Sudden Onset Distress With No Apparent Cause & No Diagnosis 72 Hou

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Hi all. GreyTalk has long been my go-to for all things greyhound but I don't post much, so I'm sorry to make this one of my few posts, but I'm in sore need of any wisdom from those with veterinary backgrounds or similar experiences with their own dogs.

 

My hubby and I are head over heels for our our female grey who we've had since she was 2 (she turns 6 in December) and her health--except for toe and toenail accidents--has been pretty good until three days ago. We spent a very normal morning together--she skipped breakfast but this isn't unusual as we offer food three times a day since she can have empty tummy bile vommys otherwise, sat on the balcony for a while where she leisurely peed etc, and then came back inside. Over an hour later, I heard her panting from the other room where she was lying on her bed, but didn't think much of it since she pants easily and she hadn't squeaked at me to inform me it was time to turn the fan on for her. Then I'm not sure how much time passed, but I'd hazard a guess at 10-15 minutes, she got up and came and sat on her second bed next to me. I glanced down and saw she was trembling badly as well as panting still, so I turned the fan on and sat with her for a minute (just in case she was worried about something--I didn't think so since she'd come over sedately rather than running from anything, but this pup has been known to get shakey after seeing a "buzzy fly". However, after a minute she had laid on her side (a more relaxed, non anxious position) but was still trembling badly. She'd closed her mouth but was breathing really hard, and made some whimpery groany noises with each breath, so we raced her straight to the local vet in case she'd been bitten by something.

 

Vet couldn't see us as she was in surgery and we were told to observe her at home after they checked her gums etc. We came back an hour to an hour and a half later because she had continued to pant and tremble (although a lot less trembling) and just couldn't get comfortable--she'd change positions every five-ten minutes. Vet said her blood pressure and heart rate were high (she HATES vets and usually has a high heart rate, pants, and trembles whenever we're there so that doesn't help get a reading). She was given an antihistamine and painkiller and they wanted to see what her BP was in 20 mins. We were only a few mins away and as mentioned she is really stressed at the vets so we took her home for 10-15 mins of observation (the vet was very insistent we returned in 20 mins). She had stopped trembling and wasn't really panting as much, but still breathing heavily. The vet took her BP and heart rate again and told us to go to the emergency clinic (since it was about 5pm and everywhere else woudl be closing) saying she'd need a heart ultrasound and constant monitoring.

 

Her BP had dropped a lot by the time we got there, still high, but not crazy high for a greyhound. They wanted to keep her overnight and were talking about DNR forms so we were really worried. No one had any idea what was wrong. Her heart and lungs sounded good. To me it seemed that the blood pressure and faster breathing was due to distress (i.e. a symptom from something else) rather than that there was something suddenly wrong with her heart/lungs. Anyway, they ran some blood panels, took chest x-rays, and failed to get a urine sample. They told us all was pretty normal except for a high HCT (71, so even high for a greyhound) which was probably due to dehydration, and the low blood platelets were likely machine error and were supposed to be confirmed by blood smear but that never happened. Kidneys and liver looked good which implies though doesn't rule out entirely that she was bitten by a scorpion or spider or something. Temperature has been perfect all along and no other indicators of infection. They still no clue what was wrong. They gave her a second dose of painkillers that same night.

 

Her heart rate and breathing had gotten better by morning (though were still elevated) but her BP was still high, so they prescribed Benazepril to lower it and allowed us to take her home for the weekend until we could go in to get specialist ultrasound for potential adrenal mass etc.

 

Here's a PDF link to all the notes from the emergency clinic, including the results of the blood tests they ran etc. We're in Australia so some of the acronyms seem to be different.

 

Anyway, we've now been home for 36 hours, and she's been relaxed but extremely lethargic. Breathing still a little elevated/heavier ranging from 34-48 breaths a minute. No shaking. Can't measure BP at home. Heart rate has been about 66-96. She's drinking and peeing fine (although she'll only get up to pee with much prompting by us even if she's busting), however she hadn't eaten anything until an hour ago (and that was super special pate in a small quantity, plus a tiny bit of bread and butter I'd force fed her a few hours prior to try and get her tummy in a place where she'd have an appetite. She has become gradually more alert and interested in her surroundings today, but is still very lethargic. She hasn't gotten up of her own accord once, and will sleep in the same position (except for legs and neck movements) all night/day. I think it's natural for her to be exhausted as she would've been stressed for a long time and she has literally 6 badly bruised places where they stuck in needles or IVs or failed to get an arterial drawing etc. But still, she doesn't really seem like she's just resting and on her way to recovering naturally.

