Poor Sick Doggy - Vets Don't Know What's Wrong....

[MadWoofter]

My mum's dog is really not well. He's been to the vet numerous times, had heaps of tests done, but they really don't know what it is. It started Xmas day when he had a swollen jaw, which improved with anti-inflamatories & antio-biotics, but now he has a pile of other symptoms, which are:

Temp over 40 degrees (has been for over 3 weeks)

Diminished appetite

General lethargy

White cells & red cells are both down

Platelets are "odd shaped"

Lymph nodes are swollen (and have been for several weeks)

Kidney & liver functions are fine

Fine needle aspiration shows he's fighting an infection somewhere

He's been on antiobiotics & metacam since Xmas (various dosages, various types) with no improvement.

The next step is MRI & CAT scans.

Has anyone had anything remotely similar? Any ideas on what it could be?

Oh, and doggy is an 8yr old male (desexed) staffy x whippet x basenji (ex pound pooch).

Any advice appreciated

[Gumnut]

Madwoofter, I'm sorry to hear that your mum's dog is so unwell, I hope the vets can find out what's wrong with him and get him on the road to recovery asap.

[W Sibs]

oh no... i hope your mum's dog get better.

sending healing vibes over there.

it sucks not knowing what's wrong with the dog (i know)... just see what the scans say.

do the vets have any theories on what it can be?

[persephone]

Sounds nasty

Guess osteomyelitis has been ruled out ,then ?The only other thing I can think if is osteosarcoma

Hopefuly it is just some infection in a pocket somewhere..and the vets can clear it out

*fingers crossed for him*

[Bullbreedlover]

Has the dog been around any weed killer at all.

Roundup or similar

Think think think, if the dog has been exposd to anything not normal

[megan_]

tooth infection? I had an infected tooth (with no real pain) and I had a high white blood cell count, was lethargic etc - fro 5 months! Anti B's didn't help me either. It wasn't until the tooth was removed that things improved.

[Cockerlover]

Sending healing vibes & hugs

[Staff'n'Toller]

Could it be Immune Mediated? Needs internal medicine specialist consult- well that's were I'd be going anyway ASAP.

Edited March 4, 2010 by Staff'n'Toller

[MadWoofter]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

He hasn't been around week-killer or been in a situation to get bitten by anything, it's not a tooth problem, and while they did think it could be an immune thing that doesn't explain the temperature.

Ultrasound & X-rays are clear (apart from slight arthritis but that wouldn't cause the symptoms), so the vet is talking about doing a lymph gland biopsy. We really don't think it's cancer as that doesn't explain the fever either. Stumped all round !

It's so sad, this dog is normally a lunatic - constant energy, doesn't stop, happy to see everyone, and now he just puts himself to bed

[Dogs4Fun]

Immune mediated disease commonly causes an elevated temperature.

Neoplasia can also cause an elevated temperature.

You can't dismiss these based on that one finding alone.

[tashnchief]

Have they taken any samples of blood and urine for cultures????

My dad's dog had a few of the symptoms listed but most in common was the temp over 40 degrees that took 5+ days to break. Finally, the culture reports picked up that he had Septicemia.

[spottychick]

It's so sad, this dog is normally a lunatic - constant energy, doesn't stop, happy to see everyone, and now he just puts himself to bed

awwww I'm so sorry to hear this. I know what you mean by that comment. When Tango was really sick the other day I suddenly wanted the annoying nagging lunatic back. It's so sad to see them like that and you feel so horribly helpless.

Hope this gets sorted soon.