Need help and advice! please!

[85percent]

Hi, I have a 5 year old dane, Mars. I usually take him on 5 mile walks every few days, and he has no problem keeping up and not falling behind. About a week ago, he started to get lethargic. He wouldn't run up the stairs in my house like he normally does, he doesn't run to the back door when he hears me get home, he just lays where he is now. Then about 4 days ago, he stopped eating dry food completely, but he will eat wet food. Our walks are now a half mile long, and even then he has to stop and rest half way through. He will walk around sometimes on his own, he doesn't limp, but he lays down a LOT more than usual.

I took him to the vet today and they ran all kinds of tests on him, also took x-rays of his abdomen. Here are his symptoms and what they found:

-Very low red blood cell count (30%?), the vet suggested inflammation from somewhere inside of him
-Pretty lethargic
-He has diarrhea, not watery, but yes liquidy.
-His body temp was very high when I got to the vet, but he has been on an IV all day and his temp has subsided since then.
-No sign of parasites from the stool tests
-Nothing found unusual in the x-ray, digestive track looks normal
-No body pain, swelling, etc.

The vet is sending his blood samples out to a specialist to try and figure out what is up, but I need some more opinions... Please, does anyone have any idea what might be going on, or if this has happened to their dane with a result? Also, where do I go from here if nothing is found in the blood samples?

thank you!!


Brandon

[Loki Love]

Sounds heart related maybe?

[MooseMomma]

Does he eat or drink? Does he have any green mucus coming from eyes or nose?

[85percent]

No mucus. He does drink like normal, and he stopped eating his normal dry grain-free food, so I tried wet food and he is eating that..

The vet does not think its heartworm, or any heart related problems. He had a Heartworm/Lyme/Ehrlichia test done, all negative.

[mnmouse]

I would start him on 1500mg a day of milk thistle--it can't hurt and it absolutely 100% saved the life of my ancient husky mix when his liver went wonky. How were his liver counts?

[thisiscyndi]

Have your vet check for parvo. Yes I know he has been vaccinated, have them check anyway. We've had friends whose adult vaccinated Danes died from parvo that was caught too late.
Did they check for giardia and lyme disease?

[MooseMomma]

I ask about the mucus and such because my dane was vaccinated and still caught distemper. Have the vet look for signs of distemper or parvo, as my pup just got titers done after recovering from distemper and because he had distemper his antibodies are through the roof for it, but the titers also showed that his parvo antibodies are low, which means he could have easily caught that too and it's either cuz he was born immunosuppressed and did not take to the vaccines or because something was wrong with the vaccines. Def a frustrating and scary thing, but worth them checking if they aren't having any other luck finding anything else, cuz we went almost two whole months of blood work and checking a million other diseases until we checked for distemper which we didnt test right away because he was vaccinated) but now realize we should have tested that sooner and saved money and heartache... best of luck!! Keep us updated!

[DextersMomma]

Addison's disease or immune mediated hemolytic anemia are two things that come to mind.
I would have them test him for Addison's immediately and the blood they sent out for evaluation should be able to tell them if IMHA is probable. They can also do a slide agglutination test in hospital to see if the blood sticks to itself and a manual differential to see if the red blood cells look abnormal.

Hth!

[85percent]

Just took Mars to a vet specialist today, they did an ultrasound. All organs looked 100% normal. The doctor also ruled out hypothyroidism and Addison's disease, and said that they absolutely have no idea what is wrong with him, but the doctor thinks it is some type of infection somewhere in his body due to his high fever and being lethargic. He is not eating anything now, but I think he just wants to sleep due to being sedated from the ultrasound. The doctor put him on two different types of antibiotics as well - so that may be causing his lack of appetite... Blood was sent to a lab for examination, along with a urine sample to look for types of infections... I'm going to make him some chicken and rice right now.. I'm trying to do everything I can, and spending whatever it takes. I pray he gets better, he is my best friend... thank you all for the help so far..

[michlhw]

hang in there! and lots of love and kisses to Mars. I hope you guys find out the reason for his health problem, and keep us updated!

[oshagcj914]

Keeping you in our thoughts! Hope you get some answers

[DextersMomma]

Tick born? Lepto?

[mnmouse]

Just took Mars to a vet specialist today, they did an ultrasound. All organs looked 100% normal. The doctor also ruled out hypothyroidism and Addison's disease, and said that they absolutely have no idea what is wrong with him, but the doctor thinks it is some type of infection somewhere in his body due to his high fever and being lethargic. He is not eating anything now, but I think he just wants to sleep due to being sedated from the ultrasound. The doctor put him on two different types of antibiotics as well - so that may be causing his lack of appetite... Blood was sent to a lab for examination, along with a urine sample to look for types of infections... I'm going to make him some chicken and rice right now.. I'm trying to do everything I can, and spending whatever it takes. I pray he gets better, he is my best friend... thank you all for the help so far..

Please do try the milk thistle. It's worth a shot. I'm so glad I started Jackson on it, I was doubtful, ya know? My vet didn't prescribe it--it was suggested to me by several people and websites. He pulled out of his funk and is doing so well now--eating and active again. It took about two weeks before it seemed to start helping. It cleanses, supports and help regenerate the liver.

[85percent]

The vet did say it could be tick born. The antibiotics that Mars is taking now should address that, if that's what it is.

I just ordered milk thistle. I bought the straight milk thistle capsules for humans, but I assume its the same for dogs?

[bamababies]

Try to keep positive thoughts in your head. We'll be praying for y'all.