NWR WWTKD? - sick dog :(

charcoalandblush

I'm torn about what to do about my poor pup. 

By way of background, Molly caught kennel cough at the shelter. It progressed into pneumonia. We got two antibiotics, plus one for diarrhea. Eventually she was throwing up and having diarrhea so much that we took her to the animal ER. She was admitted for 3 days for IV fluids or antibiotics. They found out she had hookworm and dewormed her, transitioned her to oral antibiotics, and gave her fluids until she was less dehydrated. They also did an ultrasound and saw that her uterine stump (what was left after her spay surgery) was inflamed, but her surgery had only been a week before, and she wasn't in any pain, so they said it probably wasn't anything unusual or to be concerned about.

She made an amazing turnaround. She had so much more energy, her diarrhea and vomiting vanished, and so did her cough. Her appetite was amazing and she managed to put on 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Then yesterday she started having a really scary new symptom seemingly out of the blue. Sometime yesterday afternoon she started breathing REALLY heavy. Just like really rapid, shallow breaths, all the time. Sometimes with her mouth open, but a lot of time with it closed. Not exactly panting. Just really heavy breathing. She couldn't sleep or rest, because every time she put her head down, it was too hard to breathe.

We took her back to the pet ER at like 11:30 last night. There was only one doctor and she was spread super thin, so I don't think she really gave us the attention she should have. She took Molly's vitals and said they were all normal. She said that it was really humid out (it is, the most humid it's been since we got her) and that Molly was probably having trouble cooling off, so she was panting excessively. I was honestly really exhausted and anxious to get her home, so I just accepted that explanation, even though I really don't think what she's doing is exactly panting. She told us to run the AC a little cooler, get a dehumidifier, and she'd be better in a day or so.

Fast forward to now. Ran the AC at 66 degrees all night. Bought a dehumidifier as soon as Target opened this morning. No improvement. If anything, she may be worse.

What would you do? Go back to the vet ER? Go to the regular vet first thing tomorrow? Just wait it out and see if it gets better on its own? Any ideas about what could be wrong? The google has been really unhelpful, most info is specifically about heavy panting, not heavy breathing, and even the stuff on breathing is super vague and unhelpful.

charcoalandblush

Editing on my phone is being wonky but I wanted to add - at the ER they checked her oxygen levels and they were perfectly normal. Also she's been acting pretty normal otherwise, except this morning her appetite wasn't quite what it usually is. Most days she wolfs down all of her foot in less than 2 minutes. This morning we had to coax her back to the food bowl a few times. DF wasn't super concerned about that though, because she did eventually eat it all.

hellosweetie1015

I mean... our big dog does that all the time, and it is when he's too hot. We cool him down - get him laying down in the coolest place we can, get him good cool water. It takes a little bit for him to cool off, but once he does he quits panting. Is she long haired?

I don't know where you're at, but if Molly isn't used to the type of humidity you've been having recently, it's possible she's trying to adjust. I'd give it a little more time - if it's no better in the AM, go to your regular vet, but give the dehumidifier a chance to dehumidify, and let her get used to the temp and humidity levels. It's an adjustment, even for people, and I'm sure her recent bout of kennel cough / pneumonia isn't helping. It takes a while for sick lungs to completely bounce back sometimes.

FiancB

I would go to the regular vet. Panting is often a sign of pain and given her history, that is what I would suspect, especially if her appetite went down as well. 

charcoalandblush

hellosweetie1015 said:

I mean... our big dog does that all the time, and it is when he's too hot. We cool him down - get him laying down in the coolest place we can, get him good cool water. It takes a little bit for him to cool off, but once he does he quits panting. Is she long haired?

I don't know where you're at, but if Molly isn't used to the type of humidity you've been having recently, it's possible she's trying to adjust. I'd give it a little more time - if it's no better in the AM, go to your regular vet, but give the dehumidifier a chance to dehumidify, and let her get used to the temp and humidity levels. It's an adjustment, even for people, and I'm sure her recent bout of kennel cough / pneumonia isn't helping. It takes a while for sick lungs to completely bounce back sometimes.

