My dog's not doing well

   / My dog's not doing well
  • Thread Starter
#12  
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Yes, that is a Bush hog 72" core aerator in the background!

Interesting history on the dog:
He's a Black Mouth Cur. A breed not recognized by ACK, but they are recognized by the UKC. They're an interesting breed, bringing together many traits from other breeds, to act as "Homestead" dogs on the Southwest Frontier. They have the musculature and coloring of a Mastiff, long toes of a running breed, webbed toes of a water dog and a deeper snout of a hound dog. They're truly a swiss-army knife of the dog world. As a homestead dog, they were employed to protect the homestead, herd livestock, and track and tree game. They're tenacious dogs that don't know how to back down from a confrontation. Mine has been sprayed by skunks at least 6 times, and I don't expect it to ever end.

Today, the breeding falls into two primary blood lines. Dogs that work with livestock and those that chase game. In TX they gets used by wranglers for rounding livestock and they also get used for hunting pigs, coons, squirrels. I got "Mason" from a black wrangler near Waco TX. His lineage is herding dogs. Although he'll chase every squirrel, pig and rabbit he ever see's.

If any of you have read or seen the story "Old Yeller", that dog was a BMC, not a Labrador as most people thought. The author was Fred Gipson from Mason Texas. I have a 4500 acre lease in Mason, so therefor, that's where the dog got his name.

Per the late Paul Harvey, "Now You Know The Rest Of The Story"
 
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   / My dog's not doing well #13  
Occasionally, our dog will kill and munch on a lizard or snake. Makes him ill for a few days....
 
   / My dog's not doing well #14  
I travel a lot and when I was home last weekend, I noticed my dog would have a slight cough, or more like he was clearing his throat, every so often. Anyway, I asked my wife to keep an eye on him, because it seemed odd. Thursday, she said he didn't seem like he was hungry. Which is really odd, because his dinner is usually the whole reason for his existence. Last night, he barely touched his food and the wife said he just slept all day behind her recliner and seemed lethargic, something is definitely wrong.

He drank water and pooped when she let him out this morning and the poop looked normal, but he was all mopey and clingy. So, she took him to the vet today. They took an xray and confirmed no intestinal blockage, but his blood work showed him to be dangerously anemic. All the other bloodwork parameters were normal. The minimum normal value for the anemia is 143K and he was 60K. So they gave him a subcutaneous IV of 1500cc's and sent her home with some steroids to give him. They'll follow up in 24 hours. If he isn't improving, he'll need to go to the pet ER.

He's a 6 YO black mouth cur, that's never had any issues, other than a food allergy that will make him itch and lick his paws. I give him a salmon based protein food and he has no issues.

We're trying to figure out if he got into something that's poisoned him or some other cause. I hate that the poor guy is ill, and I can't be there to try to help in some way.

Anyone have a similar issue that could throw out some ideas to look for? I have the wife checking the patio, carport, barn and any other place around the house for something/signs of him getting into something.
Just my $0.02, but find the best vet you can (anywhere that does full surgeries and has fully trained vet surgens, not your local mom & pop vet, more on that shortly) and go immediately.

Our black mouth curr recently passed due to undiagnosed fast-onset diabetes resulting in ketoacidosis that could have been corrected if caught earlier according to the vet surgeon on the 3rd referral (and when I say undiagnosed, this was after a 100% clean bill of health just 30 days prior, then that same vet said he was fine after symptoms arose, then after they persisted another 2 days, a 2nd regular Vet said, "oh, just keep an eye on him and he should be fine" .... only took 24hrs from him to go from lethargic and not wanting to eat much to not moving at all and whining / panting in pain.

As my wife was leaving the 2nd vet after going back in 24hrs and he was only getting worse, they were the ones that said he needed emergency care beyond their ability and referred us to an actual Vet hospital. After rushing him there, they did their best over a 36hr period, but he was too far gone and we had to put him down to prevent further suffering.

The vet surgeon stated that there is a very small window to catch and correct fast onset diabetes, which caused ketoacidosis, which then basically began shutting down all of his organs and while if caught early enough, it is "mostly" manageable, but timing is everything and once you get too far in, it's too late (I'm sure someone on here more experienced in vet care can explain it better than I have, but this is what we were told).

