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JordanReich
06-03-2009, 06:25 PM
We have been trying to work through these problems for awhile now with an eleven year old Doberman pincher.

What we have ruled out: Heart Worm, Bacterial Infection by Stream

His symptoms are very close to Doberman Cadiomyopathy however, the vet said that he has a non-arrhythmic heart.

(We are concerned that he might be getting poisoned but it has been going on so long now that we have ruled it out.)

Additional Information: Heart Rate is Good, Pulse is Good, Temperature is Good

History: Doberman lives out in the country on around twenty acres of land, was bitten by a rattlesnake in the past about 2 1/2 or 3 years ago. Survived without medical care did have extremely swollen leg for a couple of days that ended up leaking out large amounts of puss and blood. However, the dog was fine after a couple of days and had no real issues since than in regards to that.

The dog did appear to have an extremely sore leg just before this began in which he could not hold his own weight and the symptoms below have been getting worse for about three or so and the leg did appear to get better.

Symptoms: Coughing, Sore Joints, Weak, Bad Balance, Fatigued, Loss of Appetite, Weight Loss, Cloudy Eyes.

He is currently on a prescription of Baytril an antibiotic medication at one and a half tablets twice a day starting yesterday (Tuesday 6/2/09). When we brought the dog home from the vet he appeared to be in a better state of health however, whether related or not after giving him the medication he seemed to return back to his previous conditions however, we are able to keep his weight up by feeding him food that he would prefer to eat.

Would appreciate any advice or previous experience anyone might have with something like this.

FL_dobes
06-03-2009, 07:41 PM
That doesn't sound good. Do you have a tick problem in your area? Lyme Disease presents with some of those symptoms.

My experience with all of or most of those symptoms at one time was not a good turn out. Have they checked for cancers? Are any of his lymphnodes swollen?

Dobs4ever
06-03-2009, 08:06 PM
When a dog does not eat my first thougth is always CAH. If you have had a full blood panel it should have given you liver enzymes and ruled that out. Cardio does not always present as arthymia although that can be one facet. You would need a 24 hours holter to accurately rule out arthymia. An Ultro sound would also rule out DCM because you could tell if the heart was enlarged and how the valves are working etc. Those are the two main signs of cardio and the two major kinds. - Arthymia's usually cause the dog to just keel over whereas DCM is slower with signs like coughing, labored breathing, resting a lot etc. Usually once the coughing starts to present itself they do not have long if that is what it is.

I am not a vet but to me it greatly resembles DCM. Hope they find out what it is quickly and he gets better.

Sue J
06-04-2009, 08:04 AM
I can't advise on the medical issues as never experienced that with ours. At his age though, I'm sure he has been a wonderful companion and given you many years of doberservice. You and your dobe will be in my thoughts. What is his name? Please keep us posted.

Rhiannon
06-26-2009, 08:15 PM
We have been trying to work through these problems for awhile now with an eleven year old Doberman pincher.

What we have ruled out: Heart Worm, Bacterial Infection by Stream

His symptoms are very close to Doberman Cadiomyopathy however, the vet said that he has a non-arrhythmic heart.

(We are concerned that he might be getting poisoned but it has been going on so long now that we have ruled it out.)

Additional Information: Heart Rate is Good, Pulse is Good, Temperature is Good

History: Doberman lives out in the country on around twenty acres of land, was bitten by a rattlesnake in the past about 2 1/2 or 3 years ago. Survived without medical care did have extremely swollen leg for a couple of days that ended up leaking out large amounts of puss and blood. However, the dog was fine after a couple of days and had no real issues since than in regards to that.

The dog did appear to have an extremely sore leg just before this began in which he could not hold his own weight and the symptoms below have been getting worse for about three or so and the leg did appear to get better.

Symptoms: Coughing, Sore Joints, Weak, Bad Balance, Fatigued, Loss of Appetite, Weight Loss, Cloudy Eyes.

He is currently on a prescription of Baytril an antibiotic medication at one and a half tablets twice a day starting yesterday (Tuesday 6/2/09). When we brought the dog home from the vet he appeared to be in a better state of health however, whether related or not after giving him the medication he seemed to return back to his previous conditions however, we are able to keep his weight up by feeding him food that he would prefer to eat.

Would appreciate any advice or previous experience anyone might have with something like this.

Did you ever figure out what the problem was with this dog? I am curious to find out what the problem was? I was thinking the same Lyme disease.

Here is a link to a very good article on Lyme Disease In Dogs.

http://www.vetvax.com/lymediseasedogs.html

And it could be other things depending on what part of the country you live in. It could possibly be one of the Systemic Fungal Diseases. Not all vets catch these things right away especially if the dog has come from a different part of the country that the vet is not familiar with the systemic fungal disease that are not in his or her state. Here is a very good link to this also.

http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/fungal.html

And if I were you since you mentioned that the dog was bitten by a rattlesnake I am assuming that you live in the west somewhere. We had those in Arizona. Which is where Valley Fever is found a lot. If this were my dog and was anywhere close to where Valley Fever is found I would insist my vet test the dog for it.

http://www.vfce.arizona.edu/Content/Documents/Valley%20Fever%20in%20Dogs%20for%20PDF.pdf

Sounds like it has a lot of the symptoms two of our weims had when they got the primary pulmonary form of the disease. Please let us know.

RKCM
06-27-2009, 07:17 AM
I also am concerned about your dog. How is he doing? Please let us know.

opqr838
07-17-2009, 10:29 PM
haha we're not interested in bridesmaids dresses

Dobs4ever
07-18-2009, 12:48 AM
What is this invading our group???

Sue J
07-18-2009, 06:52 AM
Yes, what the heck is that post???