Foo - My baby poochie is hurting. :(

Ammo (one of my two greyhounds) started acting funny about 3 nights ago. I thought he was sick, but I wasn't seeing any vomit or anything. He seemed, as far as I could see, to stop eating. A few times he felt hot like he had a fever.

Took him to vet today and pretty quickly the vet found that when he tried to open Ammo's mouth he yelped in pain. Something is causing him severe pain to open his mouth any more than a little. He couldn't open enough to looks, so I had to leave Ammo to be put under so he could look. Vet said it could be something caught/lodged in his mouth, could be an abscess in his mouth, or worse things.

Well, vet just called back and he couldn't find anything in his mouth, so he took the X-rays. Now we're waiting results from a radiologist to look at it.

Hope my baby is OK. Please think of Ammo today. :(

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Hopefully it's just a toothache. Good luck!

Hope he gets well fast, always said when our poochies are sick.

I am working on making sure mine plays at being a sheepdog instead of a wolf with the new sheep... :rolleyes:

Poor Ammo! I hope he gets better. Does he get out? There's bad people out there, maybe somebody hit him on the head.:(

Poor Ammo! I hope he gets better. Does he get out? There's bad people out there, maybe somebody hit him on the head.:(

No....the only time he's out is in our fenced back yard.

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:( hope it's a bad tooth like someone said above. My little doggy went to eat one day and yelped when she crunched in to food. Off to the vet for another cleaning and teef removal.

:( hope it's a bad tooth like someone said above. My little doggy went to eat one day and yelped when she crunched in to food. Off to the vet for another cleaning and teef removal.

They (he and his brother) had a teef cleaning about 3-4 months ago. Greyhounds are notorious for bad teeth (mostly because of the all soft, no crunch, super high protein diet they are fed in track days).

you both have my best wishes. It might be an abcess, an infection. Anti-bios. will control it. i'll bet that's waht it is.

you both have my best wishes. It might be an abcess, an infection. Anti-bios. will control it. i'll bet that's waht it is.

Nah....as I mentioned in earlier post, doctor was able to get closer look and could not find abscess. Probably tooth or jaw bone related....unless its (not likely) the big 'C' (cancer).

Vet called back again. The x-ray looked fine too. By process of elimination, he thinks its something called myositis.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/myositis-in-dogs/page1.aspx

He wants to keep him over the weekend because he can't take medication orally and will have to be injected. We're going to have to take it one day at a time. I probably can't bring him home until he can eat and/or take oral medication. :(

I want to visit him over the weekend, but I'm wondering if he sees me he may get over excited and think he's coming home. :( Not sure what to do at this point. Doctor's off tomorrow (though his office is open in am with visiting vet). Although he's off, he said he would check in on him in the morning and give me a call with an update.

^^^

Ohhhhhh BugBoy, most awesomest Supreme Rulah! My heart goes out to you and the empty nest! :( May the babe get bettah Soon!

Please keep us updated. Keeping Ammo in my prayers. I hope he will be able to get some kind of solid nutrition in his body.

Please keep us updated. Keeping Ammo in my prayers. I hope he will be able to get some kind of solid nutrition in his body.

My feeling is that he won't be able to get solid food until at least after the weekend. :(

I'm sorry, KT.
Hope Ammo feels better soon.

I would go and visit him. It will be a comfort to see you when he is in a strange place with strange people poking at him all the time.

I would go and visit him. It will be a comfort to see you when he is in a strange place with strange people poking at him all the time.

Well, I was worried that seeing me he'd think he was going home, then if I leave him again, he's even more scared and nervous than before.



However, it won't be a problem. Vet called this morning and said I could pick him up. The initial medicine has worked and he's eating, though only soft food mixed with water so that little chewing has to be done. I should be able to get oral medication in to him by mixing it with that food.

I had such a bad nights sleep worrying about this, dreaming about it, etc.......

Poor doggie! I'm glad the meds are helping!

