Something is dreadfully wrong! Help!
 

I am about at my wits end and very, very worried about Daisy. She is my 6 year old baby :aimeeyork ...and ever since about a month ago when I moved into my new apartment with my 7 yr old daughter and our two Yorkies :aimeeyork :aimeeyork , Tudy and Daisy, our little Daisy has not been the Daisy we all know and love and enjoy. Something is wrong with her.:confused: ..and the Vet and the Animal Hospital Vet cannot find anything except for maybe a sensitive vertebrae, but nothing shows up wrong on the xrays and she has a clean CBC :confused: :confused: . Here are her symptoms...1) She does not eat or drink without prompting and without me putting food in front of her face, 2) She does not look up at you, she is always looking at the ground and seems to be cowering whenever I call her out of her hiding place in the closet. 3) She does not go up and down the stairs or walk outside at any other pace than as slow as she can...but she does do her duties outside, albeit very little since she is not eating or drinking much. 4) When I pick her up she makes a whining sort of sound that goes along with her breathing...and if I'm not careful picking her up she will yelp sometimes. I think she is in a lot of pain . The Vet gave me pain and anti-inflammatory meds for her that seem to help a little but do not alleviate her pains much. 5) Her little belly gets extremely tight and bloated a lot...sometimes after she potties it seems better. 6) And finally I do carry her up and down the stairs all the time, 3 floors, and when I let her down and after she walks around for a little while, she is favoring one front paw...she'll lift the other in the air. What is going on? Right before we moved and before this behaviour for a typically very happy dog, she was in heat for a long time, seemed like 4-5 weeks. She has no fever so no infections. All her blood counts came back fine. The xrays look fine in regards to her spine but they haven't looked at any xrays of her other bone structures yet. We are going on about a month now of all this and I feel terrible :cry8: for her because it is not getting better. The Vet told us he had a Yorkie once that had extreme symptoms during a false pregnancy so for us to hold out and wait for a few weeks. And I cannot find any other signs or symptoms similar to hers on the internet. The Vet said that if she stays this way indefinitely we should probably consider putting her down.:cry8::cry8::cry8:..I couldn't bear it but watching this go on is difficult as well. Help...Help...Help...if you have seen or heard of anything remotely close to this, please post or email me privately as we are desparate at this point to find a resolution to her misery. Thank you.

Oh my goodness...I am so sorry about your baby's condition! I wish they had a diagnosis for her, as it would make it easier for your vets to treat her. Poor little thing!
I hope someone else can give you some advice on this. Praying for you and your furbaby!!

Oh, my heart goes out to you and your Daisy...for starters I would demand x-ray for her front paw...Changing her food maybe to something that you could cook for her and take her off of commercial dog food and treats JUST to see if this makes any difference...kind of sound like she may have more than one thing going on....What does she eat??? Are her BM's normal? Did the Vet do anymore blood work other than a blood count??? Like a chemistry screen of all body systems??? I wouldn't waist any time waiting.

I don't know but one of these ladies will I'm sure. I am pretty confident that they know everything.

Here's hoping she'll come around and be the Daisy you all know her to be.

only thing i can think of is get another opinion. she should not be suffering like that. poor thing. sure don't sound like a false pregnancy to me. I sure dont' know. I feel for you both. I know I would be a mess if mine were in pain like that. I will watch for an update from you. I hope you find out what is wrong soon. she is in my prayers.

I would try and see an internal medicine specialist who may have more experience with hard to diagnosis illnesses. Have they checked her for kidney stones?

From your other thread you stated you got Daisy about 6 months ago from a lady that used to kick her. I would take her to an internal medicine specialist.
Who knows she might be having problems from an injury from awhile ago.

.....almost sounds like a stroke or something similar ! ...i am a nurse, so just thought it could be mentioned to your vet to give her a brain scan, just to check she is ok there.....this could possibly be remedied by treatment.
...it could be a reaction to something like food/meds, or it sounds also like an injury somewhere, (leg, nerve damage, spinal cord or internally) as she is obviously in pain.....she needs to be seen by someone determined to look for the cause, and quickly, as she and you are suffering, and to have this going on this long is being let down by your vet at the moment.
....i pray this isn't going to be expensive, and that something can be done to give her a good quality of life.
.....she is very lucky to have you as such a caring owner, good luck and my thoughts and best wishes are with you.

:animal-pa Debra x x x x

If her tummy is bloated at times and she doesn't want to eat, and seems to be in pain when you pick her up, in conjunction with the unusual period of heat almost sounds like she is having an issue with her female organs, perhaps her uterus. If she was kicked previously, it may be possible that her internal organs, possibly her uterus, were injured. Favoring her paw could be another injury, but it could also be her way of trying to alleviate some kind of internal discomfort. I say this from my own experience with ibs. At times, when bloated, the pressure tends to create shooting pains in the chest area. The paw lifting could be related to reacting to something like that. I'm not in the medical field, but I do a lot of research on my own because of my and my daughter's issues with irritable bowel and other health issues I've had over the years. So I'm just doing an educated guess. But that might be an area for you to try researching on. One thing I do know is that disorders that involve the internal organs tend to be hard to diagnose because of referred pain.

