Hi all.. I've been a member for some time, and I frequently read but don't frequently post
I'm posting tonight because we're not sure what is going on with our 8 year old cocker Jennie. It's quite a long story so I will try to be as brief as possible whilst trying to remember everything!
It starts 2 Sundays ago. Jennie had been fine all day - we'd had a good long walk, she hadn't done anything unusual, eaten anything or acted strangely.
I fed both dogs at 6pm, the usual food, the usual amount. Jennie has a habit of gulping down her dinner very quickly and did so. Afterwards she did this very odd belch / vomit noise, which worried me but she was licking her lips and wagging her tail so I wasn't overly concerned, and she didn't actually produce any vomit.
At 8pm I went to put Jennie's eye ointment in and I noticed she had a bloated stomach, she was uncomfortable to touch and actually cried out. Fearing bloat we took her to the emergency vets. By the time we were there her bloating had gone down though she was still in painful and not enjoying her belly being touched. The vet wasn't concerned, gave her pain meds and sent us away saying call back if any changes, and come see your usual vet tomorrow.
Monday she was still in pain - she was obviously uncomfortable and paced around quite a lot. So I took her to the vet - she was given a shot of NSAID (rimadyl) and I was told again, keep an eye, she's probably just twisted a muscle or pulled herself somehow. They took bloods to rule out infections / other issues that could appear on bloods (pancreatitis etc). Call back for bloods in the morning.
Tuesday and she's no better - crying out when you touch her, pacing constantly if you let her - called for the bloods, and they weren't back. Vet gave us tablets of rimadyl to settle her. When she sat she would just cry out in a little rasping whine as she breathed.
Wednesday she went in for x-rays. X-tays showed up slightly calcified discs (strangely like our older cocker) . Vet was convinced this was the cause - more rimadyl & muscle relaxers to try and stop her tensing up which they said was the cause of her bloat. The blood test showed nothing unusual, slightly elevated lipase levels, but nothing that concerned the vet, particularly as nothing else was elevated.
Thursday - Friday - absolutely no better, episodic pain spikes, shaking, licking her lips and swallowing lots as if she's nauseous, lots of pacing and lots of drinking. Crying out if you touched her abdomen. The vet prescribed tramadol to try and prevent the 'pain breakthroughs'.
Saturday - no different
Sunday morning - the worst episode of pain yet. She went to move and started screaming in pain, then she tried to get away from the 'pain' and that hurt more, and then she began shaking and just sat whining for about 5 minutes. Obviously very distressing for us.
We rang the vet again and ended up taking her down to see a different vet at the same practice. This 'new' vet was not convinced it was her back, she was convinced it was abdominal and kept her in. She was then in from Sunday - Tuesday, during which time they have done ultrasounds, more X-rays, more blood tests, an endoscopy and finally opened her up and examined everything ...
They've found nothing. They have no idea what is wrong, though we are awaiting the blood test results still (including a 'special' set of tests around pancreas function). They kept her in and gave her IV fluids and a strong painkiller via her IV.
She came home and is on tramadol, rimadyl and norclav anti-b's. As they found nothing they are hoping that the massive dose of painkillers she had whilst in the surgery, and the anti-b's and continuing pain meds might 'clear up' anything she's had that might be lurking
When we picked her up she was incredibly stressed and wet herself, she came home and cowered when we tried to touch her, so we let her just settle in, spoke to her in 'happy voices' and tried to make it easy for her to settle.
At home on Wednesday she wasn't too bad, and seemed more relaxed (but not normal) even wagged her tail a little. She was a little tense and uneasy, but more like her usual self so we were happier at least.
Today she is regressing again. We've have episodes of breakthrough pain where she yelps when she tries to move, not all the time, just occasionally, can be from a sitting position or a lying. She is yelping again if you touch her, paces around and around if you let her. She will sit in her bed if you tell her too and when she does she's sitting but kinda slouched over, wide sad eyes looking at you full of pain, breathing a little rapid and panting. She doesn't want to be touched and cowers if you try to, no matter where.
Throughout this whole awful ordeal she has continued to eat when offered food, though not with her usual enthusiasm. She's not had diarrhoea per se, it's been squishy but about the right amount and the right colour, until today when her poop was brownish and hard for about an inch (sorry very descriptive! like she was dehydrated) and then became loose, sticky and the colour of mustard. She's also not had a temperature (to speak of) with her fluctuating between 38.2 and 38.8c
Currently waiting for a call back from the vet to give an update on her condition and discuss what's next. Previously we'd been discussing a referral to a specialist - possibly for an MRI or cat scan of a spinal fluid tap. The vet says theres a slight chance it could be a form of meningitis, particularly if she goes downhill again... which she is... though that's not a diagnosis yet, so I'm not saying thats what it is.
So... has anyone else ever experienced anything like this? Do you have any advice, any words of wisdom.. anything... ??
