Fred
22nd December 2006, 15:08
Here's my story in case it can help anyone else:
Last spring Dart, my Rhodesian Ridgeback, started acting "funny". I wouldn't say anything serious, but definitely different acting to me, like his mind wasn't totally there. He even skipped a meal, which was very unusual for him. A trip to the vet showed nothing.
Then it became more serious. He would lay in a funny position and stagger when he got up. He would not eat or drink and would urinate where he lie. Again, another trip to the vet yielded nothing, but by the time they got me in, Dart was acting pretty much normal again. They did a full blood test and the usual prodding and poking around. People I knew suggested vestibular disease, which can happen to dogs prone to ear infections. It attacks the inner ear drum and throws the dog's equilibrium off, also upsetting their stomach. The vet said it was a possibilty, but the surgery to find for sure out was "invasive", so he sent me home with special ear drops and an antibiotic. I used these Dart's next episode and he was fine within a day.
So, Wednesday I noticed him having one of his episodes again in the afternoon. I guided him outside for a while, put in the ear drops, gave him a little pepto and set him up with a blanket in a sunny room. At 5:30 he did not want to get up, but I thought nothing of it. It was his normal behavior during these times. Next time I looked in on him, he was dead.
He never made a sound, nor brought the attention of my other two dogs.
Yesterday I took him in for a post mortum, as vestibular disease isn't life threatening. The vet found a ruptured spleen.
He said Dart had a hemotoma on the spleen, basically a blister caused from an injury and felt during these episodes Dart may have been bleeding a little. This last time Dart bled to death while I did nothing.
The only thing I can think of that may have injured him is when he fell/slid down the cellar steps a couple times. They are wood and much steeper than normal stairs. Dart liked to lean down and watch me get their food ready and slipped twice, but never let out a yelp, still, it's all I can come up with.....
So, while I'm not a big believer in running the dogs into the vet for every little thing, a painful lesson has been learned and I'm posting this so others can learn from it.
You know your dog better than anyone else and if something doesn't seem right to you, don't wait for an appointment. Take them in right away so the problem still exists when they are doing their tests. Also, while no one likes to put their dog under needlessly, it might not be a bad idea to get an exploratory to rule out what it isn't and perhaps find out what it is that is causing the different behavior. We were treating Dart for something that no one was really sure if that was indeed the problem..... it just seemed to coincide that way with the symptoms and treatments.
Dart was just 7-1/2 years old.
http://www.bestfriendpet.com/images/dart1.jpg
Last spring Dart, my Rhodesian Ridgeback, started acting "funny". I wouldn't say anything serious, but definitely different acting to me, like his mind wasn't totally there. He even skipped a meal, which was very unusual for him. A trip to the vet showed nothing.
Then it became more serious. He would lay in a funny position and stagger when he got up. He would not eat or drink and would urinate where he lie. Again, another trip to the vet yielded nothing, but by the time they got me in, Dart was acting pretty much normal again. They did a full blood test and the usual prodding and poking around. People I knew suggested vestibular disease, which can happen to dogs prone to ear infections. It attacks the inner ear drum and throws the dog's equilibrium off, also upsetting their stomach. The vet said it was a possibilty, but the surgery to find for sure out was "invasive", so he sent me home with special ear drops and an antibiotic. I used these Dart's next episode and he was fine within a day.
So, Wednesday I noticed him having one of his episodes again in the afternoon. I guided him outside for a while, put in the ear drops, gave him a little pepto and set him up with a blanket in a sunny room. At 5:30 he did not want to get up, but I thought nothing of it. It was his normal behavior during these times. Next time I looked in on him, he was dead.
He never made a sound, nor brought the attention of my other two dogs.
Yesterday I took him in for a post mortum, as vestibular disease isn't life threatening. The vet found a ruptured spleen.
He said Dart had a hemotoma on the spleen, basically a blister caused from an injury and felt during these episodes Dart may have been bleeding a little. This last time Dart bled to death while I did nothing.
The only thing I can think of that may have injured him is when he fell/slid down the cellar steps a couple times. They are wood and much steeper than normal stairs. Dart liked to lean down and watch me get their food ready and slipped twice, but never let out a yelp, still, it's all I can come up with.....
So, while I'm not a big believer in running the dogs into the vet for every little thing, a painful lesson has been learned and I'm posting this so others can learn from it.
You know your dog better than anyone else and if something doesn't seem right to you, don't wait for an appointment. Take them in right away so the problem still exists when they are doing their tests. Also, while no one likes to put their dog under needlessly, it might not be a bad idea to get an exploratory to rule out what it isn't and perhaps find out what it is that is causing the different behavior. We were treating Dart for something that no one was really sure if that was indeed the problem..... it just seemed to coincide that way with the symptoms and treatments.
Dart was just 7-1/2 years old.
http://www.bestfriendpet.com/images/dart1.jpg