Is anyone else's dog experiencing this mysterious illness? (clean, poop, vet)
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We have three dogs. All of the following actually happened within a 10-day period:
Dog #1 suddenly started having diarrhea and becoming very lethargic, refusing food, not even wanting to lift his head. By the time we got him out to the 24-hour vet, he couldn't walk into the building and had to be carried. The doc wasn't sure what was the cause, but he had us to give the dog anti-biotics and anti-diarrhea meds. While there, another couple had to carry in their dog, which was experiencing the exact symptoms as ours!
The next day, our second dog began having similar symptoms. We took her to a different vet, closer to home, and she was given meds too. Brought her home, and lo and behold, dog #3, the youngest, has got it too. She'd become suddenly weak in her hind quarters and was having difficulty climbing stairs. Mind you, she is usually by far the most agile and active of the three. And she was refusing food, which NEVER happens otherwise. So she goes to the vet and gets treatment.
The next few days are difficult to say the least, caring for three sick dogs and cleaning up messes, day and night.
In a week, dog #1 slowly recovers, and dog #2 bounces right back. But dog #3 shows very little improvement and has to go back for additional meds.
Meanwhile, good friends of ours who live across town sadly report that their dog has started experiencing these same symptoms. They take her to their vet, she gets treatment, but passes away later the same day.
We are at our wits end trying to figure out what is going on. Is there some sort of toxin in our air? Our water? In pet foods? Has anyone else had a dog that went through a similar experience?
I'm so sorry about the loss of your dog. I haven't heard about anything like this. You should probably ask a mod to move this to the dog forum. I think some people go there directly and might not see it.
very odd...my first thought is do the dogs have a location in common, a local park perhaps where you usually go that your frineds also usually go to ect? if so my guess would be something there, either water or in the duck/goose poop ect...
otherwise, what food do you feed? could be a contaimnated batch though i havent heard of an outbreak of anything ofr contamnated food.
if it was somethign in the water you would have heard about it by now...
it sounds like all the dogs got into something the same or similar which makes me think there must be a location in common. also dehydration and heat exhaustion can cause weakenss and upset stomachs...im told the heatwave here in ct is also a natonwide heatwave...
It does seem very odd. Maybe heat exhaustion, but from your time line it seems like it may have started before the heatwave.
I would check with other vets in the area to see if they are seeing something similar. There are some sick people out there and they could think that making dogs ill is fun.
heat exhaustion can happen even in lower temperatures...i had a dog enter heat exhaustion at the dog daycare i worked at on an 80 degree day, the dog was otherwise healthy...sometimes they just over exhert and dont drink enough.
Have they done any blood work on these dogs? Is anything showing? Blood count off to make them think they're immune system is trying to fight something off?
I've not heard of anything like it this way. I think Foxy's environmental contamination guess is dead on.
We have three dogs. All of the following actually happened within a 10-day period:
Dog #1 suddenly started having diarrhea and becoming very lethargic, refusing food, not even wanting to lift his head. By the time we got him out to the 24-hour vet, he couldn't walk into the building and had to be carried. The doc wasn't sure what was the cause, but he had us to give the dog anti-biotics and anti-diarrhea meds. While there, another couple had to carry in their dog, which was experiencing the exact symptoms as ours!
The next day, our second dog began having similar symptoms. We took her to a different vet, closer to home, and she was given meds too. Brought her home, and lo and behold, dog #3, the youngest, has got it too. She'd become suddenly weak in her hind quarters and was having difficulty climbing stairs. Mind you, she is usually by far the most agile and active of the three. And she was refusing food, which NEVER happens otherwise. So she goes to the vet and gets treatment.
The next few days are difficult to say the least, caring for three sick dogs and cleaning up messes, day and night.
In a week, dog #1 slowly recovers, and dog #2 bounces right back. But dog #3 shows very little improvement and has to go back for additional meds.
Meanwhile, good friends of ours who live across town sadly report that their dog has started experiencing these same symptoms. They take her to their vet, she gets treatment, but passes away later the same day.
We are at our wits end trying to figure out what is going on. Is there some sort of toxin in our air? Our water? In pet foods? Has anyone else had a dog that went through a similar experience?
i'm in the barnhart area and take dave to the city park in arnold.... both of my dogs are fine.... what did the vet(s) diagnose?? sounds like some investigation is in order to determine exactly what is going on....
Bandit has had some very mild ataxia (discoordination of the back legs) in the last couple days. Maybe it's more weakness than ataxia, as he doesn't seem clumsy as much as weak. I noticed, for instance, that when we'd go out for him to potty, his back legs were visibly shaky. And once when he was trying to pee on something vertical, he lost his balance. Tuesday and Wednesday his water intake (and output) was way down -- enough to capture my attention and cause me some concern, so I was constantly giving him ice cubes and watering down his kibble as a means of trying to get more hydration into him -- although is appetite for food has been fine all along. He also has seemed a bit enervated physically and emotionally. He had some mild diarrhea Tuesday night (or maybe it was Wednesday morning?), but that went away quickly and was more a softening of his stool than runny poops. (I'm in the process of switching his brand of food, so since the weekend, he's been eating a 2:1 mixture of his old food and his new, and this could be causing the gastro upset.)
I've attributed most of the above to the fact that he had a dental cleaning under anesthesia on Tuesday.
This morning he had a nice long pee and I was relieved.
Due to our heatwave (high temps/humidity), he's indoors 24/7, with only brief forays outside to answer nature's call. He's probably only outside 15 or 20 minutes tops right now, collectively througout the day. He's not getting any walks -- too hot!
Bandit had his semi-annual bloodwork done Monday (in advance of his dental procedure) and everything was normal.
I definitely will be watchful over the next couple days. I'm glad I have a weekend coming up!
Have the dogs been in any water? With the heat in many places I am sure Blue-green algae is in bloom and it produces toxins that can be deadly. It can be found in fresh water and salt water.
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