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Jen Behler | 5 years ago
Torn CCL Surgery Repair

My 6 year old lab mix had TPLO surgery to repair a torn CCL on September 10. Prior to surgery, his liver enzymes were elevated but after 2 ultrasounds and bloodwork, they were unable to identify why. Because of this he cannot take anti inflammatory drugs to help with pain and took longer to be cleared after surgery. He was finally cleared on 12/11/19 and was doing really well. About a week and a half ago, he started limping again. We can’t pinpoint anything he did that would cause a limp. We haven’t let him fully run and don’t let him off his leash hardly at all. I do have another follow up appointment with the surgeon scheduled but wanted to see if anyone else experienced something like this. Thanks!

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    Lots of things can cause a limp post op. The best advice I can give is to keep him calm and leash walk only and see the surgeon ASAP. If he is acting quiet, depressed, lethargic or not eating call your regular vet and have him seen immediately.

    1. Jen Behler Post author

      Thank you! He is sleepy, but not lethargic. I think that is because of the gabapentin. He has always been a picky eater but I believe he is eating and drinking normally. We have been keeping him on a leash and shortened walks. His appointment with the surgeon is Wednesday.

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Michaela Leftwich | 5 years ago
We Have A Lab Almost A Year Old. She Wont Eat Out Of Her Bowl. She …

We have a lab almost a year old. She wont eat out of her bowl. She will eat the dog food if we put it in our hand but she wont eat it out of her bowl. She will eat other treats and table food. She also seems very lethargic per her usual self. We have been watching to make sure she is still pooping but something just seems off. What should our next steps be? Should we try changing dog food? Could she be going into heat?

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    Bowl aversion is one thing but acting lethargic is a reason to see your vet. We always have to be worried that there is a medical condition going on and with that the vets should be seen.

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JOHN | 5 years ago
I Have A Two Year Old Male Yellow Lab That Has Already Had Two Obstruction Surgeries. …

I have a two year old male yellow lab that has already had two obstruction surgeries. Both of these, Scout stopped eating and drinking and was vomiting. Last week we believe he ate a sock in which he has been eating on and off, he is drinking, peeing and is pooping. He wakes up every morning wagging his tail and is in good spirits, just lacking some energy on the days he doesn’t eat. He weighed 80 pounds on his previous checkup, yesterday we took him to our local vet, he weighed 70 lbs. The performed an x ray on him and said they believe it was a soft material that he swallowed and couldn’t determine if it was in his intestine or in his colon. While at the vet Scout was wagging his tail, holding the leash in his mouth as he usually does and ate about 20 treats. My vet charged me $360 and told me they recommend me to go to the animal hospital for an ultrasound to get a better idea of where this sock is located. I waited for 4 hours for them to tell me that they performed the ultrasound, it was somewhat inconclusive, his colon was enlarged and recommended exploratory surgery. I requested we wait to see if he will pass this. They kept him overnight, asked for an $800 deposit and called this morning saying that he was the same, and took x-rays to say it hasn’t moved. Your thoughts, suggestions or advice?

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    I am very (extremely) concerned about e weight loss. In my opinion in a dog rhat age it is a huge red flag. It cannot be ignored and should absolutely put everyone on high alert that there is an issue. For this reason alone and the hyporexia I would say an exploratory is indicated after all other diagnostics have proven unhelpful.
    In my experience nothing (absolutely nothing except maybe a ct or mri ) at helping to put answers together. I also think that if they don’t find a foreign body that biopsy samples are helpful to diagnose weight loss (the worry is cancer). The other diagnostic option is a barium study. It’s old school but helpful in gi cases.
    Now I say all of that assuming there aren’t any budgetary constraints. If there are and a foreign body is on the list of possibilities I recommend an exam, cbc, and Chem panel and X-ray or ultrasound. If the patient is bright and active and eating drinking ambulating and NOT vomiting you can watch and wait as long as they remain acting and feeling normal. If they are vomiting or not acting like themselves the best to do is surgery. If surgery is not affordable call around and try to find a place it is more affordable. (For example it might be 4-6000 at a speciality hospital but 1-2000 at a general practice. If even this is not Affordable try a few days of intravenous fluids and lots of walking. Both keep the gut moving and help move stuff through. Hope this helps.

