Scary symptoms but held off vet visit - dog's fine

[phillo]

Yesterday my dog developed very scary symptoms...

Over the course of a couple of hours he lost his appetite, lost his interest in fetch, was off balance and at the peak of episode he couldn't even sit up and briefly seemed to have a seizure (for like 10 seconds). Obviously the whole fam was freaked out so we called the vet to see if he would see us at 6:30 pm and he would. So we got Jack off the couch and were outside about to get in the car when I decided to wait.

Money is what caused me to wait as I couldn't afford a $400 exploratory visit. A yr earlier I was doggysitting my friend/former roomy's dog and he developed very similar, scary symptoms...lethargic, stumbly, acting drunk...essentially symptoms that would indicate stroke in a human. Having not much dog experience I assumed it was very, VERY bad. I called her at work, she left, met me at Angell Memorial (swanky boston pet hospital) where she spent $150 to be seen. The vets spent some time with her dog but didn't know what was going on and suggested a $1000+ test to figure it out. Though she had the money she declined the test and we took her dog home and over the course of the next few hours he completely recovered and has been fine since.

Money (or lack of) made me pause, look at the situation and decide to wait overnight on the vet. I had spent the entire day with Jack and knew he hadn't ingested poison or a foreign object, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Jack is under two yrs old, up to date on all vaccinations, regular vet visit...I acknowledged that something serious could be happening but there didn't seem to be an acute cause requiring immediate attention. I did feel guilty because if money were not an object I would have gone straight to the vet which is ironic as going to the vet was the wrong decision.

This situation raised a couple of questions. What should I know about dog physiology? If a person suddenly became confused, lethargic, couldn't walk, etc that would be bad and a good night's rest wouldn't resolve it. But apparently dogs can have these symptoms and it's no big deal.

Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? Do you ever wait before going to the vet? Do we all rush to the vet too soon? Thoughts?

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Most of the rest of us wouldn't wait on the vet visit. Especially after seizure like symptoms.

I ope no one reads this when their dog is in an emergent situation and take this as hopeful advice, wait it out and have their dog get sicker and potentially die.

 

[corgipower]

What should I know about dog physiology? If a person suddenly became confused, lethargic, couldn't walk, etc that would be bad and a good night's rest wouldn't resolve it. But apparently dogs can have these symptoms and it's no big deal.

What you should know about "dog physiology" is that those symptoms can indicate something quite serious going on and the dog needs to be seen by a vet.

It could easily be poison, cancer, organ failure, epilepsy or any number of other possibilities.

Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? Do you ever wait before going to the vet? Do we all rush to the vet too soon? Thoughts?

Too soon???
The symptoms you describe, a trip to the emergency clinic would not at all be too soon.

I'll wait with limping, especially if I know the likely cause. I'll wait with mild GI upset. Off balance and unable to sit up aren't symptoms I'll wait on.

I agree with MP.

 

[stardogs]

One morning this past August, my dog had low appetite, was wobbly, and collapsed.

She was euthanized 8 hours later - a tumor on her spleen had ruptured and she was bleeding out into her abdomen. She had hemanigiosarcoma that had metastasized - there was nothing we could do but relieve her suffering humanely before she suffocated in her own blood.

Taking the wait and see approach with these sorts of symptoms can be deadly.

 

[Saeleofu]

Waiting was a pretty stupid thing to do IMO.

I take my dogs to the vet when something is wrong. Case closed. If something THAT bad was wrong with my dog, they'd be there in minutes. The dog could have been dead by morning.

The only time I'd wait to take a dog to the vet with those symptoms is if it were my parents' GSD that has seizures. And that's only because we KNOW he has seizures and he's on meds for them and still has them on occasion, so for him it's no big deal unless it lasts more than a few minutes.

$150 for a vet visit isn't bad. Where you're getting $400 from I have no idea. If where you are going charges $400 for an exam, then find a different vet.

 

[mrose_s]

Last march our old girl Sophie was slightly restless one night, the next morning she was lethargic, wouldn't walk or stand up, had no appetite and kept whining like she was in pain.
Off to the emergency vet, she was dead on the operating table by noon.

I just paid $600 to remove a lump of Buster's backside, they didn't know what it was so they wanted to remove it and send it away... turns out it was just a bad ingrown hair. Atleast my conscience is clear.

 

[noludoru]

Please, please get your dog a checkup as soon as possible. Also, talk about payment plans with your vet - most do them.

 

[GlassOnion]

A good majority of the complicated cases we see are due to owners 'waiting it out' when we could've just nipped something simple in the bud before it had a chance to progress and develop sequela.

Yours does not fall under that category. It did not start simple and should have been seen immediately, as progression from, what sounds like neurological symptoms, is often not beneficial to the owner nor the animal.

