Sick Shih-tzu

[LosC519]

My Mom has an older Shih-Tzu, 12 or 13 years old I believe. He's stopped eating and become very inactive, and I'm talkin inactive all day just laying down. He's been showing these symptoms for a week now. $800 in vet payments later... still no confirmation on what exactly is wrong with him. Our original vet did x-rays and blood work, and everything came up good except for a slightly larger than normal prostate (which explains his sudden urinating problem). The hospital vet (a more experienced vet) says it's something in his brain causing this. We had him in the hospital over night to get some iv fluid in him since he wasn't eating anymore. My mom would get him to eat but he would puke it out. So now hes on meds and not getting much better. He's a little more alert now but still just laying all day barely moving at all.

I took him out today and he fell off the picnic table I had him on, luckily he hit the grass. This is why I'm wondering if he's blind. He becomes alert when I call him but it seems like he doesn't know where to go. Can anyone help?

 

[fergalthefish]

well i'm not a vet (was a vet nurse many years ago) so dont quote me on anything but maybe its a stroke or something like that, if he fell off the table could be off balance, again could be brain probs as diagnosed by your vet.

 

[Bloo]

What a shame to hear and must be very distressing I'm sure - for you guys as well as your dog!
But I'm afraid if the experts can't tell you, neither can we. And speculating on a medical matter where we have no actual info is impossible.

Good luck though!

 

[LosC519]

I was hoping somebody could share a similar experience they had or know of.

A stroke did cross my mind, it seems as though he has trouble swallowing and his tongue sticks out. We are considering putting him down as this has been going on for too long now. Thanks, I'll be looking into strokes and older dogs but I doubt they fully recover??

 

[guppy fan]

Is the dog foaming at the mouth or twitching funny? Could the dog have gotten into anny kind pioson, spasificaly anti-deppressants? My shi-tzu got ahold of depression medication (she only had between 10-20 mg) and she lost her sight for a few days becasue of it. She also started to faom at the mouth and two twitch (the vet said that it was a form of seasure). We could tell that she was blind because we put a treet infront of her and moved it. She would keep sniffing where the treet was initailly instead of following it with her head. She came very close to dieing, but she didn't. She also has epilepsy now, but her medication does a very good job of controling it. I'm sorry about you dog. If he has gotten into something like this all you can really do is make sure he's eating and dringking enough. Chloe (my dog) had to have an iv for a few days when she was at the vet. I hope he does better! Keep us updated.

 

[zelandonia]

Is there a veterinary referral centre near you? I recommed referral to a veterinary ophthalmologist, internist, or neurologist depending on your dog's primary clinical signs and which specialists are readily available in your area. Good luck!

z.

 

[Tolak]

When my old cairn was loosing his eyesight he tended to stay closer to walls & larger pieces of furniture when walking. Towards the end he couldn't see much past around 18", if he was in the middle of the room he would walk until he got to a wall, and then start to walk along it as a sort of guide. He did the same with the fence in the back yard. He knew somehow what way to go when he got to the wall, he never really walked himself into some odd corner of the house, as long as the lights were on. At night he stayed in the bedroom, he knew his way around there pretty good.

The only thing that would throw him sometimes was when he would wake up at night, see his shadow, and think it was something that didn't belong. That meant attack the intruder, which was often the dresser. Turn on the light, he saw it was nothing, back to sleep we went.

When I teach my dogs basic commands I also do hand signals with it. He had gone almost completely deaf a few years before the eyesight problems started, hand signals worked fine. When the eyes were going you really needed to get up close with the hand signals. Tapping twice on the shoulder meant follow, he would follow you as long as you were within a foot or two, after that you disappeared to him.

 

[zelandonia]

How is your Mom's dog doing?

 

[emzyp]

a way of telling if a animal is blind is by looking at there eyes,if they look clouded over,or a greyisyh colour,then most likely there is a problem