[WARNING: WORDS AHEAD!]

my dog mia is acting really weird. she started this occasional limp involving her right hip about 3 or so weeks ago. i only saw it after she'd been playing really hard, jumping off the deck (2' up), etc. it would be fine in the morning.

about a week ago she started itching. she'd scratch w/ her back legs and chew on her stomach. this is typical for her when she comes in contact w/ corn or fleas, both of which she has bad allergies to. she has no fleas, the other dog has no fleas, i haven't seen any in the house. i checked out her stomach and it's as red as tww borders and matted all up. i cut out all the mats and the rest of her stomach hair and rub it down with anti-itch cloths. i gave her an allergy pill.

we are very careful about what she eats, but she may have eaten some wet cat food a week and a half ago. it's usually my other dog who does this, but the food was gone and i have no way of knowing who did it. this would make sense b/c the first place she tears up is her stomach, but this started well after it would have typically. it usually takes about 1-2 days for her to start scratching.

anyway, this morning she didn't want to get out of her crate. i put breakfast out and she went straight to the backdoor and sat weird. i figured she really had to go so i let them out. suki ran into the yard and mia just sat down weird again on the deck. i let them back in, suki eats, mia doesn't. mia doesn't really like food, so if she's the least be uncomfortable she doesn't eat, so again not too odd for her. suki goes to eat mia's food and mia attacks her. she doesn't stop until i physically remove her. she gets in her crate and doesn't budge until i force her to go out. she pees then and comes back.

i went home for lunch and she's still doing the walk-sit down immediately in a really weird way thing. she scratched w/ her bag legs a bit then started crying, walked right back to her crate. i call her out to examine her stomach. normally she comes right away but she didn't until i whistled. it was a tiny tiny bit less red, but i could see where she had actually pulled hair out and it's raw. went to the kitchen to get the hot spot spray, she ran back to her crate. i call her again but she won't come until i walk in there and tell her to get up. sprayed her stomach, she runs off back to the crate.

i'm leaving home to go back to work, she comes and sits weird in front of me then cries.

i can't figure out WTF could be going on. the stomach chewing + sitting weird + occasional limping doesn't add up to me. other than these things she is a very physically healthy dog, very smart and very obedient (she's a border collie). she's never been anywhere near overweight. she'll be 7 in march and i've had her since she was 5 months.

sorry for the kajillion words. thank you very much to anyone who read it all. i'm leaving work early hopefully to take her to the vet tonight, but i'm worried so i wanted to see what someone else thought.

mia


[Edited on February 3, 2010 at 1:32 PM. Reason : ]

2/3/2010 1:30:47 PM

I would definitely take her to a real vet dude.

2/3/2010 1:38:51 PM

um yes, as previously stated i am taking her to a real vet this afternoon. i can't do anything b/w now and then so i wanted to get some thoughts on it while i wait...

2/3/2010 1:50:40 PM

so what's the status?

2/3/2010 11:35:05 PM

Mia is dead, she died at the vet of a ruptured spleen.

RIP Mia

2/3/2010 11:45:45 PM

That sucks

2/4/2010 5:55:34 AM

im sorry, dude. it's always tough to lose a beloved friend.

2/4/2010 7:11:46 AM

so sorry. always rough being a dog owner. still worth it though.

2/4/2010 7:18:03 AM

my roommate has spent over $17k keeping his 5 year old hound going over the last 2 years

2/4/2010 7:39:35 AM

fever, really bad allergy to who knows what, arthritis in right hip. she's on antibiotics, zyrtec, & rimadyl, and i'm spraying her belly 2x a day w/ this tea tree oil & aloe stuff. they gave her a steroid shot too. the whole time the vet was looking at her stomach she cried and cried. she isn't the type of dog to cry ever. she could barely move this morning but she should start feeling better later today hopefully. she at least ate a little bit this morning. she ate 2 bites last night and that was it. poor pup

2/4/2010 8:15:29 AM

Quote :

"Mia is dead, she died at the vet of a ruptured spleen. RIP Mia "

that was mean

2/4/2010 8:16:23 AM

yeah. at first i was but then i

glad her prognosis is a positive one!

