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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| Really though. He will go with us when we go for a ride. He is fine starting out, but then he will get tired and can barely make it home. He can't hardly go a mile or two before it happens. In the next few days following an episode he can not walk. He crouches and basicly army crawls around. After a three or four days he is back to normal. He is a 3 year old Australian shepherd, started the summer of his 2 year old year. At first I though he was just not in shape, but how do you get a dog in shape that can't exercise? We got the vet scratching his head on this one. Any advise or experience with this?
Edited by Whiteboy 2014-05-15 4:39 PM
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
 
| Are his hips bad? Or heart murmer? That's the only thing I can come up with???
We have hounds and MANY times they have gone over 50 miles (yes 50) a night running in a coyote pen. The symptoms they come out with are sore pads, sometimes with the pad run off (raw), sore muscles. They pee red, which is actually them losing muscle cells due to exertion, not blood, per our vet. Something about over exertion causing the muscles to actually break down. Very thirsty and hungry, but no crawling around, even with sore feet.
Your dog is definitely a mystery.... |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | I don't have first hand experience with anything like this but the first thing I would likely look at is diet. I have no doubt you are already. Is it possible he's getting too much of something? Super strange.
ETA: Has he had his kidneys and liver tested? Maybe they aren't functioning fully and allowing him to get rid of the excess lactic acid. Or is he possibly anemic?
Edited by ndiehl 2014-05-15 3:14 PM
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 Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | What is a coyote pen? :( |
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Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| DLV - 2014-05-15 3:11 PM What is a coyote pen? :( A place to train my hunting dogs. 600 plus acres usually to run around.
Edited by Nateracer 2014-05-15 3:14 PM
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 Toastest with the Mostest
Posts: 5712
Location: That part of Texas | I'm not a vet or a doctor but to me, it sounds like some type of nerve pain/problem. The running distance may be enough to inflame his nerve so bad that he only starts showing symptoms by the time he hits that distance. I know when my flares up badly, I'm out for 3-4 days until it goes down and I can move again without problems. I hope you figure something out. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Nateracer - 2014-05-15 3:04 PM Are his hips bad? Or heart murmer? That's the only thing I can come up with???
We have hounds and MANY times they have gone over 50 miles (yes 50) a night running in a coyote pen. The symptoms they come out with are sore pads, sometimes with the pad run off (raw), sore muscles. They pee red, which is actually them losing muscle cells due to exertion, not blood, per our vet. Something about over exertion causing the muscles to actually break down. Very thirsty and hungry, but no crawling around, even with sore feet.
Your dog is definitely a mystery....
Hips are fine, no hear murmer. The first time it happened I thought it was just his pads had been worn and were sore, but they were fine. We have never ran blood on him yet. We have been messing with his diet, trying different foods to see if that helped. Vet is now reccomending to go to a nearly all protien diet and give a vit E/ selenium vitamin to him. We will see if that help or not in the next couple of weeks. Just really strange. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Red Raider - 2014-05-15 3:20 PM I'm not a vet or a doctor but to me, it sounds like some type of nerve pain/problem. The running distance may be enough to inflame his nerve so bad that he only starts showing symptoms by the time he hits that distance. I know when my flares up badly, I'm out for 3-4 days until it goes down and I can move again without problems. I hope you figure something out.
When he was a puppy the vet though the might have had his tail cut too short...I wonder if that may have something to do with it. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| ndiehl - 2014-05-15 3:05 PM I don't have first hand experience with anything like this but the first thing I would likely look at is diet. I have no doubt you are already. Is it possible he's getting too much of something? Super strange. ETA: Has he had his kidneys and liver tested? Maybe they aren't functioning fully and allowing him to get rid of the excess lactic acid. Or is he possibly anemic?
Never tested his kidneys or liver. This is probably the next thing to check. It does seem like excessive lactic acid buildup. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Awww poor fella hope that the vets get this all figured out soon  |
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 Dog Rescue Hero
Posts: 1660
Location: Oklahoma City OK | A darling catahoula type dog adopted me several years ago and immediately had symptoms sounding like your dog, but with mild seizures as well. Turned out he had heartworms and died very shortly thereafter. I hope yours gets better!
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | Whiteboy - 2014-05-15 3:26 PM When he was a puppy the vet though the might have had his tail cut too short...I wonder if that may have something to do with it.
What symptoms caused the Vet to come to the conclusion the tail was too short? Do you know for sure he was docked and not born with a Natural Bob?
Stop messing with food and have a blood panel run. I would really suspect Lyme. Make sure they check thyroid as well.
What is his coloring? Lot of white on head, etc??
karen |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| I'm sure his tail was docked. He is actually 1/4 border collie. The vet just saw and felt it and then did some physical test at the time. He is a black, white and brown tri, I dont have any pictures with me right now. |
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | Whiteboy - 2014-05-15 4:37 PM I'm sure his tail was docked. He is actually 1/4 border collie. The vet just saw and felt it and then did some physical test at the time. He is a black, white and brown tri, I dont have any pictures with me right now.
Tail shouldn't have anything to do with the current issues. Some like a bob, some at the first joint.
If there is a lot of white around the head, ears and eyes there might be some genetic issues. But if there is good coloring I would not worry about that.
Back to food..... I prefer grain free for my BC's and Aussies. But I doubt the food is the issue.
Back to blood work. Lyme can really kick an Aussie and the symptoms are hard to track. Again that and Thyroid would be my first bet.
