rob78

thanks stormie, not 100% sure but i think it is a cortisone shot. he told my sister not to give him the prednisolone tablets for a few days cause of the shot. we gave him his pred tabs for a few days but wasn't helping too much. this is all he has suggested for his allergies in the past. he gets it a few times a year, i think its worse in the hotter months. one cause of it i think is when he gets shaved real close. that might be why it happened this time, he got shaved/clippered for the IV & ultrasound. he is still scratching & biting himself a little but not as much as before. i'm more worried about the snorting, reverse sneezing, he has been doing it a lot for the past few days. he has never done it this much before. he was realy good for about a week when he came home, around the end of his antibiotics (amoxil clavulanate) this all started. is it alright for him to eat the i/d dry food with the diet he's on? he has been having some of that every day instead of his old snacks. do you think the snorting is anything to worry about? if it continues we will probably get another opinion. thanks again & to everyone else too.

hi everyone, sorry for not replying sooner & thanks for all the concern for mickey. mickey is doing a lot better now, he ended up staying at sash for 4 days. the case was given to a specialist there, he did another ultrasound which revealed signs of mild pancreatitis but there were also some changes to his intestines - thickening & distension with fluid. it also said in his discharge papers that they suspect mickey has had a longer term intestinal problem & major considerations are a dietary allergy or IBD. another consideration is a very rare hormonal condition called Addison's disease but this is unlikely. they have put him on a exclusion diet trial for 8 weeks - a new protein either kangaroo (for human consumption), venison, fish or rabbit with either pasta, rice or potato. we've been giving him minced kangaroo dry pan fried with boiled potato. suprisingly he loves it & he even eats by himself. when he was a pup he used to go days without eating so i had to hand feed him. for the last 8yrs i've been hand feeding him every night. we have also been giving him the hills i/d dry food instead of all his snacks & other dry food he used to eat. hopefuly this is alright? we rang sash to ask & they said it should be fine. since he has come back from sash he has been biting & scratching himself a lot. he gets a bad rash allergy once in a while & he starts burning up, we give him prednisilone for it or if it gets real bad he has to get a shot from the vet. the last week he has also been snorting, coughing or watever they call it. he has done it on & off since a pup but once in a while. the last few days he has been doing it more & more. yesterday i even heard him cough, usualy he just does a snorting thing. he's been doing it a lot the last few days, its realy worrying us. we just got him better & now this happens. my sister took him to the vet today, they gave him a shot for his allergies & said the snorting is probably from the allergies. said his dog does it too & to look up reverse sneezing. he has never done it this much before though??? they shaved some of his hair at sash & he has been licking himself a lot. i've found more hair then usual in his stool & found some small chunks of his hair on the ground, probably when they shaved him. maybe he has hair stuck? but he seems alright & then all of a sudden he does the snorting, sometimes a quick one & other times for longer. my sister said he was doing it most of the day today & when i got home he was doing it but he hasn't done it much in the last few hours. also he has been eating very fast since he is eating on his own now, even with his hills dry biscuits sometimes starts eating very fast from the bowl. could this be the cause? anyone have any ideas?

thanks for all the well wishes. i agree about the original vet, me & my sister were just talking about taking him to pennant hills from now on. there is a nice guy at our vet which was trying to save us money with ultrasound, he said might not show anything but they shouldn't have sent him back when my sister took him & he was getting worse. i was shocked when she told me they sent him home & when i got home he looked so lifeless. also it was very frustrating that they didn't have a clue what it was & one of the vets didn't show too much concern. even most people here got the diagnosis right without seeing him. the specialist just called & said looks like the ultrasound is showing pancreatitis. she said its made worse cause it has been going on for a while & it has inflamed his stomach & bowel i think. she also said it doesn't look to serious but she is concerned about him being so flat & that he hasn't been able to get better himself on the antibiotics. she is going to leave him on fluids & antibiotics all night & let me know how he is in the morning but i can ring back anytime. i just told my sister as she wasn't home & she wanted to go & see him but i thought it best to leave him alone for a while. i am worried though about him being so flat & will call back to hopefuly get some good news a little later. last week at the vet he was on fluids & antibiotis for about 10hrs & he was back to normal. hopefuly the same thing will happen, i just want to know he is starting to recover.

