Sudden Change In Personality, Depression, Withdrawn. Not Eating....hel

[Guest GreyhoundDG]

Hello, I am new to this social media thing so I hope I can 'do' this right.

 

We have a 9 year old female brood mom that we adopted/rescued from a breeding farm back in August 2015. She is the litter mate to our first female greyhound who passed away only 2 years ago this May.

 

When we adopted/rescued Dorie....that is what we named her, she was only 47 pounds, (racing weight was 66 pounds) infested with fleas and ticks, she has a dislocated toe, her nails had looked like they had not been cut in years, she had blood coming out of both ears with bugs flying around her left ear which also was have bitten off by bugs....she also had a grey/black build up of mucus coming from her left eye. All of her feet....her pads had been burned...now whether the breeder did that or she was allowed to walk in something that burned them...we don't know. But she's alright now....only suffering from the dreaded corns! That is a little list of things that were to come....

 

Shorty after we arrived home with her......within two weeks she suffered FCE a spinal stroke, she than had to have 23 teeth pulled the first time around, than plenty of ER visits with emergency surgeries. She had been under(anesthesia) at least 7 times in under 5 months. Varies reasons for that....including more teeth pulled, infections...ears. She now has 8 teeth left and is possibly going to have 2 more extracted. Her dislocated toe has an extra pad....don't know how to explain it....she is able to walk fine on it as long as myself or my husband places it back in 'joint' very gently. She runs around and plays fine. We spoke with all her vets and specialty vets. Who are all very greyhound savvy....we all agreed there is no reason to amputate her toe...she's alright with it. She holds the left ear in a very bizarre way...she has from day 1. Her vets say it is from trauma...her cartridge could be damaged... she does have hearing loss. She holds it funny when she lays on it for a certain amount of time. Than the issue of the grey/black mucus in the left eye...no one has ever figured that out...she pawed at her eye so bad...I was constantly having to use a nice soft KONG cone for her...the one eye Dr. vet at the VCA said it was nothing and told us she had dry eyes...gave us drops and that was it. One of her regular vets kept telling us it was her teeth....pulled those and she was still pawing and the mucus was still there. Than a specialty dentist in our area who we were referred to...told us it could be 'residual root damage' All sorts of things....the only thing that seems to help her and stop all the pawing is....when I get a warm cotton ball and pull her lower left eye lid down and get the mucus out. Her other vet suggested she may need a tear duct flush...have no idea what to do. But the hair all grew back around her eye, no medicine anymore and the mucus is only there once in a while. So, we don't know if we should have this procedure done. Any suggestions or thoughts we are open to you all for and would be appreciated. We just recently found out she now has pannus and may be blind or partially in the left eye.

 

Now to the current problem what has prompted me to get on here and ask for help. I am so desperate and feel absolutely helpless as does my husband. About 2 1/2 weeks ago we noticed a drastic sudden change in her personality. Despite all of Dorie's past issues...there are the current ones I listed or talked about. She is an absolute joy. She has a heart and mind of a two year old. She runs every morning in the house all over with her toys...which she loves...has her favorites. She actually will run and hop and plow right into her beds...and blankets. She loves her walks...she looks and asks for one every day.....don't care what the weather is like...she will stand in the foyer by the gate crying and looking at me for a walk. She has recently started finally talking to us...barking and rooing! She even chatters like her sister did! It seems Dorie is only able to go for one nice walk a day. She is most active very early in the mornings. We walk almost every single day for about 35 minutes and than on Saturday and Sunday...my husband is able to come with us for a hour long walk...but she runs/jogs most of that. We do stop often for 'sniffing' breaks too! She is so full of life. She does have only one persistent corn on her back left foot/toe pad. We get it hulled every 4-5 weeks. I do it myself sometimes...but we always wind up at the vet for some reason so this is why her vet hulls the corn. We used the stuff from Murray's apothecary for her sister and for Dorie and it worked...Dorie had corns on almost every pad....but that stuff won't help this one...so she wears slippers in the house and shoes outside for our walks/jogs. She eats Blue Buffalo senior food. A can of food and her kibble with chicken I cook and add. I enjoy cooking for her as I did for her sister when she was alive.

