Sick dog..

[cornishcarlos]

So my old liability, Bang Kaew is proper sick.. Came on very rapidly on Friday morning. Head tilted to the right, loss of balance, lots of clear fluid coming out his nose and mouth, vomiting everything up plus twitching eyes.

My initial thought was snake bite but no signs of puncture wounds and he didn't get any worse over the next 20 mins.

Next thought was possibly an inner ear infection as he does suffer from bad ears. Cleaned his right ear out and it did look pretty red and swollen.

Also Googled the symptoms and found "old dog" Vestibular Disease, which seems to match ! Hoping to see some improvement in the next 48hrs, otherwise back to the vet.

My only major concern is he refuses to eat ? Managed to get him to drink water a few times a day but no food..

Anyone experience this before ? Its quite horrible to watch him in such a confused state.

[NickJ]

Tick parasite poisoning. Vet fast. Kidneys and other organs going. nothing to do except for IV fluids and antibiotics....its what kills most dogs here. sone fare better some worse.....Doxy at 100mg a day is the tx. for four to six weeks.....BUT and sadly he will just get it again. living on the streets an all.........

[Eclipse]

That's what it sounds like.

Get him to the doctor quick.

Get a blood test.

Probably needs a drip and loads of antibiotics and iron pills.

Leave it and it means a blood transfusion.

Leave it any longer and it will be too late.

We lost our Cocker Spaniel because we waited too long.

We now take our Golden to the hospital at the first sign.

Tick poisoning is very common.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Eclipse

[Nienke]

It indeed shows all the symptoms of Vestibular syndrome:
http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_dg_head_tilting?page=2


Important is to find the underlying cause (if possible), such as the big ear infection you already mentioned. So, a full check up at the vet, ear cleaning. and whatever fluids and meds the vet prescribes.
You may have to hand-feed him the most delicious juicy stuff till he feels good enough to eat on his own again.

My late GSD, see avatar, got VD around the age of 1 year. He never really recovered from it. Later he developed skin issues that got worse and worse over time. Because of that I always thought he had a low working thyroid (also because all results came back below the average), but the vets didn't think so.
And now I read this: "In some cases, low thyroid levels may cause vestibular disease issues" (https://pethelpful.com/dogs/Symptoms-of-Vestibular-Disease-in-Dogs)

I really do hope your dog recovers fast.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Nienke

[cornishcarlos]

We did take him to a vet on Friday evening, unfortunately not our regular as she was closed...

The vet gave him drops for the ear infection and some tablets for the "sea sickness"...

Was told to wait 72hrs...

Thanks for the replies but he is not showing signs of Tick poisoning and is not getting any worse.

We managed to get him to eat some egg yolk just now

[Eclipse]

Hope he makes it.

Give me a dog over a human friend any day.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Eclipse

[Rimmer]

Off topic troll post removed

[Pib]

Our 15+ year old Chihuahua experienced a very similar event about 4 months ago....came on very quickly...like over a 48 hour period or so. Hard for him to stand up...walked like drunken sailor when walking....would fall down easy....had a left tilting of the head. And when a dog feels like that they don't want to move around unless they have to like to go to the bathroom. Went to the vet....blood tests didn't show anything out of whack....vet gave some sea sickness type pills and antibiotics. The vet also checked/cleaned both ears...right ear was not dirty...but left ear was dirty with a little blood mixed in with the dirt and painful to the dog when the cue-tip was put in...right ear was not painful. So, the problem could be an ear infection, "old dog Vestibular Disease" like your read about at the website (came upon the same website when my dog became sick), and of course they also mention it could always be some type of tumor.

With the ear cleaning and pills at about the 3 to 5 day point he showed a marked improvement (a big enough improvement to make you happy) and he continued to show notable improvement up through about day 14 when he had improved probably back to his 70% of normal. And the head tilt to the left lessened daily. He continued to "slowly" improve from that point with less head tilt. It's been about 4 months now and I would say he's back to 90-95% of normal considering he around 15.5 years old, very little head tilt (but it's still there just a little), but you can still tell he's not back to 100%.

So hopefully your dog will recover but it will probably be slow....don't expect him to get back to 100% with a few weeks (or maybe ever)....it may take a several months to approach something close 90% or higher if the problem was caused by an inner ear infection. Best of luck.

[cornishcarlos]

Our 15+ year old Chihuahua experienced a very similar event about 4 months ago....came on very quickly...like over a 48 hour period or so. Hard for him to stand up...walked like drunken sailor when walking....would fall down easy....had a left tilting of the head. And when a dog feels like that they don't want to move around unless they have to like to go to the bathroom. Went to the vet....blood tests didn't show anything out of whack....vet gave some sea sickness type pills and antibiotics. The vet also checked/cleaned both ears...right ear was not dirty...but left ear was dirty with a little blood mixed in with the dirt and painful to the dog when the cue-tip was put in...right ear was not painful. So, the problem could be an ear infection, "old dog Vestibular Disease" like your read about at the website (came upon the same website when my dog became sick), and of course they also mention it could always be some type of tumor.

