Small yorkie with arched back and obvious pain

[yorkies_lover]

First of all, hello to everyone.

My dog is having a really rough time lately, and i really do not know what to do anymore

Ill try to keep it short and to the point,all the details can be found in the medical history which is, unfortunately, extensive.



Yorkie
1.1 KG
10 months
Male
Miscellaneous medical conditions: undescended testicle, few milk teeth still not out.

He has a healthy appetite and a little reluctant to drink water, but i moisten my finger and get him to drink eventually.

His current symptoms are arched back, occasional circling, walking strange with his head to the right side(almost as if wanting to lick his back), and sometimes pointing his head up high.
Sometimes he yelps in pain when getting up or being picked up(but not always), and does not respond with pain when i touch every part of his body(spine, teeth, abdomen, everything).
Reluctant to come when called or to be picked up.




He had blood work done numerous times, x ray and x ray with contrast, none of which showed any obvious indications, other then rapid progression of the contrast agent through his intestines.
We took him to 2 different vets 5 times for this condition, and nothing helped. After all the tests, the last vet instructed a change in his diet and some probiotics.

I read online that treatment for digestion with probiotics and change of diet takes time, 2 weeks or more, but i dont want to lose time if there is something more serious. He has been like this for 3 weeks now.



I know you dont go on threads and googling when something is bothering you or your pet, you go get it checked out and done with.
But I did that five times and I am running out of money and they dont find anything wrong with my dog.

It pains me to see him like this and i would pay any amount just to make him get to his old self.

Any help you can provide is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel

MEDICAL HISTORY

About a month and a half ago (18th November), we were on vacations. He was on the floor with a larger dog when there was a sudden bang. When i picked him up he was completely unresponsive.
His eyes were looking around, but his whole body completely limp and lifeless.
He was rushed to the emergency and diagnosed with shock and remained there overnight and was administered IV fluid. Within a few days he was back to his old self.

2 weeks later (1st December), on the last day of the vacations an as we were to board the plane he got diarrhea. He was taken to the vet the next day and was treated for it with, IV, vitamins and medication. Bloodwork shown all the normal levels.

A week later (8th december), we got up in the morning and he placed his paw on my other dogs back (a female yorkie of 1.7 Kg), she growled at him and he stiffened his back and yelped out.
There was no physical contact.

Ever since then he has been displaying the above stated symptoms.

Vet who treated him diagnosed a pinched nerve, and treated him with following medication and massaged him, and told us to come again for the second treatment the next day.

rimadyl
dexafort
gentamicin
vitamin d

He was ok for a 2-3 days, but it deteriorated again to the point that we had to take him back 10 days later (20th december).

They did bloodwork tests and added coffein, novalphen, vitamin c and clamoxyl to the mix. They injected all that into an IV and left him with a vet tech who monitored the IV drip.

I noticed he already received 100 ML and i asked the tech how much is he supposed to get, and he responded with "i dont know"

I went to get the doctor, which was sitting in an office and told him to get back and check what are his minions doing.
He came back and said he needs more. In total, a 1.1 kg dog received 200 ML of liquid. And after all that, he didnt even receive the full amount of the medicine, since the bottle still had 150 ml left.

I am no veterinarian, but thats like someone pumping 6-9 liters of iv into you. Poor dog was peeing himself as he was getting th iv.
Later he was vomiting and panting in obvious stress.
He told us to come 2 more times... last time i ever go there again.

I called a fellow dog owner for advice and we immediately drove him 2 hours to a supposedly better veterinarian. He could not do much because xray and ultra sound showed large amounts of gas and bloodwork would be contaminated by the IV.

We came 2 days later when he was given xray with contrast aswell as complete blood work. Everything was normal other then that the contrast has progressed through him in 15 min, and normal time is one and a half hours. He also had low blood sugar, vet told us because we didnt feed him for 10 hours (told to do so because of the tests). Probiotics and LG yogurt, rice and Intestin by eukanuba were prescribed.
He was injected with reglan and vetalgin.

After the visits to the vets and getting the IV and not eating much in those 2 days, he was back on his old self. There werent symptoms of pain and he was playful and acting healthy.

Five days later, he is displaying symptoms again. There are times when he is not, but its obvious something is hurting him.

[hazelrunpack]

How are his stools? A lot of the symptoms are similar to what we were seeing in Evan when he developed inflammatory bowel disease. The stools would be bloody, though--progressing to tar-like.

It could also be back pain related to the spine or even kidney malfunction. Very difficult, sometimes, to pinpoint a cause. I know that helpless feeling while you're waiting for a diagnosis.

I hope you find some answers, soon!

[yorkies_lover]

Hello, his stool is regular and normal color and somewhat soft, possibly due to the fact we are now feeding him rice and special dog food.

We took him again to the vet today and he freely donated a sample in the vets office... a bit embarrassing.

He also got tested for possible pancreas problem, and it came back negative. X ray was clean and ultra sound was inclocusive due to high gas in his bowels.


Palpation was performed by two vets all over his abdomen before and after a dose of painkillers, he didnt not react in pain at all. When the vet touched the liver, kidneys and pancreas, he did not yelp in pain, as he should if there was a problem.

The vet instructed us to give him only rice and some chicken, antibiotics and Buscopan (hioscin butilbrmoid) to relax the pain from spasms.

He also told me that he exhausted all the diagnostic tools at his disposal, that now we are left with exploratory surgery or a MRI to pinpoint the problem.

He assured us that what he has is not life threatening, but I want him to be healthy and living a life without pain.

Can you post a link to the thread about Evan, i couldnt find it using the search tool.

Thank you!

[angeldogs]

I wonder if it is the high gas in his bowels causing it. my boy a couple of years ago was some what like this.blood work was normal xrays too exept for the gas in the bowels.we were told to put him on a plain diet for awhile and try another food. so i switched to a fish based food as it is good for allergies and sensitive tummies and is cheaper then food based for sensitive tummies. all that gas could cause pain. thats what the vet had told me.

[yorkies_lover]

Originally Posted by angeldogs

I wonder if it is the high gas in his bowels causing it. my boy a couple of years ago was some what like this.blood work was normal xrays too exept for the gas in the bowels.we were told to put him on a plain diet for awhile and try another food. so i switched to a fish based food as it is good for allergies and sensitive tummies and is cheaper then food based for sensitive tummies. all that gas could cause pain. thats what the vet had told me.

i really dont know, i hope its something like that and not an organ failure

can you tell me after switching the diet, how long did your dogs health return to normal?

also i forgot to mention, creatine levels were low in his blood work, but the vet said its normal because the condition was present for a long time and the fact that he hadnt developed any muscles in that time accounts why

[angeldogs]

It took a few days or so to get all the gas out of his bowls then he was fine it was finding a different food. i was feeding acana at the time and it just didnt agree with him. which was to bad as he would drool as you were putting it in his bowl.

I was also doing short walks to help get the gas moving.