Canine (General)

[mlpeter7]

Our 10 year old cocker was fine this a.m. When my husband took him outside. Later this morning he was sleeping in his usual spot. I heard a strange noise and in checking it was the sound of his nails on the tile floor as he was twitching. There was white foamy saliva drooling from his mouth. I got the Husky out of the room. Went to wet a towel and then saw the cocker had gotten up and was walking. When I went to wipe his mouth he growled and acted as if he would bite me. He walked up to the Husky and was sniffing her and he watched my every move. I did not like the look in his eye. I am usually the one who medicates his ears and he usually runs from me, but has never been aggressive. Quite frankly, he scares me. He walked into the bedroom where I was and I was afraid to walk past him to get out of the door. The look in his eyes was just strange. He just kept watching me. I got out the door and shut it. He is in there now alone. He occasionally howls and does this strange barking. I am afraid to let him out but I can see through a little crack in the door. No more drooling. He is just sitting or laying by the door. Sniffs around the door. I know part of this is because he wants to get out but I am afraid of what he might do. Any suggestions as to what might be going on? an't take him to vet until tomorrow morning.

[Daveyo]

Hi

Please get yourself a muzzle for the dog or have someone hold the dog and tie a string around its mouth to prevent a bite etc., and get that dog over to a VET ASAP. Two things can be happening.

Either the dog ate something and is poisoned or possible Distemper or Rabies. You need to have the VET check for any of the above three mentioned here.

I am assuming your dog is protected from Rabies, and the dog should be protected all these years from Distemper, and if you recently did a vaccine shot, possible vaccine induced Distemper???? of which there is a test to determine this in less than 30 minutes, and Rabies which can happen if it got bitten from a Rabid animal. If your dog was previously protected against Rabies you can save your dog from that disease.

On the poisoning, it is easy for a dog to eat something outside as all dogs will get their mouths into something which is normal. On my site caninedistempercure dot com, I do have a list there of plants and foods that can easily poison your dog and a lot of them are common around a home and it can cause major problems to your pet.

So based on reading this, I would lean on poisoning as my first choice.

Daveyo

[Daveyo]

One last thing never show you fear your dog at any time. You must show you are always dominant and that you have control.

Once that dog knows you are in fear, things can get really ugly, and you will lose control over your pet.

Keep this in mind.

Daveyo

[mlpeter7]

Thanks for the info Davey. Recent update.I kept the dog in the bedroom all day till my husband got home from work. Did a little other research also. When my husband got home he went into the room and Jake was fine. We let him out and also the Husky. He now followed me and my husband everywhere. Would not let us out of his site. Wanted lovinups and was back to his old self except he kept panting, and walking around as if on speed. Here there and everywhere. To the water bowl, back to his chew, 1 minute later back to water bowl. He drank and even ate his dinner. Went outside (on a leash of course) and did his business. They are not allowed to roam freely. It was almost as if he thought that being kept in the bedroom all day was punishment.After a few hours of petting, chews, I fed him some raw baby carrots also (he loves them). When I talked to the vet's office they said it sounded like a seizure and that the behavior afterward was from being disoriented. I probably looked like a huge threat coming at him with a towel before he was even aware of his surrounding after waking from a seizure. He is fine tonight and back to his normal self including breathing normally. Have you heard or this seizure thing before? Does this ring true? What are the chances of it happening again? He was recently on a round of prednezone and antibiotics for ear problems. I have started giving him Dan Active and Activa yogurt along with fresh raw veggies.

[mlpeter7]

Also 3 years ago our other Husky died of rat poisoning. Took 3 days. Was devastating. She just kept throwing up and drinking and drinking but wouldn't eat. The symptoms are not the same. My first thought with Jake was poison and the second was rabies. But he is not let out to just roam. Gets exercise from walking on leash, playing fetch in the fenced in tennis court (if noone is playing tennis) and the off-leash dog beach where he is closely supervise. What do you think about the seizure thing, is it common in older cocker ?

[Daveyo]

Hi

Based on the question of it happening again remains to be seen. What you need to do is have a MRI scan done on the spinal cord and brain area to see if there are any lesions present. If present then its clinical that your dog has the Distemper virus or some other virus that is damaging the neurons. If no lesions are present, then you can pretty much lean on some kind of poisoning.

If you go to my site at caninedistempercure dot com, here you will find the plants that can poison your dog and even cause seizures, and also foods that can poison your dog as well. Yes even certain foods can kill your pet. Even though you say you supervise your pet, I am sure you are not watching it every second. Even walking your dog, it can pick up something on the way without you knowing it and one bite its down in the tummy.

Dogs are very keen on their owners, and they know just when to do something when your not looking. They have a lot of patience to wait for that special moment to do it. Mine do this to me too. Like now when I am typing here they can be doing something behind my back which is common.

Rat poison is one of the fastest ways to kill dogs and when it hits them its too late to save them and its very difficult to find the person who laid it for the dog to eat. Also very difficult to prove let alone accuse unless you catch the person dead in the act itself and have proof at the same time.

Yes I am very familiar about seizures. Dogs are not suppose to have seizures but sometime this is caused by genetics like in humans they can get epileptic seizures for many reasons.

There are dogs that do have this, but it is not that common. So I do know Distemper is one of them that do bring on such seizures known as Old Dog Encephalitis. Normally seizures kill animals.

Phenobarbital is one of the drugs that control seizures in dogs. You may want to play the wait and see game and or get that MRI done to do some process of elimination. The MRI can at least tell you if the CNS and the Brain is cleared or not. If clear, then you have to look at some other cause. If not clear on the MRI then you are zeroing in on the problem much quicker.

The panting is a sign of something ongoing in the dog itself. It has nothing to do with being kept in the bedroom etc.

I still suspect some poisoning event occurred on your dog. A blood test can also tell you whats happening, and I am surprised the VET did not even do that part when it was examined. A full CBC can really tell you a lot of whats happening internally to the dog.

Without any tests done it is very hard to speculate let alone give you any kind of direct diagnosis. Get some tests done OK. First do the full CBC, then do the MRI Scan. I would get that CBC done now first chance you get to spot any remnants of anything that affected your dog. Eventually it will disappear over time.

Hmm, never give raw foods to your dog. Always cook the foods. OK.

That is why I recommend for you to visit my site.

Other than that, good luck

Daveyo