 

We've been unable to get in touch with our normal greyhound specialist vet so far, though have an appointment Monday (we're a day ahead of you guys so it's late Saturday night as I'm posting this). It sounds like our greyhound vet doesn't have good ultrasound equipment though. And it still seems no one has any real idea what we're looking for or even what we're trying to rule out. And we're worried! So if anyone has any wisdom on what we should be attempting to rule out and/or could look at those blood results with true greyhound understanding, I'd love to hear thoughts on where we should go from here, as no one has seemed confident about what we should do or what truly could've caused this acute onset of distress/symptoms.

 

Thank you so much to everyone who's read this essay!

Edited November 4, 2017 by forcefeedbacon

[macoduck]

I can't think of any suggestions other than to check the side effects of any new and old medicines.

 

Do you use any kind of calming meds, prescription or over the counter? If you have a good quality essential oil, rub some behind her ears. I use some calming essential oils in diffusers from http://www.animalEO.com They're based in the US and were developed by a holistic vet.

 

But first you need medical answers and I just don't have any. Keep us posted.

[Time4ANap]

Any chance of a bee sting or bites from something like fire ants? Just thinking about things that wouldn't be visible unless you saw them actually happen.

[Guest newyorkgrey]

This is really similar to what I'm going through with my 6 year old right now. One day she was great, the next out of it. She has had a high fever of unknown origin on and off for the past few weeks, to the point where taking her temperature and monitoring her breathing has become part of my routine. Does she have a fever? My dog experiences lack of appetite, lethargy, panting. The panting is a way of cooling down. I've done my share of force feeding by pureed food with a plunger. We've ruled out blood cancer and our ultrasound and X-ray came back good. Flea, tick etc. have come back negative but they don't rule out mosquito bites since there isn't enough documentation on that one.

 

My dog spent three days hospitalized (I took her home at night) and she cried out repeatedly from IV bruises. When she slumped again a week ago, I took her in for one overnight and I was sent home with a bag of fluids to give her subcutaneous hydration at home. She had one good week then I came home from work and she was back to a fever of 104 and no eating on Thursday. I put her back on fluids and the vet gave me steroids to supplement the Doxycycline we've been trying her on. So basically, I have no idea and am cycling through wondering if my baby is going to suddenly die or make it. The vet told me usually dogs make it through lethargy/fever but did not want to rule out any autoimmune disorder. She also told me she was really worried it was some tick related issue, then I found out they had already tested her and gotten negative results for lyme, etc. So, I'm not pleased they would miss anything that simple.

 

People mention Dr. Couto on this forum, and I reached out to him as he does internet consultations for a reasonable price. It kind of sounds like you are so early into diagnosis there might not be much to work with yet. My vet told me a specialist prefers to see really obvious stuff taken off their list first or they will just tell you to go back to the start of the list. All I can say is stay positive - its either something they will never figure out (goes away), or its an infection (antibiotics) or its an immune system issue (incurable but manageable). A month into my issue with my beloved girl Iowa, I still don't know which one she has. Last night was her first one on Prednisone, and she is doing okay. She is on a diet of beef broth with oatmeal, apple, pumpkin and electrolyte protein powder for the most part. I'm now seeing that the fluids seem to help the most overall, so I'm going to buy some electrolyte enhanced water for general drinking water. Stay positive!

[LaFlaca]

I went through a similar scenario with my 11 year old Wendy. FUO, lack of appetite, lethargy; she was just wasting away and nothing showed up on any of the tests, x-rays or ultrasounds. She eventually passed from heart failure. It was all so completely mystifying. She was obviously not feeling well yet we still don't know what the heck went wrong.

 

Sending positive thoughts for healing and gentle hugs your way. If she's not eating well, try making her a hearty bone broth. That helped Wendy with her lack of appetite. There are many recipes for bone broth online.

