Weim health issue. Anyone ever experience this?

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:02 am

So about 2 weeks ago I noticed a golf ball sized lump on my almost 3 year old wiem's throat. Took him to the vet and they aspirated it and sent the cells to a lab. Lab said it was a reactive lymph node and wasn't sure why.

3 days later he started sneezing a lot. Like 7-8 hard sneezes In a row. His eyes were also watery and all blood shot. Back to the vet and they put him on drops and a broad spectrum anti biotic. They tested him for heart worm and tick born Illness which was negative.

Yesterday morning he was sneezing blood and didn't eat all of his food. Called the vet and said give it a day and let us know if it gets worse. Last night he could barely stand up after laying down on the floor. He yelped in pain when trying to stand and I had to help him up. Called the vet this morning and they suggested I bring him in to get the lymph node removed so they could send the whole thing to the lab and so they could take some X-rays so he is there now.

It seems like they have no idea what it is and the Internet is no help. I find everything from a fungal infection to nasal cancer. Anyone else ever have a similar situation? I know I'll know sooner than later but it be nice to calm my 8 month pregnant wife somehow with some good news.

Thanks
Jeff

shags · Post by **shags** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:19 am

Can your vet scope the dog's nose and see if there's a stick or something stuck up in there? Also ask the vet to take a really good look at the roof of the dog's mouth while he's anesthesized. Sometimes things get stuck in there, too.

I would be encouraged that the lymph node looked reactive. Worse by far if it showed lymphoma or metastisized cells from a tumor. Hopefully a full biopsy will show the same as the aspiration.

We once had a fuzzy cat that had the sneezing, red eyes, etc, and it turned out she had a big sliver of wood stuck under the skin under her eye. The chunk of wood was about 2 X 1/4 inches. Once it was removed, all was well.

Best wishes for a good outcome with your dog.

Post by **Sharon** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:44 pm

Excellent advice.

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:44 pm

Nose got scoped. I guess there were some sort of lesions in his nose/lips that they biopsied as well as the lymph node. The doc said it may be an auto immune disease but to wait until the results come back to figure out what needs to be done.

It's not looking good from what I am reading into on AID. Hopefully it's something else.

dog dr · Post by **dog dr** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:41 pm

hope its not blasto. good luck

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:27 pm

Symptoms sound similar however that doesn't explain the pain when trying to stand up after laying down for a while.

It's depressing to say the least watching a young extremely muscular dog struggle to stand up or get into the truck.

getzapped · Post by **getzapped** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:40 pm

Can dogs get staph infections? Staph causes joint pain and large absesses at point of infection.

setterpoint · Post by **setterpoint** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:22 pm

keep us posted on your dog good luck

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:09 pm

Thanks guys. Pain meds are at least making him comfortable. Takes a few days to get the biopsy results so hopefully he doesn't get worse in the meantime and they can get him fixed up.

DudeRN · Post by **DudeRN** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:42 pm

unfortunately, it is hard to know whether the joint pain is a progression of the original problem, or a possible side effect of the treatment that he has received so far.

The sneezing blood after the biopsy sounds like he could have been bleeding caused by the biopsy itelf, blood getting into his oropharynx. From that, he could have further developed an infection, and that might explain the pain. The lesions in the nose and mouth might have been the original cause of the reactive lymph node, but not necessarily the signs and symptoms you have been seeing since the biopsy.

How quickly did the lymph node become enlarged? Was it a matter of months, weeks, or days? To me, the fact that he developed the sneezing of blood so soon after the biopsy means they are connected, and I would be concerned about an infection.

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:02 pm

The blood sneezing was before the biopsy of the nose it was after the original needle aspirate of the lymph node. That being said his nose is very dry and cracking. I believe when he sneezes he ends up grazing the dry raw nose on something and it starts bleeding. After watching him for the past 2 days all day I'm getting a little better sense of what is going on. Not sure what is causing the sneezing though.

I feel like the enlarged node came out of nowhere. One of us would have felt it if it was a slow growth.

The joint pain occurred after he received eye drops and antibiotics when we first brought him to the vet and the white blood cell count was high in the cells they took during the needle aspirate if anything I would think the antibiotics would have helped not hurt but who knows.

I hate the waiting....

shags · Post by **shags** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:59 pm

Check out Herxheimer Effect, it's an inflammatory reaction to toxins produced by the kill-off of bacteria by antibiotics.

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:14 pm

No news from the vet on the pathology yet. He's better some times worse at others. His testes seem raw and are flaking skin. Here are a couple pictures of his nose.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1424135590.245920.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1424135603.618515.jpg

mountaindogs · Post by **mountaindogs** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:00 pm

I don't have any advice other than keep looking. Sometimes a second opinion and new eyes can help. During the Holiday season my old GSP had a chronic issue that the vet could not diagnose. A completely different issue with gagging and retching. After months and $$$ it finally got very very bad. We had 2 different vets looking and sharing thoughts. We all started searching into the unlikely possibilities and rare issues as well, and finally figured out what it was and got him on meds for it. He started to get better and is much improved these days but there were many days I worried he wouldn't ever improve.
So here's hoping you find the answer sooner rather than later.

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:48 pm

That's why I generally like this vet they have 8 different docs there to look at him and try and figure it out but if they can't help us out once these biopsy results come back I'll be taking ruger somewhere else.

vartz04 · Post by **vartz04** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:34 am

Well turns out they still don't really know why all of this happened at once but they think it's dermatitis, not actually a swollen lymph node but swelling of the fatty layer under the skin, and no idea on the joint pain. Started him on prednisone for the dermatitis and all the other symptoms are going away.

Hopefully this is a one time deal and I'll be hunting with him again in the fall. It's amazing the progress he has made hunting with little help from me besides taking him out and letting him find birds so I can't wait til next year.

Gun Dog Forum