2/4/2010 8:22:19 AM

thank you yeah that wasn't funny, but my skin is a little tougher since joining this place 9 years ago

the thing i'm worried about most is what she could possibly be allergic to now. the vet suggested it's a new allergy. grr. i guess the $400 allergy testing at the vet school is in my future

2/4/2010 9:39:56 AM

-Have you changed fabric detergent/softener?
-Do you let her on couches and use febreeze or another fabric cleaner.
-Have you used any different kind of fragrant air spray or candle?
-Does she go outside a lot, if so have there been any changes to the grass/walk outside (ie. salt/brine for walkway)?
-Recently, has she been around other dogs more often?
-Did you change her doggy shampoo? Do you use pet wipes?
-Do you feed her scraps or do you suspect any of your friends may have slipped her some food while you weren't looking?

2/4/2010 10:18:43 AM

no-Have you changed fabric detergent/softener?
no-Do you let her on couches and use febreeze or another fabric cleaner.
oh, i have used febreeze air spray recently, hmm-Have you used any different kind of fragrant air spray or candle?
not out a lot in the past week or so, no salt/brine/etc-Does she go outside a lot, if so have there been any changes to the grass/walk outside (ie. salt/brine for walkway)?
no-Recently, has she been around other dogs more often?
no-Did you change her doggy shampoo? Do you use pet wipes?
no, only other folks she's been around are my parents, and they know better-Do you feed her scraps or do you suspect any of your friends may have slipped her some food while you weren't looking?

so maybe it's the febreeze air spray. i've only used it twice, but i'm just gonna throw it away now. i'm buying her a new bed today that has a durable washable cover.

thanks for running through those questions. it seems obvious now. i hope this is the cause so that i can fix it.

2/4/2010 11:26:35 AM

hahah nvm!

[Edited on February 4, 2010 at 12:59 PM. Reason : d]

2/4/2010 12:58:26 PM

Quote :

"my dog mia is acting really weird. she started this occasional limp involving her right hip about 3 or so weeks ago. i only saw it after she'd been playing really hard, jumping off the deck (2' up), etc. it would be fine in the morning. "

Sounds like a CCL tear, resulting in a luxating patella. The necessity of surgery depends on the amount of clinical signs. Surgery is $1500-$2000. Pain from a luxating patella is extremely painful so some people treat as needed with NSAIDs if surgery is not an option.

Are you sure she is allergic to corn? It's really uncommon for dogs to be allergic to food and even moreso to grains. Food allergies are typically from protein sources.

2/4/2010 5:07:16 PM

Quote :

"Are you sure she is allergic to corn? It's really uncommon for dogs to be allergic to food and even moreso to grains. Food allergies are typically from protein sources."

no, actually this is one of the more common allergens for dogs. there is protein in corn. yes, i'm 100% sure she is allergic to corn. this is not a new development, she's been that way since around 1 year old-ish. we did the food trial kind of thing and narrowed it down to that. she also has a bad flea allergy and seasonal allergies. ragweed is awful for her.

there are no ligament or tendon injuries, the vet checked that. it's definitely her hip according to the 2 vets who did the exam. they said most likely arthritis. we'll do an xray sometime down the road and check it out. she's going on glucosamine and chondroitin supplements now.

2/4/2010 5:23:31 PM

bitch please, feed Mia a quarter of a frito and see what happens.

2/4/2010 5:24:23 PM

hehe, yeah. if she gets a bit of a frito, piece of popcorn, anything at all that has corn syrup, corn meal, or any corn product, her skin freaks out. it can be the tiniest amount.

2/4/2010 5:27:18 PM

I once forgot and gave Mia a cat greenie. A cat greenie is only about 0.2x0.6 inch.
She was super itchy for 2 weeks.

[Edited on February 4, 2010 at 5:29 PM. Reason : Greenies have corn.]

2/4/2010 5:29:00 PM

What about something like dog prednisone. It'll suppress her immune system and if the limp is being caused by some sort of allergic reaction, arthritis or some other autoimmune disease, it'll knock out the symptoms long enough for you to see a change.

That way you'll know if its autoimmune or now. It sure sounds like it to me.

2/4/2010 7:08:45 PM

mia was much better last night. she even played a little bit with her favorite ball. she seemed even better this morning. her stomach is only pink now. i tried to find her a new bed in town last night but no luck, no surprise. where's a good place to look in raleigh that's not petsmart or petco? i'm looking for a good durable removable washable cover with something better than just fluff inside. like baffles to keep it from settling. if it had bolsters that would be perfect.

we're definitely keeping a closer eye on her from now on.

2/5/2010 8:26:31 AM