Not sure why this post ( http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/139453/page/1#Post139453 ) has been locked, did I break some unknown rule by asking for advice?

Anway, thanks for the replies.

Yes, of course I am taking her to the vet. It is now 8:24, they open at 9:15.

There are NO emergency vets in my CITY (Kaohsiung, Taiwan). I've already taken the morning off work and booked the taxi.

She can sit, but has her legs tucked in front of her, and just does not seem to be able to use her back legs to get up.

I just left her in the other room, and she tried to get up, squeaked, and then came into my office with a noticeable limp in her back right leg.

Disclaimer: I am not asking for medical advice, I KNOW the internet is not the right place for that.

As stated my problem is the lack of faith I have in the vets here, and I want to be armed with as much info as possible so I can push the vet as much as possible to make sure he does his job right.

Bloodwork panels: ALL
X-Rays: hips, elbows, abdomen
Stool Sample, Temperature, Cap Refills, eyes, ears, nose and throat
You name it, I would have it done.....period

Think back and try to remember anything out of the ordinary that she may have eaten, chewed up, gotten into.

Did she get loose for a bit and may have been hit by a vehicle, attacked by another dog.....things like that.

This is as far as I go with this post, I would assume the other post was locked due to the severity of what you are saying and the dog NEEDS to go to the vet.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

Be sure to let us know how it go's.

I don't know why the thread was locked (and I do sometimes wish that the reason was given, in other cases it's pretty obvious!). I would imagine that the thread was locked because it's really dangerous for people to give advice on a malady such as your dog has. If not for you, then for other people that might read the thread down the road and think they can home treat something like that.

I think that the ONLY solution would be to take her to the vet (which I understand you're doing) and that was already said...therefore: thread locked. Nothing more anyone can add to that.

I do hope you'll post back with the results from the vet, though. You must be really worried, especially since you can't get an emergency vet.

I'm assuming that you were looking for reassurance that someone else has experienced the same thing and found out it was nothing serious. However, if someone had posted that...and as a result you decided not to go to the vet and then it DID turn out to be serious...well, now you can see why (I'm guessing, anyway) the thread was locked.

I can say for certain, though, that the thread wasn't locked because people weren't sympathetic to your worry. I really wish you the best, and hope that your dog is okay soon. Please let us know!

Hi all,

Thanks for the private messages and support.

Yes, I was looking for reassurance, but, as I wrote, I also wanted to arm myself with as many possibilities, so that I could 'suggest' to the vet "Hey, what about this", or " Do this, now".

Anyway, I just got back, and I think that this vet ( a new one) might just be interested enough in doing his job right.

He checked the stool sample I bought (which was too runny), and did a quick blood test ( I don't know what for).

However, he told me that she has a bacterial infection in her intestines (mild food poisoning). The only thing she has eaten before the symptoms was the raw liver and an egg, which I gave her 24 hours ago.

He gave her two injections, and medicine.

I did rattle of the list of things to do, as suggested in the previous post, but he assured me that it was not needed, as it was clear from the stool sample that she had food poisoning.

He explained that because of the pain in her stomach it hurts her to stand up, and it is not related to the bones or joints.

I will monitor her, and if there is no improvement I will take her back tonight.

I now have another problem to deal with. I bought this liver from the supermarket, all my dog food is human grade, bought 'fresh' every day.

This is the first problem I had with RAW, and it scared me so much that I do not know if I want to continue with it.

I now need to think seriously about switching her over to ORIJEN permanently.

The problem is not that I do not believe in RAW!

The problem is that I do not have faith ( and I never really had faith) in the levels of hygiene and honesty when it comes to the local retailers. Imagine how I feel when I go to a restaurant!!

I will now go back to the vet and give him samples of the food I gave her before the symptoms:

1 egg
dehydrated Honest Kitchen Preference
and another pack of the liver

Hi Su,

So sorry to hear about your dog's illness. I know from experience it is not fun.

Your post about the vet visit brings up a question that maybe you or someone else can answer.

Based on my pup's experience with Salmonella, a regular fecal sample, run in-house and sent out to the lab, was unable to detect abundant salmonella in my dog's stool and we ran several of these. Only when we ran a fecal culture, which takes up to 72 hours, were we finally able to discover the reason for the diarrhea.

It has been my observation that all the nasty stuff like Salmonella, E-Coli, Staph needs to be cultured in a lab to get a diagnosis. You can start getting preliminary results as early as 24 hours and a final result at 72 hours.

Is it possible to make an accurate diagnosis of mild food poisoning based on the vet looking at the stool in-house?

Her condition has deteriorated and I have returned her to the vet.

I became the aggressive foreigner and insisted on every bloody test he can think of. He got the message.

He will notify me of test results as they come in.

It is moments like this that I wish I was back home.

Oh, wow...I am so sorry. By returning her to the vet do you mean that she is going to overnight there, or is she with you? How has her condition worsened?

I'm wondering what the vet told you to do for her in the meantime? Did he suggest any particular electrolyte solution? Bland foods, no foods...anything at all to keep her stable?

By the fact of her conditioning worsening, do you mean that you (and/or) the vet now thinks that it could be something in addition to or instead of the food poisoning? Did he mention which bacteria he thought it was? What did he specifically test for?

Again, I'm wishing you and your dog the best. I can imagine how worried you must be.

Could you tell us what kind of dog she is and her age?

Su,
I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. It has been awhile since I've been to Kaohsiung, so I'm suprised to hear that there are no emergency vets there since it was a pretty good size town even back then. The blood tests more than likely were to determine a number of things like kidney function and to see if there was something bacterial or viral going on. My dog is still in the recovery faze also. They never did come up with a diagnosis but he got a bunch of antibiotics and that seemed to do the trick. I was just switching over to raw when he got sick and now he won't touch a piece of chicken. I don't blame the chicken but apparently he does.

It's now 8PM, and I think I can relax.

This morning, after coming back from the vet, my 7 month old Shiba pup seemed ok, but after about 1 hour she started shivering and would not get up at all.

I then took her to the vet again, insisted on every test mentioned, and left here there. The vet put her on a drip (dehydration), and promised to monitor her.

I raced over there during my dinner break and she looked a lot better, she was even managing to stand up by herself.

Such an amazing improvement, because I really thought I was going to lose her.

I went back to the vet at 8pm (they are open from 9 to 9), and she looked amazing. She just got up so quickly and and was bouncing up against the cage door.

I then decided, with the vets permission, to take her home. They do not monitor the pets at night, I felt she would be better of under my careful eye.

She is to take medicine twice a day, and no food until tomorrow. I will only give her Orijen kibble for the next few days.

I have to make sure she drinks, and got a syringe to help with that if needed, but she is already drinking by herself, so I don't think that will be a problem.

I also managed to find a 24 hour vet in the next city (Tainan), which is a 50 minute drive in a quick taxi, but that is better then waiting for the local vets to open.

All in all I think everything is ok. She is now walking around happily and seems to be back to normal.

This incident has scared the crap out of me. She is my first dog, and, as dogs seem to do, has become a very important part of my life.

The worst thing was that she looked so helpless and pathetic, and I needed to bounce ideas to help me deal with it the best way possible.

Thanks all for your words of support!