German Shepherd dog

Ok, before I say anything this puppy is going to the vet first thing in the morning. It is not an emergency so I am not taking her to the emergency clinic, the local one is full of crackpots anyway.

I made a post earlier in the week about food, this little girl has had chronic poor stool recently. Test came back negative (she actually had blood in her stool the day of the test). She has been on Tylan powder for 10 days and it is working great.  The last 2 days she has not eaten. She is not a big chow hound and occasionally skips a meal, but not for 2 days straight. It bothered me because she is thin and I've been trying to get weight on her.

Today she behaved totally normal. Ran, played, was her usual saucy self. had her at work all day and she showing no signs of illness or lethargy. We got home from the grocery store just now, let her out, and she was very reluctant to get up. She went outside, nearly stumbled on the deck stairs, she seemed rather shaky and weak to me. (not horrible, I am looking at her with very paranoid and picky eyes here!) She went back in went straight to her crate and laid down. I thought perhaps she was hungry from not eating for 2 days, but now again she will not touch food, even mixed with yummy yogurt and pumpkin. She is just laying like a lump in her crate, looking miserable. We could barely coax her out to put in a nice pillow for her.

Gums look fine in color, temp is normal, eyes are clear. She drank plenty of water today, not dehydrated.  Pooped a few hours ago, I don't think she has any kind of blockage.

Anything in particular I should ask my vet for tomorrow? I figured bloodwork, x-rays? Does this sound familiar to anyone?

EPI ????

Has there been any spraying going on around you or someone using lots of fertilizer?  It sounds more like she got into something than EPI.  EPI dogs are usually ravenous.

O wow...I'm sorry I'd be a mess too.  Was the stool checked at the veterinary office or sent off to a lab???  At most vet clinics it's the Vet Techs that check the fecal samples and sometimes with newer techs or the untrained eye things might get missed.  I'm referring to Coccidia or Giardia (so often techs and people look for the obvious roundworms, hookworms, etc to really notice the tiny coccidia or giardia and w/giardia you have to look through a higher power on the microscope and sometimes stain it).....it's not something that actually pops out at you and to find Giardia a Fecal Smear is reccommended and Coccidia usually the Fecal Float is easier to spot that...and it's possible that if it's either of those that it wasn't shedding eggs or visible at the time of your orginal test, so I'd definately have that checked again.  And I know how common human error is on the Vet side of things.  I can't even count how many times I saw things misdiagnosed because things weren't done right. 

And I agree w/the above if it's not something like coccidia, giardia or other intestinal parasites....it sounds like she got into something.  Changed her diet possibly?  Or since she's a puppy.....found something on the floor or outside she got into...?  Although she's not vomiting??  Doesn't sound like a blockage either if she's passing stool..

Good luck and let us know!

I would have gone to vet as an emergency because I think puppies can go down hill quickly.   I am assuming your puppy is very young though....cele

Ok, I'm reading up, and I'm really wondering if she didn't somehow ingest some of that bug spray. Her change behavior (not eating) hiding (wouldn't come out of her crate). I believe she had a grand mal seizure. I am reading insecticides as a possible cause.  We've also been spraying ourselves like crazy, she could have been ingesting it by licking it off us?

I would be taking this dog o the ER if nothing more than they can get the CBC chem panel, unirnalysis, supportive care on board.  She obviously needs it.  Dogs don't seize for no reason.  If she ingested poison it needs to be dealt with.  If you wait until tomorrow, the bloodwork is that much longer to wait for.  You can pull her from there tomorrow and take her to your vet....  JMO.

Take care,

Darcy

KCzaja,

Your asking people for advice, looking online, calling friend's...

Take my advice and contact your vet if thats who you trust.   At least find professional help somewhere, someone needs to see this dog and get to the bottom of things now.

I would.

Brent.

I understand your hesitation on going to the emergency vet as I know who you are talking about and I don't think they are the highest quality vets either however with what you are saying, at this point subpar vet care is better than none.  I have dealt with several dogs with seizures and they each had seizures for different reasons.  One thing I did learn is that the sooner you do the blood work after a seizure the more you are able to find out.  If you wait for blood work the results may be inaccurate.  Quite some time ago I had a dog that seized due to hypoparathyroid disease which caused low calcium levels, one other symptom of this besides seizures and lethargy was red inflamed itchy eyes and if he hadn't have gotten to the vet immediately he would have died.  He had to be on a calcium drip all night just to stop the seizing.  There are lots of causes for seizures but the longer we sit here and discuss what it might be the more time that is being wasted to get the pup to the vet.  Even if the vet doesn't do much, at least she can be monitored until morning and you know she will be safe.  Good luck.

OMG, KC-I'm so sorry to hear what you're dealing with(been offline this eve-just came back).
From what you're describing, I wouldn't be surprised if it DOES possibly end up having something to do with the bug spraying/insecticide. How awful. I'm so sorry. I do hope things straighten out and that your daughter's puppy isn't affect long-term.

I was out the door within minutes of my last post. I don't know a lot about seizures, but I'm no idiot. Her breathing and heart rate were going back to normal but she remained pretty unresponsive, we loaded her up and took her to the emergency room. 

After describing the situation, the vet does NOT think it was the bug spray, she said its highly unlikely she ingested enough to create that kind of reaction, but I don't know.  We'll see what my vet has to say tomorrow. Either way, I'm going to look for some natural alternatives for bug spray for US, not just the dogs, after this. And no sue, no fever, I checked it again before we left for the vet and the vet checked it too.

She also said it is not epileptic or hypoglycemic. Her potassium, sodium, and blood pressure were low. Anyone know how that happens or what it can mean? They're going to run some tests and I'm transferring her to my vet in the morning. The vet is expressed a lot worry for her condition but the good news is, after some fluids she was showing signs of alertness, and when we came in to kiss her goodbye she came all the way up on her elbows when she heard my daughter's voice.  The vet seemed very pessimistic at first but came back in excited to tell us she was alert.

The vet's biggest concern seems to be how fast and hard she crashed. Fine all day, we went out to the store for an hour and came back and she was way out of it, had the seizure within an hour of us coming home.

I bred this puppy and she means a lot to me genetically, but she means 100 times more to my daughter. That kid has suffered so much heartbreak, this dog is her best friend and it would kill her to lose the dog. She is pretty devastated right now. Please keep my girls in your thoughts. Bless you guys, there is more than drama and mudslinging to this board after all, reminds me why I keep coming back.

**another update: I just called them (its 2am) for an update. Different vet this time. Says all her bloodwork came back normal, and he DOES suspect a toxin. Says she's a little more alert and holding her own. I'm glad she may not have some sort of chronic or congenital problem but I am concerned about damage to her liver and kidneys if it is a toxin.

Kelly,

Our Prayers are with Her.

Mike

 I recently received an e-mail from the PCSA (Pet Care Services of America) regarding a new outbreak of canine influenza in Pennsylvania.  The PCSA is an association that represents boarding facilities in America.  There is a link on their site to a report of an outbreak a couple of years ago, however, this latest outbreak was in a boarding facility just a month or so ago in Pennsylvania.  Something to have your vet check for.

www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/bulletins_read/208229.html#208306

Figured I'd let this thread die, less clutter.