Dog with fluctuating fevers and lethargy
I think my pet Labrador mix dog (7yo, male, neutered) is sick? 2Weeks ago, we found that he was not responding to us..he acted like he could not get up..(he is a big dog about 160 lbs) immediately took him to our vet..he took his temp, and it was 106. He put an IV in and gave some kind of fluids...in about 2 hours his temp was down to 104, but we had to take him to an overnite hospital so they could monitor....All thru the night the temp came down..by the time we picked him up at 8:30am he was basically back to normal..the hospital did a blood work up and said that everything appeared fine with the exception of liver enzymes we a little high..but they sd that could be from his temp being so high. He spent the next day at the vet until 6:00 so that they could monitor..when we picked him up..he seemed fine. Tonight he seemed to be getting sluggish again..tail not wagging..ears are not perky..hard time walking. Took his temp around 7:30pm..it was 105.8, again at 9:00 it was 105.7. |
Ask a vet plans available
- Ask the online vet a question for just $8.95; or
- Sign up for a one month membership for just $19.95 and ask the online vet unlimited questions about your pet.
- Find answers to common pet health and behavior questions $3.95/article
- Read up on previous ask the vet pet health questions for just $3.95
Vet question of the day
Add to
Dog with hypothyroidism and back problems
Our 9 year old beagle had been in good health, but had been getting fat and lazy in her older years. We took her to the vet for routine checkup and mentioned that she slept most of the day so the vet did some blood work and determined that her thyroid level was way low (0.1%). The vet started her on a medication of thyroxine, 0.4mg a day.
At first the dog was much more alert and seemed to have much more energy than she had before. She also lost a fair amount of weight very fast, from 37.5 pounds down to 31.5 pounds. Then, on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, she got really sick....
all of the sudden she could hardly stand. She couldn't hold her bladder, her stomach seemed bloated and she was panting hard. We took her to an emergency hospital and they basically said she had a stomach ache, that she was OK and sent us home.
She appeared to get better, and the next day we were out of town (the dog was with us) and she got a lot worse. We found a new emergency vet and he took xrays and said that she had back problems, basically a compressed disk. He gave us something for her pain, Rimadyl - 25mg.
We started off giving her one pill a day, and it seemed to help. But a few days later she was bad again. Our regular vet recommended increasing the dosage to twice a day, for both the Thyroxine and Rimadyl.
She has been on the twice a day rate for a little over a week now, and she has her good days and bad days. My concern is that overall she seems to be getting worse, and I don't understand how the symptoms match the diagnosis.
Even when she is feeling bad I can pet/scratch her back, including the area of this compressed disk and she doesn't indicate any signs of tenderness. Her stomach, however, gets very tender.
I have noticed that she will usually get worse right after she eats, like within 1/2 an hour of eating. Before she eats, she is bouncing around a little begging for food, 1/2 hour later she is walking like a drunken sailor.
She has been sensitive to being picked up for a number of years, which we have attributed to arthritus. She has always been the most sensitive to being picked up from under her rib cage. Conversely, she loves a good vigourous back scratch.
So, my questions is: should I accept what the vets have told me, or should I continue to investigate?
- Click here to read the answerMore pet health questions
Pet Care Articles and Pet Supplies Deals
| Dogs - dog care | 
Sign
up for the Ask the Vet newsletter
- Click
hereWe're in the news! Read full article here. |
