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Hello all, I'm completely baffled by a mysterious illness in a 7 1/2 yr old female intact rottweiler. She's been bred once back when she was 3. She whelped 11 puppies naturally, was just fine and ever since her nipples have been this dark and large so please disregard that from the photos.
About a week and a half ago she started a limp on the right rear. No indication of pain on movement and manipulation, no visible sign of damage. Made some minor changes to bedding and hoped to see improvement. About half a week later when checked over after no improvement, noticed hardness in the mammory glands. Couple days later there was milk let down. This female has had an open pyometra before her one litter and has false pregnancies on a consistent basis. Starting Thursday 7/24/08 there was noticed blood while urinating. Suspected probable pyometra again. Brought in to vet on friday for spay/treatment for pyometra. While waiting to get started on surgery noticed some of the lesions on the abdomen but also noticed blood coming from the nipples, as well as from pressure callouses, as well as full gumline, AS WELL AS her nose. While under sedation and getting prepped for the surgery and after being shaved we noticed the true extent of the lesions. They extend very far. Oval shaped, some purple, some red with black centers, some just red spots. Various degrees of looking above or below the surface type bruises.
bloodwork showed slightly lower than normal white cells, and very very few platelets. Cancelled surgery, Also the serum color indicated liver problems. Upon digging through some books, aside from the limp, which we previously chalked up to plausible torn cruciate and were going to look into after recovery, it looked like a classic hemangiosarcomic cancer. But because of the limp we're looking at other possibilities. Tested for Heart worm, lyme, and erlichiosis and the test came back negative. Have bloodwork sent out for about 8 different other tests pending results right now. We were going to biopsy one of the lesions but the dog is hemorraghing, not clotting. A simple needle stick to see if there was fluid in the abdomen bled for a full hour and needed a clotting agent to stop. Clot test clotted in a normal time rate.
This dog has not had any known exposure to toxins, has a pretty stable sedentary life. Is indoors and supervised outdoors at almost all times. There is a small chance of neighbor poisoning but very slim due to the supervision. No plants or mushrooms or anything within reach of the dog's outdoor area. No pesticides or anything. Dogs don't go to farms or lakes and have not had any VISIBLE signs of flea or ticks but that is a possibility so we are testing for other tickborne illnesses in the tests we are waiting on. The dog is still active, alert, peppy and happy though starting to slowdown after the ordeals of the last 2 days.
Today when at the clinic more blood drawn, platelet count even lower and white cells slightly higher and other mild changes. Still bleeding from the gums. Started Vitamin K1 injection and the dog had severe allergic reaction and started anaphylactic shock. but we need her to start clotting so we can biopsy the lesions and stop the bleeding in the various places. As of the last hearing, the UA had too much blood in it to give any results worth using but they were going to fiddle with it as much as possible. The more she's been drinking the better the urine has been looking but still blood in it and reasonably thick near the ending of the amount being passed, and passing as clots from time to time now.
So she's more lethargic and eating slower and not wanting to get up, having more and more difficulty with the limping and staying standing. Seems almost like the limp is starting to affect the other leg slightly. She's on Sucralfate, then Vitamin K1, Diphenhydramine, Doxycycline, prednisone and witch hazel until we can see what the lab results say on monday. She's due back into the clinic monday with hopefully some improvement. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, please share. I'm actually the owner of the dog, not the vet, but I was an acting vet tech at Banfield for nearly 2 years and have been aiding this veterinarian off and on for a good 10 years. I've attached a picture so you can see a little of what it's presenting as (yes she's a little fat). Alas it's 12:30am and I don't want to go dig out the bloodwork results to post those but I will do that tomorrow. Feel free to email me directly.. mydogshowtime @ yahoo . com
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give this matter. So far the consensus has been cancer, tickborne disease, and possible toxin. So far my other dog has not shown any signs of this but I'm keeping a close eye on him and keeping him separated just in case, as well as to make sure he doesn't bruise her and cause any internal bleeding.
😕 E.
About a week and a half ago she started a limp on the right rear. No indication of pain on movement and manipulation, no visible sign of damage. Made some minor changes to bedding and hoped to see improvement. About half a week later when checked over after no improvement, noticed hardness in the mammory glands. Couple days later there was milk let down. This female has had an open pyometra before her one litter and has false pregnancies on a consistent basis. Starting Thursday 7/24/08 there was noticed blood while urinating. Suspected probable pyometra again. Brought in to vet on friday for spay/treatment for pyometra. While waiting to get started on surgery noticed some of the lesions on the abdomen but also noticed blood coming from the nipples, as well as from pressure callouses, as well as full gumline, AS WELL AS her nose. While under sedation and getting prepped for the surgery and after being shaved we noticed the true extent of the lesions. They extend very far. Oval shaped, some purple, some red with black centers, some just red spots. Various degrees of looking above or below the surface type bruises.
bloodwork showed slightly lower than normal white cells, and very very few platelets. Cancelled surgery, Also the serum color indicated liver problems. Upon digging through some books, aside from the limp, which we previously chalked up to plausible torn cruciate and were going to look into after recovery, it looked like a classic hemangiosarcomic cancer. But because of the limp we're looking at other possibilities. Tested for Heart worm, lyme, and erlichiosis and the test came back negative. Have bloodwork sent out for about 8 different other tests pending results right now. We were going to biopsy one of the lesions but the dog is hemorraghing, not clotting. A simple needle stick to see if there was fluid in the abdomen bled for a full hour and needed a clotting agent to stop. Clot test clotted in a normal time rate.
This dog has not had any known exposure to toxins, has a pretty stable sedentary life. Is indoors and supervised outdoors at almost all times. There is a small chance of neighbor poisoning but very slim due to the supervision. No plants or mushrooms or anything within reach of the dog's outdoor area. No pesticides or anything. Dogs don't go to farms or lakes and have not had any VISIBLE signs of flea or ticks but that is a possibility so we are testing for other tickborne illnesses in the tests we are waiting on. The dog is still active, alert, peppy and happy though starting to slowdown after the ordeals of the last 2 days.
Today when at the clinic more blood drawn, platelet count even lower and white cells slightly higher and other mild changes. Still bleeding from the gums. Started Vitamin K1 injection and the dog had severe allergic reaction and started anaphylactic shock. but we need her to start clotting so we can biopsy the lesions and stop the bleeding in the various places. As of the last hearing, the UA had too much blood in it to give any results worth using but they were going to fiddle with it as much as possible. The more she's been drinking the better the urine has been looking but still blood in it and reasonably thick near the ending of the amount being passed, and passing as clots from time to time now.
So she's more lethargic and eating slower and not wanting to get up, having more and more difficulty with the limping and staying standing. Seems almost like the limp is starting to affect the other leg slightly. She's on Sucralfate, then Vitamin K1, Diphenhydramine, Doxycycline, prednisone and witch hazel until we can see what the lab results say on monday. She's due back into the clinic monday with hopefully some improvement. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, please share. I'm actually the owner of the dog, not the vet, but I was an acting vet tech at Banfield for nearly 2 years and have been aiding this veterinarian off and on for a good 10 years. I've attached a picture so you can see a little of what it's presenting as (yes she's a little fat). Alas it's 12:30am and I don't want to go dig out the bloodwork results to post those but I will do that tomorrow. Feel free to email me directly.. mydogshowtime @ yahoo . com
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give this matter. So far the consensus has been cancer, tickborne disease, and possible toxin. So far my other dog has not shown any signs of this but I'm keeping a close eye on him and keeping him separated just in case, as well as to make sure he doesn't bruise her and cause any internal bleeding.
😕 E.