yeh i was recommended the pennant hills vet by another member. I called as soon as they opened & made an apoinment for 10:15, seemed like realy nice people. the vet seemed very honest & said he couldn't do a lot for him there in a short time. he said the best thing for him would be to take him to the SASH hospital at north ryde. he said he could do the same thing my vet was going to do but he thought i would be better off taking him to a specialist if i wanted to help him straight away. also said it wouldn't be cheap but they have all the latest equipment, have specialists & is one of the best places in sydney with 24hr care. we couldn't leave him like that so we went straight there, good thing is it's only about 5min from our place. he is there now, they think it might be pancreatitis. they have put him on fluids, antibiotics & are doing a ultrasound & another bloodtest. we are waiting to hear the results, i pray that they can help him & its nothing seious. she seemed realy good & he is in good hands, she mentioned something about a small possibility of having to do a plasma transfusion? she said they are going to keep him for the weekend to make sure he's alright. it will be very hard without him, he has never been away from home overnight. the maltese breed are like babies, they're very sensitive & get realy attached. the last time we left him at the vet for a few hours he was banging on the gate with his hand & barking at them. the good thing about this place is they let you visit your pet & have 24hr care. wasn't cheap at about $1,800 but if they can fix him it will be worth it. will have to look into pet insurance. the hospital is realy nice, its not the one next to the cemetary. its a new place just near it, just off delhi rd. there were some realy nice people there too, one older couple from bowral their dog had cancer. they thought this was going to be the end for him after everything they had been through in the past with their 14yr old dog. luckily looks like they can save him, i hope everything works out for them. my sister saw their bill when we were paying & i don't think too many people would have paid that much for any dog let alone a 14yr old. also saw the funniest thing there, a young lab came in about a few months old with a mum & her 2 kids. we asked what was wrong & the mum looked at us & said he ate a sock. she said i tried to grab it off him but he just quickly gulped it down. they took him to the back to vomit it out & the vet comes back after about 10min with a blue sock.lol & we saw one of the cutest dogs, i think it was a basset hound. long ears, short thick hands, long short body & cute narrow face. i think he had surgery on his back/spine as his back was shaved & the vet was helping him walk with a towel as he couldn't move his back legs properly. thanks again everyone, will post back later & hopefuly this can help other dog owners.

thanks so much for all the help guys. my sister took him to the vet yesterday to do some more x rays & to see if the liquid/barium? had passed through. he hasn't eaten for the past 3 days so he isn't going to the toilet. the vet said it took some time but is slowly passing so doesn't seem to be a obstruction. he just said to my sister to take him home & keep an eye on him. i'm not happy with this, i've spent a thousand in the past 2 weeks & still don't know whats wrong & even worse he isn't getting better. i came home yesterday & he looked realy bad, he was so lifeless. he has weird breathing patterns & acting strange. i try give him water from the tap & he just puts his closed mouth near my hand, its like a struggle for him to open his mouth to have a drink. he always wants to go outside & just sits on the grass or goes in weird places like he's trying to hide & just sits there. last night he didn't look as lifeless as earlier, maybe from the heat? but still didn't look well. this morning about 6am i heard crying & woke up, he has been crying wimpering on & off since. i have been reccomended a vet in pennant hills, i'm waiting for them to open to take him to get another opinion. i can't leave him like this! anyone heard of them? any good or bad? & any other vets in sydney? i'm in marsfield/eastwood but we usualy take him to west ryde vet. he seems hungry but whatever i try to feed him he turns away. he has lost over 1kg so far. "Did the vet check for parasites (giardia, crypto, trichuris) with fecal tests? Could cause those symptoms & cheap to rule out. Have you considered a diet trial (Hills z/d or similar) to see if there's a possible dietary contribution to what's going on? Done a CBC and biochem of the blood, & a urinalysis, to look for systemic disease? Could be exocrine pancreas insufficiency? Ultrasound or rads with barium could show a partial obstruction?" the vet hasn't done most of these things. they gave hills i/d about 2 weeks ago when this started, gave him the same antbiotics & put him on the drip for the day. we went picked him up & he was back to normal for a few days. my sister gave him some of his snacks & the next morning he threw up, that day/night he wouldn't eat so we fried a bit of chicken breast with rice & the next day he threw up white foam. it got worse from there & he hasn't been back to normal for the past week. they done a lot of x rays i think with barium but couldn't find anything besides a lot of gas in his stomach. he said to take him home & see how he goes & the next step is a ultrasound. he said a urine test wont probably show anything? & hasn't done fecal tests. thanks rob