I agree with the others - get a second opinion. If the symptoms began right after you moved in I'd be looking around to see if there was something she got into. Move the stove, refrig see if there was anything behind them.
I had a rabbit that got behind our stove and the previous owners had put out rat bait. The rabbit chewed on the box - didnt eat the poison. She became very ill, bloated tummy and had leg seizures. When we picked her up she would shreik (in the way only a rabbit can). I took her to the vet and he couldnt find anything - even the bloodwork came back negative. Finally I took her to the University Vet Med clinic and they ran extensive tests and found the poison in her system. That rabbit lived a long life - but was never allowed to wander the house unsupervised again!

Zsa-Zsa, Eva and I are sending healing prayers your way!

.....mmmmm rat poison would cause a stroke.

as i was reading your post i noticed a couple things that pointed me towards a neck problem. One she won't look up at you. two she won't go up or down stairs, and three she is favoring one paw, and lifts the other in the air. sometimes when dogs have neck problems they will actually hold up a front leg, which would make it seem like they have something wrong with the leg but that's not the case. Have they taken x-rays of her neck? also has she been tested for lyme disease or other tick borne diseases? they show similar symptoms sometimes.

What i would do is fine a orthopedic specialist to look at daisy. They will be able to better diagnose her problems, or they would be able to see if it is moer neurological and recommend someone else for you. Do you have a veterinary referal center anywhere near you?

http://www.vcaareca.com/ is this place near you? i'd try and go there to get her looked at by the surgeon

Please, please take her to as many vets as it takes to figure this out. I don't think you should put her down unless you get an accurate diagnosis and it's something that is untreatable. Don't let them tell you to put her down because they can't figure it out. Has she been tested for lyme disease? Lyme disease, if left untreated can cause lots of aches and pains. She definitely needs to see another vet and soon. Also, she probably needs fluids. As much as licking on ice cubes can help, it's not enough to stave off dehydration. You, as her mother, are obviously very worried! I would be flipping out as well. The best thing to do for her is to take her to as many vets as it takes. Maybe try an emergency center. I agree with getting her neck and brain looked at. Good luck and I really hope everything turns out okay.

I don't have any good advise but am sending you prayers you find out what's wrong and all the best to you

Lyme Disease?
 

The first thing I thought of was lyme disease. I wish all the best for your little baby.

Hi there I would like to say welcome to this great group. A bunch a great yorkie mom's and dad's are here and give great help.
When did Daisy start showing signs of these problems??? Was it right after you got her or was it after you moved??
I am going to do a little research for you and see what I can come up with. I have a special needs pup myself and his is a neck problem. He has AAI(Atlantoaxial Instability) this is a defect with the vertabra in the neck. It can be aquired congenitally or by injury like being kicked or hit by a car. It takes a xray of the neck to see it and the vet really has to know what they are looking for becuase it goes undiagnosed and misdiagnosed very often. I know for experiance I had both happen to me. Unfortanately my little guy broke his neck becuase of vet screw ups. So now he can not walk. But I am going to check more into this for you and see if there is a possiblity it could be this. It might be something you might want to ask you doctor about.
If you would like more info on this please do not hestiate to Pm me. I will answer any question you have. I will pm you later on with more info.
Give Daisy a gentle belly rub from us. And a big hug to you for what you are going through. I know it is tough.

Thank you all so much for your comments and advice!
 

Wow...what a great group of Yorkie lovers! :aimeeyork :aimeeyork :aimeeyork Thank you all so much for your responses and comments and advice. I took Daisy after about a month of this to her Vet who could not find anything wrong. He did a complete blood count and said she had normal levels of everything, including her white blood cell count which means there is no infection. He said she might have "false pregnancy" issues since it all started right after she went out of heat. In fact he is the one that said his own Yorkie had similar symptoms during a falst prenancy. But after 3 days and no improvement with her I took her to the Animal Emergency Hospital. They took xrays (which the vet didn't do) and did a thorough exam but didn't find anything specific to diagnose. They said that they noticed she had a couple of areas in her upper spine that seemed sensitive because she yelped when they prodded her there. But the xrays show nothing remarkable. So after that visit they just said to baby her, no stairs, hand feed her, help her up and down from furniture for a few weeks and hopefully she'll improve. Well she hasn't...she hasn't gotten worse but she still has all the same original symptoms. When I give her her medicine I put her on the kitchen counter and the entire time she is looking down low. She doesn't seem to have worse pain when her head is lifted for the meds so I just don't know. But I think I will make another appointment for a 3rd opinion tomorrow. What is weird about it all is that there are times that she does come out of this little shell she is in and I'll see a little tail wag here and there. It's usually when I am talking "puppy talk" to her and loving her with my voice. That gets her tail wagging a little bit...so we want our little happy go lucky Daisy back. Some of you mentioned that she might be experiencing problems from old injuries from the elderly lady that owned them since puppyhood. I would think that any injuries she may have had would have reared it's ugly head a lot sooner than this. We were told by the neice that had them after she died that the lady had a cane and she would use her feet and her cane to shove the dogs out of the way or if they peed she was known to kick them "across the room". I cried and cried for them when I first brought them home. Someone should have had her arrested long ago for that kind of abuse. Both of these dogs would cower and hide in corners and I thought I might have to dogs that were just unhappy pups for the rest of their lives. But I brought them out of that shell pretty quick...when I first brought them home I had to hunt them down in the house in the morning to take them outside. And within a week when I would call their names they would come wagging tails and jumping up on my legs and with their happy faces on. But there has to be some of those emotions still buried within them. I won't even yell at them if one of them has an accident...we don't yell...and they know anyway and it's usually not their fault anyway...I usually have been gone too long. My girls are good little girls and so loyal...I just can't stand this and in fact this morning...poor baby is shaking so bad and she's got that left paw up...I'm going to head out the animal hospital on the other side of town and see if they can figure this out. I'll report later today. Thanks again for all your advice and caring love for my Daisy!

