Me again

Yes, thankfully both our boys are insured, but we discovered that it's only for up to £500.00 PER condition. We're awaiting the claims form to drop through the door any day now.
We are EXTREMELY short of money this month and this is adding extra stress and worry for us both until the claim goes through

There's one other annoying thing I haven't yet vented yet
One all three ocassions last week when we had vet appts, each vet took Jake's temp, said it was high but THEN dismissed the reading because of the hot weather and the fact that Jake was excited/stressed to be there...WHY THE HELL did they bother taking the temp then????

Arggghhhhhhhh........ there we go, it's all out of my system now

I would definitely be seeking a second or third opinion. Your vet seems to very dismissive. He told you if you were very concerned to bring him in and when you said you were he still then told you to wait and see. Whats that about? Are there any other Veterinary Clinics near you?

Hi Berger.
Believe me, if we had ANY spare money to allow us to go for another opinion then we'd be there like a shot. The blood test and antibiotics visit hit us for over 100 GBP and that's a hell of a lot of money for us. There's also the question of insurance coverage, I really don't know if the insurance company will pay up if we have treatment from two different surgeries.

Does anyone here have any actual experience of a dog with heat stroke/ heat exhaustion? He has been out in the garden alot and is not particularly sensible, and it's been in the mid to high 20's since last week...just wondering if it's a consideration that's all. I've looked it up on the net and have seen it can actually cause neurological problems as well as difficulty breathing (he's had those weird 'reverse sneeze' episodes when it looks like he can't /is struggling to breathe), high temps of course (Jake's being laying on our nice cold kitchen floor and he hasn't done that before...) and can make a dog aggressive I believe...I know there are so many possibilities. We'll get there eventually, sooner than later I hope!

'' I really don't know if the insurance company will pay up if we have treatment from two different surgeries.''

yes they should! I have on more than one occasion dissagreed with a vet and gone else where for advice. The insurance company have paid out to both as it was for the same condition. One thing I will say is that vets and doctors are playing a game of guesswork. They want to help, but they don't know everything and it is unfair of us to expect them to. The reason that we go there is that they see alot of animals, and in the hope that they recognise the problem and have treated past cases successfully; so can do the same with ours. However the only things they have taken from vet school is to give a. anti-biotics and b. steriods. Vets are not super heroes even though we expect them to be. I think the most you can do for your pet is to research similar problems for yourself, if no one else can give you an answer. If this was Tetanus, a blood test would have revealed this by the first vet, was this not done?

Can I ask how old your dog is? Has he been vaccinated recently?

Hi Jess.
If we can get some more money together (e.g. beg, steal or borrow it) then we'll go to another surgery for what will effectively be a forth opinion (you'll see from our previous posts, we've already seen three seperate vets at the current surgery).
We're desperate to find out whats wrong with him and I have been on the internet day and night trying to research a condition(s) that resembles his symptoms, but what he has seems to be a complete mish-mash of lots of things. I am not blaming the vet, don't get me wrong, it's just so scary and frustrating to think that this is time wasted and we're simply have to wait for something else to happen/go wrong with him, meantime him and his brother (if it's a genetic issue and/or Jake's aggression gets more serious) may well be getting worse/be in danger and therefore harder/even too late to treat.

Jake and Woody are brothers and are two yrs old this month. They both had jabs at 8wks and 12wks and were castrated at 6mths. The vet saw from their records last week that neither had been vaccinated since the age of 12wks, and ADMITTED it was THEIR oversight that they had not sent out reminders...this is something else that I am outraged about and gives me even less confidence in them because they didn't even follow it up. Thinking about it now of course, it should have been on our minds too, but we've had sooooo many financial and other (personal) problems and family losses that it just didn't cross our minds. So now we're wondering if an insurance claim will even be valid, and if we'll be able to claim at all!

We're both heading for a breakdown with all this worry and stress! My god what a mess.

