Cipher has an infection, don't know why

[fbkeays]

Originally Posted by hmeadq

I'm glad she is feeling better. Keep a close eye on her and give her lots of belly rubs...

Interesting thing about those belly rubs. Cipher has always had pronounced nipples. I found that her upper two nipples are inverted. I don't remember noticing that before. They were dirty so I did my best to clean out the gunk.
Cipher is on a kibble strike. Yesterday morning she only took a couple of bites and that was with Fizbin parked right next to her. If he wasn't there, then she would just have walked away. She has been throwing up what she has eaten. I don't know if that is because of the antibiotic or not. I know that Clavamox is hard on the stomach.
So yesterday I got her several different cans of premium canned food. I gave her a pepsid. The first can was Natural Balance duck and potato. I doled out a couple of small spoonfuls at a time over about 5 hours. She wouldn't eat more then that. She kept that down.
For her evening meals I gave her a mixture of white rice and Evenger's beef with chicken. She finished the last 1/4 can for her breakfast. I am staying home to feed her.
Monday night her temperature went back up. It was 102.8. I gave her an asprin. She seems to be keeping a normal temperature since. She is still a little downfor the most part. She will still wrestle with Fizbin and she wants to play ball. We haven't played ball with her as we don't want her to be too physical. I think that she has OCD of the tennis ball.
Normally I wouldn't be doing this whole feeding thing, but that would be with a healthy dog. I am afraid that she will remember this and stay on a kibble strike. But once she is healthy, she either eat what we give her or she doesn't have to eat.
I do have an appointment for Friday night with the vet.

[Sharon Marples]

I'd still be pretty worried about some sort of infection going on that the asprin and antiobiotics are just hiding at this point. I don't like the way her temp is going up and down. She is at the perfect timing after her heat cycle that pyo can show up.

Please keep a good eye on her (as I know you are).....if it is open pyo, the you should be seeing some drainage. If it is closed, the infection will only get worse and she could take a downward spiral very quickly. I would check temps at least every 8 hours around the clock.

Keep us posted.

[fbkeays]

My vet left a little while ago. She is convienced that Cipher does not have pyo. Frankly she is stumped. She took more blood to redo the blood panel. She took blood to do a tick panel. She is also going to do titers for parvo and distemper (she is almost due for vax for these and I was going to have her titred anyway).
Her best guess is that her immune system was surpressed due to coming out of heat (apparently the month following a heat cycle is the lowest time for the immune system) and the stress of going and showing in Canada as a double whamy that the bacteria, etc that is normally present in the body took a foothold.
Cipher's attitude is much improved, but she is only eating about a 1/3rd of what she should be getting. She has lost a few pounds. She was lean to start with so that is a concern with me.
Based on the premise that some normally present bacteria has taken over she prescribed Zeniquin (simlar to baytril) in addition to the Clavamox to cover a even broader range. Assuming she isn't eating because of nausa (she hasn't been vomiting) she gave us metoclopramide.
We should get the lab work back on Monday. Hopefully there will be some answers.

[frontierrots]

I'm still telling you that "I" would be having an abdomen ultrasound done to rule out pyo. As a matter of fact I just did that early this year when Bea was mystery sick

[Sharon Marples]

Any news on the lab results yet? How did she do over the weekend?

[fbkeays]

Originally Posted by Sharon Marples

Any news on the lab results yet? How did she do over the weekend?

I got a message from the vet. Her white blood cell count is nearly normal (high side). She is still anemic and her red blood cells are not regenerating at the normal rate? Said it could be due to her recent heat?
3 of the 4 tick panel results are back. She is negative so far. Lyme will take another day or so.
She is eating more. She is eating a little bit of kibble mixed with canned cat food. Yesterday she ate two cans of dog food and 1 can of cat food. She still isn't wild about treats. Last night she wanted to play fetch with her bone. Very normal, presistant behavior which is a good sign. She is not out of the woods yet, but seems to have turned the corner.