I Need Your Collective Thoughts and Prayers...

[tliss]

Yesterday was not a good day for our new puppy. We woke up to him foaming at the mouth and acting very odd. We took him to the vet and it turns out he was having seizures and is generally not doing well. He has gotten better over the last few hours, but he is still not out of the woods yet. We've got medication to help Some of the symtoms he is showing point to distemper, which basically make him go nuts and the only humane thing to do at that point is put him down. We are hopeful it is nothing serious, but you never know. The next few days will be critical. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks,
Tom :crying:

[Silver_2000]

Tom,

Hope he comes around

One of my dogs had similar symptoms. The local vet had us REALLY freaked - At the time we lived 40 miles outside Ithaca NY - We decided to take the Dog to Cornell Vet hospital in Ithaca. They diagnosed him as epileptic. He was medicated, watched for a few days and has been on Potassium bromide ever since. 10 years later he has less than 1 seizure a year that I see and is doing great. Epilepsy can cause ALL kinds of freaky weird symptoms, shaking, foaming, unresponsive, etc etc. Until you see the dog go from normal to starting a seizure to the full seizure to the recovery stages it is really tough to associate it with epilepsy.

That might not be what your dog has but wanted to let you know that dire circumstances sometimes come out ok.

Best wishes

Doug

[cpeapea]

my old and gone boxer had sezuires, it was really sad. i hope he gets better.

[Moonshine]

I'll hold a good thought, and hope you get good news.

[tliss]

Latest word I have from my wife is he is looking better. No new seizure activity that she can see and he seems to be getting back to normal. The next few days will be critical as we will need to see how he acts and how his health is. He seems to be hungry, thirsty and ready to paly, although he is a little weak and hung over from the drugs. I'll keep you updated on his condition as often as I can. Thanks for your thoughts and kind words. All of you guys a rough and tough horsepower junkies on the outside, but I know a lot of you guys are just like me when it comes to animals...soft and mushy!:d

In a year or so I plan on posting a picture of a humongous 170lb dog. Maybe a few pics of Otis in the bed of the Lightning will be good! Thanks for your concern.

Tom

[Logan]

Ack!! I hope he's going to be alright Tom...

Cute little puppies are just simply not allowed to be sick.

[Sixpipes]

Originally posted by tliss
We woke up to him foaming at the mouth and acting very odd.
While that may be unusual behavior for a St. Bernard pup, my siblings and I displayed similar behaviors when we were young and look how we turned out. http://www.fordvschevy.com/forum/images/smilies/dork.gif

[L8 APEX]

How reputable was the breeder, did you get a good shots record? That sucks Tom! Hope it straightens up soon.

[dboat]

as an avid dog owner, I want you to know that Kim and my thoughts and prayers are with you and Otis...

Dana

[tliss]

We took Otis back to the vet today and they were absolutely floored by his recovery! He is very happy, very active and very healthy since his episode on Sunday. He has even discovered his voice and is barking at just about everything! We still have to take him back one more time for additional blood tests to ensure that everything is getting back to normal next week. However, things are definitely looking up!

Thanks again for your words of encouragement and thoughts! It means a lot to have a great group of friends like you guys supporting me!:tu:

Tom

[Moonshine]

Very glad to hear that "The Ot" is doing better. :tu:

[L8 APEX]

You might want to get one of those Doggy HMO's:tongue:

[Logan]

Hey Tom,

Have you given your house and yard a good once over? It almost sounds like something environmental. Maybe he got into and nibbled on something he shouldn't have?

[Silver_2000]

What was the diagnosis ?

Doug

[tliss]

The vet is thinking he got into something toxic to him, but there is really no way to tell what unless we to a toxicology on the land-mines left in the backyard :vomit: . I have been looking over the yard and house and we have narrowed it down to three things:

1) I sprayed Weed B Gon mid-last week. I kept him in the house for a while until I thought it would be absorbed, but he does chew on grass and the weeds in the yard, so he might have chewed up enough to ingest the Weed B Gon. Since he's only a puppy, he wouldn't have had to ingest much.

2) We keep him in the laundry room at night, and he might have gotten into the Tide with bleach.

3) My wife like to keep the floor clean and she mops quite a bit. He may have ingested some of the cleaning chemicals she uses.

Bottom line is we have corrected these issues. I have not come across anything else, but we are still looking.

Tom

[Silver_2000]

Sounds like you got it licked... Great news... :banana:

Since there really is no test to do for Epilepsy in Dogs give me a call if you want to know what to keep an eye out for. Just in case
Doug

[Moonshine]

It can happen all too easily. When we lived in our old house (regular suburban neighborhood) someone tossed a "D" cell battery over the fence into my backyard. Mulder, the Great Dane, who was a pup at the time, decided that would be an interesting item to eat. So he did. All I found was the end caps, and the black foam coming out of his mouth was from all the carbon he ingested. Obviously didn't kill him, but he had a pretty good bellyache for a few days. The vet looked at me kinda' crossways when I toted him in and explained what he'd done.

[tliss]

Unfortunately you cannot always watch them while they are in the backyard, and from the sounds of it you can't trust your neighbors. I completely trust the neighbors on the sides of me, but I really don't know those behind me.

Doug, I'll probably talk to you about it next time we get together. Probably won't make it to the next meeting since we have another vet appointment next Thursday.

Tom

[Logan]

That's great to hear Tom... At least you have an idea of what might've caused it. :)