my sister said he mentioned a biopsy. i don't think they have done a urine test. he hasn't eaten for the last 2 days. before i would give him roast chicken, he's very picky. after he got sick the vet gave hills i/d but he doesn't like it much. we got him the dry hills food, he liked that but then he started to get sick again & hasn't been eating much.

Hi everyone, i am the owner of a beautiful maltese named Mickey & is almost 8yrs old. about 2 months ago he started doing realy smelly farts(sometimes we could hear gas coming out) & his stool would also stink. his stomach was bloated even before he ate & was making weird gurgling sounds. stupidly we put off taking him to the vet as my grandmother was staying with us cause she got realy sick, then we found out she had cancer & she past soon after. about a few weeks back he started to have diarrhea which got worse. he started going to the toilet a lot, especialy at night waking us to go a few times a night. 2 weeks ago all of a sudden he didn't seem right, had no energy, was throwing up a lot & wouldn't eat or drink. we took him to our vet he was put on a drip & given antibiotics, we picked him up & he was back to normal. we were given hills i/d to feed him as the vet said it could be IBD, he ate as he hadn't eaten for a few days but started eating less every day & kept looking at me for his snacks & roast chicken which i used to feed him every night. we gave him a very little of his liver treats & dental stick, the next morning he threw up white foam. that day he wouldn't eat at all so at night we cooked him some chicken breast with rice. he loved it, i gave him mostly rice with not even a quater of the chicken breast mixed in. the next day he was even worse, he threw up a ball of white foam. i got home & took him to the vet again he was given a shot for his vomiting & pred for his allergies, the vet said it would help if he has ibd as well. took him home he was better until the next night/yesterday he started going down hill again. he has been realy restless, eating a lot of grass, panting, sometimes he does weird chest movements, & vomited the next morning. he came jumped on my bed 5 in the morning & was acting weird/resless, i got up let him out & he started eating grass went to the back yard & came back in. he went back to the vet this morning & had x rays done, it showed he has a lot of gas in his stomach. the vets aren't sure what is causing it, either a stomach bug or the IBD maybe. they said on the phone he has been drinking water there & looked a bit better. they have put him on antibiotics trizine & metronidazole, said to see how he goes on that as last time it helped him back to normal. they also gave him some liquid to help with the x ray, we have to take him back tomorrow for more x rays see if the liquid passes his system. we brought him home tonight & he is looking realy bad, no energy, panting, eating grass, he wouldn't drink water. i had to get the syringe & squirt water down his mouth, then he just had a big drink. he still doesn't look good though & am realy worried. he's just laying down & breathing fast. he's usualy happy & playful running around. it kills me to see him like this. BTW blood test was done over a week ago & nothing showed. vet said they might have to do ultrasound($450 just for that) which might show nothing, put tube/camera down his inside to see whats going on But as he is a small dog they can't get the tube all the way to have a complete look. the last resort is opening him up to have a look. has anyone had any experience with these symptoms? any help is realy appreciated. i just want my boy back to his normal happy self. thanks, rob