 

Anyway, we have noticed she has been very withdrawn, only eating once a day.....and will sometimes turn her head away from the food that she loves. She has not been asking for walks, won't get out of bed to play....she just sleeps. Once in awhile she will go over and get her squeak toy.....and run like she's going to play..but just brings it to her bed...and looks at me as if she's trying to tell me something. and I can't figure it out. I will jiggle her leash to ask her for a walk...and she just stares doesn't react...nothing. Whenever I ask her for a walk or she would come to me....she was running around, talking to me, so happy. Now there's nothing. However, if I bring the leash to her a few times and ask her...and she just stares at me....I'll walk away and she will follow and than out we go. But no excitement at all. Sadly Dorie does not like any other dogs....it appears that way. Her vet has had 7 greyhounds already and now has only one male...and she brings him to the clinic.....Dorie always growls and barks at him...she looks like she wants to attack him! But it's mixed signals...dogs that don't approach her she seems alright. We don't know if she's lonely, I don't have any friends that have greyhounds...we don't know if that's a problem.....her hearing/eyes? Her teeth/gums? Her vet told us on the last visit 2 weeks ago that it's me....her food needs to stay the same and not change it...whatever that means...she did take a blood work up and everything came back fine. I have searched Dorie's body over for any bumps/lumps anything....nothing. I cannot see anything. We don't know if it's mental or physical or both. Dorie also had that Lumbar Stenosis... we have to talk to her vet about what the best course of action is for her with that. Dorie has never been able to jump up or even walk up a very small step...something was wrong with her back end when we rescued her. She won't even sleep in the bed with us or the come up on the couch/sofa...she can't walk up. or jump as I say. We have to carry her. She had xrays and everything appeared fine.....my husband and I are so very concerned for her....can anyone please suggest something to us. Your thoughts as to what is going on with her and what we can do for her. .....she also spooks very easily, thunder phobic, sound phobic I should say to everything. I was and still am very careful and slow to introduce her to knew things/sounds/people...etc. I do know and understand that she feeds off my emotions...as I am typing this....I'm crying because I am so concerned....she heard me let out a little cry and picked her head up so I have to stop.

 

My fear that there is something wrong is very strong because not only from all her past and some current health issues but the way her sister died. I don't want to talk about that...all I will say is that I knew something was wrong with her sister for 2 months...panting and some other changed behavior. She had arthritis in her spine and nails. Was taking medication for that...so the vets were always telling us the panting was the pain.. Well....2 weeks before she died tragically I might add......we brought her in to the VCA....she had an intestinal disease....they did this xray thing where you could also see her spine and her head...very detailed. Anyway, 2 weeks after that she was dead. It was an undetected tumor in her spine very close up by the brain...it exploded and she died. I don't want to talk about this or how it all actually went down with her. It was horrible. And I fear something is going to be missed or is being missed on the inside somewhere on Dorie. Can you all please help us with any of your thoughts and suggestions? We were thinking about an full body MRI...if they do that...don't know what to do....thank you all.

 

I'm sorry for such a long post and all the questions.....I thought it would be helpful to you with her background....well...what we know since she has been with us. Thank you.

 

[robinw]

Could she be in pain? Has your vet mentioned that possibility? How are her teeth? Could they be causing her discomfort?

 

I suggest you talk to your vet again. You know her best and you know when there's something wrong.

 

Good luck! She must be a wonderful hound.

[Batmom]

If she's been to the vet for bloodwork and imaging, I don't know what else you can do other than keep an eye on her for any more specific symptoms. Hoping it's just a little virus or similar that will work its way on out again. She sounds like a wonderful girl.

[Newgreymom]

I would get her to the Vet soon. If you would feel better, ask for an MRI. You need to find out what's going on with your sweet girl. Prayers going to you and your special girl. Keep us posted

[Walliered]

I can help you out with a Thera Paw boot for her corn foot. Please privately e-mail me with her weight and your snail mail address. I have some that fit Lady (60 lbs.) and DaVid (75 lbs.) Other than that I say to take her to a grey savvy vet.

