Very sick dog. Can you help me interperate these symptoms?

[carolinagirl58]

Husband has a call in to the vet. He will see if the vet can look for an obstruction or something else today instead of waiting for Thursday. Bailey did eat a squirrel on Saturday and possibly part of that hide has lodged somewhere it should not have. She also was dragging around a bone this weekend that may have been one of those smoked bones you get at Tractor supply. I gave it to her months ago but have not seen it since. She has not thrown up once and the vet did palpate her belly yesterday and felt like it did not warrant an xray but maybe he will go ahead and do it since she is in such pain.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
she has not tried to go. she whined last night at 3:00am so we got up and took her out, but she just wandered around for a minute and wanted to go back in.

 

[Orpygal]

Lyme?

 

[carolinagirl58]

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I asked the vet about that. He said her symptoms are not consistant with Lymes. She has been wearing a preventic tick collar all summer and I have not seen a single tick on her, but I suppose she could have had one and I didn't see it. Deer ticks that transmit Lymes are usually really tiny.

 

[watchdogps]

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No, not see IF, you tell the vet you ARE coming in for an xray, now. If not, you will go to another vet. Obstructions are nothing to mess with and you need to rule it out asap, or get it taken care of. The longer an obstruction is in there, the more chance there is of tissue dying and Bailey having to have parts of her GI system removed, sepsis, etc.

A pet sitting client's akita ate one of those smoked bones, he broke it of into gravel sized pieces and they got lodged in his intestine. I had to carry his 100lb, fear biting *ss into the ER to get it removed. Thos things are dangerous.

 

[sheila3935]

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Since she ate a squirrel she could have bones lodged in there. I had a dog that ate a rabbit and got bones stuck in his bowels. They can cut the intestines and cause bleeding. We found out only after the bones had cut his intestines and he was bleeding rectally. He had surgery and was ok. These are worst case senarios. Try not to freak out. I know its hard not to, but get an xray to know for sure. Elevated white cell count means infection. Make sure the vet knows she hasnt had a bowel movement in a few days. If these show nothing, maybe talk to the vet about a thyroid test. Low thyroid will cause weight gain, lethargy, constipation, and depression.

 

[carolinagirl58]

hubby is waiting for the vet to call back and just did a physical exam of his own. He thoroughly deep massaged her belly and lifted her back end off the ground by placing his hands under her tummy and she did not react at all, other than to wag her tail at him. So it looks like she has no pain in her belly at all. That's a good sign I think. None of her joints feel painful or swollen. her belly does not look at all bloated. Her neck and spine do not feel painful. Her ribs don't hurt. She is enjoying her physical exam very much and wagged her tail throughout it. Maybe she is getting constipated from because she isn't drinking enough water. He gave her a big bowl of watered-down chicken broth which she drank all of. When I have her the antibiotics this morning, her saliva seemed sticky to me, which is a sign of dehydration beginning so we are pushing fluids today even if that means chicken broth. I'll let you know what the vet says though.

 

[EmAbTo48]

A dog that has not taken a poop in now 3 days is for sure constipated.

my pug had this because of eating a watermelon rine he found. He acted the same way except he yelped if you picked him up. Your dog might be in the beginning stages of constipation. Honestly might be wise to just get some xrays

Then you can rule out anything obvious.

 

[carolinagirl58]

The vet called back. He is sure she is not impacted. Her belly is soft, no abnormal gut sounds, no vomiting. She is probably getting constipated because she is not active and is not drinking much. So we will work on hydration and more exercise and probably a stool softener. Hubby took her outside to walk around and she seemed happy to go with him. She did get excited when he mentioned squirrels and perked up for a bit. The vet feels like her blood work just is too unremarkable for anything bad to be going on inside of her. Even the globulin and protein levels are only so slightly elevated that he is not concerned.

 

[Orchid]

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That was my first thought.

When I was a kid we had a dog that swallowed a rock. I kid you not. We didn't know it, and the vet my dad was using REFUSED to do x-rays. By the time he was fed up and took her to another vet, a good portion of her intestine had died. He did surgery but it was too late and we lost our dog.