fainty_girl Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 (edited) Update - May 2014: Just in case anybody has found this topic because their dog is experiencing similar symptoms, I thought I would post an update. I'm no expert, so I have no idea if Jessie's illness from last year is linked to what happened to her, but I want to share this. Jessie went off her food again a couple of weeks ago, she vomited a few times and became progressively weaker and was not herself. Unfortunately, she ended up having a tumour next to her liver. It did not show in her blood results or an x-ray, but could be seen in an ultrasound. She was a very sick dog and our family made the decision to put her to sleep 9 days ago.....R.I.P. Jessie My vet is closed at the moment so I will be calling them first thing when they open tomorrow... Last night when I went to feed Jessie, she was very picky with her food and was only taking tiny mouthfuls. At one point she stood back from her bowl and looked at my brother's dog's food (he eats a different type of dog food). To get her to eat her dinner I had to mix some of my brother's dog food into Jessie's food, then she ate it. I figured I must have put too many veggies in her dinner. Later in the evening I noticed that both of her eyes looked quite red, but didn't get too worried because sometimes her eyes get red when her fur goes into her eyes. But I have some eye solution that we use to flush out her eyes occasionally, and that normally helps her. I didn't put any of this in her eyes last night though. Tonight when I gave her dinner, she wouldn't even touch it, then when I looked at her I saw that there is a problem with her left eye. It is swollen and there is a bulge on her eyeball. What could this be? Other than not eating, her behaviour hasn't changed, but I'm worried about her eye Jessie is 9.5 years old. Edited May 6, 2014 by fainty_girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karly101 Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Eyes can go nasty very quickly and that also looks very painful, it really needs an examination, I recommend seeking advice of an after hours vet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ams Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 I agree with an emergency vet consult. Eye injuries can get complicated very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Ouch it must be very painful ... No idea .. but if there is a 24 hr clinic , it might be worthwhile to pay them a visit .Hope she's OK again soon . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff'n'Toller Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 (edited) We were taught any eye injury is an emergency, so yes, you should take her to an after hours clinic if you can. Not eating may indicate the eye is very painful. Edited December 7, 2013 by Staff'n'Toller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fainty_girl Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 Thanks for your replies. The only emergency vet is about 30 minutes from here, and when I looked them up online there was a recent review that was very negative . My regular vet is excellent, I am very happy with them and really trust them. Argh, it is hard to know what to do ! Why do these kinds of things happen late at night when my vet isn't open . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*kirty* Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Can you take a photo front on and side on, without touching her face or pulling the eyelids? If you shine a torch in that eye, does the pupil close down? ACDs are prone to several eye conditions unfortunately. Where abouts are you located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fainty_girl Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 Can you take a photo front on and side on, without touching her face or pulling the eyelids? If you shine a torch in that eye, does the pupil close down? ACDs are prone to several eye conditions unfortunately. Where abouts are you located? Thanks kirty. I just checked on Jessie again and was going to try and take those photos for you and check her with a torch, but she was asleep on the lounge, so I didn't want to bother her. I am in Sydney's north. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 You can call an emergency vet and ask advice. Is there another one around? 1/2 an hour isn't very far away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 How is she today ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fainty_girl Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 Hi everyone, I took Jessie to our regular vet today but I don't have any answers as to what is wrong. The bulge in her eye went down overnight and now the whites of her eyes are just a bit red and there is a small amount of discharge/tear stains below both eyes. This morning my mum noticed that she had a blotchy and red rash on her tummy and she is still off her food. I took the photos of her eye to show the vet and she said it was really helpful to have the photos. They took some of her blood and I will find out tomorrow evening if anything has come up in her blood-work. They tested her eye pressure and it was normal, her temperature was normal, and the vet couldn't see anything concerning at the backs of her eyes. Jessie just has some clouding in her eyes due to old age. Jessie was given antihistamine, pain relief and antibiotics. I wish I had an answer as to what the problem is...the vet mentioned several different things, like a possible allergic reaction, a bee sting, a dental abscess (underneath a tooth that was slightly broken). If Jessie doesn't improve they said they would need to anaesthetise her to really have a good look at what is going on. She is still off her food, but will take a schmacko (they are her favourite), but she is chewing a lot slower than normal, when normally she would just gulp it down. The vet said to give her soft food, so I'm going to go and buy her some chicken and will see if she'll eat something and take her antibiotics. So no answers yet, just a