My daughter has no children, she has 2 dogs who are her “children”. Alfie, who she rescued as a puppy is a lurcher and Sunny who she rescued about 5 years ago. Alfie is about 8yrs old. Over the past 14 months or so he has been very poorly and my daughter is at her wits end. He has become very lethargic, lost loads of weight and all he seems to want to do is lie down. Some days he won’t eat. He can go like this for weeks then suddenly he will have a few ‘good’ days where he will eat and has more energy He has also had diarhoea and constipation at different times.He has had loads of blood tests, x-rays etc. The vet has tried steroids, anti biotics, painkillers etc. Her insurance won’t pay any more and they only paid part of the bill anyway. She has spent all her savings and more to try and get him better. We have helped her out with money too as we know how much she loves him. He has seen several vets who are all stumped.
The vet is now suggesting that she take him to Lancaster Uni for them to do more scans, tests etc but this will cost around £10,000 !!! My daughter is talking about getting a loan, and she will, and I am so worried. I just wanted to ask if anyone has ever come across anything like this before with their dogs or can anyone suggest anything else to try before going down this route. She has changed his food, changed washing powder, monitored him when he does go out in case he is picking anything up etc. The other dog is fine. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I have a dog, so i know how upsetting this is for your family.
The tests scans etc should have eliminated some potential issues so the vets should have crossed some illnesses off the list.
I think if it was a human they would be putting a camera down, or up to take a look? Can this be done with a dog?
The Uni tests and scans..what will they be looking for /at ?
If you can be assured that he is not in pain then, you may have to accept that he has an undiagnosed illness and leave things as they are.
My mother in law has many issues and has recently decided that she has had enough of the cameras up/ down scans etc . She say she can’t be chewed with it all any more, and the potential treatments.. surgery etc won’t be offered to her because she is not well enough.
It may be the same with Alfie, it might not be best for him to subject him to the stress of more procedures if he is so weak.
I know that our dog gets stressed when we get stressed, they know, I don’t know how but they do.
So I suspect your daughter’s anxiety could be picked up by Alfie.
Hope you get a positive outcome, please keep updated on Alfie’s progress.
John
Do dogs have a thyroid gland, if that was a human they would maybe check for a thyroid problem as those symptoms could be attributed to a thyroid problem
You/ your daughter could try taking it to a homeopathic vet; many good results from this route & far less stressful for the dog than having scans.
Best of luck, whatever you decide to do.
Just an additional comment which may give you added assurance: all homeopathic vets are also fully qualified in 'normal' veterinary medicine, so can consider both medicinal and homeopathic remedies.
When we lost Bailey in February we never actually got a diagnosis. Scans were done when he had a swollen abdomen and they drained half a litre of fluid, the fluid was cloudy so they couldn't see anything. He also had an enlarged heart and wasn't eating. He would no longer even take treats as he knew we were concealing tablets in them. The day we had to make the worst decision we woke up to very dark brown/red vomit and just knew something was very wrong. There had previously been an offer to open him up and look inside but he looked so sad and poorly I didn't want to put him through that when it was clear he was very poorly. If we had, we may not have got to say a lovely, peaceful goodbye to him. It is the hardest, most heartbreaking decision I have ever made and even now I feel a sense of guilt for making that decision but in my heart I know we did it for the right reasons because we loved him.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
Sometimes its better for the dog just to have love and TLC and for us to except they're in their final days, keeping them comfortable and helping them as best we can.
If they're suffering, putting them to sleep is the kindest thing for the pet, its hard on us, but we should consider the pets quality of life first.
I think all that prolonged scans and test do is to enable the vets to live more comfortably.
Some friends of ours had a dog who was diagnosed with cancer. He had ops, meds, the lot. Our friend - who has two other dogs - says if it happened again, to one of them, she'd let things run their course until it was time to say goodbye, because all the interventions ruined his quality of life left.
On another note, we know a lady who runs GSD rescue and who tells stories of dogs who have come to her in an appalling state, remedied by changing to the BARF diet which she swears-by. Has your daughter looked into that, at all? The diarhoea and constipation suggests digestive issues, so could be worth a try?
Thank you all for your kind words and advice. Alfie has now been referred to Liverpool vet school (sorry, my mistake it wasn’t Lancaster!). He has an appointment next Monday. Over the past 2 days he has been eating chicken and rice and his stools today were normal. We are hoping this continues but he has had relapses before. Fingers crossed Liverpool can get to the bottom of it. Once again thank you and I will pass all info on to my daughter.
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Topic: Poorly dog advice welcome
via mobile 13/8/2019 at 5:03pm