Hi jackeandwoody I have been reading all of your messages and feel so sorry for you all!! I know how horrendous vets bills can be and when you feel that you aren't getting anywhere, well!! I do hope things turn around for you all. You have had really excellent support from the people on his Great site and Mini especially is very knowledgeable. I have learned one thing, my Millie has Reverse Sneezing and I never knew what it was. I vowed that I would take her to the vet next time it happened, but I am not too worried about it now.
I do hope things improve for your poor Jake and send my best wishes.
AnneXX

Hello All.
Thanks again for all your good wishes and help

I just read about drugs and their side effects, and then read the article on this site, http://www.dogweb.co.uk/showthread.p...hlight=rimadyl , about Rimadyl...which my Jake was injected with ONCE on 31st May for a limp in his back leg (which completely disappeared 3 days after having the injection but he still spends quite a lot of time licking the cut he has on that paw). Having read that's it's a drug usually used LONG TERM for arthritis etc I am rather confused as to why this was given to my boy as a one off injection.
Does this sound like normal practice? Could my boys symptoms (his face-lift appearance seen HERE, coughing and 'reverse sneezing', seemingly worsening eye sight and/or co-ordination, a frequent urination problem which lasted for just 24hrs and then suddenly disappeared, slight change in mood, e.g. more dominant/aggressive towards his brother and the neighbours dog, barking at nothing/my partner,) all which suspiciously appeared 4 days after he was injected with Rimadyl, be related at all??

What if they administered the drug incorrectly and hit a nerve, hence his facial appearance?

He was also given Amoxycare LA injection at the same time as Rimadyl, a drug which I have not found mentioned on the net, but I am guessing it's a form of amoxicillin.

I have asked the vet if any of the drugs they gave him could have any side effects, but of course they said no, they're hardly going to admin it!
All thoughts greatly appreciated.

What a nightmare you are having!! I can just imagine you sitting on the pc day and night searching and searching in the hope of finding something that fits Jake's symptoms! Been there with one of my gsd's.

Now, something that may interest you. I met a girl the other week with a gsd who had hock boots on and could hardly walk from behind. She had a long conversation with me, telling me that her dog was only 4 years old, she took him to the vets for something (can't remember) the vet gave him an injetion (can't remember), all of a sudden the dog was almost paralysed behind. She vented off at the vet, who said that he was showing signs of hip displacia! She angrily told him, that she had brought in a fit and healthy dog, and whatever he did had just caused this!!! The vet was adamant that it wasn't. To cut a long story, she ended up paying hundreds of pounds, getting 2nd/3rd/4th opinions, and it turned out her vet had stuck the needle in, in the wrong place and caused this nerve damage to her dog. She is going through a court case about it now, as she can actually prove that this is what happened, as one of the other vets has agreed that he hit a nerve when he injected her dog causing the damage. Can you think back to the time you had that Rimadyl injection and any reaction to Jake's face???? You never know??

I can't believe your insurance cover is for £500 only either???? Most insurance cover for vets nowadays, in view of the horrendous costs of treatment, now goes up to around £7,000?? Why is yours so little??

If you're still searching for answers, I suggest you look up some of the horror stories on the Rimadyl drug, and see if there are any similarities with Jake's face trauma, there are loads and loads of them. I'm not saying it IS that, but I guess you'll never rest until you've explored all avenues. I really feel for you coz Jake's is such an unusual case, no wonder the vets are at a loss. What did the blood test result come back with - anything??

I agree with the others too, I would definitely change to another vet, even for a 2nd opinion. You need a vet with loads of experience who might just have come across this before, and I hope you find him. Poor you, I can imagine you're in shreds!

Btw, don't worry too much about that reverse coughing business, both my dogs do that on occassions, and I once took Cassie to the vet in a panic with it! He told me a lot of dogs do this, and they never really know the reason why, so don't stress yourself too much over that, I'm sure it's definitely not related anyway.

Hi - I am sorry about the hard time you are having. You could perhaps ring Dogs Trust and the PDSA for some advice. They might be able to advise you.

Just to answer this bit, Rimadyl is an non steroidal anti inflammatroy drug, therefore it can also be used to treat inflammation in any instance (not just long term) and also post op as a pain killer. Hope that helps a bit. My Woody was on it for a while and it gave him no ill effects, but then he was on tablet form rather than injection.

Sorry you haven't got this sorted yet, I would definitely get another opinion, although I know money is tight.