need prayers for my sheltie Toby
 

Is sick and at the vets. :(.. Not sure what is wrong with him. Out of the blue yesterday afternoon he started coughing/hacking. He would have several episodes in a row. He didn't seem out of breath or in distress but uncomfortable and once awhile he was panting like he was hot. He is eating/drinking/elimating ok. He was still very active, like wagging his tail and getting excited when I would talk to him, however he would cough if he got too excited. He doesn't seem sick, other than the coughing. I dont think its kennel cough. He is never around other dogs other than my own, none of the others are sick. The only other dogs around us are my moms right across the street, they are never around each other and hes not sick, and the neighbor dog, one house away and that poor thing lives outside on a chain.
SO Im worried that it may be something really serious,:( he is 8 years old, gained quite a bit of weight because of the phenobarbital he is on for is seizures but otherwise has been an extremely heatlhy dog.
The thing that is bothering me the most is that I cant shake this feeling that its his time to go. :(. Has soon as I heard him coughing yesterday I have felt this way. It was a long night last night. Anyways, if you all could say a prayer for him, I greatly appreciate it.
I will update as soon as I hear something from the vets.
Terri..

Sending positive thoughts to you and Toby! I hope everything turns out alright! Good luck at the vets.

Oh, the poor guy. We're praying he's well and home soon!

update!!!

Thank goodness the news isn't bad.. :) however I was hoping for an actual diagnoses and really didn't get one, right now we are ruling things out. He hasn't coughed once since he has been at the vets, which I guess is good news. They ran a heart worm test that came back negative. She said that to her, he seems out of breath at times but thinks that his weight is causing that. She said his lungs were clear. They ran a blood panel to check his white blood count and his thyroid level (shelties are prone to this) and it came back fatty, this has happened in the past we retested him a week later after a 12 hour fast and it came back normal. They are putting him on a restricted/prescription food diet and they are going to retest him again in a week. She said that he isn't "old" more "middle aged" but is aging faster than he should.:( She wanted to start weaning him off the pheno but because he just had a seizure a month and half ago while on the pheno she wont. The pheno is contributing to his weight increase. She also mentioned that it may be an allergy, but its more than likely his thyroid but until she can redo the blood work we wont no for sure.
I feel better now, knowing that he will be ok. I know that I probably worked myself up into the panic frenzy that I was in, I've had several dogs this year in my immediate family die from cancer or freak accidents and when he started with his coughing yesterday all I could think was the worse.
I will update again next week after his second round of blood work.
Thanks to those who posted I certianly do appreciate it. :)

That is good news. I am glad your worries were put to rest.
Hope you both have a better night tonight sleeping.

Get well soon Toby!
 

I'm pleased to read that Toby's initial tests haven't found anything serious. I know how worrying it can be when a pet is ill - you immediately assume the worst.....keep us posted on his progress....am sending (((hugs))) and positive thoughts your way:) xxx

I'm glad it wasn't bad news! Hopefully your vet can get to the bottom of everything soon! :)

Terri, praying that Toby gets well soon.

Terri,
I'm saying a prayer for your darling Sheltie. I have had three of them myself and they are the most loving, precious little dogs. I'm hoping he is better soon.

Glad you got better news than you were expecting. Hope he get well soon

Thank you all for the prayers and kind words. He is still coughing some, but the spells seem to be less in frequency and dont last as long. Im not totally convinced that he just didnt have a "cold" but Im glad that he went so we can figure out why he has gained so much weight, in such a small amount of time.
He went back to the vets this morning for another blood redraw and hopefully his blood isnt too fatty and we can get a diagnoses. I will update again later when I hear more.

Hope everything works out and goes smoothly for Toby.
Sending prayers and hugs:hug60::hug60:

Another update!! (sorry it took so long)

I wanted to thank those again who responded. ;) I really do appreciate the support and so does toby. :) He was at the vets again on wednesday and they were able to get a normal blood draw and send it out to the lab. His coughing is gone and his lungs were clear. :). Im still waiting to hear back from the vet regarding the results. I did call yesterday around 3, because he was almost out of his prescrip food and I needed to know if she wanted him to stay on it, spoke with the tech and was told that they only had a few of the results back and that she would have the vet call me back. She never did. So IM going to call back on monday. I bought more i/d food anyways at our local vets (i take my dogs somewhere else). He seems to be happier and more energetic since he has been on it. Not to mention, Im still not postive that his coughing wasnt some kind of reaction to the other food he was on. Within 2 days of him being on the i/d his coughing was subsiding. So regardless of the results I think he will remain on the i/d. Anyways, as usual I always end up rambling. :) I will update again as soon as I know his results.
:)