respiratory and eye infections? (update for likely diagnosis)

So Oskar seems to be sick again. this is not the first time this has happened, and last time he was sick like this, he has a respiratory infection, which my vet thought might be a secondary infection that spread from an eye infection. Like this, it started with his eyes being extra gunky (now they've got green gunk) and then instead of that clearing up, he starts coughing and holding his head up because he's got congestion there that I believe is leaking down his throat).

Last time, a dose of antibiotics and he was ok again.

But I'm puzzled...I've never had a dog that got infections like this. In fact, it never occurred to me that dogs get congestion/respiratory problems like this (more than anything, it seems like the poor boy has a bad cold, but he's a dog, not a person). Has anyone run into anything like this before?

I suspect the eye infections come from his micropthalmia, though there is very little info. on that available, because many dogs that have micro don't have mild cases, so they talk more about the huge problems with this (blindness, cataracts, etc) rather than the smaller problems, so this is total supposition on my part--I have no idea if it is really causing it or not. We try to keep both his eyes clean and we use lubricating drops we got from the vet to keep his smaller eye clean, but even so, he still seems to have some problems.

The only other thing I can think of is that he takes methocarbomal for his back pain, but he's on a lower dose that is recommended, even, and I don't see how that would cause respiratory problems (and I'm sure my vet will not believe it if I suggest it).

Or is he somehow just susceptible to these kinds of things? Do some dogs get infections like this?

Thoughts? Of course we'll take him in if he's not improving, but I'm interested in figuring out what the root problem might be, rather than just treating the symptoms.

btw, as far as I can tell, whatever happens to him is NOT contagious, or at least last time none of the other dogs got it, and this time everyone else is still quite healthy.
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Comments

  • Weak immune system? Poor guy, he keeps getting hammered
  • That's what I'm thinking. He seems to feel slightly better today,but now he's got yellowy goop from his eyes and his nose. I did finally look up that canine influenza thing people are wanting to vaccinate for these days, and was surprised at how common they act like it is, since I've never had a dog or known a dog that had it. I do think if what Oskar had was contagious we'd see it in the other dogs, though, and so far, like last time, they are fine.

    And it's for sure not bordatella, which everyone had a little bit of over the summer when Leo picked it up from the puppy play at the humane society.

    He seems to feel a bit better today after having some canine aspirin. I'm not giving him anything else right now, though just in case it exacerbates the proble.

    LOVE your new sig!
  • Thanks! I love that picture
  • Poor Oskar! He never seems to get a break. I hope you can get to the root of the issue. My guess would be weakened immune system?

    Could it be possible that is is just entirely coincidental?
  • Poor Oskar hope he feels better soon.
  • Waw, I hope Oskar feels better soon!
  • Well, we've had some news on the respiratory "infections" and it was not good news, unfortunately. Today Oskar acted like he was coming down with something again. He holds his head up and really still and his eyes are closed and he has problems breathing. I knew it was going to start again, so I called my regular vet and got him in (they've never seen him when he was having this--I've always had to go to someone else).

    We got him in and the vet said the lung congestion sounded more like asthma than anything else (something about expiration breathing....rather than when he breathes in). But what he noted was that Oskar's neck was very stiff, and clearly sore, and that he had significantly less mobility than he had in the spring when we first diagnosed his neck problems. After looking at xrays again, the vet thinks the problem is that the bone spurs and inflammation in there are probably pressing on the vagus nerve, that is effecting his breathing and digestion (he has pretty loose poop when this is going on).

    It's not 100% for sure, of course, but it does make sense, unfortunately. We're going to work on trying to stop inflammation in the neck, for now, to see if that helps, but if this is the problem, it will be reoccurring, of course, for as long as he lives (and of course it's pretty easy to see how this problem will shorten his life, but we already knew that once the diagnosis came in with the spine and neck problems. Also, we're wondering if too much activity exacerbates the problem--I've probably been letting him run around entirely too much since Leo has been here--yesterday, for example, he was chasing Leo through the yard for hours, and I wonder if that amount of activity was what made him be in such bad shape today.

    It's possible there is also an infection of some sort--perhaps brought on by inhalant allergies, or through gunk getting into his smaller eye. This could be multiple issues, but I do have to say the pressure on the vagus nerve made entirely too much sense for me to think it was unlikely.

    Poor Oskar. :(
  • Poor Oskar. The boy just can't catch a break.
  • :(
    I"m sorry to hear all of this. I hope he gets to feeling better soon. It seems like you might be getting to the point where you have to chose between Oskar being happy (playing with leo and romping around, ect...) and his health. It makes you wonder how to define the quality of a dog's life. You are doing an awesome job taking care of him and I'm glad he is in your hands. I commend you! :)
  • Poor Oskar! I hope he feels better soon.
  • Poor Oskar :(

    I truly hope he feels better quickly.... poor guy goes through so much. I am so glad he has you to take such good care of him!
  • Oh Lisa... I am so sorry. I know how incredibly frustrating it can be to have issue after issue with a dog. And Oskar is so sweet. :(

    I hope the anti-inflammatories help and that he feels better soon.
  • yeah, he's not doing much better today, and his back clearly really bothers him. Since it could be an infection, too, of some sort (URI), we are trying antibiotics. He's miserable, right now, poor boy. Vet suggested tramadol for the pain, but it looks like that was a mistake--now he's pacing and can't settle. It does that to my Shiba too.

