How to deal with other infections

There’s a fine line between giving dog owners enough information to keep their pups healthy and giving them so much that every sniffle, sad eye, and day of laziness is misconstrued as a major health condition. But because education is so important in dog ownership, it’s really your responsibility to know as much as possible – or have quick access to the information – and be able to determine what is and isn’t a life-threatening situation.

It can be difficult not to have a panic attack when it seems like your little girl isn’t feeling up to par, but think of all of the stress involved for a dog just in going to the vet. She has to be packed into the car, driven all the way there (okay, maybe that part’s not so bad), taken out of the car, slide across cold, slippery tile floors on her toenails, then get poked and prodded by someone she doesn’t really recognize but who often smells like cats. It’s not really a canine daydream.

If you notice that your pooch just seems a little off, give her a day or two and see if the symptoms progress. Most dog owners can tell if the situation is really dire and more urgent. To help you make those decisions, keep reading for information about some of the more uncommon diseases and conditions that can affect your pup.

My dog has been throwing up constantly, but she doesn’t act sick after she’s done. What’s wrong with her?

She may have inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD. Its name is a little misleading, since IBD is actually a collection of different diseases teaming together to form one big tummy ache. Many dogs who are affected with IBD vomit frequently as their main symptom while others go through diarrhea, loose stools, more frequent need to defecate, weight loss, and even anemia.

The particular intestinal cell that is inflamed by your dog’s case of IBD dictates the actual diagnosis and disease name. Your veterinarian may want to examine your dog’s intestines or perform a biopsy to more accurately pin down the condition, but one of the main factors in almost any case of IBD is a food allergy. Your vet will probably recommend a hypoallergenic diet and may also prescribe antibiotics to help calm the allergens in your pup’s body. The chart on the next page will give you a more accurate look at the types of IBD, their symptoms, and their specific treatment courses.

My dog has been lying around for days and it seems like she may have a fever. What’s wrong?

Check her gums. If they look as though they’ve gotten paler, get her to the vet immediately. If they look all right, try to make an appointment with the veterinarian in the next few days. Your pooch may have immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, or IMHA. This is a disease of the immune system – actually, it’s the most common disease of the immune system – and can be caused by a number of different things including vaccination, antibiotics, viruses, and previous diseases. Whether your dog has a sudden onset or a more gradual incubation period, the quicker your vet can administer antibiotics the better.

IMHA is especially common in female dogs midway through life, and it’s tricky to pin down exactly how it’ll affect your dog. It is life threatening, so you should always get to the vet as soon as possible, but some dogs experience only a single, severe flare-up while others have recurring bouts with IMHA throughout their lives. This, of course, affects the necessary treatment. Your dog may need only one rigorous round of drug therapy while others will remain on medication indefinitely. In some extreme cases, blood transfusions may be necessary.  

My vet says my dog has meningitis. What does that mean?

Meningitis is an inflammation in the meninges, the membranes that coat and protect the brain and spinal cord. Typically caused by an infection and potentially life-threatening, meningitis can be either bacterial or non-bacterial. Bacterial meningitis is transmitted through the bloodstream from a secondary wound or infection. The cause of non-bacterial (or aseptic) meningitis is unknown. You can tell if your dog has meningitis by noticing signs of depression, fever, seizures, and a general loss in coordination.

What is difficult about meningitis from an owner’s perspective is the diagnosis. Your vet will have to extract fluid from your pup’s spine to properly diagnose it, which means he’ll be inserting a large needle directly into your dog’s back. This can be painful for the dog even with anesthesia, so it may be best to leave the room and allow the vet and technicians to handle the procedure… your tears and tension just make the situation more stressful for your pooch. Meningitis can usually be treated effectively with anti-inflammatory medications. In the case of bacterial meningitis or seizures as symptoms, antibiotics and anti-seizure meds may also be administered.

Can dogs get epilepsy?

Yep. They can also contract a number of other disorders that cause seizures. As anyone who owns an epileptic pooch knows, the seizures can be very variable, coming in either one long session or several short “clustered” seizures. Some are even so minor that you may not notice them happening; your dog’s legs may suddenly tense up for a minute or two at a time and then go back to normal. Major seizures, also called “grand mal” seizures, have several standard stages and can last up to an hour.  

Seizures often originate with a traumatic brain injury, but epilepsy can also be present in a dog’s body from birth. In order to differentiate epilepsy from a brain injury, doctors often require your pup’s complete medical history, an EEG, and several blood tests. Medication is the remedy of choice regardless of the source of the seizures.  

What about diabetes? What, they give themselves little insulin shots every day?

No, but their owners do. Diabetes is relatively common in dogs, especially those that are older and have been overweight for much of their lives (see, just like humans). Females are at a far greater risk than males, and smaller breeds are more prone to the disease than larger dogs. During diabetes, cells can’t use the glucose it needs for energy because the body’s insulin isn’t working properly. This means that the dog’s appetite for both food and water go into overdrive. She’ll also need to pee more frequently, she’ll stop running around as much but will actually lose weight, and she may develop eye problems.

The three types of diabetes are as follows:

·        Type 1: lack of insulin

·        Type 2: sufficient insulin is present, but the body can’t use it

·        Type 3: the result of overmedication for a different condition

Most dogs don’t act normally when going through diabetes, so you should have sufficient warning to get your pup to the vet. Once there, she’ll undergo blood and urine tests for a proper diagnosis. If the vet is sure it’s diabetes, her therapy will be much like any human diabetic’s. Her diet will need to be adjusted to be higher in fiber, she’ll need insulin shots daily, and she may need surgery to correct any cataract or eye problems she develops as a result of the diabetes.  

What happens when my dog gets an ulcer?

Ulcers are actually somewhat common in dogs, as they can be caused from overuse of various medications. If your pup has had another terminal condition, she may be prone to developing a stomach ulcer. They can also be caused by stress and allergies.  

One of the primary indicators of stomach ulcers is intermittent vomiting, but the vomit is often marked by the presence of blood. Yummy, huh? Blood can also make their stools a very dark brown or black. If you notice one of these signs combined with a sense of depression and/or weight loss, chances are good that your pooch is suffering from an ulcer. Your vet can confirm this with an X-ray, ultrasound, or even a procedure in which a camera is passed into the stomach.  

Once an ulcer is diagnosed, the hard work begins. The cause of the ulcer has to be isolated and eliminated – this can be fairly difficult if the primary cause is stress and your dog is naturally high strung. Some veterinarians will encourage you to use the same medications approved to guard human’s stomachs against excess acid caused by stress, and these can be very effective in helping treat both the ulcer and the stress. You’ll find that many supposedly high-strung dogs calm down substantially when their stomach and body aren’t causing them quite as much distress. If your pooch has developed anemia because of the ulcer, she may have to undergo blood replacement and medication to help repair the stomach tissue.  

Nearly all ulcers are treated with some combination of medications. Don’t be overly concerned if your veterinarian prescribes two or three different meds for your dog, as some help repair the stomach tissue, some reduce the acid in the stomach, and still others protect and cushion the stomach lining against any irritants so the other medications can work more effectively. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for your vet to be able to predict how long you’ll have to keep your pup on the meds. He or she will probably ask you to bring your dog back in for regular ultrasounds or X-rays to check on the progress of the medication’ effects, and you’ll have to continue giving your dog the meds until the vet gives you the okay to stop.