[Scoutsmom]

Even if your vet can't find anything wrong, it is clear that something is absolutely not right. If you trust your vet and he/she is grey savvy, I would ask them to do an ultrasound or an MRI of her body. (MRIs are much more expensive and an ultrasound will show most tumors). If nothing is found, I would look into finding a vet that does acupuncture as that might help her improve and doesn't cost that much. It has really helped some of my dogs.

 

Gentle ear scritches and love to Ms. Dorie.

[sarabz]

I can't imagine going through all of that - many hugs to all of you.

 

Recently our girl (who will be 12 this month) became less interested in food, less energetic, just generally "blah". We ran tests, xrays, etc and came back with low thyroid function. Well - a lot of people are quick to jump on "are you sure? greyhounds are different". Yes. However- she had almost zero function, almost nothing was registering on the panel. Within 4 days of starting meds, her old personality is back. So, go to the vet, do more tests and hang in there. Hopefully it's something simple.

[XTRAWLD]

Awh, what a strong girl. Getting withdrawn like that is usually a sign of pain, somewhere. You mentioned issues with her eye, so it is possible she has lost sight partially/completely?

 

Regarding the LS, gabapentin can really help with that. You didn't list medications but I assume she is on many different things, maybe there are tummy issues with all the pills. Is she on Pepcid to help with acid/ulcers?

 

Finally corns are terrible and I used Murray's to no avail. What did work was simple duct tape. It seals the corn from air and when it falls off, hopefully the corn will go with it.

 

It sounds like you have done a lot for her, you are a greyt momma.

[GeorgeofNE]

I confess your post was too long for me to read it all, but have you had blood work done and urine tested? Those would be my first two steps.

 

An MRI is very expensive (at least in the Boston area) so if you can narrow things down with routine tests, it would be great to do so.

 

I'm sorry your girl is out of sorts.

[Guest GreyhoundDG]

Thank you all for being so kind with your kind thoughts, words, prayers and suggestions. As of this morning I am waiting to hear back from the vet. I have called her and sent her a lengthy email as well. I have requested an MRI as well as more xrays again. Money will not be an issue....the cost I am speaking of. We will pay whatever the cost is and do what must be done to make her feel better again. We were aware already of the cost of an MRI. Thank you for suggesting the routine tests first though...but we have already been down that road. She does take Pepcid, however most of her meds are for her eye and the Metacam for pain....her urine was tested as well as a whole panel of all blood work done last Sunday, an entire work up....again. And nothing came back negative. Her thyroid is right where it needs to be too. But that is a thought...I will bring it to her (the vet) attention again. She was on Gabapentin last year for a short while, two of her specialty vets had suggested there may have been nerve damage somewhere due to the bad teeth issue....but that did not work and it didn't clear up whatever has been going on with her from when we first arrived home with her. She seems to have us all stumped. We believe she is indeed partially blind in that left eye that she also has pannus in...it seems there was a lot of trauma on that left side for some reason. Vets have all said that and used that word....trauma....that's where a lot of her issues seem to be, the ear, the eye, her toe, however that is on her right foot. I do have Thera-paws....and I do have the cushy slippers for her....she wears those in the house...even though we have carpet and thick padding with runners all over for her. She needs to wear them since she limps without them on. But thank you for suggesting them to me. Her teeth may be causing some pain....and we spoke already to her vet about extracting the top canine and bottom as well. She has ulcers right on the lip/gum...CUPS? So we were trying the Oravet and I clean her teeth every other day with gauze. So, we will wait no to hear back from her vet....hopefully we can get to the bottom of this very soon. As far as the Lumbar Stenosis...waiting to hear what the vet will suggest....laser treatment, acupuncture as someone has suggested here to me. Again, thank you all so much for all your kind words and suggestions. I'll try to keep you all posted. Thank you again so much for everything....so much appreciate it.

[XTRAWLD]

Sounds like you really are doing everything you can. Has a stroke been considered since she's so compromised on one side? Might be determined by the MRI. Gaba to control the nerve pain is really the best thing you can use, I'd revisit that option. It has a huge range for dosages and has worked wonders on my boys for spinal issues.

 

I hope you get your answers. Just need to make her comfortable again and happy. You are doing great. Chin up.

