to get comfortable, then Wednesday morning she refused to eat for the first time ever!

 

I couldn't tell if she was in pain (she has arthritic shoulders and is on both Tramadol and Meloxicam) or if she was sick. Since she didn't eat breakfast I didn't give her either of her pain meds and took her in to the vet. She had a fever (103.6 and 103.8) but no pain that he could find. Did a Lyme test in-house, which came up negative. She's had a few ticks on her this fall. They sent more extensive bloodwork out to the lab.

 

Thursday she was already feeling better and ate her breakfast. By Thursday night she was almost back to 100%. Meanwhile the vet called to say that her bloodwork looked fine except for her WBC count - he thought it was possible she could have a different tick-born disease (sorry I don't remember the numbers). His recommendation was to put her on Doxy for 2 weeks to see if she improves, then if it's making a difference to continue through the whole month-long regimen, assuming it's a tick-born disease.

 

We decided to wait as she was back to her old self and seemed to be feeling great all weekend. Now this morning I could tell as soon as she got up she wasn't feeling good. She refused her morning walk and only ate breakfast when I added some cooked noodles and did a lot of coaxing. She's also panting off and on.

 

So now to my question - since she's presenting with these symptoms again should I call the vet and get her started on the Doxy? I'm worried that I won't be able to tell if it's helping since the first time around she got better on her own. And at almost 13 I'm worried about what a month of antibiotics will do to her system if that's not what the issue is.

 

Thoughts?

[msjpk]

My Plummer, 13 yrs. old, has been on Doxie forever as therapy for her SLO. I give it to him with Pepcid and really have had no problems. I personally would put her on the Doxie and monitor her getting better or not. JMO

Good luck.

[macoduck]

Check with the vet but I'd say start the doxy.

Of more concern to me would be the panting and refusing to go on her walk. Sounds like pain (even with her pain meds) or her heart. At her age they don't bounce back on their own.

[tbhounds]

What did her WBC read? I assume it was low? Normal chemistry? Personally, at her age I would have radiographs done. I don't think the doxy is a bad idea though--just watch for GI upset.

[Guest Downtownhoundz]

Oh no ! It's so hard to know the right thing to do! If possible, maybe get a second opinion? My bridge girl,Kylie was on Doxy but in the end she didn't have a tick borne illness. Keep us posted...k?

[Meandmy]

Just got off the phone with the vet tech and got a bit more information. She said several of the tests in the "platelet count" panel were low. The two she gave me over the phone were:

 

WBC of 4.9 (normal levels 5.7-16.3) and

Platelets of 116 (normal level of 164-510)

 

She said all the other tests in the panel also showed lower than normal numbers and that she'd give me a printout when I come in. She's checking with the vet now but guesses that he'll want to start the Doxy regimen.

[macoduck]

According to De Stack's site she is in normal range.

http://www.greythealth.com/blood.html

Looks like the vet tech is using non-greyhound values.

[tbhounds]

Ack-those are completely normal numbers for a greyhound.

Edited to add --unless those numbers are an acute change from what they have been in the past.

If your hound is still "off" my guess is there's something else going on and further diagnostics are needed.

Edited November 12, 2012 by tbhounds

[Meandmy]

According to De Stack's site she is in normal range.

http://www.greythealth.com/blood.html

Looks like the vet tech is using non-greyhound values.

 

Thank you for this! That's what I was wondering. My vet has a lot of greyhound patients and I do trust him, but I also don't want to put her on Doxy unnecessarily. I will certainly discuss this with him when he calls back.

 

ETA: I just got off the phone with the vet and all of her values have dropped since her bloodwork was last done in March. While they are in normal range for greyhounds, he feels that the drop is significant enough to warrant the Doxy. I feel much better knowing after talking to him about it. Thanks again for the web site!

Edited November 12, 2012 by Meandmy

[TwiggysMom]

Also maybe consider that she could be developing GI ulcers from the meloxicam. Her behavior is exactly like Twiggy's while she was developing them from Metacam (same active drug as meloxicam, different formulation/dosing ability).

 

I (along with Twiggy's vet and oncologist) were thinking there was something orthopedic at the root of her symptoms. It wasn't until she started vomiting everything back up including water that we realized what was happening.

 

Stopping the Metacam completely, along with Cerenia (both injection & pills), and carafate cleared everything up very quickly. She just can't ever have Metacam again.

[Meandmy]

Also maybe consider that she could be developing GI ulcers from the meloxicam. Her behavior is exactly like Twiggy's while she was developing them from Metacam (same active drug as meloxicam, different formulation/dosing ability).

 

I (along with Twiggy's vet and oncologist) were thinking there was something orthopedic at the root of her symptoms. It wasn't until she started vomiting everything back up including water that we realized what was happening.

 

Stopping the Metacam completely, along with Cerenia (both injection & pills), and carafate cleared everything up very quickly. She just can't ever have Metacam again.

 

Thanks for this info. Can you tell me how you determined that the Metacam was the issue? Was it just the symptoms or did you run tests as well?

[Guest mld]

Just got off the phone with the vet tech and got a bit more information. She said several of the tests in the "platelet count" panel were low. The two she gave me over the phone were:

 

WBC of 4.9 (normal levels 5.7-16.3) and

Platelets of 116 (normal level of 164-510)

 

She said all the other tests in the panel also showed lower than normal numbers and that she'd give me a printout when I come in. She's checking with the vet now but guesses that he'll want to start the Doxy regimen.

 

Her WBC are normal for greyhounds 3.5 - 6.5

and her platelets are also normal 80.000 - 200.000

 

I would definitely print off the greyhound blood work normal ranges for your vet, sometimes they forget.

[TwiggysMom]

Thanks for this info. Can you tell me how you determined that the Metacam was the issue? Was it just the symptoms or did you run tests as well?

 

We did bloodwork & x-rays to rule out other stuff (including blockages) once she started vomiting.

 

This ended up being more of a presumptive diagnosis. We didn't scope her to confirm ulcers, and there wasn't any way to say definitively that it was the Metacam, but the only other medication she was on is not known for this type of side effect.

 

NSAIDs are notorious for causing GI upset and ulcers. They can be great medications, but can also cause problems.

 

Since she recuperated so well after stopping the Metacam, about a week of Cerenia, and maybe 2 weeks of sucralfate (generic of Carafate, should have said sucralfate earlier - same med, only generic), I didn't feel the need to get more definitive answers.

 

edited to clarify sucralfate vs carafate

Edited November 14, 2012 by TwiggysMom