Vets Can't figure it out...

[houboxmom]

So my 1 yr old boy, Milo has been to the vet several times in his short 1 year...and it seems like all the same issue...

The first time, about 7 months ago, he spiked a fever of 105 and started to somewhat convulse (shaking & lethargic). He was 7 months old at the time. We rushed him to the ER Clinic, they gave him IV fluids, ran all sorts of tests (none of which came back with anything alarming), did XRays (again, nothing) and sent him home better the next day not clear as to what caused it.

Same thing just happened again last week. This time, it was during the day, so I was able to get him to our regular vet. Again, not sure as to what is causing these issues.

So some of the common issues in both scenarios are: sore stomach to the touch, little to no pooping, fever, lethargia. At first glance, it seems like he injested something, but when they run the XRays, there is nothing in his stomach.

Vet sent him home this time with 2 antibiotics, and a pain pill that he is to take everyday and he is finally starting to come around and act more like himself today.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[houboxmom]

Update....

We finished giving Milo the antibiotics and only had one pain pill left yesterday so we decided to see what happened if we didn't give him the pill. We figured if he was sick, then after being on 5 days of antibiotics, he should be getting better. He has seemed better the past few days, but definitely not 100%. Yesterday evening, Milo jumped on the couch to sit with me and all of a sudden perked up and just started howling and crying in pain and shaking. We called the vet and took him back in where they gave him a shot for pain again. This time, she said it seemed like it was something with his back/spine and not related to his stomach. She said that this was highly unusual in an otherwise healthy 1 year old boxer and she referred us to a specialist. He's at the specialist now, this morning and I am so stressed out. I can't imagine why he would be in so much pain. Has no one else experienced something like this?

 

[Tuff Love]

I'm so sorry- I have no advice, I just wanted to send some positive vibes your way in hopes that everything is alright with your boy. Keep us posted.

 

[Gatorblu]

I have never heard of this either. I hope the specialist can give you some answers. Sending lots of positive healthy ((vibes))!

 

[houboxmom]

More Tests

Just got the call from the specialist. She did a full workup on him and he didn't seem to be in any pain in his abdomen although she is not completely ruling out something in his stomach. She said she was definitely more concerned with the fact that he seemed to be in quite a bit of pain in his neck and back (spine) area. So we just authorized more X-Rays of his neck and spine, and if nothing is glaringly obvious from the X-Rays, they will do a spinal tap to rule out spinal meningitis. I didn't even know that dogs could get meningitis. I have done some research (very little since I just got off the phone with her) and it is apparently an auto-immune disease and can be chronic or acute. Good news about that is it is treatable with steroids. We don't have the results back yet so we are not 100% sure that is what it is but from what I am reading on various websites, it seems to fit the problems he has been having. Will keep everyone posted. Thanks for all the healing vibes & hugs! They are much needed and appreciated!

 

[Tuff Love]

my boy had GME- which is a form of meningitis, so yes they can get it. in fact, i've read recently that routine vaccinations can cause encephalitis as a side effect (that spooked the heck out of me). tuff had occasional fevers, which could have been caused by the swelling, but he also had a pretty nasty ear infection about the same time which could have been the culprit. with the GME, he also had spinal fluid leaking behind the brain, which did cause him some neck pain. mostly, when he would turn his head too quickly to look at something, he would yelp real loud- but it wasn't constant pain. once he was on medication for the inflammation, he didn't seem to have any more neck pain episodes, but we discouraged him from sharp movements with his head and neck. aside from that, he had numerous neurological symptoms and his MRI showed a history of multiple strokes. a brain tumor also was not ruled out because we chose not to biopsy on account of location and further stress of anesthesia which he was NOT doing well with at all. gme is actually very hard to diagnose i'm told without the biopsy and spinal tap, but according to the neuro, he was a classic textbook example... and he really was. here's a page that specifically addresses gme (other forms of encephalitis could have different symptoms)
Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis

I'm not telling you this to scare you- this is NOT common in boxers and I highly doubt this is what is going on with Milo. I just wanted to share because I have some experience with encephalitis.

seeing that milo is so young, if the pain is spine related, i think it could be more due to an injury- slipped disk perhaps? i'm not sure what kind of shaking you're referring to though. if it's like trembling, it could be from the pain. tuff trembled periodically.

i'm sorry milo is going through this and i hope you get some answers soon.

 

[chrystel]

Sending a bunch of (((((healing vibes)))))) your way

 

[Sansal]

Sorry to hear about Milo.
Sky has an auto immune disease: immune mediated polyarthritis. She presented with joint pain, limping and stiffness and was diagnosed around one year of age.
In her case the steroids did wonders, in a matter of days all her symptoms were gone. Steroids have a lot of side effects and wreak havoc on the system but they are a powerful drug and usually work in a matter of days. Do some reading about the side effects so you know what to be prepared for.
Prednisone for Veterinary Use
Keep us posted.
(((healing vibes)))

 

[Snowdogg]

Sending lot's of healing vibes and hugs to Milo
Hope he is better very soon.

Raleigh, 5 year old Brindle wild boy x

Morrissey and Brooster, Fawn males, 11 years old, always in our hearts, at the bridge xx

 

[houboxmom]

my boy had GME- which is a form of meningitis]

Thank you so much for this information! The specialist was concerned with the color of the spinal fluid from his spinal tap yesterday. It was pink and opaque instead of clear like it should be. She said that opaque alone indicates a severe inflammation, and the fact that it was pink could indicate that she either nicked a capillary or that she "wasn't quite in the right spot" (which really concerned me). Another problem is that if it were blood, it could potentially make the results hard to read. It took 24 hours to get the results back and we just got the call from the specialist about an hour ago. So the dr said that the results were somewhat inconclusive...they narrowed it down to 2 things - which luckily are in the same "family" and have the same treatment. It could either be meningitis or encephalitis. Unfortunately, there are a couple of different types of both - and if it is encephalitis, there is GME (manageable) and a degenerative form that he would potentially never recover from and there is no way to know exactly unless we want to put him back through another spinal tap. Like I said, both have exactly the same treatment plans (steroids) so I guess we will just have to wait and see. If it is meningitis and he eventually gets taken off the steroids and does not relapse, he could be cured of it. If he does relapse, he could have to stay on the steroids the rest of his life. If it's encephalitis, I assume that he will start hurting again once we wean him off the steroids but how will I ever know if it is the degenerative form? And then there's the question of do I want to know - it won't matter as far as a decison is concerned so why bother, right? Is there any advantage to me knowing what is actually wrong with him?