My 11 1/2 year old lab x chow . Has just been diagnoised with copd. She was rushed to vet with 105.7 temp drooling with rapid breathing. She was put on IV fluids and antibiotics. She went home the next day on clavamox and pepcid. We did xrays yesterday and bronchials are dialated nothing eles alarming. She is on prednisone. Anyone have experience with this? She is worn out over the xray experience.
back to the vet-help need jingles
Poor Daphne spiked a temp of 106. She was put on more fluids and baytril plus doxicycline. More xrays and blood work. Again nothing remarkable. Her temp resolved in an hour. How can this be? She is home now and so far her temp is normal 100.5. She is worn out and tired of me.
I have no experience with anything like this, knock on wood, but jingles! It’s terrible to go through something like this with a pet and not know what’s wrong.
Yes, unfortunately I have had similar experiences with some Irish Wolfhounds. Go to the Irish Wolfound Foundation website and look under pneumonia, or the IWCA website.
A couple of mine have seemed to have a condition like asthma, which if treated immediately (like within an hour) with an anti inflam such as banimine would be fine. Otherwise, it would develop into pneumonia, with high fever, hyper extended neck, not lying down, etc., that would be life threatening if not treated. Usually Baytril or cephalexin would resolve it, often as you say, impossibly quickly after the first dose. Perhaps these have some kind of anti inflammatory effect also? For some cases, we used the human dose of Zithromax and that worked.
A tracheal wash might be necessary if whatever antibiotic you are using isn’t working.
The other thing to be aware of is the danger of a pnuemothorax, a partial or total lung collapse. If he starts to turn blue, that is an emergency.
But prompt, aggressive antibiotic therapy may be necessary, IV antibiotics possibly, and then pred may work to reduce lung inflammation and prevent recurrences. Certainly in a dog of this age, although with a younger animal there may be alternatives.
Good nursing care is important, perhaps percussive treatment and making sure he gets up and walks a little bit, staying in the bathroom with the shower on, plenty of fluids, maybe a bronchiodilator…
Good luck, know how scary it is!
So sorry I called your beloved Daphne a “he”! My bad!
jingles working
She has more energy today actually got up by herself this morning and came to my bed to say morning . I have been getting her up for the last week.
How is Daphne doing?
She is doing better. No temp - still on antibiotics for 4 more days. She has semi labored breathing when taking a short walk up the road.She is eating normaly. She is really perking up so I must be careful and keep her on a leash- tough for a farm dog.
Before this happened she had run after a fox full blast and collapsed back in the yard recovered fairly quickly but maybe that was the begining of the inflamation.
Such a godsend that she is doing well.
So glad to hear Daphne is doing so well! That must have been scary to see her collapse like that.
The vets have usually kept mine on antibiotics for at least two weeks, and lately they are saying perhaps as long as six weeks…
Hopefully this will not happen again, but you might ask the vet if you can have enough antibiotics and anti-inflams on hand to start her on if she has another episode…you know it will be on a weekend, holiday, or at night!
good idea. I do notice her nose is running- clear though. Does the congetion break up like a person?
Clear running is usually OK, it is the slimy green ropes of snot (sorry!) you would worry about…
…and if you have any doubts, take her temp, look at the color of her gums and tongue. Blue would be an emergency, sometimes a lung will collapse and they will turn blue. Also restlessness, not lying down flat, hyperextending her neck, difficulty breathing, would be signs she might be having an episode. Sometimes you can tell from the look on their face, they may get anxious or panicky if they cannot breathe right.
endocarditis need more jingles
Daphne is still having difficulty breathing when walking and energy level low. My regular vet is thinking this all is endocardic in nature. She is off the antibiotics now and I am armed with Batryl if reoccurance. She will have an ultarsound If there is no improvement by Monday or a relaps.
Oh dear, heart issues are certainly a possibility given her symptoms, though not usually accompanied by that high a fever, but certainly possible, and she could have both things going on. Did she have an ECG? If her heart were really enlarged, you would have probably seen it on the Xray and you would think they would have heard any murmurs or severe valvular issues… Can you listen to her heart, and take her heart rate? Many of the wolfhounds who have dilated cardiomyopathy are in atrial fibrillation, which sounds like a five year old playing the drums, no regular rhythm, and a high heart rate…but other cardiac problems can have an abnormally low heart rate.
Some heart problems respond really well to medication, so try to stay positive!
Houndhill Daph and I thank you for your knowledge and support. We are down the shore with baytril and tramadol ready but so far so good. Her spirit is amazing. Her ECG was normal and xray did not show anything. I think vet is concerned about valve problem. She is in the AC and her appitite is improving daily. Taking short walks.
