Afraid of losing my dog

[Darksky]

Don’t be too scared of Preds Poppy. My cat is on them…he has inflammatory bowel and without them he has really bad guts and chronic diarrhoea. A specialist vet told me if an animal has to have preds it’s better if they have them every other day rather than every day.

My vet prescribed them everyday but I only give him half tab every other day and it holds him. It’s about finding the least dose possible that works.

[.Poppy.]

Does your regular vet think he is unwell?

She does, though she doesn't know what his illness may be and is why she wanted the vet school involved as her ability to run tests is limited.

[.Poppy.]

Don’t be too scared of Preds Poppy. My cat is on them…he has inflammatory bowel and without them he has really bad guts and chronic diarrhoea. A specialist vet told me if an animal has to have preds it’s better if they have them every other day rather than every day.

My vet prescribed them everyday but I only give him half tab every other day and it holds him. It’s about finding the least dose possible that works.

Thank you - hopefully it won't come to Preds but that does help me feel a bit better. I mainly am concerned about behavioral changes; I have heard it can increase anxiety or potentially aggression - Chisum already has anxiety and intermittent aggression issues (towards strange dogs; also he's a resource guarder) and I really don't want to make any of that worse. But if we get to that point I would hope it could be a low dose since his symptoms are pretty mild, and maybe there would be alternatives? I just don't know - I guess I really just have to survive the appointment Tuesday first and go from there.

[.Poppy.]

Here to post an update even though there's not really any news. He had his joint taps done Tuesday and got the results back yesterday - nothing. Everything looks fine. They even did X-Rays and said they didn't see any inflammation or signs of arthritis, which is a bit baffling to me. He has been doing pretty well as it's getting warmer, but when we have cold snaps he has a very pronounced limp - does arthritis just vanish like that if he's not in a flare? And if not arthritis, what would cause his pain?

The vet I saw Tuesday also suggested that his fever could just be rising due to the stress of visiting the vet. I would buy that, except that he's been warm at home and gets his temp checked at every yearly exam and it's never been raised before, and he's always stressed. It's also been incredibly high at some points. She tested her theory by taking his temp after he was with her for a few hours on Tuesday and it dropped a couple of points of a degree, which she said could be a sign that it was stressed but he still had a temp so I'm not totally convinced. But who knows - I guess it doesn't really matter at this point.

Anyway, I'm just happy that they didn't find any of the scary things I was worried about, and for now I guess we just wait and see if something else crops up or what his bloodwork looks like at his yearly exam in the fall.

[pulisa]

I'm very pleased that everything looked normal. I hope you and Chisum get a break from vet visits and bills now. You've done everything you can to investigate.

[NoraB]

Chisum? What a great name!

[.Poppy.]

Chisum? What a great name!

He's actually named after the John Wayne movie, if you've ever had the "pleasure" to see it! I was living with my parents when I adopted him, and my dad wasn't happy about me getting him, so my mom suggested the name to appease him.

I'm not a fan of the movie -at all- but the name is unique and fits him well.

[pulisa]

I love unusual name for pets! My guinea pig is called Hubert and i used to have a house rabbit called Aaliyah (my daughter was obsessed with pop stars who died tragically at the time!)

[.Poppy.]

I'm reviving this thread because my anxiety is back in full force. I was at my parents' house this weekend and Chisum stayed for a bit in their guest house because he can't always be around the little kids. He seemed to do fine - once I went to walk him and he was hiding behind the chair, but came out and was his normal self. He ate some poo when we went on a hike, but that's not always the most unusual for him.

Yesterday, he was sick to his stomach in the early morning, just a little bit, and it was the poo he'd eaten so that wasn't a huge surprise. After that he seemed a bit normal but I stayed home sick myself and instead of being with me he hung out in the other room, which is abnormal for him but not too concerning. What was concerning was that if I took him out to the bathroom, he didn't want to come back in the house, he'd just hide in the garage until I could coax him in.

In the afternoon, he came up into the bed with me and as I went to start my show he suddenly ran off the bed and out of the room and hid under my dining table. I was able to coax him out, but after that he was clingy. He needed to be in my lap all the time but he also couldn't quite settle. It went like that pretty much all night long - he'd be relatively okay if I took him outside, but when we'd come inside again he might be able to settle for a few minutes before he was back up on my lap or pawing at me and needing something.

We both did get a bit of sleep overnight, which was good. He slept some under his ramp that leads up to my bed, which is very unusual for him - prior to this I don't think he'd ever been under there at all.

He seemed a bit better this morning, but my gut says something was really wrong but I'm not sure how to help him. I'm going to see how he is when I go back home for lunch and when my parents drop in today, that will tell me I think if I need to make a vet appointment. But he's still eating and using the restroom, so I'm afraid they won't be able to tell me what is wrong either.

I just wish that he could talk.

[Catkins]

Could he just be feeling a little unsettled? Has he been drinking enough? Dehydration can make humans behave out of the ordinary, maybe dogs too?