Hi Guys, I am hoping someone can provide insight or has seen this before. I have a 9yr American Bulldog. She was a healthy AB went in for a Skin Growth removal and came out a sick weak dog that afternoon which looks like neurological. She came out falling all over the place I initially thought when I collected her she was still recovering from anesthetic but the next morning she was still totally off balance when I went and saw the vet they spun a story oh it could be a new anesthetic which is still working out of her system. She improved a couple of days later and then just started dropping in condition. She cant walk without falling / sliding all over the place. We are running out of funds going from vets to a specialist and it feels like they are shooting in the dark. What they have ruled out so far:- * Not in pain, Specialist said several tests to rule out pain * Not hip displasia * No spinal injuries * Blood & Urine tests dont show infection * Her White Blood Count is very low the point where its not there Treatment to date has been Anti Inflammatory and Antibiotics - which neither has made a impact. The next thing they want to do is a sonar to see if anything shows up on sonar if nothing, then its next step. A spinal tap to test for meningitis - which again in itself is not cheap and they also said the procedure can be fatal. Has anyone ever encountered something similar with their AB's?
Sounds obvious, but have they checked her ears and done a deep swab? Ear problems can cause balance problems. Also, does her head tilt to one side? Do her eyes 'flicker'? Thinking here of vestibular episode
They checked ears but didn't do a deep swab. Tilting of head and flickering of eyes - nope. Also thought perhaps shortage of oxgyen whilst under,
Some medications, including drugs used for anaesthesia, antibiotics etc, can destroy white blood cells causing a very low white blood count.
Bronwyn, it is "some" medications which have a reaction on "some" patients, both human and animals, that can almost wipe out white blood cells. And there is no knowing which patient will have that reaction. But I am not sure whether that would cause the symptoms you describe, which do sound neurological, and again "some" anaesthesia medication "could" have a neurological reaction on "some" patients. [Please note that I have put the words "some" and "could" in inverted commas.] Just out of curiosity, whereabouts on her body was the skin growth removed, and had she ever had an anaesthesic before?
Hi Yeah fully understand. She had skin growth removed on inside of her thigh, a wart on her back, one on her forearm and few small others on side of legs. She initially only went for the one on inside of her thigh and when I went and picked her up the vet said dont get a fright but when we started shaving her we wound a whole bunch more. She had the same procedure done about 2 years ago and no problems what so ever (when I collected her fully coherent no problems from the anesthetic) , same veterinary clinic but different Dr. The Dr that worked on her the first time has retired and these are 3 new Dr's. We have thought that perhaps she was under for too long, but when I eluded to the fact was told no she was under anesthetic for a very short time. (I understand that the practice will not admit that there could have been a shortage of oxygen), just wish they would give full details of what went wrong so I know which direction to look. I mean we have so far spent R8000,00 on them running tests and xrays, now next week they want to run more blood tests which is another R2000.00 and if they think she requires a MRI that is another R7000.00 as they need to do it at a human hospital. And in the meantime they arent giving any indication of whats wrong.
If the vets have already run blood tests, taken Xrays etc and nothing showed amiss, what do they think they are going to gain by re-doing these tests? Apart from more Rs of course. Same with ultrasounds, lumbar puncture [spinal tap] and an MRI? And I would never put a nine-year-old dog through the latter two tests just in case they show something - both would require some sort of anaesthesia which "could" have been the original cause.
And what are they going to do IF the tests show something? Of course they will never admit to anything being their fault but oxygen deprivation during anaesthesia "can" lead to brain hypoxia which, in turn, "can" lead to neurological damage. My wonderful vet would never let a dog home until they had been taken out by one of the nurses, walking steadily, and pee'd.
