yelping

 You can give her Benedryll for the puffy eyes, if they're caused by an allergy. I wouldn't give her anything, right now, though. I'd wait til after I talked to the vet about it.

ohiochis

i've touched her all over to find the source of her pain, but i haven't been able to find anything at all.

This is just a WAG (wild ass guess), but have her checked for a luxating patella (knee cap that slips).  If it slips and then pops back into place, it can hurt and get sore.  Just touching the knee might not hurt her. 

Movement of the knee could be a different story.  Don't try that yourself.  The vet will know how to manipulate the knee and you don't want to make things worse if that is the problem. 

See my posts (the four with a tag of "luxating patellas";) on this thread about luxating patellas:
http://community.dog.com/forums/p/65379/513067.aspx#513067

If your vet isn't finding it on palpatation then I'd probably try a different vet who does 'different' things.  A really good holistic vet (particularly one who does acupuncture) will give a completely different *kind* of physical evaluation.  Usually they'll spend upwards of 90 minutes with you and the dog (and the initial consult will also include treatment).

dogs are stoic -- they will often not 'react' when a vet palpates them -- so looking for other clues can be a big help.  I'm not advocating you 'leaving' your regular vet -- ***not at all***.  But a vet trained in TCVM (traditional Chinese veterinary medicine) will be looking at everything from any hot/cold spots near joints, pulse points over the entire body, the colors of the tongue and various mucus membranes, as well as general behavior and reactions. 

Such problems can so easily be neural -- the slightest turn of the head can sometimes cause a 'ping' in a nerve, or such and that can be impossible for the vet to find in their exam. 

A good TCVM vet is going to work with your regular vet.  http://www.tcvm.com is the Chi Institute and they're a really good qualifying agency for acupuncture/herbalists -- have your vet either send or give you a copy of the dog's records and then ask the TCVM vet to send a copy of their findings to your vet. 

Maybe your vet will pooh pooh it all but keeping them in the loop is responsible on your part and then they don't get ratty with you about it. 

It can totally depend on the *type* of experience your vet has ... and sometimes supplementing this experience with another vet's experience who does something totally different can help finding difficult problems.  A dog doesn't just 'yelp' for no reason and I'd be about 99% sure this isn't behavioral. 

Infected would cause pain -- how much roughage do you give her.  If you are feeding one of those 'high quality' high protein diets, there may not be enough roughage there to keep the anal glands clean and if they are infected it can actually rupture.

However, it also sounds like an ear ache -- no matter where you are 'petting' if she moves her head to see what you're doing it may hurt.  An ear ache can be very difficult to find if it's bacterial -- many times a vet will assume if there is no wax or discharge that they're ok but the pain can be deep -- all the way to the ear drum. 

does she yelp ever when she eats?

It's such a helpless feeling when you can't figure out what's wrong!  good luck!

There's really no telling -- and it so depends on the vet as to how well they pick up on pain.  Particularly in small dogs.

Deep ear pain is *tough* to find.  If you DO see a reaction usually it is behind the ears and down a bit (the ear canal goes straight 'in' but abruptly curves "down" a very long way and then bends 'in' again to the eardrum.  The eustascian tubes follow all the way down into the throat. 

The best way to 'tell' is to sniff (and vets never do that) -- a yeast ear infection smells different than bacteria - but they both have a pretty singular smell.  But you won't pick up on a deep bacteria infection just by handling the external ear or the cartilage around the ear flaps.  IF there is pain from touch, it will be further down and often is triggered by movement.

There IS pain there -- she's telling you that just by the way she draws back.  But I wouldn't keep prodding her.  You could potentially do more harm than good.  But I would take her to a different type of vet as soon as you can get in. 

It's not silly to worry.  You're doing all the right things.

