URGENT! Frenchie Suddenly Inactive/Moving Slowly

[DavidShissler]

I have a 1 1/2 year old French Bulldog male (not neutered) that has been a great active boy. He is left home everyday for about 8 hours with my female Boston Terrier (spayed) Today when I got home from work he wasn't his usual self. He generally goes bonkers jumping around and greeting me. Very active little guy, but not today. He has been moping around moving very slowly and as little as possible. Ears seem to be back much more then usual and he shakes occasionally. This has been going on all evening and I can't see anything wrong with him physically. He doesn't have any signs of an injury and no particular area seems to be sore. He hasn't had anything out of the norm to eat either. He has gone # 1 and #2 though. He won't eat, and worst of all won't even give kisses! Anyone have any idea what this might be?! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Help! I'm really worried about my little guy! :(

[SadPandas]

I would take him to the vet asap because you know your dog and if he is really sad and listless you should probably get him checked out. It may just be that he has a tummy ache and needs a little pepto or it could be something much more serious and you will not know till you have a vet look at him. Also if he is so gloomy that he won't eat or drink then he will need intravenous or subcutaneous fluids right away so he doesn't get too dehydrated. SO TAKE HIM IN!!! as soon as you can would be my advice for sure!

I hope they find it is nothing and thay he gets better really quick!:)

[luvnkitty]

I agree ,take him to the vet. The poor baby . You can never be to careful. Could be something, could be nothing ....but why take any chances.
Good luck... keep us posted

[DavidShissler]

I took him to the vet Friday morning, the vet said it was just a tummy ache. He acted completely normal there. He gave us some medicine, and Saturday morning he was better, but not by much. We fed him 3 cans of wet dog food since he wasn't eating last night thru this morning. He still looks skinny and isn't that active and won't give kisses! He's an extremely affectionate dog and that's why I think there's something else going on. I'm going to call the vet first thing Monday morning. Thanks for all of your concern! Hopefully my boy will get well soon! Are there any health problems with Frenchie's besides eye/ear/hip & knee? Anything internally?

Thanks you all! :) :confused:

[DavidShissler]

I'm going to list all of his symptoms and maybe someone else has experienced the same with their Frenchie~

~Slow
~Laying down a lot more
~Not interested in raw hide/chewies
~ Only eating wet food, not his usual dry
~ Skinnier in face/body
~ Walks like his tummy hurts, very slowly
~No kissing or playing

Someone please help!! Do you guys out there think it's serious????:( :confused: :confused: :(

[DavidShissler]

We don't give him rawhide or pig twists often. I can't remember the last time I gave him one.... He's on a medication called Flagyl liquid 160mg twice a day. I guess it causes lethargy and other side effects. I'm still going to call the vet at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Thanks for your help, my husband and I greatly appreciate it! I don't know what I would do without that little piggy! :) I love my pug snooted babies!!!!!! Thanks!!!

[imogene]

I agree with Judy, take him to the Vet and at very least have them run blood work. If the blood work show any sign of acidosis you should do ex-rays to confirm or out rule an intestinal issue.

Is he on the Flagyl to control diarrhea? There are a bunch of potential side effects with the medication, but typically they are only seen when the medication given in a high dose for a long period of time (months). Side effects seen can relate to nausea or appetite loss, or side effects can be neurological (staggering, head tilt to one side, dilated pupils, and bizarre back and forth eye movements called nystagmus). I am not sure how long your dog has been on medication but you may want to ask your vet for more information.

Please keep us updated.

[marycas]

I second the bloodwork!

He really hasnt been off his feed for that long if Im reading correctly so why is he thinning up?

Did they weigh him at the visit and find a loss by the numbers?

Blood work will pick up on so many things like kidney problems or anemia

What about flea and heartworm treatments? What are you doing? Does he have a flea collar on currently?

Any chance he got a double dose of something or is taking meds and then got more than he should from a collar or bath?

[DavidShissler]

We're on our way to the vet now...I'll let all of you know when we get home! Thanks for the support everyone!

[imogene]

I just got home from work and I am so worried about this baby. I'm telling you I think he has a blockage or something else is going on. Please let us know how you made out at the vets. I am just so worried, it's been too long that he's had these symptoms:(.

I will be waiting for your update, take care and I hope it's nothing serious.

Judy

Judy you're not the only one. I got nervous tingles the first time I read the first post, because the symptoms are so similar to how Belzie was when we though she had a blockage :eek: . I am so surprised that the vet didn't insist on running a blood panel the first time - tummy ache could be a symptom of bigger problems, and best and quickest way to find out is to run blood. I really hope that its just a reaction to the medication - and that he will be okay in no time. And I really hope they get home soon and give us an update!