If it is HYPP and he is closely related to Impressive I bet the University will pay you to do the study.
karen |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Thanks for the advice. We will start checking off the list. Haha, I know Karen, if he traces to Impressive we probably have bigger issues going on!
Edited by Whiteboy 2014-05-15 5:41 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 975
Location: The barn...where else? SW Missouri | Stitch4k9 - 2014-05-15 3:59 PM Whiteboy - 2014-05-15 3:26 PM When he was a puppy the vet though the might have had his tail cut too short...I wonder if that may have something to do with it.
Stop messing with food and have a blood panel run. I would really suspect Lyme. Make sure they check thyroid as well.
What is his coloring? Lot of white on head, etc??
karen
My thoughts went to Lyme disease also. My Aussie got it when he was around 6 years old. Treated him for it and he is now almost 14. Hope you get it figured out. |
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 It Goes On
Posts: 2262
Location: Muskogee, OK | Sounds more like a heart issue to me. Not all heart issues will have murmurs associated with them--so just because your vet doesnt hear one doesnt mean there isnt some sort of heart issue present.
While Lyme disease is possible (although not very common in your part of the country--if you are from Utah), it is usually a more acute onset of joint pain rather than after bouts of exercise. It can be a shifting lameness or more chronic, but the history you've given of getting worse after exercise and then resolving within a few days just doesnt fit the mold for Lyme to me.
If your vet has a portable ECG monitor you can ask to have him hooked up to it while doing a little bit of exercise. This will give you a good idea of what the heart is doing while its being asked to work a little harder, and therefore will allow you to possibly rule out if it is heart related or not. The fatigue that your dog is experiencing really points me to thinking its something heart related. This would be a first step for me--if your vet doesnt have one I would try to atleast go somewhere that does (most practices that see emergencies will have one on hand)... Or atleast go somewhere that has someone experienced with heart stuff that can work him up.
Good luck! |
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| What kind of dog is he? We raised labrador retrievers years ago. They DO have a condition very similar to HYPP. Our dog would collapse in her back end. We learned to carry Karo Syrup in a plastic bottle which we would give to her periodically when hunting. It helped keep her from having an "episode". Google the symptoms, but at least for now keep some Karo Syrup, corn syrup, in a plastic squeeze bottle (get them at Walmart-travel supply section). BEFORE you think you dog could have one of these episode, squeeze a bit of the syrup on his tongue. Also, give chicken/beef broth when you get back into the house. This helps get the electrolytes back in balance. ALWAYS provide fresh water along side chicken broth.... Allergies seemed to be a big trigger for this, by the way... |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
| HYPP is not exclusive to horses, tho it might have a different name for other creatures. Any way for you to draw blood during one of the episodes and have it checked for potassium and other electrolytes? |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Talked to the vet again this morning. We are going to pull blood while it is happening next time, and check for abnormalities. Thanks for all the advice on things to check out. Much appreciated!
Edited by Whiteboy 2014-05-16 10:17 AM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Whiteboy - 2014-05-16 10:13 AM
Talked to the vet again this morning. We are going to pull blood while it is happening next time, and check for abnormalities. Thanks for all the advice on things to check out. Much appreciated!
Check for CK levels,
and ask the vet to test for lupus ( can't remember the test, but as per my vet there are more dogs that have the disease then we think, dogs were actually the lab rats for the human medication. In Canada the test is 50.00. ). Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can effect any system in the body, my bull mastiff has it, his affects his skin, he is on a human med that costs me 30/month
Good luck with your dog |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| I have a 4 yr old blue merle aussie who does the same thing! He is OBSESSED with the frisbie, but if he plays too long or for consecutive days he will not be able to walk. He will be fine one day and then the next he will want you carry him outside to go to the bathroom, which is not such a small task with a stocky 50-60 lb dog! He is always worse in the morning, and will get better through out the day. Each morning is better than the one before it, but worse than the night before and will last about 3-4 days. Then he will be fine. He will have a hard time getting up and moving and just seems like everything is sore and just hurts. We have not been able to narrow down the cause ourselves either! |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| KMP - 2014-05-16 10:26 AM I have a 4 yr old blue merle aussie who does the same thing! He is OBSESSED with the frisbie, but if he plays too long or for consecutive days he will not be able to walk. He will be fine one day and then the next he will want you carry him outside to go to the bathroom, which is not such a small task with a stocky 50-60 lb dog! He is always worse in the morning, and will get better through out the day. Each morning is better than the one before it, but worse than the night before and will last about 3-4 days. Then he will be fine. He will have a hard time getting up and moving and just seems like everything is sore and just hurts. We have not been able to narrow down the cause ourselves either!
That sound just like mine. Hopefully we can find answers that will help you also. |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | Hope you get some answers soon. |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| When it first started happening, a couple years ago, I was told it was something similar to shin splints in a human. Which made sense to me as it had appeared to be only certain legs he would limp on. In the past year when he has had an "episode" it appears like his whole body is sore and nothing can really be narrowed down. I will have to think about everyone's advice on here and speak with my vet! Hopefully we can get it narrowed down, I just want to know what is wrong so I can do whatever I can to make him comfortable during an "episode" or prevent them from happeneing. He always looks so sad :( |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| The problem has been solved. The blood tests never really showed anything too abnormal. We changed his food to a high protein food and changed from feeding twice a day to once in the morning. He is now a happy camper! Just thought I'd share. |
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I think my dog has HYPP!