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Michaela Leftwich | 5 years ago
My Lab Puppy Has Terrible Dry Skin Since It Has Gotten Colder. She Frequently Visits Are …

My lab puppy has terrible dry skin since it has gotten colder. She frequently visits are shallow pond but it’s only knee deep. It has gotten worse now that it has gotten a lot colder. What can we do to help it?!

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    As with all pet related questions I always have to request that any pet medical problem be addressed first with a trip to the vet to make sure it isn’t something health related. Things like allergies, nutritional deficiencies and even congenital diseases that manifest as Looking like dry skin are things to be treated by your vet. After this I talk about diet, environment and supplements. Things to do now are adding moisture to the house with a humidifier. Brushing daily to keep hair and skin healthy helps and I like welactin an omega three fatty acid added to the food. Ask your vet about your pets preventative recommendations too. I hope this helps. Let us know what happens.

      1. Krista Magnifico

        Did they give you any options to treat it? Or a follow up plan? If not call and ask for one or seek a second opinion.

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Charlotte | 5 years ago
My One Year Old Lab Mix Has Worms. She Did Not Even Poop And Their Was …

My one year old lab mix has worms. She did not even poop and their was two worms stuck to her but and I don’t have money for a vet please help

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  1. Sarah

    Good morning-
    There may be OTC options of dewormer, but I can not make a recommendation on those. I would be extremely careful in going that route. Dosage will probably vary greatly. If I were you, I would call my vet and find out how much an office visit and a shot of dewormer would cost upfront. The longer you wait, the worse (and subsequently the more expensive) things will get. Your dog is 1, so probably due for an annual exam anyway. I’m sure your vet will be able to do the yearly exam and deworming altogether. They may be willing to let you pay in multiple installments.

    1. Charlotte Post author

      Yes thank you I ended up just taking her yesterday to the vet and she got her shots and stuff and I’m working with them on paying thank you

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Charlotte | 5 years ago
I Have A One Year Old Lab Basset Hound Mix And Every Time We Go In …

I have a one year old lab basset hound mix and every time we go in the car she throws up I know it is just car sickness but is it something she will grow out of or something I should be worried about

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  1. Sarah

    It could be nerves/anxiety… in which case you would have to work to change the behavior and also work on her anxiety. You may want to discuss it with the vet and see if they have any recommendation as they know your pet better than me. I would try to find a good dog behaviorist (your vet may have a recommendation) to help show you the best way to handle this with your dog. Best of luck.

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Linda | 5 years ago
When I Go For A Run With My 1 Year Old Yellow Lab, She Wants To Stop …

When I go for a run with my 1 year old yellow lab, she wants to stop every 15 seconds to smell and sniff everything! It’s annoying because I just want to run. I take her because she’s ancy to go in the morning and it’s good exercise for her

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    You each have a different motivation while outside. I take my dogs for a run (they are a year old too), every single day. But I only run after they have had a walk to go to the bathroom and investigate their territory. That way we each get our outside time and preferences for being out there out of our system. The other thing that helps is running with someone who’s dog already understands the routine. Let them learn from another dog. And please whatever you do never get upset or frustrated. Your dogs whole life and purpose is you. So be kind and considerate and remember this is your kid so you have to compromise. They will love you more for it and your life together will be happier and easier.

  2. Sarah

    Hi there-
    I also run with one of my dogs. But we all have a pack walk earlier in the morning, (and another after lunch and dinner)so that bathrooming, smelling, general “romping around”, etc…. are all out of the way. It took us about 5 runs for each of our routes, for him to get the routine down, but basically, he could probably run our route(s) without me if he had to???? If you give a nice 20 minutes or so morning walk to your pup before you head out to run, they should pick up rather quickly that “oh! Yay! We are running now.” If he veers off, a gentle tug and a fun “come on let’s run????” should do the trick. Hope this helps. Happy running!????????

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Charlotte | 5 years ago
I Have A One Year Old Lab Basset Hound Mix And I Am A Diabetic And …

I have a one year old lab basset hound mix and I am a diabetic and I would like to train her to bark when ever my dexcom beeps Incase I don’t hear it but I’m just not sure how to train her to do that thank you

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  1. Sarah

    Good morning. There are a few ways to train your dog. Easiest way is with treats, if they are food driven. Decide on the signal you would like for your dog to give you and start there. Do you want your dog to come to you and put their paw on your lap, sit in front of you, etc? Then start working on that. While working on that, have the sound of the alarm from your monitor go off so that your dog associated the action with the sound and the reward. Start slow and small. Be sure to reward right away. Once you guys master sound/sit/reward, you can work on things from there. There are a lot of YouTube videos on training, and there are some very good dog trainers in our area- R Dogs and Polite Pooches our of 4 Paws in forest hill come to mind. Best of luck!!

