Trigeminal Neuritis - Page 1

I came across an old forum about Trigeminal Neuritis about Chaos and we are pretty sure our dog has the same thing. Missy, our dog is about 10 yrs old, cattle dog-border collie-chow mix and in good health. We live in northern New York. She is up-to-date with all her shots. 4 days ago I first noticed her eyes looked sleepy and that she was always panting. We thought maybe she's having allergies, but then as the days went by I realized she was not shutting her mouth. Two days ago we took her to the vet and they took x-rays, checked all around her mouth to make sure there wasn't any cysts or infections or fractures. She had nothing wrong so they gave us Steroids. They were concerned it was Rabies but her shots are all up to date and she has no behavior changes. She's still happy as can be, but can't shut her mouth on her own. She is able to use her tongue but lapping up food and water is too hard. So then I searched online lower jar paralysis and found the old forum on this site. 
Since it's hard to eat and drink we bought these items in the pictures. Ground dog food to insert into a cake frosting tool. A mesh muzzle but she hates it and takes it off so we only use it while giving her water to help keep her mouth more close. We found plastic ketchup dispensers which was cheaper then getting an animal baby bottle and it works just fine. She drank a whole bottle of water this way. 
We really hope Missy will have this condition for a few weeks like the other dogs mentioned online!!! Poor thing!!! 
****Causes. Does anyone know what the cause is??? We do have ticks here and she has had her lyme disease shots. Has anyone given their dog K9 Advantix? We just gave her 1st dose of that brand flea and tick repellant and I wonder if it is related. We used to use Trifexis for heartworm, flea and ticks year round but switched to HeartGuard and K9 Advantix. I'm scared to give her the K9 Advantix again since I read other dogs can have issues from this. Anyways, I wish there was some sort of correlation and cause of Trigeminal Neuritis!! I'll keep you updated with how she does!

Do you think it could be possible that an allergic reaction to the medication could cause that..among other things like some viral or bacterial bug?? do you have racoons or other varmits near by? Best wishes for and your gaL.

Could be hypersensitivity to Imidacloprid insecticide or Invermectin in Heartguard  .. the link below describes Invermectin poisoning

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/toxicity/c_dg_ivermectin_toxicity#.UapOy9jleSo

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  If the dog licks the medication before it has spread and dry, look for drooling, twitching and muscle weakness. Consult a veterinarian if symptoms occur.

Read more: Imidacloprid Poisoning in Dogs | eHow http://www.ehow.com/facts_5891749_imidacloprid-poisoning-dogs.html#ixzz2UzivFQRs

Heartguard contains Invermectin which can cause problems in Collies and other herding breeds so the symptoms could be a problem with either Invermectin or imidacloprid or the combination if given together or not very far apart.  I am liking the idea that your older mixed breed may be sensitive to both active ingredients

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression about mixed breed dogs .. the gene for Ivermectin sensitivity is possible in all breeds of dogs and mixtures.  Certain breeds are more likely to have the gene (probably because of block inheritance with another breed specific gene) for Ivermectin sensitivity but I think all breeds can be sensitive to Ivermectin.  Older dogs and dogs which have suffered head injuries or surgery are also more prone to Ivermectin sensitivity.  Many insecticides can't cross the blood brain barrier which is how they exhibit selectivity in mammals but dogs with past head injuries may have a leaky barrier and the insecticide crosses to the brain causing symptoms or death.

Missy is showing a little improvement!! She is moving her jar down on her own a little and her mouth isn't as open. She also moves her jar a little while drinking and eating food with more ease. still not 100% though. She's been on a steroid and ​doxycycline antibiotic. We're still feeding her manually but I hope this goes away!! 

I gave her a bath today for flea and ticks instead of doing the K9 Advantix again. The Heartguard is a pill form so she will still get that.

I would leave her off the heartguard for a month as well .. one month won't matter if you put her back on heartworm treatment after skipping only one month.  Doxycycline also weakens adult and juvenile heartworm larvae and helps with heartworm control so she can skip one month no problem .. all of the avermectins can reach back one month anyway.  Could be an underlying change in her health changing her tolerance to avermectins as well.  Trifexis also controls an avermectin/milbemycin component but it could be your do tolerates milbemycin oxime better than Invermectin.  Maybe going back to Trifexis is worth considering after she fully recovers.

No. I would be leaning more with a tick disease or spider bite even, as the cause. I wouldn't play games with medications and heartworm preventatives. I live "up North" and my dogs are on Heartgaard and also get the Lyme shot. If you read the old thread about Chaos you then know it was my son who suffered from Bells palsy due to Lymes Disease, and was treated successfully with Doxy. If we are guessing about things, it is more likely it is the Doxy is working for your dog, much to your relief. I am glad to hear it.

Your dog is a collie mix you said and collies are sensitive to ivermectin .. period!!  You should address the most likely causes of her problems and those are ivermectin 1st and imidacloprid second. The symptoms she has fit the possible side effects of both products.  The priority now is to get her well as heart worms won't matter if she is dead.  The most likely cause of her problems is the ivermectin in Heartguard .... possibly combined with the Imidacloprid in Advantix II.  I would drop both of these flea and heartworm products until she recovers.  Trifexis has milbemycin oxime for heartworms which is not the same as the Ivermectin in Heartguard which we know causes problems in collies.  It could be that your dog tolerates the milbemycin oxime better than ivermectin although they are relatives in their mode of action.  You changed two products at once when you added a new flea product imidacloprid to replace spinosad in Trifexis plus you changed to Ivermectin from milbemycin oxime with Heartguard ( Trifexix has milbemycin oxime for heartworms).  Keep giving the doxycycline if the vet goes along with it just in case she has a tick borne disease.  It is possible you have a number of things including some underlying change in your dogs health but the most likely cause is the ivermectin in a collie mix.  When did she get the lyme vaccination??  The lyme vaccination can cause problems too!

Bubba reads a lot. Sometimes and usually experience trumps that.