Sick and vets are stumped! - Page 1

Gabby is Heeler / Sheperd mix 7 month old baby girl. Starting last Wednesday 7/25 we noticed she looked very full. Her belly only continued to get very large. Its hard to the touch but she doesnt act sensitive when I push on it. She stopped eating almost completly the following day except bites of steak or hotdog we had. Over the next few days she became very lathargic and weak acting. We took her to the vet today 7/30. They did a complete blood test and found her white blood cell count to be very high, her fever is 105, and she is anemic. The vet thought maybe Lepto or Pyometrs but said neith actually fit all her symptoms. They shot her full of Pennicilian and sent us home with antibiotics (Doxycycline) and stuff for the anemia (Lixotinic Syrup). She said to give her lots of proteins like boiled chicked and cooked egg to eat for now. They want to see her again Friday 8/3 for x rays. But so far they just have no idea what could cause all the symptoms together in a young unfixed female like this. Any advise would be so great. Thank you!

Pyo can come in many forms. 

No female is 'too young' for pyometria. 


Get to a new vet ASAP.

Did they check out internal bleeding? 

Any chance she could have got into some
rat/mouse poison? 

Was she is season yet?

Pyo - my thoughts exactly! This wold be a closed pyometra, which is much more serious, as the uterus can rupture. Get her to another vet for x-rays THIS MINUTE!!! Seven months is NOT too young for pyo!

If her uterus ruptures, she will most likely die. That's why it's so important to get this treated NOW!

Edit: rat poison would show up in the blood work. They should check her clotting time to eliminate that possibility, ESPECIALLY if they're going to do surgery!

All of her symptoms sound like closed Pyo to me, which is a medical emergency and needs to be treated now.  A capable vet would have done an ultrasound and x-rays of the abdomen to see what is causing the distended abdomen!  Go to a new vet NOW, ASAP or you risk loosing her. 

Who the hell sends a 7 mo. old dog that's running a 105 degree fever HOME????  And doesn't immediately x-ray an abdomen that's abnormally enlarged???  Where are you located (general vicinity-wise)?

Were financial limitations dictating the protocol of treatment the vet could embark on?   That's the ONLY reason I can see a vet sending a dog in such dire straits home--if the owner's budget precludes hospitalization, intervenous fluid and antimicrobial therapy, x-rays and/or ultrasound of the abdomen, then the best any vet can do in that situation would be to run some basic bloodwork and give a bolus dose of antibiotic at the hospital, and send the dog home with additional antimicrobial medication and instructions for supportive care...  Sadly, the economy being what it's been, if the finances are an obstacle, there's not much the vet can do for their patient in a situation such as this.

If, however, money isn't a restriction, then as everyone else has told you--GET THAT GIRL BACK INTO THE VET'S OFFICE NOW!, and once she's there and they've started treating her, cross your fingers that you don't lose her anyway.  By now, she's got to be toxemic, with the effects of the infection within now going systemic via the bloodstream. 

If this isn't pyometra (infection of the uterus), she's either got gastric dilation without volvulus (IOW, she's in a state of chronic bloat, but the stomach hasn't twisted), some sort of fluid leakage and accumulation into the abdominal cavity, or a fast-growing tumor...WHATEVER is causing the problem is NOT something that can wait 'til Friday.  If you wait 'til then, I'm inclined to believe she'll have been dead a full day already.

If you need to keep the bill as low as possible, and therefore hospitalization, imaging, surgery and/or treatment as needed are out of the question, then I'm sorry to have to tell you that it doesn't look good for your dog.