But apparently dogs can have these symptoms and it's no big deal.

In this one case, and it's still a bit early to say it was no big deal. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

[Southpaw]

Those are definitely not symptoms I would wait on.

If anything is unusual about my pets, I at least give the vet a call to explain what's going on and see if they think we should come in. Heck, a couple months ago when Juno decided to go off by herself and lay in her crate during the middle of the day, we called the vet ASAP and brought her in--because that was absolutely uncharacteristic for her and indicated that clearly something was not right (she had also vomited a couple times). Turns out she had a stomach obstruction, so no, I don't feel like I overreacted or that I brought her in too soon.

Or in Molly's case... on a Monday night she was acting odd--pacing, laying down in unusual places, having a hard time getting comfortable. Weird, but maybe not terribly alarming. Tuesday she was fine. Wednesday she was euthanized--she had bone cancer and was bleeding internally. The behavior she was exhibiting on Monday was likely because of pain.

I would much rather spend hundreds of dollars to know my pets are okay, rather than taking a wait and see approach and having them suffer for it.

 

[dachshunds4me]

The main thing is have him seen now.
In our case last Sunday, Pebbles was having some very horrible symptoms and I brought her to my husband's job which is about 10min. away - because hubby is a paramedic, which isn't a vet, but he knows a lot about medical emergencies. Pebbles turned out to have a low blood sugar attack which was awful, but she pulled out of it with the administration of glucose. Had she not pulled out of it I'd have driven her to the pet ER (which is a good ways further from us than my husband's job).
I was waiting at the doorstep when our regular vet opened at 8am the next morning, as well.

**Had I just "waited to see", Pebbles would have died by morning as her blood sugar was 34 and much below that, the brain ceases to function. If hubby hadn't been able to figure it out, I'd have gone straight to the vet, as well.

 

[hankster]

I know a lot about physiology (my day job) and I would have rushed to the vet.

There are a ton of things it could have been - some of which have no lasting effects and others that cause long term damage, particularly with no treatment to limit the cascade of damage.

 

[sassafras]

The thing about "wait and see" with symptoms that severe is that it's a pretty huge gamble. This time, you were lucky. Next time, you (and by "you", I really mean your dog) may not be.

 

[Windsong]

You have now seen these symptoms once which you found very scary at the time they were happening. Should they occur again, a vet visit would be very strongly recommended as it would become something repetitive which would need a diagnosis and, if possible, treatment to limit damage from the cause. It is always better to err on the side of caution and have whatever is happening investigated especially when it is so out of the ordinary for the dog. If something is "very scary", then it is worthy of note and finding out what is going on.

 

[celfan]

Yesterday my dog developed very scary symptoms...

Over the course of a couple of hours he lost his appetite, lost his interest in fetch, was off balance and at the peak of episode he couldn't even sit up and briefly seemed to have a seizure (for like 10 seconds). Obviously the whole fam was freaked out so we called the vet to see if he would see us at 6:30 pm and he would. So we got Jack off the couch and were outside about to get in the car when I decided to wait.

Money is what caused me to wait as I couldn't afford a $400 exploratory visit. A yr earlier I was doggysitting my friend/former roomy's dog and he developed very similar, scary symptoms...lethargic, stumbly, acting drunk...essentially symptoms that would indicate stroke in a human. Having not much dog experience I assumed it was very, VERY bad. I called her at work, she left, met me at Angell Memorial (swanky boston pet hospital) where she spent $150 to be seen. The vets spent some time with her dog but didn't know what was going on and suggested a $1000+ test to figure it out. Though she had the money she declined the test and we took her dog home and over the course of the next few hours he completely recovered and has been fine since.

Money (or lack of) made me pause, look at the situation and decide to wait overnight on the vet. I had spent the entire day with Jack and knew he hadn't ingested poison or a foreign object, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Jack is under two yrs old, up to date on all vaccinations, regular vet visit...I acknowledged that something serious could be happening but there didn't seem to be an acute cause requiring immediate attention. I did feel guilty because if money were not an object I would have gone straight to the vet which is ironic as going to the vet was the wrong decision.

This situation raised a couple of questions. What should I know about dog physiology? If a person suddenly became confused, lethargic, couldn't walk, etc that would be bad and a good night's rest wouldn't resolve it. But apparently dogs can have these symptoms and it's no big deal.

Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? Do you ever wait before going to the vet? Do we all rush to the vet too soon? Thoughts?

Is Jack by any chance a Jack Russell? A lot of them have epilepsy. We have a Jack with epilepsy and he has been on phenobarbytol (sp?) for seven years. No more seizures.

He had mini seizures at first, maybe a couple a year, but then he was having a few a month, some very bad.