[greysmom]

You're going to get a bunch of different, totally unrelated responses here with such a diffuse range of symptoms. Any could be valid. If you're just looking for ideas, here's my take based on my experience:

 

It doesn't sound like an insect bite. Or anything wrong with her heart. I would be looking at a flare up of IBS or stress colitis. Bad tummy squeaks, inappetence (nauseau), having to force feed her, vomiting bile, including episodes of all-over gut pain were how my IBS girl got diagnosed. The trembling and panting sound familiar as she did that a lot before we got to the bottom of things. I'm sorry I did not click through to the PDF, but did any of the vets you saw give her a physical examination? Did they palpate her organs/intestines? What did they find? An ultra sound *may* be able to tell you something if the walls of the intestines are thickened or swollen, but the only way to definitively diagnose IBS is by an intestinal biopsy.

 

We had an appointment scheduled with a canine internist for a consult, when our vet suggested trying acupuncture first. (Acupuncture is actually approved for treatment of intestinal diseases in humans.) Since the internist would likely be recommending steroids and other drugs, we wanted to try a more "natural" approach, so we did a course a treatment with a certified acupuncture/chinese medicine veterinarian and within the first few weeks of needle pokes our dog was 100% better. There were 6 weeks of needles, followed by several months of chinese herbal treatments. Lilly then had a couple more needle appointments, and she's been good to go since then - no more squeaks, no more vomiting or diarrhea, no more nauseau, no more pain, she's interested in and wants to eat her food. She's not even car sick anymore. And her overall anxiety levels dropped dramatically.

 

Good luck finding out what's going on with your girl. Here's Dr Couto's web address, if you would like to consult with him.

http://www.coutovetconsultants.com/for-ownersadopters/

[tbhounds]

Sounds like abdominal pain. Did I miss when you mentioned abdominal radiographs? Wonder if she had excessive gas.

I did see she was given an injection of buprenex (buprenorphine)—that can either wipe a greyhound out or cause excessive anxiety, panting, pacing....

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Thanks so much to everyone who's replied! Since she has no signs of fever, for what it's worth I'm leaning towards abdominal pain or some kind of intestinal upset like tbhounds and greysmom suggested--either that or some mystery thing yet to be considered. I think despite what the vet said, that she's in pain.

 

The first vet did press her organs and didn't get any response. They did say there was a bit of extra gas in the caecum in the L lat abdominal xray but otherwise normal. (R and L lateral thoracics didn't show any abnormalities).

 

Just got her up for a wee and she started to stagger. Not sure if she is a combination of super weak from lack of eating and extremely reluctant to put weight on either front leg (I've been thinking this is due to the hefty bruising and from the needles and tape, but I could be wrong) or she's losing coordination but we're taking her in somewhere for further help. Unfortunately on a Sunday our options are limited.

 

If you have any advice on what tests to run for abdominal pain or any further info based on the xray info and gas in the caecum, I'd love to hear them. She has passed a little bit of wind since being home but not much, and I've been with her constantly so I'd notice.

 

Thanks again all!

 

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

(Sorry Im pretty messed up after three days of not sleeping but I just wanted to say our hearts go out to everyone experiencing or who have already gone through similar situations. Cuddles to all) x

[macoduck]

Did your vet suggest Gas-X or Phazyme? Of course, always check the label and make sure there's no xylitol.

[Batmom]

Do an ECG/EKG (electrocardiogram) just to be on the safe side.

 

Hugs and best luck.

[cleptogrey]

Sounds like abdominal pain. Did I miss when you mentioned abdominal radiographs? Wonder if she had excessive gas.

I did see she was given an injection of buprenex (buprenorphine)—that can either wipe a greyhound out or cause excessive anxiety, panting, pacing....

agreed and the other thing that rang a bell is pancreatitis. they are really in pain w/ it and all of her actions reflects pain in my house.

 

stick with a bland rice low fat diet and good luck. keep us posted.

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Thanks everyone.