Hopefully your case is less severe and something more manageable, but I'd err on the side of caution and head straight to a full-svc vet hospital.

Sorry to hear your pooch is sick and we'll pray for his recovery. Best of luck.
 
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   / My dog's not doing well #16  
Could a neighbor poison him? If yes, your wife will never find anything because the dog ate everything. Unfortunately some neighbors are very capable. Or probably a poisoned rat. Anyways, if it is poison you won't find it because it is eaten already
 
   / My dog's not doing well #17  
Hope the dog gets to feeling better. No clue as to the systems other than a blockage (which we've had in the past which required an operation to remove) along with an odd bite from what would appear to be from a venomous snake on a small jack russell mix years ago.

Just my $0.02, but find the best vet you can (anywhere that does full surgeries and has fully trained vet surgens, not your local mom & pop vet, more on that shortly) and go immediately.

Our black mouth curr recently passed due to undiagnosed fast-onset diabetes resulting in ketoacidosis that could have been corrected if caught earlier according to the vet surgeon on the 3rd referral (and when I say undiagnosed, this was after a 100% clean bill of health just 30 days prior, then that same vet said he was fine after symptoms arose, then after they persisted another 2 days, a 2nd regular Vet said, "oh, just keep an eye on him and he should be fine" .... only took 24hrs from him to go from lethargic and not wanting to eat much to not moving at all and whining / panting in pain.

As my wife was leaving the 2nd vet after going back in 24hrs and he was only getting worse, they were the ones that said he needed emergency care beyond their ability and referred us to an actual Vet hospital. After rushing him there, they did their best over a 36hr period, but he was too far gone and we had to put him down to prevent further suffering.

The vet surgeon stated that there is a very small window to catch and correct fast onset diabetes, which caused ketoacidosis, which then basically began shutting down all of his organs and while if caught early enough, it is "mostly" manageable, but timing is everything and once you get too far in, it's too late (I'm sure someone on here more experienced in vet care can explain it better than I have, but this is what we were told).
I'd like to think we love our dogs as much as any pet owner. Through local animal rescue work in the past along with the usual 4-6 dogs we always seem to be in ownership of (currently 5, all "found") I'd be willing to bet we'd give anyone a run for the money on vet care over the last 20 years.

Out of those 20 years, we've had to be at the local "emergency clinic" about 3 times out of litterally at least 100 trips to our local vet for annual check ups along with some emergency visits (which does not include a 2 hour drive to a specialist years ago for a ear operation that was reccomended by a "emergeny room" vet).

Locally, the 24 hour emergency vet care place (about 9 vets on staff) you're looking at $375 just to have them look at the dog (not including bloodwork). Anything after that, sky's the limit. Don't get me wrong, they are good, but in general if you have a local vet that is good, generally though and exam or bloodwork, at least we've found it's the best place to start and generally don't have to go anywhere else after that. Out of those previous 3 trips to the "emergency care", at least a 1K bill each along with having to put one dog down because a potential 4K operation was still less than a 50% survival rate and quality of life would have been "iffy iffy" as well if the dog would have survived the operation.

End of the day, no person or animal is promised tomorrow, and with any medical care it can be a roll of the dice. Our neighbor, a full time farmer went in for a colonoscopy around age 79. Neighbor had a issue with the procedure of some sorts, was admitted to the hospital and died less than a week later. The guy was in perfect health and fit for his age when he went in.

Past being a long story, but point is we've had two local vets (first one retired and we left to go to another one) and overal have been more than happy with the medical services provided and no issues. It was the local vet who found the snake bite in the dogs gums, inside the mouth.
 
   / My dog's not doing well #18  
Years ago we had a basset hound that had the exact same symptoms you mentioned, lethargic, wouldn't move out of a spot, wouldn't eat anything.

Took her to the vet and she had eaten rat poison. He gave her a vitamin k injection and pills for us to give her. In a few days she was back to normal.

I'm guessing that would have came out in a blood test but sounds like he's doing better.

Snake bite does sound like a viable possibility.
 
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   / My dog's not doing well #19  
I guess the possibility exists that it got into old pesticides but hasn’t arsenic been banned for a long time?

Eating green potatoes has a similar effect
 
   / My dog's not doing well #20  
Strong positive thoughts for you special one.
 

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