My little guy, Two-Tone, isn’t feeling well. I’m a wreck.
Last week we noticed that he was licking and scratching a lot at his lower back. A visit to the vet told us that he had a blockage on a gland on his butt- a gland that dogs express when they defecate. The vet expressed it for him, and sent him on his merry way.
Yesterday, I noticed that he was acting a bit sluggish. This morning, he’s VERY sluggish. Normally Two-Tone’s got the energy of ten normal dogs; today, though, he’s moving like an old dog. He doesn’t feel like he’s got a fever, if anything, he feels cooler than he usually does. He’s definitely favoring his rear legs. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t eaten anything, nor drank any water, nor gone to the bathroom since yesterday afternoon.
I’m taking him to the vet in an hour. I’m not really sure how I’m going to get him into the truck without hurting him- he’s seventy pounds of muscle.
I’m also not really sure on how I’m going to pay for this- taking him to the vet Thursday took a huge chunk of my discretionary funds for the month.
To top it all off, he’s primarily my wife’s dog. She’s out of town, visiting family.
Crap.
Poor baby, not eating or drinking is not too worrisome but the no potty part…that needs investigating.
I hope he feels better soon. Give him extra hugs for me. (no doggie treats yet till we know what’s going on with his digestive parts.
** Lightnin’ ** do you live in an area with ticks that carry Lyme’s disease? It sounds like pretty classic symptoms. You may want to ask your vet specifically about it, as it is treatable.
Good luck
It sounds like he has some sort of illness that’s causing pain and swelling around his spine. That would account for the slower movement, favoring his back legs, and chewing at his back. Was he actually chewing at his back or at his butt when he went in before? And what, exactly, did you tell the tech when they checked you in? I’m wondering how chewing at the back would lead to expressing the anals, but sometimes things get miscommunicated.
Let us know how he gets on.
That’s terrible. I hate it whenever my puppy gets ill, I hope everything is alright with your doggy. You mentioned that the vet cleared out a blockage in his anal glands? Is it possible they’ve gotten infected? I don’t know exactly what symptoms that would cause, but seeing as how there was a blockage, and now he seems to be having problems with that region again, it is a possibility. Let us know how the poor baby’s doing, and give him a special dinner this evening (which, of course means pampering the other dogs as well, but hey, what are puppies for if not pampering, eh?).
Well, Two-Tone’s dozing at my feet as I type this. He’s definitely feeling his old self again, full of piss 'n vinegar. No side effects whatsoever from this last weekend.
Of course, now he’s started licking and chewing at his butt again. sigh
I’m curious as to why is it humans seem to be the only animals that find licking their own asses disgusting? I mean, aside from the fact that it is, but anyway…
It’s good to hear your puppy’s doing better. He may still have some problems with his anals, so you want to keep a lookout for that. My dog’s had problems before and due to his monsterous size (sure he’s only 32 lbs, but for a Welsh Terrier, he’s a fucking horse), his anals act up a good amount, so he distributes the same behavior failry often. get the vet to show you how to clean them out and just keep him on track. It’s gross and smells really bad, but at least you won’t have to deal with sick dog or sudden discharges on your nice clean pants (never a fun thing).
Once again, YAY FOR HEALTHY DOGGY!!! I’m glad everything turned out alright.