Sick 9 year ol German Shepherd - Page 1

Hey I am new here and wanting any feedback I can get.  Cody is my 9 and a half shepherd, he has ALWAYS had a sensitive stomach....ie throwing up daily, the vet has never been concerned about it before, well last week my kids came home and tried letting Cody outside and he collapsed.  I flew home and got him immediately to the vet.  They told me he had an infection, couldn't tell me what kind, just an infection.  His spleen was enlarged.  Put him on antibiotics, hamburger and rice diet and lots and lots of TLC.  He seemed to be getting better while he was on the antibiotics, now off the antibiotics and hes back at the vet, threw up allllllll night last night and into the morning, had a fever of 102 this morning, they took blood again and red blood cell count high, they are saying another infection but don't know what, giving him more antibiotics and something to settle his stomach and sending him home.  Everyone keeps telling me he os an old dog, that shepherds do not have a very long life span as other breeds, he is my 1st, my n laws got him but he was to much to handle so we took him when he was 1.  My two mutts I had lived to be 18 and 15, I'm not expecting to have him that long, but I dont believe 9 is very old.  Any thoughts or suggestions I am very open.

Work with your vets or find one you trust. It is not normal for a dog to throw up all the time. The dog collapsing recently is not a positive sign. There are many reasons why his spleen might be enlarged. The dog is old, and some GSDs live to be a few years older, and some don't. The question is what has been causing the vomiting all along and whether the spleen was enlarged all along as well. It might be something as simple as the dog has parasites or a tick borne illness, hepatitis, some bacterial infection, or it could be something like a partial obstruction in his bowel or worse, even a tumor (benign or cancerous like a hemangiosarcoma). Were x-rays done to diagnose the spleen being enlarged or was it diagnosed on palpation?  Are you sure the red blood cell count was high and not low? Based on what you say, it is impossible to even guess at what might be going on. The important thing is that you follow the directions of vets you trust and who are actually seeing the dog and the results of the tests they are running.

Good luck.

Hi Becky  If your vet cant tell you what is wrong with the old boy then go to another vet for a second opinion my friends young dog 7 months old took infection got jab antibiotic and jab antinflametery as his leg was swolen and he was limping also more antibiotic tabs his temp was 104 the vet was very worried about the temp but glad to say he is on the mend  9 years is not to old for a gsd  but unfortunatly some can pass over at this age mine are through out the years have ranged from 9 years to 13 years before they pass over   I do hope that he gets better good luck keep us posted
Rosey

Sounds like a tick borne to me. They are hard to diagnose sometimes. If he responds well to tetracycaline or doxycycaline I would say tick borne.