Dog was mysteriously ill. Do you have ideas?
August 1, 2022 7:04 AM Subscribe
Our dog was taken mysteriously ill yesterday, and other than some fatigue, seems to be okay today. We took her to the vet, details below the fold. Obviously you are not our vet, but I am looking for people who've had similar experiences to understand better what we may be dealing with.
Our dog is 14, a lab terrier mix. She's lean at 34 lbs. She has puppy energy 90% of the time but is happy to be a lazy bones while I'm working from home and sleeps/relaxes most of the day other than a short mid-day walk when I take my lunch.
Yesterday we went on a 30-45 minute walk at a big park. She was supervised, and on leash, the entire time. She was super super happy to be on a walk when we started. It was hot, but not as hot as it has been, and we were never more than about 5-10 minutes from the car. We took breaks in the shade as we were going along. We had turned back when I noticed that she was sort of dragging her right back paw - the claws were scratching on the path. We went straight to the next patch of shade and rested for a few minutes, and then back to the car (five minutes tops) and gave her some water. She wasn't super interested despite seeming thirsty. We loaded up and went home, where she was happy to get a treat, and laid on the cool floor while we made lunch.
When we sat down at the table, she moved over to her bed near the table, and was visibly wobbly. She was showing neurological symptoms: Loss of control of her back legs, seemingly dizzy.
We took her to the vet where her vitals were all normal and her bloodwork was fine other than her potassium was very, very slightly elevated. We tried tempting her with a treat, and she turned her head in a weird way to get at it (not her normal behavior) and ultimately was not interested. She dribbled some urine while we were waiting to be seen. They gave her sub-q fluids and two medicines (I cannot recall the meds they gave, I can maybe find it if someone want to know exactly).
After the fluids, she perked up pretty fast. She was pulling on the leash like a maniac when we were paying for the services, and on walks was pretty normal for the rest of the evening. This morning she seems a little tired, but according to my partner she wanted to run after a jogger this morning (she's playful, obviously we don't let her do this).
Our working theory is that she was overhot and dehydrated, even though her temp wasn't high. I think if this was vestibular disease she would still seem wobbly now, as opposed to making what looks like a pretty full recovery.
Questions:
1) If she has another episode, I want to know what to ask the vet when we go back.
2) I also want to know if there is anything else we should look for in the meantime.
Our dog is 14, a lab terrier mix. She's lean at 34 lbs. She has puppy energy 90% of the time but is happy to be a lazy bones while I'm working from home and sleeps/relaxes most of the day other than a short mid-day walk when I take my lunch.
Yesterday we went on a 30-45 minute walk at a big park. She was supervised, and on leash, the entire time. She was super super happy to be on a walk when we started. It was hot, but not as hot as it has been, and we were never more than about 5-10 minutes from the car. We took breaks in the shade as we were going along. We had turned back when I noticed that she was sort of dragging her right back paw - the claws were scratching on the path. We went straight to the next patch of shade and rested for a few minutes, and then back to the car (five minutes tops) and gave her some water. She wasn't super interested despite seeming thirsty. We loaded up and went home, where she was happy to get a treat, and laid on the cool floor while we made lunch.
When we sat down at the table, she moved over to her bed near the table, and was visibly wobbly. She was showing neurological symptoms: Loss of control of her back legs, seemingly dizzy.
We took her to the vet where her vitals were all normal and her bloodwork was fine other than her potassium was very, very slightly elevated. We tried tempting her with a treat, and she turned her head in a weird way to get at it (not her normal behavior) and ultimately was not interested. She dribbled some urine while we were waiting to be seen. They gave her sub-q fluids and two medicines (I cannot recall the meds they gave, I can maybe find it if someone want to know exactly).
After the fluids, she perked up pretty fast. She was pulling on the leash like a maniac when we were paying for the services, and on walks was pretty normal for the rest of the evening. This morning she seems a little tired, but according to my partner she wanted to run after a jogger this morning (she's playful, obviously we don't let her do this).
Our working theory is that she was overhot and dehydrated, even though her temp wasn't high. I think if this was vestibular disease she would still seem wobbly now, as opposed to making what looks like a pretty full recovery.
Questions:
1) If she has another episode, I want to know what to ask the vet when we go back.
2) I also want to know if there is anything else we should look for in the meantime.
Best answer: Now that happy_cat mentions it, this is what my dog was like after she ate some weed at the park. She was wobbly, confused, and kept peeing on her own feet. The vet gave IV fluids for 12 hours until she peed it all out. She slept all night and was more or less fine the next day, maybe a little mellower than usual. The bill said "Marijuana Toxicity."
posted by SamanthaK at 9:43 AM on August 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by SamanthaK at 9:43 AM on August 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm going to offer sort of the opposite of reassurance, based on the past 4 hard years with senior dogs, except to say it's okay and normal and also upsetting and anxiety-making.
This will happen. Nothing will show up on tests. It'll pass. Later it will happen again, maybe more severely or you'll just hotfoot to the vet while it's still happening, or it'll go on for longer. Again, there may be nothing telling in the tests. Eventually something will happen and it will be obvious: ah, it was coming to this all along.
