I'm starting a new thread about Bella and her recent ill health in the hope maybe someone has had similar or has similar happen to them and in future it may prove helpful to someone. I must stress at this moment this is a theory we are working on at the moment and nothing is concrete.
Background info on Bella- She is a 10 month old purebred beagle, she has been with us since 8 weeks and has had all vaccinations required and has been a healthy dog until the last 6-7 weeks.
When Bella was 5 months old she had juvenile vaginitus which is quite common is all breeds of dogs and was treated succesfully with antibiotics (novoclav) She then started her first season aged 9 months old (literally to the day) on 6th June and from day 1 it was a heavy and stressful time for both her and us. about a week into her season she was bleeding very heavily and her vulva became very swollen and a trip to the vets confirmed odema (swelling) and an infection so she had painkillers and antibiotics again and within 5 days things cleared up and she picked up again. We discussed having her spayed 12 weeks later with the vet.
Less than 2 weeks after her season finished I came home to find bella restless and lethargic and with a egg white discharge coming from her vulva, trip to the vets confirmed my worst fears that it looked like the start of pyometra
and we started her on a course of 10 days antib's and booked her in for an emergency spay 4 days later to give antib a chance to make the op safe.She had the spay op last weds (6 days ago) and the vet confirmed uterus wasnt right and lucky to of noticed when I did. Since coming home Bella hasnt been right and with each day has got worse sadly. It took her 4 days of sleeping solidly (day and night) to get a little energy to stay awake during the day. We saw the vet 3 days post spay and she wasnt happy with how sleepy and uncomfortable she was looking and prescribed us another 3 days painkillers and to come back in 48 hours.
Symptoms at this point were-high temp (over 39) loss of weight, sleeping 23 hours a day and no appatite and little water being drunk, shivering and muscle spasms when resting-like restless legs.
Sunday I noticed her looking very stiff on walking and walking with her head hung low, she also was reluctant to eat out of her bowl off the floor so I began hand feeding her. She was eating science hills recovary wet food which is high in calories so should of perked her up--did nothing!
Monday took her back to vets and still no improvement and I showed the vet her lack of being able to bend down to pick something off the floor, and so the vet had a check of her neck and on moving her (gently I must add) bella yelped when her head was lifted up and turning left and right. so this left us with a new symptom and a whole host of unanswered questions.
The vets opinions were that she could of had a pre exsisting neck or back issue which normally bella masked by being awake and not using or moving if it hurt but under a general anesthetic with her muscles flaccid and being picked up by the vets they have caused something to go wrong be it a disc slipping or nerve trapping or something a little more sinister. Or it could be the infection is still on going-her temp is still above 39.c and hasnt come down for nearly 2 weeks now and as in humans when we have flu our muscles ache.
She also mentioned beagle neck pain and said we would need a CT scan to check her neck and spine for damage and in the mean time take her back home and see how she goes over 24 hours. I asked for a full blood test to show if an infection still present (high white blood cells count) check organ function and to rule out any other possibility. So that was taken and we get the results tonight.
On coming home I have been doing a little (lot) more research and reading up on beagle neck pain as its know SRM, she has 99% of the symptoms.
The problem may present with a variety of symptoms and is often misdiagnosed as Lyme disease, cervical/spinal injury, or massive bacterial infection. Cervical pain, shaking, hunched back stance, fever, lack of appetite, stiff neck, muscle spasms (especially in front legs and neck), lethargy, and unwillingness to move can be noted and theses symptoms may appear quickly.The dog maybe hesitant to bark and opening of the jaw seems to be painful.Some affected dogs may cry out in pain with the slightest attempt of movement.There are reports of blindness and limb paralysis associated with this syndrome.
Bella has all of the above and fits this description perfectly, she is also smack bang in the age bracket for this problem 4m-2 yrs. This morning on trying to move her off my bed she growled and showed her teeth when I merely placed my hands on her shoulders so she is def in pain.
The test for this is normally a lumber puncture by can be diagnosed purely through syptoms and treatment is antibiotics and/or steroids. Im going to ask the vet if we can try her on this treatment for a couple of days as all reported cases show a incredible improvement seen within 12 hours so we shall know if its working or not. Whether or not she will agree with me I dont know but what else can I do but try all avenues. If there is no improvement I need to accept maybe it is damage to spinal area and get a ct done.
I will update this after our appointment tonight at 730 and if anyone has any advice or is worried about their own dog (its not just beagles this can happen to) then please feel free to reply here. sorry its SO long
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