judy
Well-known member
i took zack to the vet to have the skin lesions looked at, it was a different vet office from the one i went to on Friday because that one was booked til Wednesday. It bothers me that they wouldn't fit Zack in. anyway, i took him to another vet who treated him and saw him several times back in February. The blood work results were faxed from the Friday vet.
Zack is much improved. he was really sick for 2 1/2 days but since yesterday afternoon has been acting more and more like his usual self.
While waiting to be seen by the vet, zack was whimpering. I thought it was because of the other dogs there and wanting to be more free to socialize with them. i had given him a bath before coming and he was still a little wet in the ears, and the air conditioning was on so i took him outside to sit in the sun and let the rest of him dry, he was walking around on the retractable leash, and then i noticed liquid poop was dripping from his butt. he was trying to get to where the grass was so he was holding it, but it was coming out anyway. i felt like, duh. i took him to where the grass was and he had liquid diarrhea. it was all over his butt fur. i tried to wipe him up with some paper towels in the car. i was sorry to see that because he hasn't had diarrhea since he was dewormed in early March.
The blood work had some abnormalities:
Absolute reticulocytes were high, 60,760. The normal range ends at 60,000 but the vet said than normal results are much lower than that. I think that is the one she said means the immature red blood cells were too high, normally they don't circulate til they mature. she said it meant his body was fighting something. at least i think so. I forget so quickly.
Bands were high, 676, the reference range is 0-300. She said that indicates something acute.
I think she said the reticulocytes and bands could be caused by the garlic i was giving him.
His lymphs were high but she didn't say anything about that. I'm lookiing at my copy and she drew circles around three things, reticulocytes, bands and monocytes. The monocytes were high, 1014, the range was 0-840. She said that had to be something chronic.
I was worried about that and i asked if i should get a follow up blood panel in a month but she said no, she said that was a common result in healthy dogs. i'm glad she said that, otherwise i was worried. so why did she use language such as, "that has to be somethnig chronic?" i mean, i looked at one of his earlier blood panel results that i had at home, and the monos were elevated then too and i was told everything was fine and normal. but when she uses language like, "that has to be something chronic," should i not worry? but when i asked about follow up, she said it was common to healthy dogs. oh well. good.
his skin lesions were much better today, fading, but still apparent, not as big, she could see them. She said it looked like some kind of immune reaction. I don't really know what she meant, i think she said it might've been the garlic but it was all pretty vague. I asked if it was an allergy to something and she said "no, something stronger than that." some kind of immune thing. She said it could be the beginning of puppy strangles. I've heard of that before but don't know what it is.
I made some digital photos of the lesions around his mouth last night and showed them to her on my digital camera, because they were more dramatic last night, and she was interested in those.
she gave him antibiotics, clavamox. because he's improving, i asked if it would be ok to wait a couple of days and only give it to him if he doesn't keep getting better. she said that was fine. If he got better, don't give it to him but if he plateaus, then give it to him.
she wasn't concerned about the diarrhea, she said it might be stress from coming to the vet. i doubt that. zack loves to go to the vet, or anywhere there are other dogs. she recommended nonfat cottage cheese and rice or boiled chicken breast and rice, for a couple of days.
when i told her i'd be making an insurance claim, i asked what the diagnosis was and she said "allergic reaction."
she agreed that something could have bitten him.
so i don't really know what it was that was making him so sick. i just hope it doesn't happen again. gotta find out what puppy strangles is, doesn't sound good.
i just looked it up, it seems more likely in younger puppies, and seems to only have lesions around the mouth, while zack had them on his chest and back, but i don't know, that was just a quick check. ok, i checked a couple more. i dont' think it's that.
but the lesions are hard and i'm a bit worried about scarring. they're covered by fur mostly now, but im a little worried that the fur might fall out and not grow back if scars form. i'm still spraying the Pet Solution RX on him. I showed it to her. I brought all the stuff to show her, neem oil, diatomaceous earth, etc. about the PetSolution RX, she was kind enough not to openly ridicule me because it's just water. but when i spray it on, they clear up and he stops itching, maybe it's coincidence but at least i get a feeling like i can DO something. hey, it's electrolized oxidizing water, whatever that means. at least it's not harmful.
