How should a 6 year old behave
We have a vet appt Sunday. I want to get her hips xrayed, and maybe a chest xray. Am I making to much of a big deal out of it? Could she really be older than what the rescue said? Your opinions would be greatly appreciated. Lisa Frankie and Mattie |
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| Unless they provided (or had themselves) written records, it is very possible the she is older. 6 is kind of the age 'they' frequently assign to older dogs of indeterminate age. Since she's having troubles, when you see your vet ask for the 4 way disease titer (I can't recall its name at the moment) to make sure she doesn't have them. While you are there ask you vet for his/her opinion on age. Also mention the symptoms as you've laid them out here, I'd be thinking you should bring a fresh stool sample with you to have it checked for parasites. |
| She could be older then what rescue said . Yes I would be worried about her, coughing if not positive for heartworm could be heart related or something else going on with her. A full check up by the vet and even some blood panels to see what is going on. babysheepie wrote: Lisa Frankie and Mattie If whe goes outside and runs just a little bit she lays down and coughs a little and is panting so hard. The other night she had a slight cough. She also is gettin grumpy with Frankie on occassion. [/quote]That would have me concerned check her gums and see if they are a healthy looking pink color. Also get the vet to listen for a heart mumur or even fluid on the lungs. Something is not quite right with mattie. |
| Go with your gut about what's normal behavior and what isn't. It sounds like pain to me... the panting, lying down, crying when helped back up. Temperament also goes downhill when a dog is hurting or ill. We went through that one earlier this year. Hoping the x-rays will provide some answers... maybe a pain medication will help (vet prescribed after diagnosis). I'm sorry she's going through this and the worry it's causing you.  |
| She needs that complete work up. Something isn't right......starting with age. Let's hope it is "just" age related arthritis and Adequan, NSAID and maybe some other therapy: water, acupuncture, etc puts the bounce back into her. |
| We have been giving her tramadyl and an herbal pain reliever. She has had blood work after blood work done. We had a pyr that had the same symptoms. She died from tumor on her heart at 6. Troy keeps saying she reminds him of Tasha. The first 2 years seem to be missing on her vet records we got from the rescue. Lisa Frankie and Mattie |
Ron wrote: Since she's having troubles, when you see your vet ask for the 4 way disease titer (I can't recall its name at the moment) to make sure she doesn't have them. I think it's a SNAP 4Dx- http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_us/s ... ap/4dx.jsf If she was tested for heartworms earlier this year, it may have already been run. |
| You mention tramadol.... My vet had Lucy on it for pain and she didn't react well to it. She would pant and drool and stare off into space. I took her off of it because even a half of pill wasn't ok. I would make them do maybe a lyme disease test. Some classic symptoms you are mentioning. Hope she is better soon!!! |
| Coughing and lethargy also make me think of congestive heart failure. We had a sheepie with that at age seven or so. Easily managed medically. I think a thorough check up is in order. Good luck to you both. |
I don't think the rescue necessarily fudged or guessed her age. Make sure they do a chest x-ray and if inconclusive consider asking for a referal (if needed) to get her heart ultrasounded and possibly echo'd if things take you in that direction. I'd be less concerned, though obviously you want to get it checked out and have her put on meds if needed, about what is probably an arthritis issue, than the coughing and fatique. Fingers crossed for her  Kristine |
| Having had 1 dog live with CHF for over 5 years, I was leaning that direction. It can have so many causes, I wouldn't doubt it could be congenital, from a disease process, or several other things. Tazz was diagnosed with a chest xray - a very simple and inexpensive diagnosis. He had been getting bad slowly over time, so he had a greatly enlarged heart that was extremely obvious on film.  He had other congenital health issues since birth, so it likely was all part of that. (He was a little 6 pound min pin, and he did live an amazing 11 years!)If you haven't done the 4DX, I would do that too. Another inexpensive screening lab, runs about $40 here. I did it instead of the regular HW test this year on all my dogs. Those tick borne diseases have a lot of unusual outcomes and affect the body systems a lot. |
| Whatever is going on with Mattie sounds medical, not age-related, to me. As Jaci mentioned in the other post, did your vet to tests to check for tick-borne diseases? Even if the ticks found on her today were not attached, she might have had one attach earlier and drop off. Hopefully, you will get to the bottom of this soon. Laurie and Oscar |
| Hope she is doing ok. Our thoughts are with you. Keep us up to date. |
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