River

Yep, he's not showing any signs of pain, thank goodness. He's also able to raise his head up all the way, twist and turn, and doesn't mind if someone other than me touches his neck. He hasn't needed tram or gaba since February. I had him out for a walk last night and he ran around a bit. He's doing amazingly well, considering this time last year he couldn't raise his head without yelping. The vet checked his abdomen and did all the palpations, he was pretty miserable about being on the raised table, but didn't show signs of pain. She also didn't feel any masses or tumors.

I called the vet's to see about results, they're closed today and tomorrow for New Year's. I have to wait till Wednesday. This is killing me! His bloodwork should tell me what's up with his liver and kidneys.

The last giardia and coccia test was done last spring. He might be due for another one, I'll check and run a sample by if my vet thinks so. If the bloodwork doesn't show anything, I'll go for that, and if that doesn't show anything we'll go back to the neuro vet to see what she thinks. And if something goes wrong, the e-vet is only about 40 minutes away. He's doing great at the moment, but it helps me to have a plan in place.

River

Good news on the bloodwork. Liver, kidney, WBC and platelets are all perfectly normal. His thyroid is still low-normal, but hasn't changed since the last test. Just to be safe, we're going to rerun thyroid in a month to make sure it's still holding steady.

I'm upping food right now to put some weight back on him. I've got no idea why he'd lose 7 lbs on the same amount of food he's had for the past four years, but he did. I could put a couple of lbs down to him getting sick, but not 7. Maybe Fromm changed the forumla? I'm also taking him and a sample in on Weds so we can run all the fecal tests. Maybe it is giardia.

I'm just happy it's not anything liver related.

SamK

my ex-boyfriend (some years back now) got giardia when we were in India. It was bad...yuck. I remember vividly a very strong sulphur smell coming out of all his orifices. Shame. He lost so much weight, it would recur every 4 to 6 weeks. He was taken into questioning when we were leaving India because he didn't look like his passport photo anymore.

My Griffin has started with stinky runny poos again

RedFawnRising

Ah, yes, on the sulfur smell.

Some of the vet techs and I were discussing the never-to-be-forgotten distinctive odors of parvo and of coccidiosis.

When I mentioned giardia poo as smelling like somebody egged Satan's house of hellfire and brimstone...they didn't get it--hadn't smelled it before.

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SamK

and that's not even an exaggeration!

So the first time the giardia got my ex I had been taking a little break from him and had gone off to camp on a beach a good 6 hour walk from the nearest village. Well, he followed me like a Doberman would have, didn't he? And within 12 hours of being as far as you can get from civilisation and running water in India the vomiting and pooping started, so my 'me' time was spent rinsing satan's own egged underwear in the sea.It took 2 nights of that before he was strong enough to walk back and find a doctor.

Anyway, poop seems to alarm me far more these days so when I spotted a little blood in Griffin's dairrhea this afternoon I whisked him and a poo sample off to the emergency vet. What a lovely man! Turns out he also has a dobe. He took one look at Griffin and his sample and wouldn't even take us to the exam room, said I must have fun with him and stop worrying, if the stool doesn't improve I can drop a sample off tomorrow for testing - he reckons it is probably after-effects of the dewormer I gave him 2 days ago. He's eating, drinking and cheerful as ever.

Sherryh

I hope the dobes are much better now...............hugs from across the miles

SamK

Griffin spewed the last runny, mucousy poop at 9am today so I think we are now clear on that front; however, my old chihuahua was up every 2 hours last night vomiting bile and chunks of baby sweetcorn. She must have raided the compost heap for the sweetcorn. So back to the vet today (our regular vet) who couldn't find much besides a sore tummy but dewormed her in case (possibly hook worm). The cat has now also received a dose of dewormer.

River

Aw Sam, you can't catch a break! I hope your crew feels better soon.

My Griffin's doing better, but I'm really leaning towards giardia now. He didn't drink out of the lake on our walk, I won't let him because it's polluted. But maybe he got into something else that carried it. Testing gets done tomorrow. His poop's orange. No kidding, orange, and he hasn't had pumpkin in five days now. And I think it smells bad. Since my sinuses are totally blocked, I know it must be almost lethal.

SamK

Orange is quite a colour for poop! Is he maintaining his weight?

Yesterday morning the poo looked good but the runs started again at 10pm and I was up 4 times during the night swabbing up poops. After triggering the house alarm in the middle of the night and using up all the paper towel and newspaper I just left the back door open, solved some anxiety for both of us. This morning - vomit, so back to the vet. No temperature so the vet thinks it may be bacteria in balance after the deworming. He's been fine tonight, holding thumbs for a full night sleep! If it's not right tomorriow we go for coccidia tests. The vet said I must clean his bum with wet wipes because it is getting red and irritated now and probably stings

I guess a giardia diagnosis and treatment will be better than not knowing the cause! Poor guy. Keep us posted.

River

I feel for you with the bum cleaning. Griffin pitches a fit when anyone tries to get back there. I have to hold him just so the vet can take his temperature.

I think he looks the same, hasn't gained or lost any. I'll throw him on the scale at the vet's tomorrow to make sure.

Orange stinky poo. It's rank! Thankfully, my jeep has a spare tire, I can tie the poop onto that and transport it outside the vehicle. So uh, you know, the half hour ride to the vet won't be a torture of smelling something that came from the 7th layer of hell.

Darkevs

google and research corona virus in dogs.

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Thanks for making this signature for me Amelia!

RedFawnRising

Little tip for ya.

You may want to try to time the clearing up of his poo issue, prior to clearing up your sinus issue.

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River

Got the results back, and... nothing. Negative for giardia, coronavirus, worms, etc. His bloodwork was all negative.

I'm stumped. At least his poop is a more normal color, except that it's still soft and still stinks. And everything else is normal. So after all that testing, it looks like it was something he ate, and he's still coming out of it. I'm glad I did it though. If something had been seriously wrong, we would have caught it early.

SamK

Good news, I guess! Would be interesting to know what it was though. Well, may all poos be firm for the rest of the weekend

River

Griff's exploding again, although it's from something he caught from Little Dog, who had the same thing last week. Back on antibiotics. Good times.

However, he did gain some weight back, but then lost another 5 pounds. He's at 74 which is 6-10 pounds underweight. When we were looking at his vet records, there was a couple notes about his heart, a possible murmur or something. Since everything else has checked out, all his blood work, stool samples, etc., I'm taking him in next week to get his heart checked.

I feel like I'm grasping at straws, but something is wrong. He hasn't had any stomach woes since January, so that weight loss did not happen because he has the runs. I'll let you all know what happens at the vet's, we're going on Thursday.

MeadowCat

Sending good vibes for Griff.

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River

The E-vet thought she heard it on Tuesday night (long story, Griff fell doing recalls, sprained his wrist, and is now on two weeks of crate rest), but our regular vet didn't hear it.

So, looks like it's nothing to worry about. I feel like a worrywart, but after Logan, I'm a bit paranoid. She said to keep an eye on him, but isn't concerned about the heart.

His weight was up a pound too! So I'm going to let him gain to 80lbs and then stay there. He doesn't need the extra lbs with wobblers.