We’ve been battling a fever for 36 hours fluctuating 102.5-104.7. He’s a schnauzer so also a bit theatrical but he feels horrific. When it gets above 102 he’s full body shaking and whimpering. Since bloodwork/urinalysis was normal they said we should let it run its course, gave him an antibiotic shot, and sent us on our way after 2 hours of poking and prodding.
Am I being an over protective owner? Do I really just do nothing other than temp monitor?
My GSD got very sick, very fast around Christmas. He had a fever, was panting, and clearly felt miserable. We took him to an emergency clinic, where his chest was radiographed and ultrasounded. He had fluid in his chest that had become infected. It’s called pyothorax. Surgery was the only solution to drain the chest. Good luck! I hope this isn’t your dog’s problem. We did the surgery and he recovered very well.
Did he have normal bloodwork or did all the things happen at once? My fear is missing something like this because the vets are too quick to dismiss it.
Geez, poor guy. I’d be unhappy about that, too. 
Did you see the ER vet , or your regular person? If seen at an ER, maybe it’s worth a call to your regular vet just to confirm course of action?
@GraceLikeRain, he did have normal bloodwork. He went in emergently on Wednesday; the ER did saw the fluid and thought he had cancer. They did standard blood work which was fine. TH the internal med people couldn’t find the fluid and sent more bloodwork out to a specialty lab to search for fever of unknown origin. Friday the ER doc checked on him and said “look again for the fluid”. They found it, tapped it, and he had surgery the next day. They said he would not have survived without surgery. It had the flesh eating bacteria in it. He was on antibiotics for six weeks.
@GraceLikeRain, adding more info…he got sick VERY fast and they could not get his fever under control, even on fluids, in the ICU. I’d never heard of pyothorax in dogs. I’d go someplace else fast…knowing what I know now.
About three hours after onset (also with vomiting and diarrhea) we went to the emergency vet (Sunday 2 am). They did fluids and cerenia but that’s it based off of his extended history of gastric issues but did say this fever is odd, watch it but looks like the cat food stolen was the culprit.
Fever rollercoastered through Sunday until this morning. Got him in at 11:30 for an appointment. Bloodwork, urinary analysis, antibiotic shot, and cerenia shot done by home vet practice but not my vet of choice.
Pup has had somewhere between 28-30 emergency vet visits puppyhood until now for GI distress so I understand the emergency vet being conservative. The fever though is a complete first though and makes me wonder about all types of zebra like lepto, obstruction, or something crazy.
Fingers crossed🙏.
Fingers crossed and jingles.
Hopefully he feels better soon.
An afternoon of anxiously using AI makes me think his bloodwork is quite not normal at all. I haven’t found a tick but the bloodwork plus fever seems really typical of tick borne illness or auto immune from Google Gemini. Trying to think horses rather than zebra.
Sharing bloodwork in case anyone has thoughts. His potassium came through sky high so for a second they thought an Addyson’s attack but they reran immediately and it was normal. Scheduled to have him seen by my old vet at 9 am tomorrow.
I don’t know how to read this blood panel, but my vets treat fever of unknown origin as tickborne, with doxy. I’m not sure what Cerenia is? But why don’t they think tickborne?
Cerenia is for nausea because he was tucked up and looked absolutely miserable.
Honestly the vet did zero diagnostics or critical thinking. I asked for bloodwork and a urinary analysis. Asked about fluids which was shut down because his bloodwork didn’t make him look dehydrated. I asked if there was anything we could do and he offered the cerenia and an antibiotic shot. Haven’t gotten the vet notes to know what type of antibiotics.
He didn’t suggest anything beyond “likely viral and needs to run its course”. I don’t typically use him for a reason and am hoping my old vet a town over is more proactive.
In something like this, my vet would give a steroid along with the antibiotics.
Those are odd numbers. It would be worth it to get to your regular vet and do another blood test. It could be viral, but my vet would probably recommend keeping him a few days for support care. Has he had anything to eat since this started?
I don’t think you’re being overprotective at all.
He’s actually eaten every meal since this started. One episode of vomiting late Saturday night. No bowel movements since the early hours of Sunday. Outside of eating and being coaxed outside he’s been sleeping or resting with zero interest in getting up.
I’m going to fast him tomorrow morning before the vet and ask for more bloodwork and don’t know if there’s anything that needs fasting beforehand.
Having recently lost a dog to a bleeding tumor, the low hematocrit and barely normal red count and hemoglobin would have me asking some questions about why those are sitting there.
How old is this guy? Has he ever had an abdominal ultrasound with all his GI stuff? I would be asking about what one might contribute in your shoes.
I’m sorry for your loss.
He’s 12.5. He had a full abdominal ultrasound and chest X-rays ten days ago because he’s a two time melanoma survivor. Two ultrasounds ago they found a very small nodule on his spleen. It hasn’t changed sizes and oncology said it is likely fatty and didn’t recommend anything invasive. Thank you for mentioning that because I had mentally crossed off a growth because of his recent care but maybe I shouldn’t.
That’s great that he has such a recent look. Was bloodwork run at the same time? Is the low HCT a change? (Or what other changes are there?)
I’m truly not sure if the low HCT and barely normal red count and hemoglobin mean anything but it’s certainly top of mind for me It sure sucks when they get older.
The low white count reads more as chronic infection rather than acute, although the sudden fever seems more acute, tick disease or other?
I hope you’re able to get some better answers from your regular vet, and your guy starts to feel better soon.
How did it go today? Been thinking about him…
Thanks for asking.
He seemed uncomfortable and disoriented over night. I almost packed up and went to the emergency vet but here we have stitch em up and ship em out types or the intensive one attached to the practice that oversees his oncology where I’d be looking at $2-3k for an overnight. Spoke with a vet tech friend of mine at 2 am and she said he wouldn’t put him through the stress of waiting at the big practice for their typical 1-3 hour wait time.
He popped up this morning shockingly normal much to my relief but confusion. He ate breakfast and followed me into the bedroom while I got ready and walked himself to the car. He was seen at 9 am by my old practice. They agreed his bloodwork and symptoms were strange and concerning.
Initial thoughts are tick borne, Addison’s crisis, or some type of toxin exposure. They pulled more blood, urine, fecal, and did a bunch of abdominal views. Blood is getting sent out to ensure no mistakes so that’ll come back tomorrow. Vet said that Addison’s would be an easy answer. Tickborn the only definitive is tittering and monitoring over time but there isn’t harm in moving forward with starting treatment.
Tick borne would be doxy + prednisone but he’s a sensitive stomach schnauzer and prednisone carries pancreatitis risk. Starting him on doxy and then reevaluating based on bloodwork results tomorrow morning.
He ate dinner and has had some more chipper moments. He’s definitely not himself but today is the first time since Saturday afternoon where I felt like he has been aware and responsive to his environment.
Overall, I appreciate that no one wants to do anything drastic that could be wrong but I’m also feeling acutely aware of how much a vet is really like a human ENT and I can’t expect them to have internist level knowledge. If I don’t have clarity tomorrow and/or a pretty normal dog I’m calling oncology and seeing if they can expedite a referral. Ironically, I’m already scheduled to see the internist for an upper airway scope in two weeks but I’m not waiting two weeks for anything like this. Worst case I think I can completely circumvent wait times by going through the emergency room and being prepared they’ll duplicate all tests done to date regardless of what I did Monday and Tuesday.
I know nothing about Addison’s disease except that I have a friend whose dog developed it after a rabies vaccination…
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