 

We took her to the vet clinic we normally go to (we couldn't see our usual greyhound specialist vet as he wasn't in, but they told us that all the vets there are pretty experienced with greyhounds. The vet we saw took one look at her and said ‘she looks tied up’. Apparently greyhounds can get in pain, tense up and stress out, causing the muscles to ‘tie up’ which does bad things which shuts everything down and puts a load of strain on the kidneys. This causes more pain and turns it into a vicious cycle. The fix for which is anti-inflammatories and pain relief (and Valium if they’re really really stressed) and being on IV for several days to flush out the kidneys. Problem solved apparently.

 

Asha's back is sore and the vet thinks that might’ve been the trigger problem. Either way she was very confident in her diagnosis and thought it had been rather mishandled (not out of malice of course, just cluelessness). We’ve checked Asha in obviously, and they’ll run this morning's urine anaylsis and a second one later today and give us a progress report tonight. Will probably be at least two days before we get her home though and maybe more given how long it went undiagnosed.

 

We’ll know more when we get an update, but we're feeling pretty hopeful. I’m not sure if the initial thing was back pain or maybe she originally had abdominal pain and being tense for so long has made her back sore, or it could still be something more nefarious as the original cause, but regardless I think the current course of treatment is the right thing to do, and we’ll assess everything else when she’s feeling better. If she’s 100% normal and vet is happy that there are no indications of cancer etc. then we’ll probably write it off as a mystery and know to never go to a greyhound inexperienced vet ever again if we can help it. (I wanted to take her to our usual the first day it happened but I was told she probably needed to be rigged up to a heart monitor and other specialised things that only this emergency centre was supposed to be able to provide, plus business hours were almost over, and the first vet looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if this clinic was experienced with greyhounds' peculiarities). Anyway, lesson learned, and I hope to report back with good news tonight. Thanks again to everyone for your input!

 

This is really similar to what I'm going through with my 6 year old right now. One day she was great, the next out of it. She has had a high fever of unknown origin on and off for the past few weeks, to the point where taking her temperature and monitoring her breathing has become part of my routine. Does she have a fever? My dog experiences lack of appetite, lethargy, panting. The panting is a way of cooling down. I've done my share of force feeding by pureed food with a plunger. We've ruled out blood cancer and our ultrasound and X-ray came back good. Flea, tick etc. have come back negative but they don't rule out mosquito bites since there isn't enough documentation on that one.

 

My dog spent three days hospitalized (I took her home at night) and she cried out repeatedly from IV bruises. When she slumped again a week ago, I took her in for one overnight and I was sent home with a bag of fluids to give her subcutaneous hydration at home. She had one good week then I came home from work and she was back to a fever of 104 and no eating on Thursday. I put her back on fluids and the vet gave me steroids to supplement the Doxycycline we've been trying her on. So basically, I have no idea and am cycling through wondering if my baby is going to suddenly die or make it. The vet told me usually dogs make it through lethargy/fever but did not want to rule out any autoimmune disorder. She also told me she was really worried it was some tick related issue, then I found out they had already tested her and gotten negative results for lyme, etc. So, I'm not pleased they would miss anything that simple.

 

People mention Dr. Couto on this forum, and I reached out to him as he does internet consultations for a reasonable price. It kind of sounds like you are so early into diagnosis there might not be much to work with yet. My vet told me a specialist prefers to see really obvious stuff taken off their list first or they will just tell you to go back to the start of the list. All I can say is stay positive - its either something they will never figure out (goes away), or its an infection (antibiotics) or its an immune system issue (incurable but manageable). A month into my issue with my beloved girl Iowa, I still don't know which one she has. Last night was her first one on Prednisone, and she is doing okay. She is on a diet of beef broth with oatmeal, apple, pumpkin and electrolyte protein powder for the most part. I'm now seeing that the fluids seem to help the most overall, so I'm going to buy some electrolyte enhanced water for general drinking water. Stay positive!

 

I really hope Dr. Couto manages to get straight to the heart of your pup's issues like this experienced vet seems to have for us (hopefully!). Gosh after four days of this I can't even imagine a month of intense worry. Many hugs and well wishes to you and Iowa. I'm so sorry for what you're going through.

