What might be wrong with him?

[ElectricDaisies]

Our JRTx is 11, usually happy, lively & healthy, but from Monday last week he became very miserable. He had periods of shaking and trembling, and was lethargic and withdrawn. Everything seems normal otherwise - temperature normal, nose cold, eating OK. (He's been on chicken and rice for a few days in case it was his stomach that was hurting.) He hasn't been vomiting and his faeces look normal, soft but no diarrhoea.

He's been seen by two vets, neither could find anything wrong by examining him and his blood tests came back clear. He's been on Metacam since Monday and is back to his usual self, but I worry that this is only masking another problem.

He did react with a little whimper a few times when his neck was touched, but this wasn't consistent and he didn't cry when the vets touched him.

Any ideas?

Perhaps the metacam has just done it's job and provided him with pain relief? All of the signs you describe can be indicative of pain.

If he is back to normal then don't worry about trying to think what else might be wrong, finish his prescribed course of metacam and see how he goes once you finish it/go to next vet check.

what aked said really. He might have some arthritic changes or maybe a transient bug. We often get viruses that lay us low but with no specific symptoms. Finish the course of metacam and see how he goes. Maybe try some nutritional support for his joints such as cortaflex .

I've no doubt he's been in pain and the Metacam is relieving it. I just wondered what might have been causing the pain. The first vet mentioned the possibility of a bug or virus, and said 9 times out of ten they just run their course. Would that show up on the blood tests?

Good point about his joints, he isn't getting any younger but is still pretty active. This just seemed to come on quite suddenly though.

How long would you keep him on the Metacam - the vet didn't say. Wasn't me who took him in as I would have asked!

until they run out. i think they are nsaids like ibuprofen so would help with a virus and pain generally. You might expect an infection to show on blood results in terms of raised white blood cells but not always significant raise as its a range rather than a set number. Just the same as arthritis can be picked up on physical exam it isn't always obvious. Dogs are extremely stoic when it comes to pain which makes the vets job harder!

Obviously if the pain continues after the metacam then take him back and they can investigate further.

Thanks. Good to know.
He's got a 10ml bottle which should last two weeks for his size.

He isn't any better

He's had usual blood tests which all came back normal. After the metacam ran out, he was obviously still not right, so they tested for meningitis which was negative. He was on tramadol pending the results, which was awful, he was even more miserable and stopped eating. He's now back on metacam and the vet says continue for at least two weeks and if no improvement, they will x-ray. He does have a cracked tooth, but the vet doesn't think that's currently a problem. I'm not so sure.

Thing is, he seems OK when he has some stimulation, he enjoys going to the vets because of all the other animals and interesting smells. They don't see how low he really is. The metacam may be helping a bit, but he certainly isn't happy.

He had the tooth taken out yesterday. He stopped eating so we insisted they looked at his teeth again, and the vet who examined him this time said that the broken tooth was clearly causing pain, it was worn down to the pulp and the nerve ending exposed. So thank god it's out. He's sore, but eating again and hopefully once the wound has healed, he'll be good as new.

Sadly he didn't improve, and it has turned out that he has an aggressive tumour in his neck. Although he has been examined by three vets, none of them felt anything there until this week. Tumour is growing and he was losing weight. We brought him home today after two days of hospitalisation and tests. He is comfortable now, but nothing can be done to save him.

Just thought I would add this sad epilogue. So devastated that it wasn't the bad tooth.

So sorry to hear about your poor dog :( tumours can be tricky to find. It must be quite a shock for you to come to terms with - hope you are ok xx

My eyes just welled up, truly sorry to hear that

I had a terrible feeling all along that it was something serious. We are heartbroken - he is such a tough little chap, we thought he had years in him.

I am so sorry to hear this. You are amazing to have done what you did for him. I wish it had been something that could be cured. Take care of both of you