It's interesting how this situation has just come up with my parents' older 100lb lab. Something strange is going on with him and I think this information explains some of it (though probably not all). Let me back up...

Shiloh is a 10+ yr old lab. He has survived a blown disk in his back in which he was paralyzed back in 2009. Thanks to an excellent surgeon, a lot of $, and incredible care from my parents, he has mostly recovered from that and has lived a good life since then, though much weaker in his back end since the injury. To keep inflammation at a minimum, he was taking dermax and was doing fine on it. Unfortunately, there seems to be no more dermax in the entire world for some reason, so a few months ago he switched to rimadyl. He has been doing fine on rimadyl, taking one pill in the morning and one pill at night.

Last Thurs, the 21st, there was a mixup with the dosages. He got his one pill in the morning but then at night he got 2 pills. My parents were really concerned about the overdose and called the vet who told them that he's probably going to be ok, just don't give him the morning dose and give him prilosec for 5 days. Shiloh is raw fed and the vet probably didn't know, and neither my parents (nor I) knew about the antacid problem with raw food, so they gave him the prilosec for 4 days (starting late Thurs night and ending on Sun). He was acting a little strange when on it but it was small stuff - needing to pee more than usual, etc. He got gassy but he is often gassy, and again, we didn't know about not giving gas pills, so he got those too.

Well, that's the backstory. The current situation is this as I understand it: he walked well yesterday (Tues) evening and seemed fine. Got home and ate his dinner like normal. Laid on the floor for about an hour and then acted very strange. Was weak, sort of disoriented, subdued, and seemingly visually sensitive to light and motion. He did have a bulge in his lower abdomen and blew out a bunch of gas. He seemed to improve as the night went on. This morning he apparently walked and ate well, and was sort of back to normal, though maybe a bit more "down" than sometimes, but seemingly trending positive. Then this afternoon around 4:30 he began having what can best be described as a panic attack. Shaky. Anxious. Pacing. Again visually sensitive to light and motion, but in other ways mostly the opposite of last night.

We've just returned from the vet who didn't find anything immediately acute (such as torsion). She thinks it's neurological but didn't have many suggestions. You almost wonder if he accidentally got poisoned or drugged on his walk, but we've ruled that out since the issue apparently started last night and his symptoms seem to be changing. We're making plans to go see his neurologist asap (like driving 4 hrs tonight so he can see his doctor tomorrow morning), but I am wondering if the raw food/prilosec/gas pills could present something like this. Or, are we dealing with 2 different situations simultaneously (one in his gut, and one in his brain).

Anyway, that's the story. It's so difficult when they can't just tell you in plain English what's going on...!

Hi Connie - I did specifically ask the vet if it could be torsion but she said no. That was around 3 hrs ago. Apparently now (my mother just called a second ago) he's panting and walking around and indicating he wants to go for a walk so she's going to take him out. Then it sounds like we might be heading off for the 4 hr drive to the Animal Care Center in Rhonert Park (CA) where his neurologist will be in in the morning.

I'm not sure about the rest of his status or symptoms but will check this information with my parents when I get to their house and will post back here this evening as I am able -