[DavidShissler]

The vet says he looks marvelous. We're running blood and urine tests, we'll know in an hour, and we'll know the chem panel in the morning. He doesn't think something's seriously wrong, but just testing to be safe. He is doing #2, it looks normal. He's eating wet food, not dry, but hopefully that'll change. He's been on the Flagyl three days, but he's not going to have him keep taking it. I'll let ya'll know in an hour.

Thanks!

[DavidShissler]

Hi all! Just talked to the vet, he said the blood work/urinalysis came back normal. We're still waiting on the chem panel tomorrow morning. I just know there's something else going on other than G.I. The vet said he looked great, I thought he looked skinnier. He weighed the same today as he did on Friday. Something isn't right with him and I'm not going to quit until he is back to 100%. I don't buy the whole "maybe he's just settling down." Not this dramatic. I can't figure out why he shakes, maybe it's cold in here to him, we have our house at 72 and it's really humid here. He hasn't been outside much. Is there anything else I should be looking for?? His stools look good, he's peeing, he's had 4 cans of wet dog food since Saturday night. The vet told me if he's not eating then there's something serious going on. No x-rays were done, but wouldn't the blood analysis show the acid level?:confused: :confused: :confused:

[imogene]

I think you have to wait and see what the chem. panel results are. If his BM are normal it's a good sign that there is no GI blockage. If his symptoms are side effects from the Flagyl they should stop within 48 hours. If is possible that the medication just didn't agree with him. BTW what was he on the Flagyl for? It is commonly prescribed as supportive therapy for dogs with diarrhea, but it is also used to treat Giardia.

I was wondering about your vet's comments. Is this your normal Vet? If your dog is lethargic, not eating and having a dramatic personality change, and making you worried enough to take him to the vet twice in less than a week you think the vet would notice that the dog is not marvelous. I am thinking it might be time for you to look for a different Vet.

[Carolyn]

Just curious.....did the bloodwork include a test for lymes disease?

[marycas]

Getting him back on dry food-even if he is 100% healthy-is going to be a challenge

He's had what he considers 'the good stuff' and is bound to hold out and see if he can get some more when you pour the old dry in the bowl again. You will probably have to go through a rather tedious mixing the two together and then reducing the wet gradually. Or give him a 1/2 ration of wet and leave dry to nibble for the rest of his calories

Im talking when he is well again, of course-for now, you have to do what you have to do

I went through this with a very ill Westie last winter and it took some time to get him back to dry once he was on the road to recovery

[SadPandas]

We are still thinking of your little guy over here. I also agree that it is a little weird that the vet said he looked marvelous when he obviously isn't having symptoms of a marvelous doggie. I hope you get some answers tomorrow in the chem panel. If it comes back normal I would just keep trying to figure this out since he has been feeling down for so long now, it doesn't seem normal.

Good luck, we are thinking of you guys:)
Kat

[DavidShissler]

The vet said that the chem panel would show everything. For example, if his electrolytes are off, we'll run a test for Addison's disease. I'm hoping everything comes back ok, but if he's still acting strange then I'll really be worried. If he's not better I'm thinking about having an x-ray done. He started kissing us last night, and moving more, let's just say I'm not beside myself anymore! I hope they call early this morning to give us his chem panel results. He ate some dry food last night, I think I will have to mix dry with his wet. I really don't care which one he eats right now, as long as he has some nutrients. I will let all of you know what happens, it may not be until later, sometimes this site is blocked at work, but I'll respond as soon as I can. Oh yes! He said that Snickers didn't have a heart murmur, I thought that was pretty big news! :D I'll keep you guys posted! Thanks again for being so concerned about my boy! appicon

~Kim

[DavidShissler]

Thanks! We just named him Snickers since our Boston's name is Skittles. If they didn't draw enough blood to test for Lyme disease, I'll haul him back there and demand the Lyme test. He said his weight at 25.4 pounds looks right, but I can tell that he's skinny. I hope things will get better very soon. It's hard to stay calm since he can't tell me what's wrong!

His stools look normal, I'm shocked they are normal since his eating habits have been abnormal. We keep all of our house plants on the counters and table. We don't have anything outside where they can get into anything.

Like I said, I'll demand more tests and x-rays if all of the blood work comes back normal if he's not better by Thursday at the latest. I'll keep you all posted! Thanks Judy! appicon

[DavidShissler]

We finally heard from the vet, and all of his bloodwork came back normal. His electrolytes were lower than normal, the sodium and potassium level was 27, and normal is 30. If it was 22, then he would be diagnosed with Addison's Disease. We're supposed to take him back in a month if he's still not acting like himself. The vet doesn't think he has Addison's since his level was not that far off, but he doesn't want to take any chances.

Snickers has some of the symptoms that go along with Addison's, but no vomiting, diarhea, which is good. He's acting better today, so I think he'll be fine, if not, we'll run him back. So good news so far, hopefully he'll continue to progress.

