I haven't posted here in a long time. I only see Barney when I'm on
the west coast but meanwhile I read about everyone else's pups here. I
guess this is kind of rude to just appear when you are asking for help,
but the folks on this forum have seen so much.
The background on Barney is that he was run over by a car when
he was 6 months old and suffered some bad breaks. We adopted him and
just did the best we could, and he turned out pretty happy and has kept
all his limbs. He's a little off in the leg department, but his spirit
is great. And has always been a wild-man, in the ball-chasing
department.
He will be 4 years old in June. Over the past year he started
showing signs of serious fatigue while playing, causing him to stop in
the middle off ball-play and lay down. Last summer we had him checked
over for heart problems, cushings, and thyroid. All ok. Tested for
parasites, negative.
We moved on to heartworm and Lyme. Both were negative, but we
decided to stop running the millions of tests (tick-borne illnesses
galore) and give a treatment of doxy -- he became paranoid on the drug
(very strange) and we stopped it. He went on Simplicef for several
weeks for a skin infection (allergy related), and saw some
improvement. When I saw him a few months later he looked like a new
dog..
This winter I saw him again, and immediately had him tested for his favorite parasite -- giardia. It was back again.
He has recurring giardia (since we got him), and was having gi
problems. We started him on Flagyl but he became so sick by the second
dose that we stopped immediately and switched to Panacur. It took 24
hours for him to recover from the Flagyl. But he has improved with 2
bouts of Panacur (plus a little pumpkin), and we are getting ready to
give him a third shot at it with a higher dose. The gi problems have much improved.
But the fatigue -- it's just not right. It stops him in his
tracks. We wait for him to ask for exercise now, and keep it short,
because it wears him out so fast. When he has the energy, he looks
like a normal dog. But chase the ball 3 times and he drops to the
ground. Walk 2 blocks in cool weather and his head is hanging, and
he'll just stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Brought him into the
vet and he flopped to the floor and didn't lift his head through the
entire 40 minute visit (he had gotten a morning walk). He'll get
excited about a cat or squirrel but it's short-lived. Sometimes he looks like he's
pushing on empty.
He sleeps at least 12 hours every night. He
gets up an hour or 2 after we do. And then he goes back to bed. He
sleeps a LOT. And he looks unhappy when he is so tired. Stressed, you
can see it in his face. I thought it might be pain (those bones of his
grew back in new formations), but the vet isn't convinced since when he
does play he is so active and shows no sign of pain.
And
lately he eats like a starving dog. He would just as soon have another
cup of dog food as a biscuit. No weight loss here.
So the last test we had done was for myasthenia gravis. And it
came up negative. Our vet is referring us to an internal medicine
specialist. She said it's not an emergency but we need to move on to a
new approach.
Does anyone have ANY idea of something that we've missed? I was worried about IMHA, but she says not. Honestly, doesn't this sound like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
**
He will get no more annual vaccines. I have no choice
with rabies, that is due next year. He is not going back to dog park
even though he loves playing with the dachshunds. Just too many bugs
he could pick up there.
We have not done any alternative medicine with him. I have massaged
his neck and back and legs at night since we got him. He gets glucosomine
and nutrajoint. I have lined up possible acupuncturist but I want to know what is wrong before we try to give him relief.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Carolyn