hefty bill from the vet! I hope she gets better soon! megan_ , I just wanted to clarify, I wasn't concerned at all about a 30 minute drive, I was worried about taking her to a different vet that had a very poor review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 maybe try her on a half decent canned food like Nature's Gift ? That smells not bad .. my cats will push their way in to grab it on teh occasions I use it ! It does seem as if there is jaw involvement ..... with the pain on eating. How did she react when the vet checked her throat/mouth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fainty_girl Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) maybe try her on a half decent canned food like Nature's Gift ? That smells not bad .. my cats will push their way in to grab it on teh occasions I use it ! It does seem as if there is jaw involvement ..... with the pain on eating. How did she react when the vet checked her throat/mouth? Thanks persephone, Jessie has always eaten nature's gift, but she only ate it on Friday night when I mixed it in with some coles dog food (casserole style) that my brother's dog eats. She won't eat natures gift or the casserole food now though. I just tried her with chicken mince and with chicken thigh fillets but she wouldn't try either (my other dog swooped in and stole her chicken mince with the tablet ) . She sniffed and licked at the chicken thigh and picked up a tiny piece but then she dropped it straight away. How can I get her to take her cephalexin tablet when she won't eat and putting the tablet in her mouth didn't work either. The vet got me to open her mouth several times and she felt around in her mouth and checked her gums and Jessie was ok with this. She was able to open her jaw wide. . Jessie was called a fear biter by our previous vet when I first got her, so she was muzzled when blood was being taken and her neck was being felt, etc. Jessie did pant a bit when the vet was feeling around her neck. Edited December 8, 2013 by fainty_girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Can't you just poke the tablet down her throat? Over the tongue .. hold muzzle closed , and rub throat ... :) Will she eat icecream/drink milk/ eat scrambled egg/cat food/porridge & cream........ maybe stuff she can lap instead of chew? Is she drinking OK ? I suggest tableting her/feeding her with the other dog restrained .... only one needs the special treatment :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) With the eating issues it doesn't sound like it but did they check the pressure of the eye? Glaucoma can cause the eye to bulge and it can appear to come on very suddenly and be very painful for the dog. ETA: Some breeds are more likely to have glaucoma than others and I am airily sure ACDs are one of them. Edited December 8, 2013 by piper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fainty_girl Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) Can't you just poke the tablet down her throat? Over the tongue .. hold muzzle closed , and rub throat ... :) Will she eat icecream/drink milk/ eat scrambled egg/cat food/porridge & cream........ maybe stuff she can lap instead of chew? Is she drinking OK ? I suggest tableting her/feeding her with the other dog restrained .... only one needs the special treatment :p My dad tried putting the tablet in her mouth before and holding her muzzle, but it wouldn't work and she just ended up spitting it out. I tried offering her some milk but she wasn't interested. She wouldn't try any fish either and normally she loves it. She just turns her head away from any food we offer . She had a drink of water this morning, but she hasn't had anything since. I'll have to try again soon with the tablet. With the eating issues it doesn't sound like it but did they check the pressure of the eye? Glaucoma can cause the eye to bulge and it can appear to come on very suddenly and be very painful for the dog. ETA: Some breeds are more likely to have glaucoma than others and I am airily sure ACDs are one of them. Yes they checked her eye pressure and it is normal. Edited December 8, 2013 by fainty_girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 with tablets they cannot easily spit them out if you poke them waay down OVER the tongue ..right into the throat .....so they are not in the mouth at all ;) It works even better if tablet is in a teaspoon of cold butter/marg ..or enough cheese/peanut butter to just cover tablet . http://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/giving-your-pet-a-tablet-hints-and-tips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*kirty* Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 From the photos, it looks more like the conjunctiva (the pink tissue around her eye) is puffy. The actual eye itself looks fine. It may have just been severe conjunctivitis or an insect, but it is unusual that she is off her food. Does she normally get allergies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fainty_girl Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 We got one tablet into her! I tried crushing it and mixing it with milk and syringing it into her mouth, but I only got a little bit in before she totally resisted. Some of the ground up tablet was at the bottom of the syringe like a paste, so my mum suggested getting it out and putting it on a schmacko...it actually worked! She happily ate the schmacko and then had a drink of water afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 ..as long as the tablets do not have a shiny smooth coating they are OK to be crushed, usually ... ones with a shiny hard coating (like M&Ms) should not be cut/crushed, as they are designed to dissolve further down in a dog's gut ..... I have always found coating them with butter , then poking them over the back of the tongue the quickest & easiest .A lot of people disguise them in salami/bits of sausage, too . Unfortunately, if they get a nasty taste - then even treats can be refused Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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