Edited April 6, 2017 by XTRAWLD

[Guest GreyhoundDG]

Hello again, just spoke with her vet....we are going on Saturday morning for radiographs...x-rays of her spine, stomach, hips, thighs and her throat....than we will take it from there to determine if an MRI is needed. She actually did suffer a spinal stoke FCE back in August 2015. She did recover pretty fast from it....one of the things we also noticed was that when she is dreaming only her left back leg moves....no other legs or movement from her...strange, I think....but the neurologist at VCA said she is doing fine since recovering from the spinal stroke. Thank you for the suggestion. She was on Gabapentin as well. I think I posted all that in my initial post....I know it was long and I am terribly sorry for that. I thought by trying to explain a lot of her history that it may help some of you with suggestions that we have not tried or thought of already. Thank you again for your kind words! Much appreciated....sadly, I have asked her already three times for a walk....which she would look so forward to every single day.....but she just looked at me...staring, her ears went up but she went right back to sleep, curled up. Thanks again everyone.

[greysmom]

I'm sorry you're feeling so sonfused and stressed by everything your girl is going through. We had a Dorie too and she was the swetest thing ever!

 

So. Questions. Is she 9 years old *now* or was she 9 when you adopted her? Greys can live a good long time, but 9 is beginning to be a real senior, and all those senior issues do start to come up, even in entirely healthy dogs. Is she on any actual pain meds - tramadol, or nsaids? The gabapentin suggested would be good to add in again as it works specifically on nerve pain. BUT it metabolizes faster in greyhounds and it needs to be dosed every 6-8 hours. It also has a huge dosing range so perhaps Dorie wasn't getting enough to help whatever is wrong with her.

 

Turning her head away from food indicates she's feeling nauseous, not being picky. You said your vet wanted you to cut back on the variety of her diet, and that might be a place to begin. A nice bland diet for a few days may bring in some clarity. Boil or saute-and-rinse ground chicken or turkey (probably a couple pounds to start), and mix that in small amounts with overcooked rice or pasta. Start with probably 1/2 cup of each, at east three or four times a day if possible. many small meals are going to be better than two large ones both if she's nauseous and if she's having tummy trouble. Have you ever had an ultrasound done of her abdomen? It could tell you whether your dealing with something like intestinal or organ cancer, and is a lot cheaper than xrays or MRIs.

 

I got confused about her eyes too - she has pannus in the RIGHT eye, but the extra mucous issue is in the LEFT??? Pannus sounds bad, but it's very treatable with daily eye drops. She's also at an age where cataracts and other aging changes start to impact their vision. I've had a couple dogs lose their sight and they do adapt and get around just fine.

 

Greyhounds also do quite well with absolutely no teeth so I would just go ahead and have them all pulled, especially if she has CUPS. Just get them out of there and get her gums healed up and she'll feel a lot better! None of my dogs actually chew their kibble and they have full mouths of teeth!

 

There's also something for you to remember... I know it's difficult to deal with seeing them age and have medical and physical trouble, but it doesn't help *her* to see you in emotional distress. Past trauma - whatever that is - can inform her current medical condition, but that's not how *she* lives. She lives in the present and is dealing with how she feels now, NOT how she felt two years ago. She's also not your former dog who had a hard time at the end. She's her own individual with her own problems who deserves to be evaluated objectively and have a chance to get better. It sounds like she's a sweet, loving dog who knows she's loved by her forever family.

 

Good luck.

[TwiggysMom]

You mentioned that Dorie is on Metacam. I know Metacam is supposed to be pretty well-tolerated, and can be dosed very accurately for your dog, But my girl was on it as part of a metronomic chemo protocol, and it caused her significant problems. Possibly her system was already fragile due to the iv chemo she had completed, and the Palladia that she was also taking at the same time, but either way, she could not tolerate it.

 

After being on Metacam for a few months, she suddenly had a turn just like your Dorie did. She went from loving her 2-3 hour long daily walks, eating ravenously, playing with her toys constantly, and being a high-energy greyhound to practically overnight not eating, not playing, refusing food and walks.

 

It turned out the Metacam caused an ulcer & made her feel awful. I stopped the Metacam, continued with the antacids, & she was back to herself within a week or so. It was an amazing turnaround. Maybe your vet would consider prescribing Tramadol instead of Metacam for her pain issues? Tramadol is a powerful pain reliever, but not an NSAID, so usually well tolerated.

