Suspected IVDD: my 14 yr old Jack Russell has been experiencing some severe what looks to be muscle spasms. Took her into the vet and was told she may have joint pain or a neurological nerve pain. They sent me home with pain meds gabapentin, anti inflammatory carprofen and vitamin antinol to see if she got better. It was four days and she didn’t really seem to get better.

Then she seemed like she was developing some sort of serve cough. Took her back to the vet and they said she has some bacterial respiratory infection (also took X-rays) but I suspected kennel cough which they could not tell me 100% for sure, so was sent home with antibiotics. She is up on her vaccines and the only place she has been is at the vet because we don’t have any other dogs around us at home and haven’t been taking her for any walks due to her pain.

It’s been 5 days now and the cough is getting better. However, she is having muscle flares up everyday, multiple times a day. She is panting a lot and seems to be in a lot of pain. The meds don’t seem to be helping a whole lot.

She can still walk but is wobbly. Her legs tremble. I can see her legs are very stiff. Her back looks a little raised. She is still going to the bathroom on her own, but is wobbly.

I’ve put some paw grips on her feet since we have tile floors and some more rugs around the house. I’ve also tried to give her messages which she sometimes allowed me but she’s a Jack Russell and they have their own kind of personality.

What should I do? Any advice? I hate seeing her in so much pain.

My dog just had puppies today. She seems like she is warm because she is panting. She has had water and food and the puppies are nursing. I don’t want the puppies to get cold but how can I make it more comfortable for her? I have a heat pad on low with several layers of a towel on top of it. Maybe I should remove that?

I am agonizing over the hardest decision we have as pet parents…euthanasia. Our 12 1/2 year standard schnauzer has been having various behaviors and symptoms the past 6 -8 weeks. Excessive panting, fatigue, decreased appetite. We brought him in and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He finished all his meds and we brought him back in for follow up X-ray and labs. He really wasn’t much better. X-ray confirmed pneumonia had cleared but lab work, which had been normal 2 weeks prior, now showed probable pancreatitis. He has declined rapidly the past 3 days. We are trying to get him to take meds, Pepcid, Cerenia, Carafate but we literally have to force them down his throat. He will not eat and I have tried everything , rice, scrambled eggs, bread, even doughnuts He is isolating, going upstairs instead of being with us. He still has labored breathing, his legs give out, he is restless. He has a strange odor. I have had dogs my whole life and all this points to end of life. I know this in my heart. When do you know when is the right time? I really was hoping he would pass naturally. Thank you for listening

Hello, I’m currently fostering an animal whose been in limbo with two previous owners. The first owner wanted to put her down because she supposedly didn’t do well with their children. The second home it seems like they don’t have enough time for the sweet little girl. That’s where I stepped in to help. So long story short I wondered if it was possible there was a health issue with puppy and first owners didn’t want to deal with it. When the puppy sleeps, she breathes abnormal, she breaths so fast and hard. I have watched many puppies sleep and this is just different. It’s like she’s panting and breathing so quickly. It’s only when she lays down to sleep. I didn’t think much of it the first night but it okay today I’m concerned. She’s not hot, and she’s not cooling off from some sort of activity. I am not sure what to do. I can’t find any relevant videos or articles about this type of behaviors.

Our Morkie, Stella, is having an allergic reaction since last night. She was licking and biting herself all night and when we finally realized she wasn’t just being just neurotic (she has some weird behavior sometimes) we took her to her regular vet.

The vet told us she is having a serious allergic reaction and they gave her a shot (cytopoint 20mg).

We think maybe she got into something that was really no good for her because while the shot seemed to help for a short period of time, it basically has now stopped working.

The vet thought maybe it was the food were giving her, but we’ve been giving her the same food for weeks.

She is now panting, refusing water and treats, and going back to biting and itching her sides and legs. Her ears are bright red inside which is a common allergy sign for humans but I know nothing about what that means for dogs.

She just seems itchy and twitchy all the time. Our vet is currently not open and is not accessible by phone.

We’re wondering if she maybe got into essential oils or massage oil we used for ourselves and licked it up. Nothing seems too scary right now but she does just seem completely uncomfortable and twitchy.

What should we do from here Pawbly? Please give us some guidance.

Good morning and happy thanksgiving Pawbly friends!!! We decided to go to a local trail this morning with the kids and the dogs. Rontu, who is usually pretty good on leash, was really a maniac. Lots of panting, whining, pulling…. really a jerk???? My thinking is anxiety because it is not one of our normal walking trails. We walk everyday, but the same usual routes with little variation. I am now going to start bringing him to other places once or twice a week where we can work on this behavior. I will be sure to bring lots of treats and patience. We have not had this issue with any of our other GSDs, so I am just guessing that this will be a good way to start to correct this behavior. If anyone has any other ideas, please share. Thanks!!!????????