Zack is much improved. he was really sick for 2 1/2 days but since yesterday afternoon has been acting more and more like his usual self.
While waiting to be seen by the vet, zack was whimpering. I thought it was because of the other dogs there and wanting to be more free to socialize with them. i had given him a bath before coming and he was still a little wet in the ears, and the air conditioning was on so i took him outside to sit in the sun and let the rest of him dry, he was walking around on the retractable leash, and then i noticed liquid poop was dripping from his butt. he was trying to get to where the grass was so he was holding it, but it was coming out anyway. i felt like, duh. i took him to where the grass was and he had liquid diarrhea. it was all over his butt fur. i tried to wipe him up with some paper towels in the car. i was sorry to see that because he hasn't had diarrhea since he was dewormed in early March.
The blood work had some abnormalities:
Absolute reticulocytes were high, 60,760. The normal range ends at 60,000 but the vet said than normal results are much lower than that. I think that is the one she said means the immature red blood cells were too high, normally they don't circulate til they mature. she said it meant his body was fighting something. at least i think so. I forget so quickly.
Bands were high, 676, the reference range is 0-300. She said that indicates something acute.
I think she said the reticulocytes and bands could be caused by the garlic i was giving him.
His lymphs were high but she didn't say anything about that. I'm lookiing at my copy and she drew circles around three things, reticulocytes, bands and monocytes. The monocytes were high, 1014, the range was 0-840. She said that had to be something chronic.
I was worried about that and i asked if i should get a follow up blood panel in a month but she said no, she said that was a common result in healthy dogs. i'm glad she said that, otherwise i was worried. so why did she use language such as, "that has to be somethnig chronic?" i mean, i looked at one of his earlier blood panel results that i had at home, and the monos were elevated then too and i was told everything was fine and normal. but when she uses language like, "that has to be something chronic," should i not worry? but when i asked about follow up, she said it was common to healthy dogs. oh well. good.
his skin lesions were much better today, fading, but still apparent, not as big, she could see them. She said it looked like some kind of immune reaction. I don't really know what she meant, i think she said it might've been the garlic but it was all pretty vague. I asked if it was an allergy to something and she said "no, something stronger than that." some kind of immune thing. She said it could be the beginning of puppy strangles. I've heard of that before but don't know what it is.
I made some digital photos of the lesions around his mouth last night and showed them to her on my digital camera, because they were more dramatic last night, and she was interested in those.
she gave him antibiotics, clavamox. because he's improving, i asked if it would be ok to wait a couple of days and only give it to him if he doesn't keep getting better. she said that was fine. If he got better, don't give it to him but if he plateaus, then give it to him.
she wasn't concerned about the diarrhea, she said it might be stress from coming to the vet. i doubt that. zack loves to go to the vet, or anywhere there are other dogs. she recommended nonfat cottage cheese and rice or boiled chicken breast and rice, for a couple of days.
when i told her i'd be making an insurance claim, i asked what the diagnosis was and she said "allergic reaction."
she agreed that something could have bitten him.
so i don't really know what it was that was making him so sick. i just hope it doesn't happen again. gotta find out what puppy strangles is, doesn't sound good.
i just looked it up, it seems more likely in younger puppies, and seems to only have lesions around the mouth, while zack had them on his chest and back, but i don't know, that was just a quick check. ok, i checked a couple more. i dont' think it's that.
but the lesions are hard and i'm a bit worried about scarring. they're covered by fur mostly now, but im a little worried that the fur might fall out and not grow back if scars form. i'm still spraying the Pet Solution RX on him. I showed it to her. I brought all the stuff to show her, neem oil, diatomaceous earth, etc. about the PetSolution RX, she was kind enough not to openly ridicule me because it's just water. but when i spray it on, they clear up and he stops itching, maybe it's coincidence but at least i get a feeling like i can DO something. hey, it's electrolized oxidizing water, whatever that means. at least it's not harmful.