Not eating bernese

Hi, new to this forum chat but we are very concerned about our bernese mountain dog. She is four and a half years old and three weeks ago started to go off her food and has gradually ate less and less until out of the last 3 days she has only eaten about two or three small biscuits.She was given a course of anti biotics last Thursday by the vet who recorded her temperature at 104. She did not make any improvement over the weekend so blood samples were taken on Monday which proved that all her major organs were fine but we are sill awaiting the results for her white / red blood cell count.Does anyone know of a similar case or must we prepare ourself for the worse. Many thanks.

having a temperature will definately throw a dog off it's food. The question is why does she have a temp? And that's a rather high one at that.

I would have her tested for tick diseases as well. The blood cell counts should tell something as well. Please keep us updated.
diane

Has her fever come back down?

Also, have there been any changes in her living conditions lately?

My first question, being it's a bitch, would be, is she intact, and when was she last in season?

Pyometra was the first thing I thought when I read that post.

Pyometra isn't exactly age specific, but it most cases occur in dogs older than 6 years (typical occurence in larger breeds). She'll be urinating very frequently and drinking a lot...it'll also cause her abdoment to appear to be swollen to some degree due to retained fluid with some vaginal drainage as it progresses. The excess fluid and weight can reduce her appetite.

It's certainly something to ask your vet about...it can be very dangerous.

Many thanks for your replies, in answer to your questions she has had no changes in her home circumstances or has she been drinking a lot of water. Her temperature was 104 last Thursday and 103.2 on Monday. She was spayed at the age off one and seems to be getting more and more lethargic each day. Many thanks once again.

If your current vet didn't see the need for further medication or investigation aside the blood tests AFTER she maintained a fever for no less than 5 days, you really should seek teh advice of another vet. There are so many things that can cause a reduced or eliminated appetite that are dangerous or fatal that it shouldn't be "guessed" around.

Has she been deficating and urinating normally? Is she still taking in adequate amounts of water? What's her temperature now? Has she managed to eat anything?

First thing I would suggest if she's still not eating is to run to the store and buy a few cans of swanson's chicken broth. See if she'll drink any of that.

We have just had a call from the vets to say her white blood cell count is 35 opposed to the normal 140-150 but her red cells are normal.Excuse the spelling on this bit but he says this could point to thromboside? We have got totry and get a water sample and take in this afternoon. I think this is going to be easier said than done as she is very shy at the best of times and the fact that she is drinking very little.

Do you mean thrombosis? Thrombrosis is the formation of blood clotting inside the arteries and veins. This is uaully accompanied by things like strokes or loss of function of certain parts...

I'm not a vet so I can't really pretend to know, but circulatory issues that have similar symptons that spring to mind (that can also cause thrombosis) are canine heart disease, heartworms and possibly kennel cough. Parvo and canine kidney disease also chime in.

Did your vet say anything about her fever? THAT needs to be addressed as a prioraty...

Hi again, it was not throbosis the vet said but throm****** ,I will find out exactly later this afternoon 5.00 UK time and will let you know exactly what he said. All we know at the moment is that if it is throm***** it can be treated with steroids, but he hasn,t ruled out something about its lymph glands although the good sign is there is no apparent swelling anywhere.Thanks for your kind interest once again and will keep you informed

We'll be very interested in hearing the news!

low white blood cell count can be a ton of things. I know the word your looking for, but I can't think of it either! LOL

My aussie had a weird mystery illness go on for several months, low white blood cell count was one thing, she had a really high fever at one point, antibiotics brought that under control but we couldn't get the WBC back up.

We tested for a ton of things, (alot of it tick related), you mention your in the UK? So I'm not sure "ticks" are an issue for you there.

Systemic lupus can throw a low WBC, you might want to ask about that, my aussie tested REALLY high on that test, yet we don't feel she has systemic lupus. Bartonella, can mask "lupus" and screw up wbc as well.

Just to many things it could be ..

Definately let us know what the vet says, I'm really interested.
Diane

Hi again .the vet gave Maddy a steroid injection and has put her on a course of steroid tablets to see if she improves.He is still concerned it could be more serious like thrombocytopenia or an internal growth somewhere. There seems to be a slight improvement in herself (or wishfull thinking on our behalf ) and she has ate a small amount of chicken today. This is her first intake for three days.Going back to the vets this afternoon for a check on her temperature.

THAT's the word! LOL,,when mine was on high doses of pred, the only "good" thing it did was bring up the wbc. I did some reading on thrombo, since it was suggested to me, and to me, it sounded like a diagnosis they use when they don't know what the heck it is! !!

Please keep us updated, hope she feels better fast
diane

I think you are right about that Diane, she is still very down and lethargic but the vet said this may be the case and that it may take up to five days for her to brighten up. She has eaten a small amount of food again today but thats about all the plus signs we can take from a very poorly looking dog.

Latest update is not good for our beloved pet. The vet has told us she now has Evans Disease which his causing her red blood cells tobe attacked.Her red blood count has dropped from 24 to 20 to 16 in the last three days whicch we have been told is very grave as it should be in the high forties. She has had another injection today and has got to go for a blood tranfusion tomorrow which is going to be her last resort.

Ok, I went through this last summer. While I was away on vacation, Puma my older Ridgeback started this at the kennel. When I picked her up she weighed about 10lbs less. They did not let me know. Anyways, she would not eat had high fever. We checked her for everything, MRIs, spinal tap, anemia, you name it. It was crazy. She went to about 6 vets. She got down to 50lbs from 78lbs. She was scheduled to be put to sleep when I took her to one more vet that put her on Orbax and something else that was clem something. They were two different anibiotics that work in different areas. She was on them for two weeks. I noticed gradual improvement within 3 day. I would feed her boiled chicken rice and lean ground beef. It was awful. I lost about 10lbs with her. Cried my eyes out. She is now a healthy 76lbs. It could be distemper. They can still get it even if vaccinated. We never found out what it was. Distemper, west nile and a few others show these signs.

Many thanks to all your help and support but i'm afraid we lost our most prized possesion this afternoon.Her red blood cell count had dropped even to low for her to have a transfusion so we had to have her put to sleep.Just four years old, how do you tell two children it was for the best!

I am so very sorry for your loss. How terrible ! My thoughts and prayers go out to your whole family.
diane