It's not that anybody is missing anything that should be detectable, it's just that old dogs just like old people often have months or years of little twinge here, a moment there, a little light-headedness, along with completely normal gentle physical decline of old age, in which no obvious cause emerges until...well, until it does somehow. At 14, that answer is likely going to suck. You are going to be very tempted to be angry about the now obvious things that were missed, either at yourself or your vet. It's mostly not anybody's fault. Even if a ball got dropped, it only can make things so much worse.
My advice is to decide now what kinds of things you will and won't be willing to do, and have that conversation ongoing with your vet. But I will also advise you tell your vet every time you do not need to be softballed and you're okay hearing hard things. We really struggled with this with our vets, who sometimes I guess thought they were telling us straight and wow were they talking around it.
It could be something she ate, but it won't be that every time. You often won't know until something escalates, which could be a treatable thing! I don't want to be overly doomy because it could be an impending ear infection or other easy fix. I'm just encouraging thinking of pretty much all health issues as interconnected from this point out, and making this time (whether it's brief or years still to come, which you often get with smaller dogs) as special as you would want it to be in hindsight.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
This will happen. Nothing will show up on tests. It'll pass. Later it will happen again, maybe more severely or you'll just hotfoot to the vet while it's still happening, or it'll go on for longer. Again, there may be nothing telling in the tests. Eventually something will happen and it will be obvious: ah, it was coming to this all along.
It's not that anybody is missing anything that should be detectable, it's just that old dogs just like old people often have months or years of little twinge here, a moment there, a little light-headedness, along with completely normal gentle physical decline of old age, in which no obvious cause emerges until...well, until it does somehow. At 14, that answer is likely going to suck. You are going to be very tempted to be angry about the now obvious things that were missed, either at yourself or your vet. It's mostly not anybody's fault. Even if a ball got dropped, it only can make things so much worse.
My advice is to decide now what kinds of things you will and won't be willing to do, and have that conversation ongoing with your vet. But I will also advise you tell your vet every time you do not need to be softballed and you're okay hearing hard things. We really struggled with this with our vets, who sometimes I guess thought they were telling us straight and wow were they talking around it.
It could be something she ate, but it won't be that every time. You often won't know until something escalates, which could be a treatable thing! I don't want to be overly doomy because it could be an impending ear infection or other easy fix. I'm just encouraging thinking of pretty much all health issues as interconnected from this point out, and making this time (whether it's brief or years still to come, which you often get with smaller dogs) as special as you would want it to be in hindsight.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
Dehydration and heat sensitivity can get worse as they get older as well.
posted by answergrape at 10:51 AM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by answergrape at 10:51 AM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Lyn Never, thank you, that is sage advice. I lost my 18 year old cat to sudden-onset symptoms in October of last year so I'm very jumpy and upset about vet things, even now. I was a mess yesterday. So far today she's maybe a little subdued but steady on her feet and begging for people food so we're hopeful the episode will not recur. And, we're going to be even more careful about the heat and dehydration than we were being already.
posted by Medieval Maven at 12:14 PM on August 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Medieval Maven at 12:14 PM on August 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Something similar happened with a dog of mine.
Started with intermittently dragging one foot and progressively got worse. Took her to the vet who diagnosed it as neurological.
Went to a specialist who diagnosed it as a clot in her leg.
The way he initially tested was to hold both ankles and you could feel the difference in temperature between them. The leg with the clot being colder due to restricted blood flow. Follow up with MRI confirmed. It was a simple test that my regular vet, whose very good, didn't know.
Hope things get better.
posted by DizzyOnBugSpray at 3:21 PM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Started with intermittently dragging one foot and progressively got worse. Took her to the vet who diagnosed it as neurological.
Went to a specialist who diagnosed it as a clot in her leg.
The way he initially tested was to hold both ankles and you could feel the difference in temperature between them. The leg with the clot being colder due to restricted blood flow. Follow up with MRI confirmed. It was a simple test that my regular vet, whose very good, didn't know.
Hope things get better.
posted by DizzyOnBugSpray at 3:21 PM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
This is just a suggestion, based on living in a Lyme-endemic area: Has she been tested for Lyme recently? It can sometimes cause some similar symptoms. I know you mentioned her bloodwork was normal, just wanted to throw that out there.
posted by cozenedindigo at 5:33 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cozenedindigo at 5:33 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm a vet and this sounds like mild cannabis toxicity - especially the dribbling urine.
posted by peanut butter milkshake at 12:04 AM on August 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by peanut butter milkshake at 12:04 AM on August 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Marking the best answers based on her actual symptoms. Thank you all. It’s definitely possible that she snuffled in the grass and got hold of the end of a joint without us noticing.
posted by Medieval Maven at 8:21 AM on August 2, 2022
posted by Medieval Maven at 8:21 AM on August 2, 2022
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I have friends whose dog had something like this happen. My friends were pretty freaked out by the symptoms, which sounded much like your pup's. The vet's theory was that the dog had eaten some pot while at the park (a roach, maybe), and that the symptoms would pass in 24 hours. This is so common that the vet had a code for it or some common way of noting it in their charts.
Their dog did go back to normal after 24 hours. Hopefully this is what happened in your case too. Best of luck.
posted by happy_cat at 8:25 AM on August 1, 2022 [3 favorites]