She is long haired, she's part Pyrenees and definitely has the coat. I think the reason I'm concerned is because it's been going on for so long (36+ hours at this point nonstop) and because it was FREEZING in our apartment last night and when we woke up, she was still breathing crazy hard. Also, the vet said that they pant to let heat out of their mouth/tongue, but most of the time it's not open-mouth panting, it's really heavy breathing through her nose and her chest/abdomen is shaking with every breath. I read online that 10-30 breaths per minute is normal in dogs. She's been consistently around 70-80+ since yesterday.

I guess we're kind of like newborn parents... neither of us has ever had a dog before, our experience is limited to dog-sitting for a week at a time, so we don't really know what's normal.

allispain

I would take her back to the regular vet. Remind them that you brought her in already, restate your original concern, and tell them that the vet there at the time said to do XYZ. You have now done XYZ, and not only is she not any better, she's worse (loss of appetite is never a good sign). Hopefully they will take you more seriously this time.

I did this once with one of our cats - the vet seemed to brush my concerns off saying his peeing in odd places must just be behavioral. I showed up again the next day with a sample of urine that was red from all the blood in it. Not only did they immediately take me seriously and work on fixing things, they didn't charge me for any of the tests they ran on him, since it was their mistake originally for brushing me off and they could have made things worse by having done so.

huskypuppy14

Definitely see your vet in the morning. 

hellosweetie1015

charcoalandblush said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

I mean... our big dog does that all the time, and it is when he's too hot. We cool him down - get him laying down in the coolest place we can, get him good cool water. It takes a little bit for him to cool off, but once he does he quits panting. Is she long haired?

I don't know where you're at, but if Molly isn't used to the type of humidity you've been having recently, it's possible she's trying to adjust. I'd give it a little more time - if it's no better in the AM, go to your regular vet, but give the dehumidifier a chance to dehumidify, and let her get used to the temp and humidity levels. It's an adjustment, even for people, and I'm sure her recent bout of kennel cough / pneumonia isn't helping. It takes a while for sick lungs to completely bounce back sometimes.

She is long haired, she's part Pyrenees and definitely has the coat. I think the reason I'm concerned is because it's been going on for so long (36+ hours at this point nonstop) and because it was FREEZING in our apartment last night and when we woke up, she was still breathing crazy hard. Also, the vet said that they pant to let heat out of their mouth/tongue, but most of the time it's not open-mouth panting, it's really heavy breathing through her nose and her chest/abdomen is shaking with every breath. I read online that 10-30 breaths per minute is normal in dogs. She's been consistently around 70-80+ since yesterday.

I guess we're kind of like newborn parents... neither of us has ever had a dog before, our experience is limited to dog-sitting for a week at a time, so we don't really know what's normal.

If it's been consistent ... I mean, I stand by my statement to go to the regular vet, but if it's been consistent like that then maybe it's not just her lungs recovering. Big dog is full Pyr and he's never huffed for 36 hours straight. It's usually 15-20 minutes after he's been goofing off in the yard.

Your regular vet will have her history in front of him/her and will be able to make a better diagnosis. So I'd still wait. But I'd monitor and if she showed any further signs of distress I'd go on to the er.

charcoalandblush

Thanks everyone. The ER vet didn't seem to think it was emergent when we brought her in last night, so I think we'll make sure she doesn't worse and take her first thing in the morning.

charcoalandblush

Also, this is probably relevant too, she had her chest x-rays re-done on Wednesday to make sure that the pneumonia was gone. They had improved a lot, there was one spot of pneumonia left in one lung but otherwise the vet says they're much clearer than they were two weeks ago.

