[aliw]

My dog has been acting strange since tuesday with the weirdest symptoms and we can't figure it out. On tuesday I got home from work and his right eye was swollen and teary. He went to his dads for the week but I got a message saying he wasn't acting himself. He yelped a couple times out of seemingly nowhere, and had diarrhea and was laying around which is not normal. Also he wan't finishing his food and didn't seem to be drinking much, and jumped away from his "kong" which is his favorite toy in the world! His eye looks a little better the last couple days, but is tearing and he has thick drool coming out of his mouth on that side-not constant but he usually doesn't drool much at all though he is bullmastiff/rott. We got a prescription of pain med from a friend who is a vet and he seems to be slightly livelier also have been feeding him some chicken/rice and a little of his own food to settle his stomach...
I went to look in his mouth last night and he yelped when I was trying to open it, so immediately I thought it must be an injury in his mouth somewhere. We took him to the emergency vet today as it is sunday and she couldn't feel anything and said to keep an eye on him for a few days to see if he improves. Told us something about it possibly being a neck problem, or something in the root of a tooth that needs to be drained. Now tonight he yelped again. He was just walking along to come by me and lay down! He looked at me like "what was that" and proceeded to go and lay in the bathroom which is a place he never goes to lay (he has been doing this to the last week). Oh, one more thing is that his dried drool now seems to have a shimmer like sparkles in it, and I found a piece of 5 day old doo in the yard that had a couple spots that sparkled...I don't know of anything he could have eaten. We watch him like hawks and are very good parents so we are freaking out at these symptoms. I am going to watch and see how he is in the morning but plan to call his normal vet for sure if nothing has changed. Another night of no sleep worrying about my poor puppy. Does anyone have a clue what could be going on?

[cigwyllt]

What a worry for you. Neck injuries can cause really weird symptoms - think back to a time when you might have had a stiff neck - it could give you a headache, pain in your arms, in your back. I think it is definitely a case of your vet, someone you know and who knows your dog. Please let us know how you get on.

[Marc]

Sparkles has to be something he ate - I (a biologist) cannot think of any natural way for a canine to produce that symptom. Is the bathroom floor tile or linoleum? This would make sense if he has a fever or if there's warmth on his belly (perhaps from inflamation).

I would carefully inspect his teeth for injuries, loose teeth, and fresh contusions. Keep giving him rice to flush out whatever he ate, and make sure he's drinking water - if he doesn't have diahhrea yet, he probably will. Flavor it with chicken broth or see your vet for subQ fluids if necessary.

I suspect the swollen eye is a reaction to getting that stuff in his eye - maybe by rubbing his paw along the side of his head.

I completely understand if funds are tight, but get to the vet ASAP if his breathing becomes labored, he's not getting his fluids, his abdomen becomes tender to the touch, or his temperature gets out of the 100-103F (mammals cannot tolerate extreme changes).

[CorkyMax]

May be a 'long shot'---but will mention anyway--You never know! You said when you got home from work--Is your dog loose in the house while you are at work, and unsupervised--and hey! I am not 'knocking you' for that--I did it too while I was working! Do you have toilet bowl cleaner fixed in your toilet bowl that he may of gotten into and took a slurp or so before realizing it was bad for him and could of got it on his face and into his eye? Would this stuff have some kind of sparkles in it? Need some help here, MARC!?

Also hope you have gotten some water down him and he hasn't gotten dehydrated! Been about 6 days since this happened. He may have the spinal problems too--or the tooth problem. I hope things improve and I'm sure you know a pain med is only easing the pain and not fixing the root of the problem. OMG! I bet the pain med is Rimadyl. I hope not Be aware of the bad, sometimes deadly reactions to this med.

Here is the link to the thread in here on rimadyl: Please Do not Give Rimadyl (carprofen)--CAN KILL

Please keep us posted on how your poor baby is doing. We love dogs and don't want to worry and wonder if they are okay!

[Marc]

that would be a good guess - I would definately check the cake-type toilet bowl hanger for bites if you use one - since you're day 6 in, the key at this point is flushing him out (no pun intended) with rice if he'll eat it and make sure he's drinking - if he's not, the vet probably needs to give him subQ fluids - those are fluids injected into the fat that he can absorb (I've had 2 vets insist on doing it to my pets over the years to head off dehydration). It seems a vet's biggest fear most of the time is dehydration first, disease/malady second.

[aliw]

Thank you so much for the feedback guys! He is going in to see his vet today!! Talked to the doc yesterday. I do not have a toilet bowl cleaner and keep all cleaners and such in the laundry room on a shelf with the door closed but I did think of him finding something somewhere...at this point so many things are running through my head. He is drinking, though to me it seems like less than usual. Have been checking for elasticity/gums ect. All day yesterday he did the same thing...laying down in corners and such. The pain med he has is tramadol 50 mg and I was giving him 1 pill at first, then the emergency vet said he could have 2 or 3 so he had a dose of 2 yesterday am. I am just baffled as to why they wouldn't have checked anything else there, even done bloodwork or something. He was putting on a good face for them though, acting like he was fine! I suppose because it wasn't until after that visit I noticed the sparkes. Will update with findings at the doc today.

[Marc]

take sparkly sample if you can - they can put it under a microscope and try to figure out what it is

[aliw]

Yes, I plan to take the one in that I found (it's not fresh but at least they can see what I did)...and see if I can get him to go before his appt at 2. Really hoping it is nothing major. I'd rather be caught being over-paranoid than anything. Thanks!

Update-He didn't show anything that stood out to the vet. Brought a stool sample but she thought if he ate something it would show up in case we have to take x-rays. She did a corneal stain of his eye and it looked good. So we are starting with a blood test. Results will be back tomorrow, thursday am at the latest. If they show nothing we'll have an x-ray to see if there is something in his intestine.