 

Also, might be a long shot but Asha had a temperature today (she hadn't had one in the first few days) so I guess there's a chance your pup is going through something similar in a long extended, not quite managing to get on top of it kind of way--especially if fluids are what's helping the most? Just thought I'd mention Asha's temp in case it's at all helpful/worth crossing off your list xxx

Edited November 5, 2017 by forcefeedbacon

[NeylasMom]

"Tying up" is exertional rhabdomyolysis. It can be caused by stress, but is usually caused by excessive exercise or heat. You said she was in the yard prior. Was it warm or humid? And did she run?

 

Usually with rhabdo you see myoglobin in the urine as the body starts to break down muscle. The myoglobin gives the urine a port wine color. Did you see that, or did they test for it (its pretty easy to tell, if her urine is discolored they can spin it down and the RBCs pack down so if it stays cloudy its a good indication there's myoglobin in it). You'd also expect to see her CK enzyme significantly elevated in blood work and considering how long this has been going on, possibly casts in her urine. FYI, anti-oxidants are supposed to help with recovery in addition to the fluids (which should be non-lactated).

 

Hope your girl is back to normal soon.

Edited November 5, 2017 by NeylasMom

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Thanks, NeylasMom. Yeah I looked it up when I had the chance and it didn't fit as well as I hoped, because we had a very quiet morning (we hadn't walked yet, and she hadn't done zoomies or anything in the yard), and it wasn't hot. Apparently symptoms can be delayed for 24-48 hours but it still doesn't fit as we haven't differed our exercise routine and the last few days before it all started had been relatively cool. I did find instances where it (or acidosis which is similar from what I can tell) had been caused by toxins, but even then, she didn't exhibit significant stiffness or pain in walking until after we got her back from the emergency clinic--though symptoms can be quite subtle sometimes too. However, regardless of what has triggered everything, her urine was dark this morning and had a little bit of blood and a little bit of protein in it (from what I understand they haven't tested for myoglobin specifically) which supports the “tying up” theory (though has other possible causes too), but if nothing else means it’s a very good thing she’s on an IV drip to minimise the risk of kidney damage. Her second urine sample indicated the kidneys were still concentrating (i.e. conserving water for rehydrating the blood by making the urine more concentrated) which is a good thing too.

 

The vet said Asha’s looking a bit more comfortable than when she came in but is still trembly and isn’t interested in food. (She wasn’t trembling at home so this isn’t awesome news, but is likely due to stress rather than deterioration). I left a message with a vet nurse about this so they might consider a sedative or something to calm her down if the vet felt that was a good idea. The vet said with this kind of thing she wouldn’t expect Asha to be feeling significantly better for at least 24 hours, and quite easily 36-48 hours (it’s only been about 10 so far) so she thinks how Asha is feeling tomorrow morning will tell us more.

 

There are electrolytes in the drip, but no nutrition (which apparently costs $2k a day and they don’t even offer it), so I expressed concern over her not having eaten for four whole days now. She said they can force feed her with a syringe if needed but they prefer not to because it can make them food averse, and usually they will eat once they start to feel better. She did invite us to come down and drop off some of Asha’s favorite foods tomorrow after I told her that their ‘special chicken’ isn’t even a treat for our fussy pup, so we will likely do this.

 

Of course we would have loved better news, but it’s probably about as positive as we could reasonably expect. At least she has pain relief and won’t get any further dehydrated, though how I wish we could achieve those things at home where she’d be relaxed instead. Having said that, there’s no doubt she’s in the right place for now, so we’ll have to find contentment in that.

Edited November 5, 2017 by forcefeedbacon

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

agreed and the other thing that rang a bell is pancreatitis. they are really in pain w/ it and all of her actions reflects pain in my house.

 

stick with a bland rice low fat diet and good luck. keep us posted.

 

Good suggestion, thank you, but she hasn't had any vomiting nor pain in her abdomen on the two physical exams she's been given, and her bloodwork showed low amylase whereas typically it's elevated in pancreatitis. Looks like the treatment for acute pancreatitis is also IV drip to help kidneys so there's some comfort in that too. Will keep it in mind as a possibility though as we go forward.

​

Do an ECG/EKG (electrocardiogram) just to be on the safe side.

 

Hugs and best luck.

 

Thanks! She did have an ECG which was normal.