I hope to have some pictures of the boy and his sister up in the gallery soon.

Thanks again for everyone's concern and help! appicon

[SadPandas]

That is great to hear and we hope Snickers continues to feel better everyday. I hope he doesn't have anything serious and that his levels stay up there. I hope he gets feeling all better and that you don't have to do x-rays and the whole thing (not saying you shouldn't if he's not feeling better, just that we hope he is well enough not to have it :) ) Keep us posted either way.

[DavidShissler]

I might call them in a few days if he's still the same and have x-rays taken. I might just be neurotic, but the sooner the better, and you can't put a price tag on your best friend.

Just curious, what is the difference between dry and wet food, besides the fact that it's obviously tasty? :confused: I'm mixing it in with his kibble and he's eating both. I wasn't sure if it has a lot more fat than the dry. I usually feed my dogs dry, unless there's a benefit from feeding them the wet stuff that I don't know about.

[gmacleod]

Just curious, what is the difference between dry and wet food, besides the fact that it's obviously tasty? :confused:
A good quality wet food contains substantially more meat and less plant matter than dry ;) It's also less likely to cause dehydration and all of the organ stress that goes along with that.

In fact, canned is the better product. Particularly if you're buying top quality stuff that contains only meat and broth, or even those with a small amount of veggies. The downside to it is that its a very expensive way to feed, so few people feed it on it's own. Being so high in water, you need to feed a lot of it if its the sole food source. So most people do as the food manufacturers recommend - feed about 25% canned food and 75% dry.

We've come a long way in dog food since the days when all kibbles were based on horrible beef by-products, and all canned foods were loaded with sugar (though if you look low enough, you can still find both!!).

There is some information about the ingredients of quite a few canned (as well as dry) dog foods at www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews

[swoopy]

Apologies for not having introduced myself on other parts of the bulletin board, but in doing research this evening on some things I came across this board - and this particular post - and just had to mention what happened with our special boy today.

Our little (okay he's 31 pounds) bundle of snorting is Remy, and he's a five year old Frenchie that we've had since he was a puppy. We've been very fortunate, Remy's health has been excellent most of his life. And since he is such a romping, active (when not snoring or cuddling) dog, we know immediately when he's feeling a little off. Several months ago he had several days where he didn't want to romp, climbed the stairs more slowly, and stood expectantly next to the bed and couch to be lifted up as if he couldn't jump up there himself. Our regular vet concluded that he may have pulled a muscle and if he didn't improve shortly that we should come back for a follow up. Otherwise there wasn't a thing wrong with him. Sure enough, this behavior only lasted a few days, and Remy was back to romping and playing and snorting again.

This morning we returned home after an early morning appointment to find that Remy had vomited. He seemed a little mopey and was moving a bit slower, but did greet us at the door when we came home. The vomit was concerning, but Remy had a check up the end of the week and so we figured we'd monitor his condition. Four hours later Remy was sitting in a odd position, couldn't or wouldn't lay down and his breathing was a little labored. We had called to schedule a late afternoon appointment not wanting to let this go, but quickly turned it into an immediate trip to the vet when Remy tried to move and couldn't hardly move his back end. From walking dog, to severely weakened back end in about five hours. While waiting for the vet to call us in, Remy's breathing turned into rapid panting and he struggled to sit on my lap. For a dog who spends most of our time sprawled across my lap, cuddling and snoring, it was extremely distressing.

Our regular dog called a specialist, gave a steroid injection, and we dashed to the emergency surgery center. Remy was diagnosed with likely interverebral disc disease and we consented to a myelogram and subsequent surgery. The doctor was excellent in explaining exactly what the likely problem was, what to expect, what our prognosis could be and what we were in for in terms of long recovery. He's our sweetest puppers, and whatever would be best for him in terms of his long term health is what we wanted to do.

Several hours later the doctor called to tell us that indeed Remy had serious disc protrusion, including extrusion of the nuclea and scar tissue from where this had happened at least six months ago or more. Some of the damage was more recent, but it appears that he had been suffering the degeneration for some time with no impact on his gait, digestion, or ability to function. Apparently it's not uncommon for Frenchies to have extrusions when they are younger that may never cause any problems for the dog(the soft liquid center of the vertebrae is squeezed out more easily in younger dogs, but turns into calcifications when they are older and these calcifications can also press on the spinal cord.) Remy's problems were located on the T-11 through T-13 vertebrae, the most common place for Frenchies.

Although the doctor had to do more manipulation of the spinal cord than he would have hoped (scar tissue having wrapped itself around the cord in places), he still thinks that Remy's prognosis for full recovery is about 90%. He'll have to remain catheterized and sedated at the animal hospital for a few days at least, and then we're looking at many weeks of slow rehab and recovery. We're cautiously optimistic, and still pretty shaken. Sunday night we were playing fetch and having an excellent time, plenty of snuggling and snorting. That on Monday afternoon he lost use of his legs is just astounding to me.