I was looking at your dog pics on flickr, they're adorable. :)

The best thing you can do for him is be as normal as possible. If you're upset, he'll also be upset. Dogs are highly empathetic by nature. 'Course that shouldn't stop you from giving him a little special treatment to take the edge off that pain...

What a crazy weekend. I think I was glad to see Monday and work get there.

Brought Ammo home and he ate right away, then wouldn't eat Sat. night and therefore didn't get his meds.

Later Saturday afternoon, got a call from my brother that our grandmother finally died. We knew it was coming, but didn't think it would come so fast. I was hoping to fly out for Thanksgiving to make sure I saw her one last time. My dad (his mom) was on a flight to see her, but didn't get there in time.

Sunday morning I took Solomon to the dog park and left Hope (my wife) home with Ammo to try to coax him to eat and/or get meds in. She got him to eat two helpings, but only got about 1/2 of one of the 2 meds in him.

Sunday night (and this morning) I got meds in by mixing them with warm water and shooting them down his throat with a syringe (vet gave it to me for that purpose). It worked, but either me having to open his mouth a little (where most pain is) or chewing when I get it in his mouth makes him yelp in pain. :(

I really hope getting meds to him this way will fix him enough in the next day or two to get him back to semi normal so I can continue meds and he'll eat better.

Ammo is back in ROUGH shape again...worse than before. He started regressing slightly a few days ago, but was still eating and I was still able to get meds in him. Then last night when we got home from work he was in OBVIOUS pain...more so than usual even.

We tried to soothe him as he seemed distressed, but he didn't really seem to get any better. He looked dehydrated, but we couldn't get him to drink. His head area seemed so sensitive that not only did he yelp often if we touched him anywhere at neck level or higher, but he occasionally twitched/yelped on his own.

Called the vet (we have a great vet and he gave me his cell number). He had me give him a pain killer medicine. He was going to go to office to put some in a dropoff bin for me (7pm or so), but it turned out I had some from a previous thing with Solomon at home. Gave him the pain med, didn't seem to help.

Finally went to bed...hoping he'd settle down. He didn't seem to settle down for a long, long time. Hope and I probably got up 5 times each to check on him at some point during the night. Eventually he went in to kitchen and laid on a big rug we have in there. He had gone to bathroom again near door and was laying down on that rug. He didn't look like he settled down...more like he "gave out". Listless, eyes not focusing, etc.....

Called vet again first thing and took him. He should be back on an IV of fluids by now.

I don't know what to do.....I feel like I'm losing my little boy and am unable to help in any way.

Sorry to hear KT. Hope he recovers and soon.

Sorry to hear KT. Hope he recovers and soon.

+1. That's rough, I hope it works out well for all.

Aww man. I hope things are gonna be okay.

KT, I wish you and ammo the best, Hes a beautiful looking dog so I really hope he feels better soon!

Ammo is such a cool name, by the way :D

Geez, man. I hope Ammo pulls through. :(

Sending mojo for your pooch. Hope he's by your side for a long time more.

KT, ask your vet about the possibility of steroids. Airwick got double pneumonia a couple of years back but the first vet misdiagnosed and thought he had a throat obstruction.... He was given a tracheostomy (which of course only made things worse since that wasn't the problem)

Put him on steroids as a last resort and he got a ferociuos appetite and got better very quickly.

We hope your baby gets well soon.

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KT, ask your vet about the possibility of steroids. Airwick got double pneumonia a couple of years back but the first vet misdiagnosed and thought he had a throat obstruction.... He was given a tracheostomy (which of course only made things worse since that wasn't the problem)

Put him on steroids as a last resort and he got a ferociuos appetite and got better very quickly.

We hope your baby gets well soon.

Actually he has been on steroids (prednisone) since this thing started a few weeks ago. It helped his appetite, but not the "problem" (at least what was suspected to be the problem).

Oh dear. Is he a young dog?