It's just so frustrating. I feel like a terrible person saying this, because I love her dearly, but I'm so exhausted from all of her health problems. We've had her for 3 weeks and we've been to the regular vet 4 times and the ER vet twice, including being admitted for 3 days. We've spent over $5000 so far on medical bills because all of this is preexisting (aka not covered by pet insurance). My work is suffering because I'm taking so much time off to take her to the vet, and even when I'm there I'm distracted because I'm always thinking about whether she's ok at home and waiting for the next call from the vet. I feel so sleep deprived because so many nights I'm tossing and turning worried about her all night, getting up in the middle of the night to check on her, etc. It's been such a hard 3 weeks. (I know, total FWP)

FiancB

I feel you, our dog had a lot of health issues when we brought him home as well. We took him to the vet several times in a couple months, thought he was going to die when we first brought him home. All better now though! *creepy internet hugs*

charcoalandblush

FiancB said:

I feel you, our dog had a lot of health issues when we brought him home as well. We took him to the vet several times in a couple months, thought he was going to die when we first brought him home. All better now though! *creepy internet hugs*

That definitely makes me feel better. Hopefully we'll be putting all of this behind us soon!

(BTW I also live in Minnesota )

FiancB

If you live anywhere near Southview animal hospital in Inver Grove Heights, I can't recommend them enough. We ended up going around to so many vets, including the emergency vet in St Paul, under the impression that most other places didn't have a lab or would see us after hours.

 Southview does and they give fantastic care and were pretty reasonably priced. H's parents have brought their birds there for years and we ended up randomly calling them to see if they could help us and we are so glad we did. Our dog needed overnight fluids and all said and done, they cost us $600 while the emergency vet would've been thousands and would've called for a lot more tests that weren't really necessary.

Plus, I think emergency vets get so used to seeing really bad situations that they don't get too worked up about some heavy breathing. You know the pup best; if it doesn't seem right, they need to be seen. 

charcoalandblush

The vet ER in St. Paul was where we went before. I think there it depends SO much on which vet you get. When she was admitted a couple of weeks ago we had Dr. Bonguard and she was amazing. Saturday I think the dr's name was Robinson, she was nice but very dismissive of our concerns. I'll definitely keep that place in mind - inver grove heights isn't too too far.

With the AC on 66 and the dehumidifier running all night, Molly actually seemed much better. Her only panting/heavy breathing this morning was right after I brought her in from the dog park. We decided to wait until this afternoon and see how she's doing when we get home. I have to call the vet this morning anyway to check on a prescription for the cats, so I'll mention it and see what they think. If they don't think it can wait until the afternoon, we'll bring her in now.

novella1186

I'm sorry you're dealing with this I agree to see the regular vet. Especially since-- if this is an on-going thing-- you want her to be seen by someone who's familiar with all her other medical issues and whatnot, and have everything on file. 

Good luck, and hugs. I hope you get some good sleep soon, and I hope your pup starts feeling better. 

wandajune6

I agree with everyone that the PPs said. I'm also glad to hear that she's doing better.

I'll just share one little thought: allergies. We adopted Maury last summer and he had a bunch of health issues similar to what your pooch experienced. Now that we've had him for almost a year, we're seeing seasonal allergies. At first we thought he was itching a lot, then we noticed sneezing. We find that when he starts sneezing, he sometimes starts panting oddly.

The first time we brought him to a vet he seemed fine- he wasn't scratching or sneezing so they sent us home. The next time, they saw him sneezing. He's getting an antihistamine and it seems to help.

I hope you find that it's something minor and easily cured!

charcoalandblush

wandajune6 said:

I agree with everyone that the PPs said. I'm also glad to hear that she's doing better.

I'll just share one little thought: allergies. We adopted Maury last summer and he had a bunch of health issues similar to what your pooch experienced. Now that we've had him for almost a year, we're seeing seasonal allergies. At first we thought he was itching a lot, then we noticed sneezing. We find that when he starts sneezing, he sometimes starts panting oddly.

The first time we brought him to a vet he seemed fine- he wasn't scratching or sneezing so they sent us home. The next time, they saw him sneezing. He's getting an antihistamine and it seems to help.

I hope you find that it's something minor and easily cured!