    He was such a sweet boy in the vet though, and let people pet him (though he clearly was not really interested in it), and didn't even flinch with eye exams and looking down his throat for phlegm and all of that. But he did take issue with some yappy poodles.

    (And a minor WTF for the people with the poodles. I asked them to let me get him out of the way before they brought their dogs by, and they said, of course, "oh, our dogs are friendly." I said mine was not. Then they said "well, the girl does think she's bigger than she is and likes to bark at other dogs," and of course, by then, she was already trying to get in Oskar's face and barking. Then I said "you know, he's irritable right now, and I can't really control him well in his harness, so you might want to just get control of your dog." That did make them get their little monsters under control, thankfully. I could see Oskar go on alert and he lifted his lip a bit, but I was already moving him out of the room. Still, people are really dumb about dogs).
  • Im so sad for you and Oskar... I wish he felt better right now- i hope soon!! We love you Oskar!

    and I absolutely hear you about asking people to let you by and them not believing/acquiescing- I have had similar experiences with Sage at the vets. You do them the courtesy of telling them you are about to bring a reactive dog who doesnt feel good through and they give you that "what's wrong with you that you have a dog like THAT?" attitude. fuck em!
  • oh my! I hope u feel better soon Oskar!
  • I hate dog owners like that bad enough poor Oskar isn't feeling good he shouldn't have to deal with rude dogs. :\

    I just don't get people's mentality.

    I've seen few poodles who bark their heads off. Saya is just sitting their like what is that dog's problem?

    So sorry Oskar is going through this I've been thinking about him.

  • I am so sorry. Oscar is just too young for all of this. He's been through too much, and he's still just a pup.
  • Thanks for all your thoughts. We appreciate it.

    I'm pretty scared, actually. It's clear today that something is seriously wrong, and I do think my vet's diagnosis was probably right, because we're seeing a lot of wierd things that I think are neuropathy--we noticed his lips were more saggy than usual last night for example. Seeing some ataxia too, like the first time this happened.

    But the scariest think is my husband said while I was gone tonight he started howling and crying like he was in pain. I'm not sure that's what it was, though, because he did it again when I got home, and it was NOT a typical sound of a dog in pain. He seemed fixated on the other dogs, and even though they were quite far away from him (they know something is wrong with him and have been avoiding him) he suddenly started making these really bizarre noises, partial whine, partial growl bark--I can't explain it, but I've never heard him make those noises, or really any dogs. He tried to lunge at them, but he couldn't get up, so he just fell back down, but it was really freaky wierd. And kind of scary--wtf is going on with him? I could tell from his posture and the fact he's not panting like he does when he's in pain that it wasn't pain so much as something else, but what I don't know.

    The breathing problems are clearing up a bit (he's on antibiotics) but the rest is not. And if this is what we think then.....this will reoccur.

    Anyway....I'm pretty worried about him.
  • oh, Lisa...
    *hug*
    worried for you guys
  • I'm so sorry this is happening Oskar. I really hope he recovers from all this soon! I hope it's the whole "things have to get worse before they get better" situation. Hang in there!
  • Oh no, Lisa... :'(

    I am sending healing thoughts to Oskar... I wish there was something more that I could do, though. My heart just breaks for you guys.

  • It might be that his vision is getting affected and he doesn't know what's going on around him.
  • I think his vision might be affected too. The first time this happened and we took him into the (useless) e-vet,* the first question they asked was "how long has he been blind?" He wasn't blind, of course, but I wondered then if his vision was affected. I kept thinking, too, of how much the vagus nerve controls, and wondered if he was seeing something odd or not seeing well at all, or what.

    He seems better this morning. I think he'll pull through this like he has in the past, but of course....it will reoccur.

    *the e-vet here can be ok if you actually get to see the vet, but in our case, we only saw a tech, who thought he was blind, then said the ataxia was the result of meds, but of course we knew it wasn't--he's gotten the same dose for months with no ataxia whatsoever. We just had the bad luck to get a tech (possibly just an assistant not even a tech) who thought she knew what was going on and lectured us on the meds that are prescribed to him and sent us home. So obviously, we don't go there anymore unless we really have to. :(
  • Oh, Lisa, I'm so sorry. Its breaking my heart reading about Oskar. He seems like such a sweet dog, and its so sad he has to go through this. You guys don't deserve this.
  • I'm so sorry to hear about Oskar. You guys have been incredible. This is really sad. Everyone's thoughts are with you.
  • I'm just catching up on the forum. :( I'm really sorry to hear about Oskar. My heart goes out to you guys and I hope he's back to normal soon.

    He really seems like such a wonderful dog and you do everything you can to do right by him. It's very encouraging! You're such a good "mom"!
  • I'm sorry this is happening to Oskar. :( I wish I knew a way to help him feel 100%
  • Oskar seems a lot better today, and is not even sneezing anymore. He had a bit of ataxia in the back legs yesterday, but today seems back to normal. So normal, in fact, that he jumped at the window when he saw Toby in the house on the sofa. he broke the window. ARRGGGGHHHH! another thing I really didn't need or want to spend money on. :(

    I almost never yell at the dogs (unless there is a serious infraction and someone is going to get hurt) but of course I yelled then, and he is now moping around. Yes, that was very, very bad, Oskar.

    And as if we don't have enough to deal with, Bel had another seizure. Seems to be a mild one, but....ugh! So tired of constantly dealing with canine health problems!
  • @shibamistress--I feel you on the canine health problems and money....now i have figured out Kilbun problem and his surgery, time to focus on Kaiju's eyes!! (still waiting for hemopet's results for Bea)
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