[SLB]

Louie has just cost us £170 at the vets. He has a ruptured tymponic (sp) membrane. His lymphnodes are up. The vet thinks he's either got Swimmers Ear, Otitis Media or Externa.

He's lost 2kg of weight since Adie's gotten back from Canada. But that could be the increase in exercise. If he puts the weight on, it'll be more exercise and lack of increase in food as well as an ear problem. If he doesn't put the weight on she says he could have Lymphnoma.

He's on Baytril injections, Dexadreson injections and Cephacare tablets. I also have to get him some metacam.

The vet (surprise surprise) tried to convince me that he was allergic to the meats he is fed, but I know he isn't unless he's developed an intolerance of them suddenly.

I'm going to up his feed and feed him twice a day with added tripe with every meal. Would veg help too? I'm also going to take down his exercise by about an hour. Hopefully the treatment for his ears will work and he will put on weight and it will just be my fault for not upping his feed.

She made me feel awful. I thought he was just on the leaner side, but she said he was more to the starvation point.. a polite way of telling me my dog was emaciated I suppose. He's not, he's just lost a bit more weight. I've managed to keep him at 27kg for 9 months and in 2 months he got a little bit more exercise and I was a dummy and forgot to up his feed. I hope this is the case anyway.

Can anyone explain to me about the diagnosis' she gave: Swimmers ear, Otitis Media or Externa and also Lymphnoma - just incase.

Apart from the weight loss and his ear, he hasn't changed in personality or how he eats, he's not had the runs or being sick. He's himself.

 

[Guest]

Couldn't read and run. (Hugs) Why not pm SDH, too? The info and advice is always brilliant.

 

[Sarahferret]

What sypmtoms caused you to take him to the vet? A couple of weeks ago my whippet had a slightly runny nose and was snorting/huffing for a few days, then started to shake her head. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with a ruptured tympanic membrane ie burst ear drum too. She had no infection, so it is suspected to have been caused by a foreign object getting in there that she managed to shake out. I'm guessing Louie had an infection as he has had the medication? I was just advised to keep her from getting her ear wet, or going in long grass where something else may get in, but otherwise it will heal itself in 6-8 weeks. None of the terms 'Swimmers Ear, Otitis Media or Externa' were mentioned to me so I don't know what they are, but I would have thought his lymphnodes would be up if he had an infection? Hopefully that is all it is and not anything more serious. Incidentally, mine had also lost weight, but also had a recent increase in excersise and increased feeding has sorted that out.

 

[toffee44]

Get well soon Louie. Teal lost loads of weight with ? Heart worm last year.

 

[SLB]

What sypmtoms caused you to take him to the vet? A couple of weeks ago my whippet had a slightly runny nose and was snorting/huffing for a few days, then started to shake her head. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with a ruptured tympanic membrane ie burst ear drum too. She had no infection, so it is suspected to have been caused by a foreign object getting in there that she managed to shake out. I'm guessing Louie had an infection as he has had the medication? I was just advised to keep her from getting her ear wet, or going in long grass where something else may get in, but otherwise it will heal itself in 6-8 weeks. None of the terms 'Swimmers Ear, Otitis Media or Externa' were mentioned to me so I don't know what they are, but I would have thought his lymphnodes would be up if he had an infection? Hopefully that is all it is and not anything more serious. Incidentally, mine had also lost weight, but also had a recent increase in excersise and increased feeding has sorted that out.

He went a few weeks back for his booster, but then I had worries about his ear. So we had to delay the booster to treat his ear, which got loads better. Then today he was due to restart his primary course and she gave him a health check and then found this.

Louie has a ruptured membrane in his ear though so we're just testing a few topical treatments and if this one doesn't work we will go with swabs to find out what it is and then go for treating. She wanted to do bloods today to test cancer and that was what made me think of the infection.

He has just finished his chicken carcass with neck and tripe. I'm adding another 200g onto his already 500g meals. He is a very active dog and I don't normally measure out food. Just roughly know what constitutes a meal for them. Louie has done fine on 454g - 540g a day but having a BF in the army who needs to stay fit, he has been exercising him more. Hopefully we'll just be battling the ear problem and adding more food daily will help him.

 

[Sarahferret]

My girl is 13kg, I've just had to up her to 500g a day to stop her losing wight now she's having more excersise. Fingers still crossed that a little more food is all he needs and cancer tests will be unnecessary. I really hope you get to the bottom of it all and it clears up soon.

 

[Sarahferret]

Also, when you say you took him to restart his primary course, do you mean of vaccinations? Why would he need that not normal booster? Just curious...

 

[SLB]

Also, when you say you took him to restart his primary course, do you mean of vaccinations? Why would he need that not normal booster? Just curious...

Oh they give 1-3 months after (depending on the vaccs) before they restart the primary course again.

 

[lozzibear]

Oh they give 1-3 months after (depending on the vaccs) before they restart the primary course again.