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Here's a pic of our beautiful girl for a bit of happy in this thread. Thanks again to all who've chimed in!

 

 

[tbhounds]

She’s adorable-hope she continues to improve.

[BatterseaBrindl]

[NeylasMom]

Aww, she's beautiful.

 

I just remembered, you said she was trembling a lot when this started, right? Was she also scared/trembling at the e-vet? That alone could have triggered the rhabdo. It sounds to me like that was secondary to something else and the question will just be whether the something else has passed or remains to be found. I really hope this takes care of it. FWIW, when my girl suffered rhabdo (brought on we believe by a combo of stress and heat) she was doing significantly better by day 2 and I believe came home that evening, but I got her to the e-vet within hours of onset. She also becomes stressed at the vet so we did need to use a sedative. Make sure they are not just using Acepromazine. I think Dexdomitor ended up working well for my girl.

[Guest newyorkgrey]

Iowa was day hospitalized when this first came on and would not eat anything for the vets. She ate a little at home, mostly by force-feeding with a syringe the first week. The second time I had to leave her overnight, and I was very anxious for her knowing she was alone in an uncomfortable kennel. When I got her that time she cried to tell me let's get out of here, and the vets were surprised how she perked up when I was with her. She ate right away when we got home. This third time I was not going to take her in period. It definitely was contributing to her stress. Your beautiful girl will eat when she is ready and maybe it is much more likely when she gets home also. Be ready with a number of options for her to eat in case she is picky. Also be ready to feed in small increments while her appetite picks up. I got a pound back on Iowa, who this morning was fine and when I found her shaking and hiding under the table, well you know what the culprit was: a black fly.

 

Good luck with your girl. They have strong wills and just can't tell us what's up!

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Thanks everyone for input and well-wishes! It’s been a day of ups and downs, but mostly ups overall. Asha still had significant amounts of protein and blood in her urine this morning, and was still shaking intermittently (although only when someone is doing something with her apparently, when she's left alone she stops, so it is an anxiety thing which at least isn't constant). So that wasn’t as positive as anyone was hoping. And we had booked an appointment to get Greg (her usual vet) in to see her for a second opinion just to make sure we were doing everything we could possibly be doing at this stage (he was at a nearby clinic so it was a bit tricky) but he had so many emergencies he couldn’t make it.

However we had a new vet this morning who owns a blue greyhound girl herself and she took much more time with us to talk through concerns, for example about the "tying up" only being a secondary issue and whether we should be doing more to investigate the thing that started it all etc., and is doing all she can to try and consult with Greg if possible too. She also invited us to hang out with Asha in a spare consultation room for a good chunk of time and try and feed her etc. and of course we took her up on that. So we were able to spend a lovely 4.5 hours cuddling her and trying to feed her (she licked a little specially made dog-friendly pate, but that’s it) which was good for all our souls. And Asha was on a higher dose IV drip to help flush things out more, so we took her outside once for a big wee and she actually was sniffing things in interest and did a poop and a second wee as well, and just looking much much happier on her feet than she had in days. The fact she’s pooping suggests her organs are starting to wake up again after being in shut down mode too so we were very encouraged by all of that.

 

They’re going to syringe feed her tonight, and we’ll do a repeat visit tomorrow, and hopefully things will continue to move in the right direction from here on out. Definitely feeling encouraged.

[Guest forcefeedbacon]

Aww, she's beautiful.

 

I just remembered, you said she was trembling a lot when this started, right? Was she also scared/trembling at the e-vet? That alone could have triggered the rhabdo. It sounds to me like that was secondary to something else and the question will just be whether the something else has passed or remains to be found. I really hope this takes care of it. FWIW, when my girl suffered rhabdo (brought on we believe by a combo of stress and heat) she was doing significantly better by day 2 and I believe came home that evening, but I got her to the e-vet within hours of onset. She also becomes stressed at the vet so we did need to use a sedative. Make sure they are not just using Acepromazine. I think Dexdomitor ended up working well for my girl.

