Unknown Illness - Need Help

[Guest rtnye]

Please Help! My greyhound was healthy 3 days ago and now she is lying, listless in a hospital that has no answers for me.

She went in with a fever of 106.7 She has trouble getting up and laying down, all her feet and legs are full of edema, her skin is going

from pink to purple, she has drool strings and bubbles coming from her mouth. She ate for me a little wet food.

Tests: blood, ultrasound, x-rays all pretty much inconclusive. Still waiting on tick and valley fever test results.

Has anyone out there seen this before? What was it? How was it treated? What were the results? Please any information would be greatly appreciated

 

Edited December 16, 2012 by rtnye

[Guest Downtownhoundz]

Oh no, prayers for your sweet girl.!!!

[KF_in_Georgia]

You say tests inconclusive. Do you have any numbers from labwork? Are her test numbers good? Bad? Bad--in what test areas?

 

Where are you located? We'll help all we can, but we need more info. If you've got copies of the numbers on her labwork, post them here. By physical symptoms, there are too many possibilities.

 

Has the vet made any guesses?

 

ETA: Skin going from pink to purple: going darker overall? Or is she bruising in specific areas?

Edited December 16, 2012 by KF_in_Georgia

[robinw]

My first thought is a tick borne disease. That always comes to mind every time there are strange symptoms. I'm glad she has been tested.

 

Good luck and please keep us posted. ok?

[Guest rtnye]

Blood work still fine and her kidney values are fine as well. waiting for urine test results and tissue culture.

Location; Phoenix AZ

[KF_in_Georgia]

Good blood work eliminates one of my scary scenarios. (I lost a dog to an imune-system disease, and her blood counts were totally screwed.)

 

Has the vet started her on any meds? Often, doxycycline is given for tick-borne ailments, and can be given even before the test results are back.

 

Is the vet testing for Valley Fever? You're in the right part of the country for that one. ETA: I just saw your answer to that one.

 

What's your girl's name? How old is she?

 

ETA--again: The strings of drool often accompany nausea. They're not too scary by themselves.

Edited December 16, 2012 by KF_in_Georgia

[kudzu]

Oh my goodness! How horrible. While they wait for the tick panel are they giving her doxycycline in the interim?

 

Wish I could help but the closest I've had to this was with a girl had a seemingly minor puncture wound that had been treated & appeared almost healed. She suddenly spike a fever, developed swollen joints in lower legs & skin go very red. She would barely walk. Spent almost 72 hours on iv fluids & iv antibiotics. Vets really didn't feel this was related to that one wound but none of the tests showed anything. Finally conclusion was that the initial infection had only been temporarily knocked back by the anti-b's & the meloxicam had masked any fever. When treatment stopped it came roaring back went ripped through her system. We almost lost her but she did pull through.

 

Sending healing thoughts.

[Guest rtnye]

Yes, she is on doxycycline. Oddly enough the hydromorphone has brought her temp down -- it was 103 most of the day and now down to 101. She has also been tested for valley fever and the waiting time for those results are about 5 days. May hear get tick results tomorrow, but vet really feels they will be negative. She's called it vasculitis -- for now.

[Guest dmt]

Sending many hugs.

[Guest PhillyPups]

No advice, just many prayers for your girl and hugs for you

[KF_in_Georgia]

Hydromorphone (and other narcotics) sometimes causes freaky reactions in greyhounds. See the thread here about a dog having a bad reaction.

 

If your vet can safely avoid hydromorphone, things might be better. Meanwhile, some of her drooling may be from that.

 

(I'm glad it helped bring her temp down, but I hope the vet can find something less stress-causing.)

Edited December 16, 2012 by KF_in_Georgia

[juliemac]

Can only send prayers, so many are coming your way.

[Guest rtnye]

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and experiences and kind words. I am heading back to the hospital for the evening.

[JJNg]

Sorry to hear about your girl's illness. I agree that the unusual symptoms including fever and edema can indicate tick-borne disease. Sometimes it can be difficult to confirm even on testing as false negatives are not uncommon. Your vet's mention of vasculitis makes me wonder about bartonellosis. It is a tick-borne disease, but one that is not as commonly recognized. Consider asking your vet to consult with Dr. Couto's greyhound program at OSU and/or Dr. Breitschwerdt's tick-borne disease lab at NSCU. My greyhound Willow had a similiar, although not as serious, unknown illness almost 3 years ago (more details in this previous post). We were never able to make a diagnosis despite doing pretty much all possible testing. We suspected Bartonella, and fortunately, she made a full recovery after treatment. Hoping your girl is able to do the same.

[Guest IrskasMom]

Please consider above Posters Recommendation for Dr. Couto . Yes, I will be looking for an Update on her Condition today.

Give this Girl some gentle Hugs and lots of Prayers for her .

Edited December 16, 2012 by IrskasMom

[Guest BleuDog]

 

Many Prayers, White Light, and Good Vibes....

[silverfish]

My first thought was tick-borne disease followed by Valley Fever, not that I know too much about either, being in the UK.

 

My next thought is, could she have eaten something toxic? Do you have mistletoe in the house, for instance?

 

Mistletoe poisoning in dogs - many of the symptoms seem to fit.

Edited December 16, 2012 by silverfish

[Guest rtnye]

[BatterseaBrindl]

Poor dear girl

 

[3DogNite]

Oh, so sorry to hear you and she are going thru this! Just look at your sweet girl! xoxox

I hope the VF results come in faster!

I know another dog here in the valley who was diagnosed with vasculitus - with low dose prednisone that dog pulled thru!

 

What vet hospital are you at?

[Guest rtnye]

Emergency Animal Clinic. Scottsdale, AZ

[duncan41]

Oh, heavens! I hope you get some real answers soon! Sending prayers and hugs!

[Guest borzoix4]

Yes, she is on doxycycline. Oddly enough the hydromorphone has brought her temp down -- it was 103 most of the day and now down to 101. She has also been tested for valley fever and the waiting time for those results are about 5 days. May hear get tick results tomorrow, but vet really feels they will be negative. She's called it vasculitis -- for now.

Doxy works very well, and have seen results in as little as 24 hours as far as improvement. Our dear boy Zubin came down with Lyme some years back and at the time it was suspect he had valley fever also.

I will say I found that the arnica pellets helped a ton with pain management, stiffness and aided in rest. We gave 4 tablets every 8 hours at his weight.

Also- I am sure you are aware- but avoid any dairy products at all while on doxy. Dehydration is a issue as well, so we added pedialite ( unflavored) to his drinking water for the first few days. This also explains the color change in skin. I do not know why the change in color of skin, but it does occur. Hydration helps a lot.

[Charlies_Dad]

Good thoughts for your girl.

[Guest rtnye]

Final diagnosis is Alabama Foot Rot along with vasculitis. They refuse to take her off pain meds which is no longer hydromorphone, but pentoxifylline which has just made her more nauseus and has now started vomiting today. They were going to put in a feeding tube this morning but won't with the vomiting. catch 22.