Do you mean they are giving him two boosters because he is late for his booster? Sorry if that is wrong, just working out what you mean by 'primary course again'. If they are doing that, then they have no need to get two boosters, no matter how late they are for it. Again, sorry if that is wrong...

I hope everything with Louie is ok, and his ear heals up fast.

 

[ozrex]

Know NOTHING about animals and their ears but in humans "swimmers' ear" is the same as otitis externa ie an infection from the eardrum to the outside of the head and otitis media is an infection situated between the eardrum and the inner ear.

Getting water trapped in the outer ear and/or swimming in polluted water can trigger otitis externa hence "swimmers' ear.

Hope that helps and that poor Louie is back to normal soon.

 

[SLB]

Do you mean they are giving him two boosters because he is late for his booster? Sorry if that is wrong, just working out what you mean by 'primary course again'. If they are doing that, then they have no need to get two boosters, no matter how late they are for it. Again, sorry if that is wrong...

I hope everything with Louie is ok, and his ear heals up fast.

No they restart the primary course if they miss their booster. Primary course is basically what they get as pups.

Thanks for the well wishes, he doesn't seem in any pain but then I know dogs hide it well. He's already loving the two meals a day thing. I'm feeling a whole lot better about the situation now. A member on another forum I'm on told me to stop beating myself up, give him some extra grub and keep him on his meds. So that helped. I just hate having the worst possible outcome planted in my head because I will just think it's that! :thumbdown:

But we'll treat this ruptured eardrum and get some more weight on him and we'll be happy

 

[terrierist]

Louie is the lab, yes?

My lab had bad ears,and we had same diagnosis - regularly. It would appear to be common in labs, but was also linked to my dogs atopy, and so diagnosed as being allergy caused.
Avoiding beef-based diets helped, although in the end, steroids were the only thing that stopped her skin breakijng out and ears becoming infected

 

[lozzibear]

No they restart the primary course if they miss their booster. Primary course is basically what they get as pups.

Thanks for the well wishes, he doesn't seem in any pain but then I know dogs hide it well. He's already loving the two meals a day thing. I'm feeling a whole lot better about the situation now. A member on another forum I'm on told me to stop beating myself up, give him some extra grub and keep him on his meds. So that helped. I just hate having the worst possible outcome planted in my head because I will just think it's that! :thumbdown:

But we'll treat this ruptured eardrum and get some more weight on him and we'll be happy

But they get two as pups, so are they going to give him two injections?

I agree that you shouldn't beat yourself up. I used to get myself into a right state when Jake had his allergies, and we didn't know at first what it was, seeing him in such a state and such pain was horrible. I had to learn to take it as it came, and eliminate one thing at a time.

 

[SLB]

Louie is the lab, yes?

My lab had bad ears,and we had same diagnosis - regularly. It would appear to be common in labs, but was also linked to my dogs atopy, and so diagnosed as being allergy caused.
Avoiding beef-based diets helped, although in the end, steroids were the only thing that stopped her skin breakijng out and ears becoming infected

Lab x Springer. At first I thought it was the beef when I switched him over to raw but he's been having ear problems since he learnt to swim - so more than likely it is the swimming that is causing the problems, not his diet IMO.

But they get two as pups, so are they going to give him two injections?

I agree that you shouldn't beat yourself up. I used to get myself into a right state when Jake had his allergies, and we didn't know at first what it was, seeing him in such a state and such pain was horrible. I had to learn to take it as it came, and eliminate one thing at a time.

Yes they were going to give him both again. His ear started to clear up when I kept him out of water, but it can be near impossible to keep him out of water on a warm day. Especially since every walk we do has water of some kind.

 

[Beth17]

Poor Louie what a worry for you.

Nothing to add other than I hope he is back to normal soon. Try not to worry about the worse case scenario unless you have to

 

[toffee44]

Teal had dropped weight recently he is like a yo dieters all it takes is a few really active walks and he's lean again. When ever teal swims I shove epi opic in his ears and I haven't had an infection in 18months, he had three infections in the first 8 months of owning him! Vet said he has narrow cannels. Funny we had a wet walk yesterday and he's itching his ear now groaning so just put some epi otic in now. Recognising when to put stuff in and raw diet has helped to keep ear infection clear.

 

[SLB]

Teal had dropped weight recently he is like a yo dieters all it takes is a few really active walks and he's lean again. When ever teal swims I shove epi opic in his ears and I haven't had an infection in 18months, he had three infections in the first 8 months of owning him! Vet said he has narrow cannels. Funny we had a wet walk yesterday and he's itching his ear now groaning so just put some epi otic in now. Recognising when to put stuff in and raw diet has helped to keep ear infection clear.

I might try that once his ear drum is sorted out. Thank you

 

[Sled dog hotel]

Louie has just cost us £170 at the vets. He has a ruptured tymponic (sp) membrane. His lymphnodes are up. The vet thinks he's either got Swimmers Ear, Otitis Media or Externa.

He's lost 2kg of weight since Adie's gotten back from Canada. But that could be the increase in exercise. If he puts the weight on, it'll be more exercise and lack of increase in food as well as an ear problem. If he doesn't put the weight on she says he could have Lymphnoma.

