• If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.

Poor Ebony at the vets again.

Sabby

Well-known member
Hi All
If some of you remember I made a post last week about my Ebonys knee coming out the socket. The vet gave her some medicine and told me to come back the following week. On the 6th day of taking the medicine she didn’t show any interest in her food started being very quiet and then the diarrhoea started. I stopped the tablets and phoned my friend who has five cavaliers. She ask what medicine it was and I told her it was Metacam. She confirmed that one of her dogs had a very bad reaction to it before. I was very angry because the vet knew that Ebony had a bad gastroenteritis in March and a funny tummy about 5 weeks ago. With the side affects it can course he should have known better. I looked up the side affects on the internet after my friend told me and they are terrible. After a sleepless night I took her to a different vet this morning. (This is the vet I had to take her to in March as it was 3am when she started pooing blood) He confirmed that it is very likely to have been the Metacam. He gave her 2 injections and two different types of tablets. Antibiotics and something for her stomach ulcerations. He told me that her appetite would come back today and just to feed her a very small amount. I gave her some chicken and she eagerly eat it. I now have to watch her stool to see if it changes colour as at the moment it is black and the vet said that if it stays black it means there could be some bleeding inside and I will have to take her back. I will be sleeping downstairs tonight as I had to get up 6 times last night to let her out, and because of her leg I have to carry her up and down the stairs. I just hope and pray she be alright in the morning.

And if that is not enough she does have a luxatting patella. The vet confirmed it today. He said that she is not in pain but that she will need an operation one day.

Please can you all keep your fingers crossed for Ebony.

Thanks
Sabby
 
so sorry you are having all these troubles and worries with Ebony. I hope she gets better quickly
 
Oh no...poor Ebony. Glad you were so quick to act though when she wasn't behaving right.

As far as the knee.....try to prevent her from jumping on and off the furniture. Keep her exercise at a moderate level. Did the vet give you a grade for the luxation? Shelby was at a 3 when she had surgery 4 years ago. The surgery was not totally successful (very unusuals as it's 92% effective) but her knee is only at grade 1 four years later. I have her on a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement and also give her Seacure with her dinner.

How old is Ebony?
 
Hi Cathy

Ebony is only 18 month old. The vet said that it is at an early stage. He explained that if you catch it early enough the operation is not going to be as big. He said something about the deeper the groove has to be cut the longer it takes to heal. I didn’t give it my full attention at that time as I was more worried about her tummy. He specialises in orthopaedic surgery so I would think he knows what he is talking about. I will talk to him once Ebony is fully recovered.

Ebony slept through the night. I gave her a little bit of chicken this morning. Just waiting for her to go to the toilet to check her stool.

Thank you for all your good wishes. I will keep you updated.
Sabby
 
Actually simply having had gastroenteritis in the past wouldn't be a reason not to give metacam. It can be very difficult to find painkillers that do not cause stomach upset and side effects in some dogs. The choices are basically metacam or rimadyl -- rimadyl causes problems more often then metacam! So your vet really correctly tried the less problem-causing one first. Most people can give either with no problems. I have a girl who regularly has stomach problems that doesn't have any issues with either of these pain killers, so it very much varies per dog. Hopefully Ebony will be fine now. :xfngr:
 
Shelby was diagnosed with grade 1/2 at six months. By the time she was a year old it was a grade 3. So we went ahead with the surgery. Yes, the more deepening of the groove the more difficult the surgery. Great that you are dealing with an orthopaedic surgeon!! You should be in great hands.
 
Hi Sabby, I really understand what you are going through with Ebony, as I had a similar experience with my little one. Our vet thought she was suffering from a partially torn ligament and administered a Metacam injection and prescribed Metacam orally (as well as crate rest etc). Phoebe developed the most awful explosive runs, so badly that for two nights I had to sleep on the sofa in the conservatory in order to let her outside really quickly, one night it was every half an hour. She was very poorly and was eventually passing blood and a lot of mucus. It took weeks to get her well, the vet was shocked at the reaction that she had and said it was most unusual, but was sure that it was the Metacam.
Phoebe used to suffer from some nasty bouts of colitis, which we keep under control with diet and it's obvious that she has a very, very sensitive tummy. I did try not to be annoyed with the vet over the Metacam, as I'm sure she could never have predicted that Pheebs could potentially have a reaction like that, but I'm sure she will take into account that Phoebe may have issues with medication in the future and be extra careful.
As far as your little one is concerned, keep her diet very bland and do so even for a few days after all seems normal again. Boiled white rice is good (boiled until it is really mushy) mixed with a bit of lean chopped chicken. I gradually added a little bit of kibble to it once her tum had settled. Just give her small amounts and if she is on two meals a day normally, perhaps break it up into three small ones for now so that you don't overload her tum at the moment.
I'm sorry to hear that Ebony may have to have surgery eventually on her leg, however that may not be for some time yet, just try to concentrate on getting her tum well, otherwise your mind goes into overdrive worrying about too many things at once and you will end up really frazzled. I worked myself up into a real lather when Phoebe hurt her leg, thinking she may have to have surgery. Eventually I realised I could only deal with one thing at a time and it made everything more manageable, I was then able to just concentrate on getting her stomach well again.
I hope everything settles down quickly for you and I really sympathise with what is happening to you and your little one, very best wishes :flwr:
 
Hi Sabby
Me and Tobes will be thinking of you and Ebony. We will be keeping :paw:and :xfngr: crossed!

Amy and Tobes x
 
Hi Phoebe
Thanks for sharing your story. I phoned the vet this morning as her stool was still very dark. But he told me not to worry as long as she is eating and not being sick and that the tablets are going to take a few days to start working. I feed Ebony a small portion of boiled rice and chicken today. She was eager to eat it; she even had a bit of a play with Rosie. Can I ask what do you feed your Phoebe as it sound like she has a funny tummy? I feed mine a little bit of kibble in the morning and at night I feed them Nature Diet it is a holistic dog food.
Sabby
 
Hi Sabby, I will send you a private message so that I don't bore everyone else silly with the finer details of Phoebe's diet!:lol:
 
Eventually I realised I could only deal with one thing at a time and it made everything more manageable, I was then able to just concentrate on getting her stomach well again.

Absolutely!! The knee doesn't need emergency surgery (in fact, I've never heard of a dog that needed patella surgery RIGHT NOW). Getting her little tummy better is the priority. You can always deal with the knee later.
 
Back
Top