ongoing health problem

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TM964x4
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ongoing health problem

Post by TM964x4 » Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:46 pm

Soon after I brought her home in august her health began to deteriorate. I noticed the top section of her last few ribs was a little swollen.She would run off to the room and was constantly sleeping. Eventually this "growth" on her right rib cage got worse and the swelling went from the top of her last few ribs to the underside of her belly. I took her to the vet after it began to grow and was uncomfortable to be touched. She ate well until this time.

The first vet checked her out and she was running a fever. He gave me antibiotics(Clavamox) and said to check back in a week or two. All cleared except for a golf ball size "growth" on her belly. Upon next vet check he felt it was a mammary problem and needed to spay her. I chose to receive a second opinion . Vet #2 felt it was a hernia and said he thinks she had some sort of trauma to that right side. This led to operation #1.Before surgery it ruptured.

Vet #2 performed the operation and sent her home that day. Antibiotics(Clavamox) for two weeks and all looked good. Upon the second week after antibiotics had subsided a "growth" on the top of her last ribs had appeared and continued to grow as well as a smaller one on one of the forward ribs. Back to Vet #2 for more antibiotics for two weeks with little success. Once again this "growth" ruptured of a bloody/mucous fluid again. This led to a more serious Operation #2.

Vet #2 had to cut her in two places vertically along her right side. Once he went in he noticed all the muscle tissue showed some unknown infection and all three of the growth sites were connected. He removeed ALL the muscle tissue along her ribcage to her belly just short of going into her chest cavity and abdomen. Four layers of sutures later and two drain tubes Peaches was sent home. The tissue was sent off for a biopsy. Mind you this has been going on since the day i brought her home and at this time we were closing in on the end of October.

Biopsy came back clear of cancer and any other substantial disease. It was classified as a massive deep tissue infection. She was sent home with more antibiotics and hopes that it was all over. Peaches was healing well . Antibiotics ended about two weeks after and over that weekend a small bump has appeared in the same area as Operation #1. He put her back on antibiotics for a longer course hoping it would clear up. Her side looked good while on the Clavamox. About one week after the dosage ended i noticed both areas swelled a little and more Clavamox was given. All looked good again. Now after the next 2 week dosage ended everything was ok till i came home one day for work. The surgery sight of the forward ribs swelled to about the size of a tennis ball within an 8hr period. I rushed her to the vet and he drew a little fluid out of it sent it for a culture sensitivity test. Also more Clavamox. When the results came back it said it was moraxella and Clavamox was sufficient. He put her on about a three week treatment and it cleared for the most part. She was then off the Clavamox for almost a week and sunday i noticed the same area seemed to swell. I took a picture to see of it grew later on. Four hours later it was about twice the size and the next morning it was about the size of a tennis ball. Back to the vet and he has been absolutely stumped. Now he wants to cut that area open again. He gave another round of clavamox and it has cleared.
When she is on the Clavamox her side looks good and it seems as soon as she is off bam something happens. Ive heared of similar things happening from a "seed" but the vet totally disagrees with me suggesting that. Im sorry for the long post but this has been such an on going problem for the last 6 months and hasnt been resolved. If anyone can share some insight that would greatly be appreciated. thank you for your time. i will try to attach a few pictures later but i dont know how to resize them.

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sully511
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by sully511 » Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:09 pm

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear everything your poor girl has gone through.... I might go for another opinion to a specialist. I also would be a bit concerned that they keep putting her on Clavamox. If they sent the samples for a culture and sensitivity then more classes of antibiotics would have been on tested. Maybe switching to another antibiotic would help?

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Cajun Casey
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by Cajun Casey » Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:08 pm

You might want to have your vet take a look at this article from the AKC Canine Health Foundation.

http://www.akcchf.org/news-events/libra ... -your.html

There may be some contact information there that could provide some solutions. Also, you might have your vet contact Azzore Veterinary Specialists in Russellville, Arkansas. Dr. Terry Dew is well know as an authority on sporting dog issues. http://www.azzore.com/
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

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dog dr
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by dog dr » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:15 am

i would bet almost anything your dog has some type of foreign body in or around her rib cage. most likely a grass awn, weed seed, etc. these can be incredibly hard to find, but thats what needs to happen in order to fix the problem. sometimes you dont actually "find" it, but just flush it out without seeing it. in my experience, as long as the dog is on antibiotics the infection subsides, then when you quit it comes back, just like your dog. how old is she??


edit: woops, didnt read the article you referenced until after i posted. good call, casey! :D

TM964x4
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by TM964x4 » Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:31 am

Thank you for all the replies. Its just really frustrating. From the beginning ive suspected a migrating foreign body because all the symptoms she has shown are almost identical to some of the cases ive read about. This vet just doesnt want to hear it i guess. I hope it is soon resolved. Thanks

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ezzy333
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by ezzy333 » Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:35 am

Think at this point I would look some where esle to take the dog and see if you get a different answer since the way it is now you are not getting the right answer it seems. I think you are just treading water, not getting any place, and you will get tired.

Ezzy
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Cajun Casey
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by Cajun Casey » Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:58 am

dog dr wrote:i would bet almost anything your dog has some type of foreign body in or around her rib cage. most likely a grass awn, weed seed, etc. these can be incredibly hard to find, but thats what needs to happen in order to fix the problem. sometimes you dont actually "find" it, but just flush it out without seeing it. in my experience, as long as the dog is on antibiotics the infection subsides, then when you quit it comes back, just like your dog. how old is she??


edit: woops, didnt read the article you referenced until after i posted. good call, casey! :D
You bet. If you have any supporting cases, contact them. That is an example of where the money we send AKC goes. :)
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

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RoostersMom
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by RoostersMom » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:57 pm

My pointer had a foreign grass seed in her lungs that migrated through to the chest cavity. She would get better on antibiotics short term and then worse. This went on for about a month or so... until we finally took her to the Vet School at the University of Missouri. When they hooked her up to chest tubes, she had a water pitcher full of puss in her chest cavity. She almost died during this deal and was in ICU for 9 days. You are right to be concerned and I would just ask them to check it out - and in our dog's case, they took half of her lung and all of the diseased tissue that was in her chest cavity. They might need to scrape out your dog's cavity to get this seed (if that is what the problem is). Stay on it until it gets resolved. Our then 9 year old pointer has since recovered and I shot my first prairie chicken over her last season. She recovered fully - at least as fully as you can get with only a lung and a half!

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cmc274
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Re: ongoing health problem

Post by cmc274 » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:04 pm

sully511 wrote:Wow, I'm so sorry to hear everything your poor girl has gone through.... I might go for another opinion to a specialist.
Do you have access to a local veterinary school with a teaching hospital? I know some of the larger east coast schools (Cornell, Penn, NC State, etc) have doctors, facilities and access to research that is unmatched. It would not be cheap, however you may get a quicker solution. Plus dogs don't have to worry about primary care physicians, PPOs and referrals.

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