He's on Baytril injections, Dexadreson injections and Cephacare tablets. I also have to get him some metacam.

The vet (surprise surprise) tried to convince me that he was allergic to the meats he is fed, but I know he isn't unless he's developed an intolerance of them suddenly.

I'm going to up his feed and feed him twice a day with added tripe with every meal. Would veg help too? I'm also going to take down his exercise by about an hour. Hopefully the treatment for his ears will work and he will put on weight and it will just be my fault for not upping his feed.

She made me feel awful. I thought he was just on the leaner side, but she said he was more to the starvation point.. a polite way of telling me my dog was emaciated I suppose. He's not, he's just lost a bit more weight. I've managed to keep him at 27kg for 9 months and in 2 months he got a little bit more exercise and I was a dummy and forgot to up his feed. I hope this is the case anyway.

Can anyone explain to me about the diagnosis' she gave: Swimmers ear, Otitis Media or Externa and also Lymphnoma - just incase.

Apart from the weight loss and his ear, he hasn't changed in personality or how he eats, he's not had the runs or being sick. He's himself.

A ruptured eardrum, can be caused by loads of things, like trauma, ear infections, change of pressure and even foreign bodies like grass seeds down the ear. it happened to my Samoyed and that was caused by a grass seed that had sat down the ear out of sight and migrated and ruptured the ear drum.

The ear has three parts, external, middle ear and internal so I think what she has used are just the relevant medical terms for problems in different parts depending on where the infection/problem might be.

Did she say why she thinks it might be lymphoma? Are his glands up? Im pretty sure they can come up in the case of infection or allergies too. Has she done any blood test including a complete blood count, and biochemistry
if not I think thats one of the first things they do to see if it might be lyphoma or other things that might be wrong.

Also Im a bit confused why she wants to vaccinate and give the full 2 vaccinations again as well. Sick dogs or suspected sick dogs shouldnt be vaccinated anyway. Also depending on the vaccine previously used at least the core ones canine distemper, adenovirus and parvo virus have 3 years immunity on some vaccines. Nobivac DHPPI for instance for these 3 at least say 3 years. So depending on what he has, looks like he shouldnt need 2 of these at least.

Im a bit confused by the whole thing to be honest or from what I think I understand from your post, unless Ive misunderstood you of course and shes gone into more tests wise then Ive understood.

 

[Kc Mac]

Hope Louie gets better soon

As a side note as previously mentioned too, after my GSD got an ear infection after swimming in the river, the vet suggested an aloe based ear cleaner to use after swimming if need be or to at least just rinse his ears out with clean water after swimming so far it has worked

 

[SLB]

A ruptured eardrum, can be caused by loads of things, like trauma, ear infections, change of pressure and even foreign bodies like grass seeds down the ear. it happened to my Samoyed and that was caused by a grass seed that had sat down the ear out of sight and migrated and ruptured the ear drum.

The ear has three parts, external, middle ear and internal so I think what she has used are just the relevant medical terms for problems in different parts depending on where the infection/problem might be.

Did she say why she thinks it might be lymphoma? Are his glands up? Im pretty sure they can come up in the case of infection or allergies too. Has she done any blood test including a complete blood count, and biochemistry
if not I think thats one of the first things they do to see if it might be lyphoma or other things that might be wrong.

Also Im a bit confused why she wants to vaccinate and give the full 2 vaccinations again as well. Sick dogs or suspected sick dogs shouldnt be vaccinated anyway. Also depending on the vaccine previously used at least the core ones canine distemper, adenovirus and parvo virus have 3 years immunity on some vaccines. Nobivac DHPPI for instance for these 3 at least say 3 years. So depending on what he has, looks like he shouldnt need 2 of these at least.

Im a bit confused by the whole thing to be honest or from what I think I understand from your post, unless Ive misunderstood you of course and shes gone into more tests wise then Ive understood.

No, we went to get his booster done in August, but then we had to treat his ear infection. It all cleared up so then I booked him in for his booster again, but was told he had to start his first course again (the puppy course) because he was a month late. So when I took him in for that we saw a different vet, and of course she gave him an exam and found his lymph nodes up. Without looking at his records she wanted to take blood samples and worried us sick thinking it was cancer, and due to his flaky skin (I've not been giving them fish as often as I used to) and the weight loss (which I think is down to increased exercise and not increasing the food - my fault) she was even more predisposed to think it was herself. Then she said that the lymph nodes could be up due to an infection. So then I told her that he had been getting over an ear infection hence why we were restarting his course of jabs. So then she checked his records.. Would've been great if she'd done that in the first place.

She checked his ear and found that it was a ruptured ear drum however couldn't see any foreign bodies in there so it looks like it's a bacteria caused one. I know he hasn't any allergies - but then he is raw fed so the vet kept bringing it back to his diet, despite me saying that he swims a lot :incazzato:

We opted to try another treatment before we decide to do the swabs. They will be done when we next go for his check up if needed. Thank you for the information