I have an 11 month old goden retriever. We noticed that he was very bloated yesterday on his walk. We took him to the emergency vet. He had a lot of fluid in his abdomen. The fluid was clear. They did an ultra sound and think his heart is okay. He also has bruising around his neck and marks that indicate that his blood isn't clotting. He is at the vet today getting blood tests and IV fluids while they watch him for the day.
It looks like the cause of the fluid is low protein, either from protein being lost through something like the urinary track or from not being produced from the liver.
So yeah we are waiting on those blood tests results now. It's got me pretty messed up. Me and my fiance' really love our dog and he is a huge part of our lives. It's horrible to see him so sick.
Here are a list of his symptoms:
- Going off of his dry food 3 weeks ago (would still eat human food)
- Spent 5 days trying to get him to eat his dry food, he only ate half a bowl over those 5 days.
- Gave in and fed him dog sausage over the last week (he had a huge appetite).
- He has had diarrea and vomitting over the last week (thought this was due to the new diet).
- He has been very lethargic and sleeping a heck of a lot over the last few weeks as well, but we thought this was due to the hot weather.
- I did find a dead cane toad (bufo toad) in a bucket of water in the back yard that looked like it had been there for 3 days. He may have drunk some of that water. I was thinking that this may have caused toxicity and has caused the liver problems. However it appears that the poison from the toads usually causes convulsions and such not acites (the fluid build up in his abdomen). However the vet said she is not totally sure about what drinking the dead toad water might do.
The vet said the ascites could be caused by liver failure due to toxins or hookworm, or the worst possibility is a congenital defect.
We got him from an apparantly really good breeder to avoid congenital defects and paid lots of money for him. But the vet said even the good breeders can have dogs with these sorts of problems.
At this stage he is still happy go lucky and greeting people a lot. It's just really sad seeing him so sick and worrying that he might die from this.
It looks like the cause of the fluid is low protein, either from protein being lost through something like the urinary track or from not being produced from the liver.
So yeah we are waiting on those blood tests results now. It's got me pretty messed up. Me and my fiance' really love our dog and he is a huge part of our lives. It's horrible to see him so sick.
Here are a list of his symptoms:
- Going off of his dry food 3 weeks ago (would still eat human food)
- Spent 5 days trying to get him to eat his dry food, he only ate half a bowl over those 5 days.
- Gave in and fed him dog sausage over the last week (he had a huge appetite).
- He has had diarrea and vomitting over the last week (thought this was due to the new diet).
- He has been very lethargic and sleeping a heck of a lot over the last few weeks as well, but we thought this was due to the hot weather.
- I did find a dead cane toad (bufo toad) in a bucket of water in the back yard that looked like it had been there for 3 days. He may have drunk some of that water. I was thinking that this may have caused toxicity and has caused the liver problems. However it appears that the poison from the toads usually causes convulsions and such not acites (the fluid build up in his abdomen). However the vet said she is not totally sure about what drinking the dead toad water might do.
The vet said the ascites could be caused by liver failure due to toxins or hookworm, or the worst possibility is a congenital defect.
We got him from an apparantly really good breeder to avoid congenital defects and paid lots of money for him. But the vet said even the good breeders can have dogs with these sorts of problems.
At this stage he is still happy go lucky and greeting people a lot. It's just really sad seeing him so sick and worrying that he might die from this.