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Amanda | 5 years ago
My Almost 6 Month Old Puppy Is Having Diarrhea. We Changed His Food About 2 Weeks From Purina …

My almost 6 month old puppy is having diarrhea. We changed his food about 2 weeks from Purina pro plan puppy to the purina pro plan large breed food. He is a lab/mastiff mix. Do you think it’s the food causing the diarrhea? Should I switched him back to the old stuff? Or give him more time? He is acting fine other then the diarrhea. Thanks!

3 Responses

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    At that age I would be most worried about intestinal parasites. Has your vet done a fecal exam for parasites? This is done by sending a fresh fecal sample to lab to be examined under the microscope for parasites eggs. Please ask your vet.

    1. Amanda Post author

      Dr.Magnifco he sees Dr.Graf. I will call and see what I need to do.

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Jillian Fouts | 6 years ago
I Have A Senior Cat Who Goes Into Labored Open Mouth Breathing When He Is…

I have a senior cat who goes into labored open mouth breathing when he is in a hard purr and also has wheezing and snoring but otherwise acts normal – eats, drinks, and is active for his age. The snoring is even when he’s not in a deep slumber and it can be an airy rattle if that makes sense and he has a little squeak when he swallows. I saw your video on the cat with a polyp and thought maybe this could be what he has except that he’s almost 17 so the vet suggested it probably isn’t since that’s more of a young cat thing but did suggest a scope and CT which will cost me 2500-3500 and he will have to be put under. In reading about breathing, heart disease can also cause breathing problems and since he has heart disease I would hate to spend all the money and put him through that to be told the scope didn’t show anything. I’ve also been reading about asthma, but my regular vet nor the specialist even mentioned that it could be that and from what I’ve read, it’s hard to diagnose. He’s a flame point Siamese and he has early ckd and some heart disease (stage 3/4 systolic murmur and hypertension), so I’m nervous about putting him under. Aside from these “old man” things, the specialist and my regular vet say his labs are spectacular. The specialist said when she is presented with a cat that has these conditions, they bloodwork and labs never look this good. So I certainly don’t want to put him down if he looks good but I also feel like he can’t be comfortable with these breathing episodes. One thing to note, when they did bloodwork a couple of weeks ago, his eosinophils were elevated which I have read can be linked to upper respiratory and asthma. Im putting the link to videos of the wheezing and purring to see if you’ve ever seen such a thing in a cat. I sure wish I had you closer by. Thank you so much!
Jill

Wheezing https://youtu.be/gaf7WCRzu80

Purr/breathing https://youtu.be/kqnd4YORenY

1 Response

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    hello,

    i reviewed your videos, i think that it is appears as if the wheezing is in the oropharynx area. It also appears to be primarily it the inspiratory phase of the purring/breathing.
    There are internal medicine specialists who focus on this kind of clinical sign. I am not sure if there are any in your area though? I think the best place to start is at a feline specialists office. They tend to be more affordable and accessible. See if they can help start to rule out things before you jump into a scope.
    In my practice for cases like these a typical work up looks like this;
    1. exam,,, use your brain,, its your best diagnostic tool.
    2. radigraphs,, to look at the lungs.. lots of older cats have chronic lower resp disease,,, and unfortunately, we are also looking for signs of cancer.
    3. blood work,, a full cbc, chem, urine and t4.
    4. oral exam under anesthesia,, i look at the whole oral cavity, remove a polyp if i find one, flush the nares if the patient has had chronic nasal discharge, and then I also take skull rads, esp of the nose/nasal passages.
    if all of this fails to produce any helpful info endoscopy is the next step.. or CT, but endoscopy allows helpful info and you can do something (biopsy, etc) if you find something.
    I hope this helps..
    PS i agree about your theory and feelings about the corp practices..
    good luck,
    please keep me posted,, i would love to hear about how things turn out.
    PSS i do think that your kitty is a little old for a polyp.