 

Thank you, that is reassuring as far as confirming her diagnosis and I think you're right that the shaking is what most likely triggered the rhabdo. Although I've been wracking my brain and remembered she wouldn't jump up onto our king size bed or into the car as soon as it all started, and the second time we were on our way to the local vet, she wanted to do a "downward dog" stretch but went down only a fraction before stopping due to what I assumed was pain, so both of those could be her trying to protect her back potentially, and then it got worse and worse by all the trembling. She has had a sore back on and off for a long time, but never anything bad enough to distress her like this (I did ask today about IVDD and the vet was quite sure Asha isn't presenting that way, so that's good). Of course both of those things could've been her protecting herself from another type of pain too. I'm hoping it was initially acute gas / abdominal pain or something like that which passed by itself (repeated physical probing and even lifting from her belly doesn't show any signs of tenderness now).

 

They aren't giving her any sedatives at the moment (I have raised it multiple times due to the trembling but perhaps they're worried about overloading her kidneys or making it harder to monitor her progress accurately and she has seemed to settle now), but thank you for sharing your experience and for the heads up. I think given her delayed treatment it really is likely to take three days before she recovers, since as you say, even in immediately treated cases it usually takes close to 48 hours. I hate leaving her there for so long, but I do feel better about it now we can spend large chunks of time each day with her relaxing with us. Hugs to you and your pups!

 

 

Iowa was day hospitalized when this first came on and would not eat anything for the vets. She ate a little at home, mostly by force-feeding with a syringe the first week. The second time I had to leave her overnight, and I was very anxious for her knowing she was alone in an uncomfortable kennel. When I got her that time she cried to tell me let's get out of here, and the vets were surprised how she perked up when I was with her. She ate right away when we got home. This third time I was not going to take her in period. It definitely was contributing to her stress. Your beautiful girl will eat when she is ready and maybe it is much more likely when she gets home also. Be ready with a number of options for her to eat in case she is picky. Also be ready to feed in small increments while her appetite picks up. I got a pound back on Iowa, who this morning was fine and when I found her shaking and hiding under the table, well you know what the culprit was: a black fly.

 

Good luck with your girl. They have strong wills and just can't tell us what's up!

 

 

Wow, force-feeding with a syringe for a week! Thank you for sharing as it will help me temper my expectations and not be too freaked out by her continued lack of appetite. We have prepped all her absolute favorite options and will have them on hand for her to choose whatever takes her fancy!

 

I am keen to get her home as soon as possible and today's vet obviously felt the same way, so when she is doing a little better but perhaps still needs one last stint of fluids, I'm going to raise the prospect of those subcutaneous fluids you mentioned so thank you for that tip too!

 

And, oh my, I was so worried when I read 'and when I found her shaking and hiding under the table' so I laughed at the ending. Iowa and Asha must be soul sisters . We call them "buzzies" as in buzzy flies in this household because it's only the ones that make the buzzing noise which freak her out, and we have to hunt them down with great urgency for the sake of our precious pooch (often to the adapted song of "We're going on a bear (except we say buzzy) hunt"

 

Thanks again for the encouragement, and I hope Iowa continues to eat and be merry!

[greysmom]

I'm glad to read that she's recovering. When this is all over and you have a chance to breath, you may want to consider if you should add some anti anxiety medication into this equation. I have had a scared/timid/spooky dog myself so I understand the daily struggle to get your dog to eat, and how horrifying doing everyday things can be for them. Even something simple like DAP diffusers and L-theanine can help, but your girl may need some actual anti anxiety medication like xanax or trazadone.

 

If her anxiety is enough to be a primary or secondary cause of this episode, it's more than enough to medicate her to mitigate any further instances. No dog should have to live in that much fear all the time.

 

Please keep us updated on how things go for you all!

[Guest newyorkgrey]

Ha! The buzzies! The big black ones drive Iowa crazy. If they are dumb enough to fly into the bathroom, I close the door behind me and do battle with a towel until I win. Then I emerge victorious and brag to Iowa about how brave I was to kill off the fly. Meanwhile she is a total guard dog whenever someone hits the intercom.

 

Iowa is on day 4 of prednisone and doing well enough to eat heartily this evening, even eating up bits of kale mixed into the day's meal with pills. Interestingly I found an article about FUO online and it turns out Dr. Couto is one of the sources for it. I don't see his info listed here for you, so here it is: http://www.coutovetconsultants.com