Arthur says Feel better!

Oh dear. Is he a young dog?
Middle age. Not young, but not really old yet either. He's 8.


Arthur says Feel better!
Thanks. Made me smile. :)

Poor Ammo! Sending prayers for Ammo.
Ernest

How is Solomon reacting to this? He must know something.....

How is Solomon reacting to this? He must know something.....

You'd think so, but he's not acting as weird as I'd suspect him to. Maybe its shock or maybe he thinks if he acts normal it will get back to normal.


Vet office just called. They retook X-rays and the mass they "thought" was in his nose, is now not showing anything, so it likely was an artifact of the first x-ray. The doc noticed one eye protuding out more than the last time he saw him, so the next step is going to be a CT Scan ($$$). I'll get Ammo back tonight, but have to take him to some radiology office tomorrow for a CT scan.

Oh no. I hope there's not a growth in there pressing on nerves in the jaw.

Oh no. I hope there's not a growth in there pressing on nerves in the jaw.

It seems there is some sort of growth behind the eye which happens to be in the right place to affect the nerves in the jaw according to the vet. They'll know whether its a mass (solid) or an abscess (liquid filled) with the CT scan....at least that's how I understood it.

Will be keeping an eye on this thread, KT.

Hope all goes well with your little guy.

It seems the night was not good for Ammo.

The vet called this morning and said just over night he can see his eye pushed out further indicating whatever is back there got bigger. He's running a temperature of 104 F and was bleeding from his mouth a little.

He suggested not waiting for the CT scan. If it grew that quickly its likely an abscess, and he and he wants to put him under and try to drain it today.

Please think of Ammo. I've had a "bad feeling" about this since it began.

It seems the night was not good for Ammo.

The vet called this morning and said just over night he can see his eye pushed out further indicating whatever is back there got bigger. He's running a temperature of 104 F and was bleeding from his mouth a little.

He suggested not waiting for the CT scan. If it grew that quickly its likely an abscess, and he and he wants to put him under and try to drain it today.

Please think of Ammo. I've had a "bad feeling" about this since it began.

awww..poor little guy. I hope they can treat him quickly, that's got to suck.

Sounds like Ammo has an excellent, observant vet. :)

Sounds like Ammo has an excellent, observant vet. :)

I will give him that. I took me a while to warm up to Dr. Frieman, but now that I have, I think he's one of the best vets I've ever known.

http://www.factoriavet.com/ (website is down, at least for me, at the moment).

P.S. He's also a mountain biker.

Good News finally/hopefully!!

The doctor went in and drained it. It was definitely an abscess. He's running cultures to determine what it was and select the most appropriate antibiotic. But the doc feels much better that he should be OK now. He'll definitely still stay there overnight again, but hopefully we're back on track. My wife and I will go up and visit him again tonight after work. We were even able to cancel the CT scan and save $1000.

whoot! sounds like things are going well!

whoot! sounds like things are going well!

I sure hope so. It sounds like good news. We'll talk to the doc more thoroughly tonight, but it sounds like he (doc) thinks Ammo will make a full recovery.

I sure hope so. It sounds like good news. We'll talk to the doc more thoroughly tonight, but it sounds like he (doc) thinks Ammo will make a full recovery.

doing a happy dance for you and Ammo while I go help someone out who screwed up a very simple process. Pray for me.

Awesome! I'm so glad to hear his condition is improving. Give him a treat for me when he's all better, m'kay?

Awesome! I'm so glad to hear his condition is improving. Give him a treat for me when he's all better, m'kay?

You know it! :thumb:

Boo! (for retro-orbital abcesses)
Yay! (for pupster on the mend)

If the doc hasn't already offered it up, although infrequent, the way that these things commonly occur is some bit of contaminated debris gets in the eye and instead of getting teared/blinked out, it works its way behind the eyeball and causes an infection. (Seen occasionally in laboratory animals given r-o bleeds with improperly sterilized instruments.)