Sick Whippet

[garyk9]

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Hello,

We are very worried. We have an 8 month whippet bitch who has started running a high temperature, has become extremely lethargic, wonders around looking like she 's not really sure what she is doing or what to do. She wont drink any water but will eat canned dog food (we've been mixing it with water). She has eaten 2 cans in the last 2 days. She wont go outside, looks shaky on her feet. She lies her front feet flat and keeps her back legs straight and just stays there..

We took her to the vet who gave her a shot of anti biotics, we are going back tomorrow.

What are your thoughts. Has anyone had a whippet act this way. Should we be worried?

Any thoughts welcome..

Thanks...

 

[FeeFee]

Has she had a season in the last few weeks? If so then I'd be concerned it could be pyometra - though I imagine that's one of the first things your vet would have looked for.

To be honest with a high temperature and the other symptoms I'm surprised the vet didn't keep her in - at the very least she may be getting dehydrated if she's not drinking and may need to go on a drip.

You must be so worried, I hope you manage to find out what's wrong and she makes a speedy recovery :luck:

 

[meddling]

if she is laying flat out like that, she could have a blockage somewhere, which is causing her to have gut ache

Hope she improves very soon!

 

[eve]

if she is laying flat out like that, she could have a blockage somewhere, which is causing her to have gut ache

I agree.

The prayer / bowing position is a sign of stomach ache.

My Lilly who is 6 years old was doing this for a few weeks. The vet suspected pancreatitis (common at her age) but having changed her diet and adding probiotics, she seems well now.

The temperature and not drinking are most concerning too.

Is there any chance that she has eaten something she should not have? At 8 months old, many pups devour all sorts of things.

I am glad she is going back to the vets tomorrow.

Hope that it is something simple and that she is better soon :luck: :luck: :luck:

 

[starswift]

or backache my old boy used to pray a lot hope she gets wellsoon but i would contact jay p on here as the temperature sounds a bit dodgy and she is very good on these things serena

 

[masta]

Hello,
We are very worried. We have an 8 month whippet bitch who has started running a high temperature, has become extremely lethargic, wonders around looking like she 's not really sure what she is doing or what to do. She wont drink any water but will eat canned dog food (we've been mixing it with water). She has eaten 2 cans in the last 2 days. She wont go outside, looks shaky on her feet. She lies her front feet flat and keeps her back legs straight and just stays there..

We took her to the vet who gave her a shot of anti biotics, we are going back tomorrow.

What are your thoughts. Has anyone had a whippet act this way. Should we be worried?

Any thoughts welcome..

Thanks...

she has all the signs of meningititis, i had a bitch that started at 8 months with exactly the same symtoms is she looking at you without lifting her head? this is classic sign, persist with your vet as they are reluctant to send for a spinal tap, the dog needs to be on predisalone steroid asap

 

[masta]

http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Dog-Health-Cen...s/Symptoms.aspx

i nearly lost my dog due to the vets not listening to me until i insisted on a spinal tap and it was confirmed if you get the dog on medication quickly you will see a massive improvement

 

[Brownmare]

if she is laying flat out like that, she could have a blockage somewhere, which is causing her to have gut ache

I agree.

The prayer / bowing position is a sign of stomach ache

Funnily enough, our Jack Russell was doing this today and was quite subdued and clingy. We were going to take her to the vets but thought we'd try and get her to 'perform' first. She squatted, yelped, and passed what had been bothering her - then did 2 more humungous piles :blink: so she must have been quite uncomfortable. She drank loads of water afterwards too but perked up almost immediately.

I hope you get to the bottom of this (excuse the pun ) and she feels better soon

ETA Susie was shaking and shivering too

 

[jayp]

Whilst I agree the symptoms are very concerning and COULD be meningitis there are also many other things it could be. No vet will prescribe steroids without a confident diagnosis as if the bitch has an infection then a dose of steroids could have dire results as they suppress an immune system that is trying to fight an infection

So any infection must be ruled out first.....a spinal tap is something that would be carried out if all other things have been ruled out

The symptoms described are similar to meningitis and her age would also point this way as it seems to occur more often in young whippets.

If I were you I would mention the possibility to your vet as most seem unaware that this is appearing more often in the breed

just as an aside masta is correct in saying some vets may completely miss the possibility and try many things that just have no effect....if it turns out to be meningitis then a high dose of steroids is the only treatment Good luck and lets hope its something simple

Jan

 

[Hula]

As well as steroid responsive meningitis there are other auto immune conditions it could be with these symptoms .

I had a young whippet who had polyarteritis which is an auto immune condition and presented with similar symptoms .

Hope she feels better soon :luck:

 

[garyk9]

Hello,

Thanks for all the advice. I made her a watery 'soup' using the rehydration mix and a can of Canin Sensitive which she has eaten all of. She is passing water but her stools are few and look a black. Still going into the preying position, she is lifting her head up but is not herself, still moping and preying..

She was spayed a month ago so not in season.

Vets today.

Thanks again for all the replies..

Gary

 

[jayp]

Hope you get some answers today, please doo let us know as we will worry with you :thumbsup:

 

[~Annie~]

I hope you can get some answers and that she's on the mend soon ... and Jan's right, we will worry with you ... good luck :luck:

 

[Xena Daisy]

i really hope she is okay......my whippet pup seemed to have the same symptoms as yours a few months ago, it turned out that he had swallowed a five inch long stick which had to be removed from his intestines, he has fully recovered now... but frightened me to death!

 

[TillynPip]

How frightening, let us know how she progresses.

 

[Sarah86]

What a worry for you, I hope you get on well at the vets today and can get some answers. I hope she starts to feel better soon :huggles:

 

[eve]

Any news yet

Concerning that she is passing black stools (sign of internal bleeding)

May be something to do with the speying if it was only done a few weeks ago.

Let us know how she is after you have been to the vets. :luck: :luck: :luck:

 

[Janimal]

I do hope there is some good news now about your whippet.....very worrying as in some areas there are also outbreaks of Parvo.

Please let us know what happens...Good luck.. :luck: :luck:

 

[eve]

How did things go at the vets today?

 

[superstew]

my young whippet bitch had tempreture of 40.5 and was taken straight to vets very quiet no energy went from a fit coursing dog to no interest in life in hours, thought she had auto immune however tested and when results came back negative was scanned and found to have a very large spleen so opened her up and was very upsetting as the spleen was large but normal, after several days she was given steroids, temp began to go down and over 3 days she returned to normal, no answer to what was wrong and never had a problem since. Friend had problem similar his whippet was treated with steroids straight away and she recovered over the next few days

jane and silk