bcbrooklyn, I am praying for Daisy.

I feel so sorry for you in not getting answers that would help you
make Daisy feel better! I hope the new doc can give you some clear
answers as to what might be causing her to act like this.
You mentioned you and she just moved in with your daughter.
Do you think that depression from the move might be playing into this condition. Daisy came out of her shell when you first got her and got comfortable in her surroundings now the move. I wonder if anything can
be connected since nothing else seems to be working.
Prayer's coming for both of you.

You know reading how some ppl can abuse these little angels can bring tears and anger faster in me than anything else..I just feel for these babies,they are so dependent on us for most everything and the trust they have. To think of them being kicked across the room for potty accidents..mine would have a permanant spot on the "the other side of the room" if thats how I handled it....So glad you have little Daisy and her buddy now! I'm sure she is thankful for you. Please do keep us posted on her visit today...:)

We have returned from the animal hospital visit...again...
 

Well after another 3 hours in the animal hospital and yet still no diagnosis...hopefully tomorrow we'll have an answer. Today he poked and prodded her and really pissed her off because she showed teeth and nipped at him, especially as he was pressing on her lower back. He took her neck and moved her head in every direction without her yelping so it must be lower. He said that Yorkie's bone structures are extremely sensitive to breaks if a little kid is playing rough or just anything that can cause those little tiny bones to fracture. He said the only way they can really tell is to do a CAT scan or MRI and those get really expensive, in the thousands. He said we could start with xray studies and have their licensed radiologists look at them tomorrow. That is the minimum they can start with and already that's about a $700 more than I have. If I can round up the $$ tomorrow I guess I'll start there. Does anyone know of any charitable organizations that donate this kind of care? I am actually a orthopaedic patient myself on SS Disability myself from a fall down a flight of stairs 6 years ago..so I have spine issues myself requiring a double fusion one of these day. A stroke kept me from my surgery about a year ago so now that I've gone a year clean of any stroke symptoms I will likely be up for the fusion this summer. Nevertheless the expenditures for a very sick dog like this are not in line with my own finances. I need to find help. Any suggestions or direction towards vet care charitable organizations might help. Thank you all so much.

I wish I could help. It is devastating to know that we have no control over them when they get sick. I pray everything goes well and you little baby bounces back to good health soon.

This is from "I Took My Louie To The Vet This Morning":

" I have been hand-feeding him chicken and he is eating some pumpkin mixed with yorgurt but he wont eat unless I hand it to him. He isnt drinking and goes and stands somewhere and just stands there forever. He doesnt come out of the cage in the morning when I open it to let him out. He just lays there. When I came home this morning to get him to take him to the vet he was upstairs in my closet in the dark laying on my shoes. He is usually so happy and active that I dont know what has gotten in to him."

"My husband picked Louie up from the vet and I just talked to him and he said Louie seems alot better. He was eating his dog food as we spoke. The fluids and the steroid shot must have him feeling alot better. I hope he keeps feeling okay after the shot wears off."

"Thanks everyone! Louie is back to his sweet self again. The prednisone did the trick. He is back to being my Brazilian clown. Thanks for the good thoughts. It is scary when you can see they don't feel well and you can't figure out what is wrong with them and they cant tell you."

Does this sound like Daisy's problem maybe? Can you get the vet to at least try a steroid shot and see if the symptoms abate? If the symptoms went away, then you'd know for sure it's her back, and possibly it might clear up with a shot of steroid.

P.S. I'd be willing to donate to the vet, and perhaps others might do the same in order to cover your vet bill.

www.wrappedinkindness.com

Found this in another post and thought it might help. Best of luck, hope you find some relief for your little angel.

I always say.......hold a big garage sale and have a clear jar on the table for donations, with picture and reason. Ask all your neighbors to add to the garage sale and you will sell things for them for 25% of all the sales. You will be surprised at the amount of money you can make. Also make up cup cakes, cookies and such and put a big pot of coffee out. Sell the goodies and let the coffee be free. People LOVE that kind of thing.
Good luck with your baby.

i hope she gets better...keep us updated...and sorry i couldn't be of any help on her symptoms..