Pom

Madeline's gotten used to the regular popping that goes on around here but this year someone has new fireworks. Luckily they only let it off once a night as it sounds like a gun shot. Scares the crap out of me every time I can't imagine what the dogs in the area feel. Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

Well we are pleased to say he's back home tonight. The vet didn't see the point in paying the $100+ a day to keep him there when we can medicate and watch him here. Still no idea what the cause was and he's still very much disoriented and more lethargic than a normal Dogue. He also appears to now be blind in one eye (which explains the walking in circles one direction) and will only eat mushy food (no kibble, no big meat chunks). But he DID eat breakfast & dinner today and is drinking as well as actually moving around the house so that's better. His temp is up to 36.8 now from a low of around 35.3 and his heart rate is close to normal. If he shows no sign of further improvement over the next few days then we will get the full thyroid test done. The vet's didn't think the symptoms where severe enough in that direction to investigate it further, but when I brought it up they said they could get it done if I wanted. After that, we need to look at getting an MRI done and hope that will lead to a solution. Would be so much easier if we hadn't recently had a baby, but she needs to be the #1 financial thought and the costs involved in those tests which may or may not lead to a diagnosis really need to be weighed up. Still, he's perked up a bit and is on Macrolone and Cephalexin at the moment as they aren't sure which one is helping. He'll come off Cephalexin tomorrow and Macrolone at the end of the week if there's an improvement. It's drug central here now with our other dog on Rimadyl for her canine spondylosis. Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. A Dogue has a heartbreaking "happy" face at the best of times, so seeing it when unwell is almost unbearable!

Thank you all for the support and suggestions. We visited today and the fluids have at least made him look a little better. He now looks more like a Dogue and less like a brown Neo! He's still not interested in food and took him a while to realise we were there with him. I will suggest Thyroid as I believe the initial vet mentioned it was pretty much the only thing they didn't test with the bloods. He didn't seemed concerned with that area and it was an off the cuff remark so I didn't really pay it much notice. The lump is more like a hard knot slightly left of center on top of his head (about in line with middle of ears). To be honest, I really don't remember if it's always been there, but I do know that it's more pronounced and visibly noticeable now. The current thought is that a byproduct of his earlier ear infection has caused the problem. They ruled out vestibular infection but something along those lines seems to fit.

From what they have said, they haven't really ruled out much aside from blatantly obvious causes. His symptoms aren't bad enough in one direction to rule out something in the other direction. For example, vestibular disease was suggested to the vet but Griffen isn't vomiting or circling and antibiotics aren't having an affect yet. On the other hand, the other symptons fit and he did have an ear infection 2 months ago.

Yeah, they said all the tests came back normal aside from a slightly elevated cholesterol level. It's a worry when you have 4 vet's with decades of experience scratching their heads. They thought he would at least respond to the anti-inflammatory and antibiotics or perk up from the IV and painkillers, but they said he's pretty much exactly as he was when dropped off. They'll keep that up for the weekend to give it a chance to help, then try for an MRI as early as possible. Will look into an Internal specialist if nothing improves over the weekend.

Neurological is what they are focusing on now, an MRI is the next step. No nausea at all, stool sample checked out fine too. My first fear was a paralysis tick or something similar, but they haven't found a sign of one and said his symptoms weren't "severe" enough for a paralysis tick. Our other dog is lost without him home. She's spent most of the time looking out the window waiting for him to return. Hopefully they can find a cause for the symptoms, otherwise the plan is to just keep treating the symptoms and hope that things improve.

I know there's a health section, but posting here in the hope more people will see it and someone might have an idea. Our boy Griffen (7yr old Dogue De Bordeaux) isn't doing well. He's been at the Vet for 2 days now and they are at a loss to find the problem. 4 experienced vets have looked over him and are struggling for ideas so at this point are happy to receive suggestions if anyone has experienced something like this. As the owner of the clinic said "Fresh eyes might see something we missed". On Saturday, he was fine. Playful, happy, eating well and generally appeared 100% normal. We didn't leave the house, there were no "bangs" or "crashes" to signify an accident, no evidence of "baiting" (other dog is fine and would have been first to anything. Griffen doesn't eat without being told by us it's ok), no signs of lose bowels or vomiting, no visible snake/spider/tic bites that we (or the vet) could see. Over the next 2 days the following symptoms set in and have only got worse: *No interest in food at all. *No interest in water. *Lethargic and reluctant to get up and come over. *Appears dazed/confused and walking aimlessly around the room. *No barking, howling, yelping or any other noises since Sunday. Complete blood tests have all come back fine (except a slightly elevated cholesterol level). X-Rays all came back clear. The physical checks have come up with 3 things: *Low body temp *Slower than normal heart rate *Slight lump on head that doesn't appear to be sore and nothing abnormal showed on X-Rays. He's been on an IV drip the entire time he's been there, has had painkillers and anti-inflammatory injections and antibiotics to try and treat the symptoms while they seek a cause. All these have had little to no effect on him. They will continue with these things over the weekend. Next step is an MRI scan. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, has seen something similar in other dogs or heard of something like it, please feel free to let us know. There might be something so obvious that it's easily overlooked. Thanks.

I'm happy to offer Griffen up (Dogue de bordeaux), I'm in Melbourne though. I can put a link up to some photos he's had done when I get home from work.

The ridges were in their yard and dug under the fence. They then entered the house through a dog door and killed the jrt's in the laundry. The council declared the dogs "dangerous dogs" and gave the owner the option to put them down or build an enclosure. The owner is currently appealing that decision

It's such a waste. I went to school with their owner. Bundy & OP were born on 22nd October 2005. They are now resting under their favorite tree. They were a huge part of the family and will be greatly missed.

I caught a wondering neo once. I had just picked up dogfood and he was easily caught when the smell reached him!! Lifting him into the back of the car to take to the vets on the other hand was a nightmare!!!

they also do mobile phones now! Coles do car insurance and road side assistance. I just want to know which one will come and pick up the poop!

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sorry, I don't get this. I was raised in the US and spent many years in Australia. I have trouble with spelling differences between English dialects. If you use a dozen question marks, please provide an intelligible question. The point of the post was to help people direct one another to useful/interesting/fun blogs. Given the number of times I've overlooked what are blatant errors in spelling/usage in any English dialect, eg., 'there' for 'their' and 'its' for 'it's' on posts, I am inclined to take it personally when someone attacks for what is correct spelling of 'favorite' in US English . . . but I refrain from pointing my middle finger :D. I'm not sure if they were having a dig or not but it was directed at my spelling.

Thanks for pointing that out