Hi! I have a 5-year-old beagle who was recently diagnosed with IVDD. 5 days ago, he woke up with pain, and things got worse when he tried jumping on my bed. He was in so much pain that I could barely move him. I took him to the vet, and they prescribed him methocarbamol, tramadol, and prednisone. I gave him his medication the first day, but it did not help at all, and he continued being in a lot of pain. The next day I took him back to the vet, and they hospitalized him for a day to administer the medication through IV. That seemed to help a lot because now his practically back to normal. I’m still giving him the medication that was prescribed, but I recently noticed he has begun to walk a little bit slower and is panting a lot. I’m worried that his reason for panting is due to him being in pain. Also, I’m scared that he will have another crisis and go back to being in the pain he was before. Can anyone give me guidance on how to care for my dog?

Hi Can you please help me with a puppy crate question?
Our now almost 12 wk old golden puppy has been crated at night for 3 weeks and he is still up every hour crying..
I let him cry for about 20 min at most and he usually falls back to sleep but then wakes up again an hour later..
I will take him out only once a night (for a very boring and quick trip outside to potty) if the crying
lasts longer than about 25 min
Because I’m Exhausted… I finally caved and moved him into our bedroom in the crate (where our older dog sleeps on a dog bed) and he has slept through the night for the last three nights…
But….I hear him panting and moving around all night so I can’t sleep!
Is it okay to put crate in the basement where I won’t be able to hear him and just let him cry it out?
I’ve never had this problem with previous puppies…

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Thx!
Sarah

I have a question about our 13 yo dog who likely has a bulging disc. He is a mutt (probably part Border Collie, part Shepherd). Soon after a small slip on our stairs, he had lameness in his one back leg; this went away after one day, he limped for a few days after, and he quickly recovered from those things.  Though he was walking fine fairly quickly, he showed stiffness, showed hesitation going up stairs unless we gave him a treat (we have only stairs to the outside), and his tail was down and only wagged from the tip of it. We had him quickly on an anti-inflammatory (Novox) and a pain med (started on Gabapentin but had to discontinue). He was fine on a walk; we went on short walks and he always craved for much more than we allowed. We prevented jumping, aerobic exercise, stopped him from using stairs by having a ramp to the outside, etc. We continued the Novox. His symptoms continued, then got better, and then seemed to regress when he started showing signs of pain (panting even when lying down and even when it was cool outside and some anxiety); the pain thing was probably because of taking him off Gabapentin. We took him to the Neurology Dept at a local, large vet hospital and a physical exam indicated that he “likely” has a bulging disc. When they inspected his back, he showed signs of pain and anxiety and his back legs bent and his rear went down. We don’t think we want to do surgery due to his age. He has not had an MRI as the regular vet and my husband and I thought that the treatment would be the same if we did not do surgery — treatment being restricting movement, continuing anti-inflammatory and pain meds, and looking into possible physical rehab. A switch to the pain med Amantidine helps a lot and the panting and anxiety are gone. He now continues to crave longer walks and, at the rare times we forget to block off the couch, he will try to jump up on it. We have been continuing to restricting movement but we just don’t know what to do about activity restrictions and have not had a lot of advice from neurology. He has always craved movement and exercise and when we take him around the block his stiffness seems to go away a bit and he seems energized and maybe even more comfortable. He has always craved a lot of exercise and movement. His spirits are lowered a lot if we keep in him in a small space — it almost seems like he wants to move around. He is eating and drinking, can do #2 (though he struggles some if doing it a long time). If allowed to do some movement, he is mostly happy and getting around with walking. Questions are: Should we restrict his movement altogether despite all this? Should he we do no walks at all? Is it bad if he is free to walk around the first floor or should he stay only in a very small area? I feel we are so confused as to what to do and how to know how to prevent regression. We’d love the input of any veterinarians or other owners with the same experience!

HELP I put sentry flea medicine on my cat’s last night I woke up this morning and my my smaller cat not a kitten she’s just small is like drooling really bad and panting I called Jarrettsville vet but they can’t get me in because I’m not a patient and I don’t have the money for the pet ER it’s too expensive even to walk in I’m desperate can I give her Benadryl what can I do to try to help her any answers will be greatly appreciate it thank you very much…