Two Poorly Dogs - Very Worrying.

Thank you for welcome. Have not opened wine yet, I'm pacing myself!!

Welcome heliotrope another animal lover I see, it is so sad sometimes sitting in the vets surgery seeing poorly pets and upset owners I too always wonder how the animals got on.Enjoy your wine how lucky you are.

My very first message, and of course it concerns dogs ( a subject close to my heart) do hope poorly dogs are much better.

Called in at the vet this afternoon to collect bottle of wine won at their open afternoon raffle . A lady came in whilst I was there and seemed a bit tearful, she said she could not get her dog out of the car, been worrying about her ever since

Agreed; keep hoping for good news for them both.

Having not been on GN for a while, I was very sad to read about your problems, Phoenix and merlot. I think it's worse in some ways when the animal members of the family are ill than the human ones. It's so horrible not being able to explain to them and they get so stressed at the vets.
I hope you both get good news soon and really feel for you having been through similar things with our animals.

Merlot, sending all good wishes for your girls, and for you. I hope the anal gland problem is no more serious than an impacted/infected anal gland. That's horrible enough I know, as my doodle was on antibiotics and regular vet visits for weeks, and months later, he still keeps an eye on her to prevent a recurrence. (Only dog lovers/owners could discuss such things without wincing!)

Oh merlot sending every good wish, we are waiting for the result of Maurice's biopsy, so have an idea how you must feel.

Merlot I too have fingers crossed for Millie.

merlot, I feel for you and do hope that you see an improvement in Millie very soon. Pleased to hear that Peggy has recovered, though.

Oh, merlot fingers firmly crossed that your Millie gets better

It's so annoying having 12 month insurance as it puts pressure on decision making [although I suppose it made us have Hatties lump removed sooner rather than later]. I do hope everythings ok with Millie. Maybe she has found it harder to fight due to recently recovering from her pyometra and it will take longer for the antibiotics to work? Fingers crossed.

Merlot . It could just be an impacted anal gland. Fingers crossed.

Peggy is fully recovered but poor Millie looks to be seriously in the wars.

This morning the vet was certain she could detect a lump in the anal gland that's been causing all the trouble. This could explain why there has been no real improvement in her condition despite antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. If it's still there next week after she has finished the latest course of treatment she will be referred to the Animal Health Trust at Newmarket for a biopsy.

I've googled it (like you do) and apparently anal gland tumours are aggressive and usually incurable. Surgery is possible but I won't put her through all that as average life expectancy afterwards is often under one year and can sometimes be just a few weeks.

She's only six

Hope you see lots more improvement merlot, fingers crossed

merlot I do hope your girls are OK so worrying when our pets are poorly lets hope you see an improvement soon.Poppy sending wavey paws to your girls.

You're lucky, Phoenix. The very sight of a cat basket would cause any cat I ever had to do a swift disappearing trick. Subtle wiles were needed!

Fingers crossed merlot let's hope they make a good recovery.

Maurice has his appointment at 11am. I left the cat basket in the hall last night, rather than suddenly producing it this morning! Now all I have to do is casually sneak up on him and bung him in it. Poor Maurice, for all that he's a friendly affectionate soul, he hates being picked up.

Back from the vet. She is mystified as to what caused them to be so ill and has put them both on anti-biotics. Millie's recurring anal gland infection means she has had to have a course of ABs sent over from the Animal Health Trust but hopefully they'll do the trick. The vet thinks I should consider having her anal glands removed if the infection comes back again but I've heard there can be side effects and can even lead to fecal incontinence!!

We only have basic insurance for the two of them which means they are covered for one year per illness so if she has to have her glands removed it will have to be done before next February.

The vet wants to see them again Wednesday morning so hopefully there will be some improvement by then. I hope so as the special diet of lightly braised chicken breast and rice is costing me a fortune

Hope Milly and Peggy recover soon,so horrible when pets are not well,especially 2 at the same time x

My Cairn has just recovered from a very bad bout - never did find the cause but he was in hospital on a drip for a day and took about 10 days in total to recover. He was very weak for ages and had lots of TLC. Vet said that he has seen a lot of dogs with the same symptoms lately and they haven't been able to find the cause just put it down to a general bug.

Alabama rot has different symptoms I think.

Thanks everyone for your replies. No lesions so I don't think it's Alabama rot and we're not near any woodland. We're also in the wrong area for seasonal canine disorder.

My feeling is it's a contagious bug because they do everything together but there's a three day gap between symptoms which suggests an incubation period.

Hopefully the vet will have an answer.

The chances of it being Alabama rot are very slim merlot, but it's worth checking out the Forestry Commission's publication as they are collating the national statistics: www.forestry.gov.uk/alabamarot

I hope Milly and Peggy soon recover, merlot. It's rotten when our pets aren't well. My Nell sends them a big slurp!

Alabama rot I believe has spread to other areas of the UK since first spotted in Notfolk and New Forest. Best of luck- I too hate it when pets are porly

There's been warnings around here about letting dogs off in woodland. Apparently they run over a particular fungus in the undergrowth, get it on their paws and then ingest the fungal poison when they clean their feet. The symptoms are similar - D & S, dehydration and lethargy. The Sandringham Estate has had warning signs up for 2 or 3 years now. I had thought it was later in the year, but there's a lot of various fungi around here now. Could it be that?

I do hope they recover soon.