Canine (General)

[annak]

Does anyone know of anything that works to treat an animal with a bite to her front leg? She is on very strong antibiotics...not getting better...Her skin is gone and bone is shown on the area. She had surgery about 1 month ago in her abdomen. We thought it was the IV that was causing her front paw to swell...but now the doctors think it could have been a spider bite. Does anyone know of the brown recluse spider balm on this website?
[moderator note: website address has been removed]

Any suggestions or advice would be great...

[Daveyo]

Annak what is the status on the bite???? Also read up on the Parvo section. A new strain of Deadly Parvo has appeared. It is on peer to peer.

[annak]

This is our friends yellow lab. They are still in the process of trying to get her evaluated by a specialist. The leg is awful...the skin is gone on her paw. They do not know what to do...She did see that balm for recluse bites but I do not think she has gotten it yet. I think the "specialist" they were trying to get her into would hope to tell them what they were dealing with. They originally thought it was a reaction to the IV used during her surgery.

[Daveyo]

Annak, first get a blood sample of the dog. Look for some strange antibody reactions out of it and see what the WBC is doing. Secondly take that dog and have a skin biopsy done. Scraping the skin for some cell inclusions and look under a micron microscope should reveal what is there. The dog could be infected with the necro disease which eats away skin and muscle. You don't want to know about it.

Have that lab done ASAP Then report back here OK

[annak]

Okay thanks I will tell my friend...Also they did do a WBC which was extremely low... I will keep you updated...

[Daveyo]

With you reporting extremely low WBC that is dangerous. What is the numbers. Need more information. Indicates serious bone marrow problem. Have to get that WBC back up. Not a good sign here.

[stulchinsky]

Annak, first get a blood sample of the dog. Look for some strange antibody reactions out of it and see what the WBC is doing. Secondly take that dog and have a skin biopsy done. Scraping the skin for some cell inclusions and look under a micron microscope should reveal what is there. The dog could be infected with the necro disease which eats away skin and muscle. You don't want to know about it.

Have that lab done ASAP Then report back here OK

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[Daveyo]

Annak what is the status of that dog and the recluse deal???

For low WBC you need to give that dog some Nupogen of 0.1cc for at least two or three days single shots. This brings up the WBC fast.

let me know

Daveyo

[annak]

Hi Daveyo,

There was nothing else the doctor could do. The dog lost her toes because the infection was so bad.. I know they did TONS of tests on her. The doctor said he did not know what else to do. So she still has her leg wrapped up because of her toes. However, she has gained SO much weight. She looks like she has aged about 10 years. (she is only 6) The owner have spent literally thousands of dollars for her and still know nothing. She seems to be okay other than her extreme weight gain. The owners have noticed though a swelling in her abdomen (near her chest) that looks abnormal. They are hoping she is not bleeding internally from all the surgeries. She almost died 3 times on the surgery table when they were trying to get her better. (the last surgery was in January) Thanks for your thoughts and concerns.

[Daveyo]

Annak, if you are able to do so, see if you can get some medical data especially if any biopsies of the toes prior to losing them. Also in regards to the stomach bulging out sounds like another condition has developed. What is the latest blood tests on this dog.

I need to get all the data if possible medical wise so I can send to my other expert to see what is going on with the dog. Something is not right and they keep missing the problem. If you can do send to purplewitch2@msn.com. Once I receive this data I will examine it and then pass it down to Dr. Sears to see what is happening to this dog. As of the toes I suspect necrotizing disease, which is a bacteria that is almost virtually resistant to most antibiotics. Only one or two is capable of at least slowing it down enough to give the immune system a chance to respond. We have never tried NDV in this situation against that bacteria.

As of the stomach this is my thoughts and here it is as follows: The thought that food or water is a contributing factor to bloat has been discounted many times by the Veterinary Literature. It is not known officially the cause of bloat. However, as you know I have my own ideas as to the cause. Again Immune. There is a group of cells known as macrophages(in the spleen) I think are responsible. To long to give you an idea of how it works but there is a drug which turns it off. REGLAN. It works to turn off the immune problem or cascade that initiated bloat and leads to dogs death. From Dr. Sears and incidently this does work and many dogs return back to normal.

Post again and let me know whats going on.

Daveyo