With the ear cleaning and pills at about the 3 to 5 day point he showed a marked improvement (a big enough improvement to make you happy) and he continued to show notable improvement up through about day 14 when he had improved probably back to his 70% of normal. And the head tilt to the left lessened daily. He continued to "slowly" improve from that point with less head tilt. It's been about 4 months now and I would say he's back to 90-95% of normal considering he around 15.5 years old, very little head tilt (but it's still there just a little), but you can still tell he's not back to 100%.

So hopefully your dog will recover but it will probably be slow....don't expect him to get back to 100% with a few weeks (or maybe ever)....it may take a several months to approach something close 90% or higher if the problem was caused by an inner ear infection. Best of luck.

Thanks...

I'm pretty sure that's what it is but will go to our regular vet again tomorrow.

To be honest, I've yet to find a decent vet anywhere near our place ! I'm sure there must be some good ones in Thailand somewhere...

He can stand up ok, in fact that's all he is doing. Head lent over to the left. Still drinking and just went out for a pee. Still major wobbles when walking though.

Hopefully can get some food into him tomorrow ?

[meatboy]

i think you can count on NIENKE & PIB to give an acurate asessment to the problem.

yes it is difficult to find a good vet,as it took us quite awhile,but getting ripped off all the time,we finally knew we had to travel a certain distance to find a good hospital who were interested in the animals welfare and not the cost.

so get well soon LOVED ONE.

meatboy love me love my dog.

[Pib]

This may have been the site the OP referred to regarding Old dog Vestibular Disease. It's the site I meant, but didn't include, in my earlier response.

http://thebark.com/content/idiopathic-or-old-dog-vestibular-disease

[Pib]

OP: where are you located? What part of Thailand?

[cornishcarlos]

This may have been the site the OP referred to regarding Old dog Vestibular Disease. It's the site I meant, but didn't include, in my earlier response.

http://thebark.com/content/idiopathic-or-old-dog-vestibular-disease

Yes, that's the site I found whilst researching... Pretty sure that is what he has !!

[cornishcarlos]

In Surat-Thani, opposite Phanthip is a very good vet. Like most vets here it is a pet shop. Not sure if the distance is a problem for you.

We have had fairly good success with a female vet in Sichon... Might try your suggestion...

[cornishcarlos]

OP: where are you located? What part of Thailand?

Just outside Suratthani... Donsak side

[cornishcarlos]

He's getting much better already... Not been sick since Friday, drinking plenty of water but still no appetite. We have managed to get some milk and tuna cat food into him

Still got a bit of a wobble but much more alert.

[cornishcarlos]

So I'm pretty sure it was either Vestibular disease or it was the ear infection. Not snake bite or tick poisoning.

Few more days of ear drops and will see how he is then ?

[Pib]

He has the same amount of head tilt to the left (his left) as my Chihuahua had when it hit him. Now if it was an ear infection causing the problem, if he recovers on the approx same timeline as my dog did, the head tilt completely going away could take months (2, 3, 4, etc). And our vet said don't be surprised if the head tilt does not "completely" go away. Good luck...good to see him up and around.

[cornishcarlos]

I think he has lost his sense of smell !! Doesn't react to any food like he did before... Not even juicy fried chicken !!

Might take him to the vet tomorrow, just for a check up and see if they can suggest something to get him eating again ?

[Pib]

When animals don't feel well they generally don't want to eat much...will just lie around. Kinda like when a person gets sick sometimes and loses their appetite, just wants to rest.

A vet visit would be a good thing...help ensure something else ain't going wrong.

[cornishcarlos]

Well, the boy has started to eat again on his own Much more energy now and getting back to his old self..

Still slight wobble, especially just after he gets up but much better.

Very relieved parents

[Pib]

That's good to hear. Just remember, if the problem was an inner ear infection, it could take months to get back to normal/100% although after around two weeks you should have seen a major improvement...say back to around 75% of normal. And if it was just an idiopathic problem (just don't know what caused it), then recovery time could be __________________ (you fill in the blank). And the older the dog the more variables. Preaching to the choir I know.

Yeap, good to hear he's feeling a lot better.

[meatboy]

Well, the boy has started to eat again on his own Much more energy now and getting back to his old self..

Still slight wobble, especially just after he gets up but much better.

Very relieved parents

give him my regards.

UNCLE TAFF.

Edited July 18, 2016 by meatboy

[cornishcarlos]

Thanks....