What is wrong with Jake??

[BoxerJake]

oh - more healing vibes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Jakes's fever broke this morning - so that is good news.

The vet called me this morning and said that his blood work does not reveal any obvious infections (white blood cell count is not high) but his globin (sp?) level was a bit high. If the antibiotics don't show signs of improvement within 24 hours, Jake will be tested for discospondylitis. It is a bacterial infection that spreads to the spine causing inflammation of the vertabrea (which he has) and neurological side affects (the shaking). The road to recovery would be about 6 - 8 weeks on antibiotics with a 60% success rate.

As a last resort, the vet will administer high doses of steroids - which could possibly have a seriously negative impact on Jake's health. But, if Jake has steroid responsive menegitis - he will only get better.

I will monitor Jake for the weekend and follow up with the vet on Monday. Thank you for reading our posts - we appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers.

 

[bommy]

Glad to hear Jakes fever has broken

Glad that you had some good news today as well.... must be all these good healing vibes

 

[craZ4HERKIE]

Please keep the good news coming!Still sending positive & healing vibes!And lots of wiggles & kisses!

 

[momstaxi]

Oh i hope Jake is feeling better. Lety us know what the vet says. Lots of healing vibes coming your way...

 

[sinbad'smom]

glad to hear his fever broke.... more healing vibes for your baby and big sloppy boxer kisses from sinbad and sierra.....dora

 

[Suzysmitt]

Bunches of prayers coming for you and your baby.

 

[Coco'smommy]

I just caught your thread today...I want to send our well wishes to you. We will be thinking of you & Jake. I hope all turns out okay. Please keep us posted on how he's doing. Bless his little boxer heart....

 

[jray]

I too just noticed your thread. I hope Jake is on the mend soon! Keep us posted!

Jenny

 

[BoxerJake]

Prayers needed

It's so nice to see all of the kind posts from you guys out there! Thank you.

Jake had more X-rays this morning. The vet was sure that he would find evidence of discospondylosis (a spot of deterioriation of the spine). To his surprise - nothing. The x-rays looked great. So now the vet has ruled it out. The vet is very hesitant to put Jake on steroids for Meningitis since this may have serious adverse affects on him. So instead, he opted to put Jake on two new antibiotics. We will give it 24 hours and see how Jake responds. Jake has lost 4 lbs in the past 10 days. We are getting very creative to entice him to eat. He won't touch normal dog food but he will eat people food. At this point, I don't care if it spoils him. He is becoming too skinny.

Does anyone have any information on Steroid Responsive Meingitis? What is the success rate of treatment? We are worried sick.

Thanks guys - please continue to send positive vibes, prayers, wiggles etc.

 

[Bar B]

Thanks for the update on Jake. I can`t offer any help on the meningitis but might can offer help with getting him to eat more. My gang has a weakness for raw beef liver and I have used it often with anemic rescue dogs and those that were extremely under weight. Adding ground beef liver to their kibble (I know you said Jake doesn`t eat kibble but he might start to) really got them in the food dish. It was recommended by my vet with my first starved rescue case that was very close to needing a blood transfusion. He gained 20 pounds in 2 weeks!

Good Luck with Jake and please keep us posted. Healing vibes are still coming!