DF was wondering about this too - he asked me if dogs can get allergies and I told him they totally can. She's not sneezing a ton (I've maybe heard her once or twice) but she has seemed itchy. She's been given flea and tick preventative very recently (about 4 weeks ago) so we don't think it's that. She scratches a lot at the dog park especially (which is where we are like 75% of the time we have her outside). I'll mention this to the vet and see if that's possibly an issue. It is very bad allergy season here right now, my own allergies are terrible.

princessleia22

wandajune6 said:

I agree with everyone that the PPs said. I'm also glad to hear that she's doing better.

I'll just share one little thought: allergies. We adopted Maury last summer and he had a bunch of health issues similar to what your pooch experienced. Now that we've had him for almost a year, we're seeing seasonal allergies. At first we thought he was itching a lot, then we noticed sneezing. We find that when he starts sneezing, he sometimes starts panting oddly.

The first time we brought him to a vet he seemed fine- he wasn't scratching or sneezing so they sent us home. The next time, they saw him sneezing. He's getting an antihistamine and it seems to help.

I hope you find that it's something minor and easily cured!

My dog gets really bad seasonal allergies in the spring.  He does this weird choking type cough and does reverse sneezing.  Our vet said to give him 1/2 of a Benadryl pill when it gets bad and that usually helps. So, I would definitely ask the vet about possible allergies.

huskypuppy14

charcoalandblush said:

I agree with everyone that the PPs said. I'm also glad to hear that she's doing better.

I'll just share one little thought: allergies. We adopted Maury last summer and he had a bunch of health issues similar to what your pooch experienced. Now that we've had him for almost a year, we're seeing seasonal allergies. At first we thought he was itching a lot, then we noticed sneezing. We find that when he starts sneezing, he sometimes starts panting oddly.

The first time we brought him to a vet he seemed fine- he wasn't scratching or sneezing so they sent us home. The next time, they saw him sneezing. He's getting an antihistamine and it seems to help.

I hope you find that it's something minor and easily cured!

DF was wondering about this too - he asked me if dogs can get allergies and I told him they totally can. She's not sneezing a ton (I've maybe heard her once or twice) but she has seemed itchy. She's been given flea and tick preventative very recently (about 4 weeks ago) so we don't think it's that. She scratches a lot at the dog park especially (which is where we are like 75% of the time we have her outside). I'll mention this to the vet and see if that's possibly an issue. It is very bad allergy season here right now, my own allergies are terrible.

Do you have the kind you have to give every month, or do you have the longer kind. We give our dog the flea and tick treatment once a month, so it might be time to give it to her again. 

charcoalandblush

huskypuppy14 said:

charcoalandblush said:

I agree with everyone that the PPs said. I'm also glad to hear that she's doing better.

I'll just share one little thought: allergies. We adopted Maury last summer and he had a bunch of health issues similar to what your pooch experienced. Now that we've had him for almost a year, we're seeing seasonal allergies. At first we thought he was itching a lot, then we noticed sneezing. We find that when he starts sneezing, he sometimes starts panting oddly.

The first time we brought him to a vet he seemed fine- he wasn't scratching or sneezing so they sent us home. The next time, they saw him sneezing. He's getting an antihistamine and it seems to help.

I hope you find that it's something minor and easily cured!

DF was wondering about this too - he asked me if dogs can get allergies and I told him they totally can. She's not sneezing a ton (I've maybe heard her once or twice) but she has seemed itchy. She's been given flea and tick preventative very recently (about 4 weeks ago) so we don't think it's that. She scratches a lot at the dog park especially (which is where we are like 75% of the time we have her outside). I'll mention this to the vet and see if that's possibly an issue. It is very bad allergy season here right now, my own allergies are terrible.

Do you have the kind you have to give every month, or do you have the longer kind. We give our dog the flea and tick treatment once a month, so it might be time to give it to her again. 

Ours supposedly lasts 3 months. So we're supposed to give it in April, July, and October (the vet said we can skip the winter one).