Ohiochis - what you're describing is very similar to what Rascal will do. We finally figured out that he has a bit of arthritis in one of the lower vertebrae in his neck such that when he moves in particular ways and extends the vertebrae the little bone "spur" hits another vertebra and causes him pain. The vet was able to diagnose this from an x-ray we had taken of him at the e-vet when we were looking for something he'd swallowed! So, if you have any old x-rays of your dog, it wouldn't hurt to have the vet give them a once-over.

Another thing you can do is keep a "yelp diary" and keep track of every time you see the dog yelp and what exactly the dog was doing. The vet also told us to note the weather that day as well, because apparently arthritis can be weather-sensitive and if you know the barometric pressure is going to change you can give some pain relievers beforehand to take the edge off.

I would be extra careful of your dog's neck, since little dogs can be very susceptible to neck injuries, particularly if they've ever been walked on a collar or (heaven forbid) choke chain. If your dog keeps yelping and you can't figure out any causes, it probably wouldn't hurt (except on the wallet, heh) to have the vet take a couple of x-rays to check for neck problems or, as Janet suggested, luxating patellas. 

I really recommend X-rays. 

I agree with Cita -- either x-rays at the very least or the completely different type of exam a TCVM/holistic vet would give in addition.  Some dogs are just SO stoic they won't let a vet know they hurt.

Specific case in point.  I took my little Prissy (pom/peke mix) because I knew she was hurting.  The vet put her thru a whole 'range of motion' and *I* could see she hurt and I said something.  He said "SHE DID NOT FEEL PAIN".  I said I knew her and I could see it.  He flat out looked at me and said "she did NOT yelp".

I told him I knew my dog and I could tell SHE knew he hurt her but she wasn't comfortable enough with HIM to let him **see** her pain.  She would NOT yelp in front of him no matter how badly she hurt! 

I never went back to him.  But I learned something that day -- a dog might feel comfortable enough with *me* to let me know they hurt.  BUT that same dog might not let a vet SEE their pain because they didn't want to show weakness to someone they didn't trust.

I also should have elaborated earlier - I'll share some of the scenarios when Rascal yelps, and what we've finally figured out is why.

1) Putting on his harness. I go to buckle it around his middle, he turns his head because he's kind of suspicious and wants to see what I'm doing, he extends his neck too far and it hurts, so he yelps. I now put his harness on while gently holding his head forward so he can't turn his neck.

2) Playing with his toys. He would leap in the air to "attack" them, extend his neck all the way out/down, and hurt himself. After 3 weeks or so of being convinced his squeakies were out to get him, he learned to run quickly up to the toys, pause briefly to pick them up gently, and then run away again.

3) Picking him up. Again, he turns his head to see what I'm doing with my hands (kind of to say, "Watch what you're doing back there!";), turns his neck too far, and hurts himself. I now pick him up while gently holding his head forward.

4) Taking a treat. He reaches his neck up high to get a treat held above his head, over-extends his neck, and hurts himself. He now gets treats only from his level or from on the ground.

Without the X-rays, honestly I think it would have been nearly impossible to figure out why he was yelping in some situations and not others (e.g. yelping while taking a treat, but not yelping while eating his food). By figuring out exactly what was causing him pain we've been much better able to manage him such that he doesn't hurt himself as often (e.g. holding his head gently to keep his neck straight).

The "mystery" pain has also triggered a lot of behavioral issues, such as intense suspicion on Rascal's part, because he doesn't realize it's his neck hurting him and he attributes the pain to other people/things. Preventing the pain is absolutely key to getting him over these fears. (For example, he's terrified of people petting him behind his neck because when he turns his neck to lick their hands or what have you, it hurts him, and he thinks that petting --> neck turning --> pain --> suspicion of petting --> more neck turning --> more pain, etc. The only way to break the cycle is to make sure that he doesn't experience pain while being petted.)

So anyway, long story short, having X-Rays really made a huge difference in understanding Rascal's pain issues and what to do about them.

A dog that yelps with anything approaching regularity (IMO once a week or more) most definitely has something wrong. 

Any updates?