Tonight is the first night he hasn't burrowed under the covers, circled three times and curled up to snore the night away, and I miss him terribly. The panicked moments of this afternoon when it seemed we could very well lose him seemed like an eternity and it's a tight chested fear that won't leave us any time soon. We'll be able to visit him first thing in the morning, and I'll be on pins and needles until then. Had it occured to me (or our regular vet), back those months ago when Remy was walking a little slow - even though it was only a couple of days - that it could have been this serious, I certainly have persued treatment sooner.

Hopefully your small snorting dog isn't suffering from anything so serious, but I think considering the high incidence of disc disease in our beautiful breed it's something we should all be on higher alert about.

Thanks to all the informative posts on this board from other Frenchie parents who have dealt with disc diseases. Your stories are very important.

Regards,

Swoopy

[paulabeans]

Swoopy...I'm so sorry to hear about Remy's condition. My husband just had major back surgery and some of the things you are describing sound similar to what he experienced. It is a very painful disease and a slow recovery, but it sounds like Remy is in the right hands! He is very lucky to have such caring and loving parents.

Give Remy big get well hugs from me! I look forward to hearing more from you about how well he is doing in the future. Welcome to the board, by the way ;)

[lanakack]

I'm so sorry to hear about Remy. Recently my little JJ had Surgery for a broken leg. I agree it was awful to leave them at the hospital. And spending those nights without my cuddling and snoring machine was painful. But I kept in mind modern day surgical techniques are very good and will benefit his health in the long run. So soon you'll be rejoicing at Remy's recovery and considering ways to restrict his activity levels for the next few weeks.:eek:
Lana and JJ

[swoopy]

First, thank you for the kind words about Remy. As I type this, astoundingly, there is a snoring dog curled up in his bed right next to me.

We called before we went to see Remy at the vet office this morning and were told that he was astounding everyone by being UP and walking and that we could bring him home with us! More crying, because we certainly didn't expect this, and were overjoyed.

Reports from the vet staff at the hospital were that Remy was the sweetest dog ever, and that everyone had completely fallen in love with him. As we Frenchie lovers know, this is no big surprise.

We have extremely detailed instructions on how to care for Remy's shoulder to tail incision, prescriptions to keep him pain free and mellow, and he's to be supervised or crated at all times to prevent him from trying to climb stairs or anything strenuous. All potty visits are to be on a leash, no dog door for the time being. Any concerns or issues and we should call ASAP, and he'll go back in two weeks to have his stitches out.

Prognosis seems to be excellent. We'll keep you posted, and again, thanks so much.

Lastly, I certainly don't want to hijack this thread. The intention of message of this post is just to remind everyone that our sweet babies have a propensity for this genetic condition and since they are so stoic and rarely complain, it's sometimes hard to notice there may be a lurking problem until it's nearly too late. Our strong, playful dogs seem nearly indestructible so it's hard to conceive that they might be having serious trouble when they slow from overdrive into second gear. Keep an eye on those back legs, and don't be afraid to suggest to your vet when you think there might be something they are overlooking. No one knows your dog better than you, so really stress when something just doesn't seem right.

Best to Snickers and all the other frog dogs.

- Swoopy

[DavidShissler]

Don't worry about it, you're not hijacking this thread. I'm sure when you read the subject title, it sounded very familiar. It's great that his prognosis is great, I pray everything goes right with Remy. What a creative name!

I think I may know why our boy was acting the way he was and not eating... A few days before his symptoms began, he was running around a lot at my parents house (we don't have that big of a yard and I felt like he needed some romp time with our basset.) It was warm out, nothing like it has been lately. I think it was just dehydration. The symptoms were there, but no symptoms in the first 24-48 hours. We spent a lot of money on his check-ups, meds, and tests. Like everyone says, you can never be too careful. I admit, I'm neurotic and very observant about the behavior of our little dudes, but I have no regrets rushing him to the vet and being so demanding! :p

Remy's diagnosis brings light that anything can happen! I have no idea what his diagnosis means or what it is, but anything can happen to our little dudes and it's nice to know what to watch for.

Anyone agree with the dehydration or no? :confused: I'm way too neurotic about heat stroke or overheating your pug-snooted baby, what are the key symptoms to watch for? How warm is too much? Please advise!

Thanks everyone!
~Kim, Snickers, Skittles

[DavidShissler]

I meant to put this in the last post, but what is better than having a snoring bull next to you!!!???? appicon :D :) Gotta love our bulls!

[Carolyn]

Kim....there is a "sticky" thread (second one in Dog Health issues here) that talks about heat stroke.