 

I really hope Dorie can get back to being happy and comfortable with a simple fix!!

[XTRAWLD]

Twiggy, that sounds awful and wonderful at the same time. I suspect tummy problems too. Have you tried Tramadol as suggested above? Wouldnt that be great if it was "just" an ulcer?

[Guest GreyhoundDG]

Hello, I don't know how to answer anyone individually or if I am able to...so I will try my best to answer the last few new posts as best as I can.

 

Dorie was on Tramadol but she had a severe allergic reaction from it....she had urinary retention. It was awful. I think that was when she had her stroke. We had tried Vetprofen and one other but the vet was concerned with long term use. She is currently taking the antacid and Metacam.

 

Dorie was just a few months shy of 8 when we adopted her. I couldn't agree with you more on your statement about turning her head away from her food....not picky....nauseous. Thank you for the suggestion on the food. I will try that....when I can clearly see she has an upset belly.....which is not often, I will do the bland diet and back to normal she goes. We are trying to me positive and keep focusing on the good. Going back to the person that mentioned organ/intestinal cancer that was my thought as well. Tomorrow after the radiograps are done and nothing is seen.....vet suggested an MRI, but I am going to suggest an ultrasound. Thank you for suggesting that too. Her problems with her eyes.....she has pannus in the left eye...we believe she is partially blind as well in it and that's the one with the grey/black mucus. We give her one drop of Prednisone drops a day. Started out with one drop every 4 hours than every 6... but she is doing super on the one drop a day. She does wear the RexSpecs when outside and in the car. She didn't like the Doggles at all...even though we introduced to her slowly...letting her wear them for a few minutes in the house...etc. Agree with you as well on her not picking up on my emotions. I did not choose my words well in my initial post. Sorry for that. I'm very aware of her and in tune to her as she is me....if I feel the need to cry, I will leave the room and come back as if everything is fine. Obviously, sometimes I am not able to leave the room. But, she is very happy and an absolute joy. We knew when we adopted her that she may have been our first greyhound's litter mate....and we also knew with complete certainty that she was not the same dog....not the same personality...nothing, nor did we expect to be. She is her own 'person'...living being. :-)....just miss seeing the 'old' Dorie..full of so much life and now nothing. She actually was never in a house before we adopted her. That's what we were told and it took her almost 6 months to come out of the living room. So, she has overcome many hurdles and is doing very well. I've never seen a dog do some of the silly things she does. We love her to bits and will go to any lengths we have to to get to the bottom of what is going on with her. Starting tomorrow. 9:30 AM Central time for her appointment.

 

She was on Gabapentin three times already.....for quite sometime, but vets didn't see any reason to keep her on it since there was no change in the problem that they thought would be helped by using the Gaba...when she had the spinal stroke though she was on it as well.

 

I am hoping it me be an ulcer too like the person above had said...nothing like cancer, trying to focus on the positive and get her better that's all my husband and I feel we can do right now...present moment.

 

Thanks again everyone for all the suggestions and kind words.

[JohnF]

Metacam is quite likely to be a factor in the general unwellness. I have long expereince of it on my last dog (will 9 years do?).

 

It can indeed induce digestive system ulcers and sore stomach and intestinal linings, and can also induce Chronic Renal Failure. You have to look at it in the way that it isn't extreme length of life but quality of pain-free life that really matters. I developed a pattern of only giving full dose of Metacam when the pain was acute or a lot of unexpected exercize took place. Angel made it to 14 years of age/

 

So, have new bloodwork done and urinalysis (free catch of morning urine.) That will show the kidney status and then you could adjust diet, try various things like Calcitrol, dose with anti-emetics, perhaps give Sucralfate. The latter may help the stomach lining even ifthe kidneys are not under stress.

 

Yes, I can see you have been putting a commendable effort into all of this and it has gotten so complicated that just possibly you can no longer see the wood for the trees and something more simple is behind it all?

 

I hope your dog starts to feel better soon.

[seeh2o]

Is there an update on your little girl? I've done a search and haven't found anything.

Edited July 8, 2017 by seeh2o