Joe, just a few questions.

Was the piece of bread from you/your house or something thrown into the yard by someone else?

Has your dog ever eaten bread or any form of bread product and had this type of reaction?

Did the vet give you a definite answer on whether the problem was an allergic reaction to something(the bread) or because of "worms"?

It is possible for animals to get allergies to certain things-I had a Siamese cat that was allergic to fleas and needed kitty prednizone pills for years.

If the vet said that it was from either a reaction or worms and decided to just go ahead and treat for worms instead of checking into the possibility of a reaction to the bread-if that was the true underlying problem, which is what it sounds like for the dog to jump back to better health so soon, when worm treatments tend to take it out of an animal(if your dog has heartworms and recieves a heart worms treatment, it's very hard on them and there really is a possiblity that the dog might not make it) apparently not the case here, since you were able to take your dog home within a couple hours and the dog played with another dog before you left. *scratches head* pretty strange. Definitely glad that your dog is doing better now.
Sorry this is a bit long, but just my 2 cents(really 20 cents )

Keleah, I understand that your cat's problem might have been a long time ago and that there might be much more to the story than this quick recap, but steroids for years for a flea allergy is not a usual or accepted protocol. JMO.

Steroids are indeed magic bullets and can save the quality of life in an animal who otherwise has none (with interrupted sleep and inflammation gone wild, etc.), but steroid meds are something that are used for the shortest possible time in the least possible but still effective dose.

Partial QUOTE: Steroids, such as prednisone tablets or steroid shots, are often employed to stop the itch. .... Long-term use of steroids can result in many health problems. This is the reason that we encourage diagnosis of the underlying cause of the allergy and more specific or less potentially harmful treatments. END by
Dermatology Service
Louisiana State University
School of Veterinary Medicine
at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2398

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming..... :>

Yeah, seems like that vet is clueless.

I live in a condo so the piece bread could've been put there by anyone. He didn't eat the bread because I took it away from his mouth, but the vet opened his mouth and took a little piece of bread out. I looked for the piece of bread after I left him there but it wasn't there.

I don't feed him bread regularly, but I soaked a piece of bread once with Salmon oil and he ate it without a problem.

The vet did not give me a definite answer as to what was the problem with the dog. He seemed as surprised as I was about the fact that the dog was doing so much better in so little time.

I forgot to mention that the piece of bread was close to where a mouse trap was located. It was this kind of trap. Is it possible that a rat ate from the bread and my dog got sick because of it? My dog is not vaccinated.

btw, the dogs temperature was low when he got to the vet. 101 I think.

 Quote: Joe Buhdee

btw, the dogs temperature was low when he got to the vet. 101 I think.

About 100 to 102.5 is normal, I think.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Keleah, I understand that your cat's problem might have been a long time ago and that there might be much more to the story than this quick recap, but steroids for years for a flea allergy is not a usual or accepted protocol. JMO.

It was my mom's cat actually and she lived to be 19 yr old. She stopped getting the prednizone when we moved from WA(where fleas were a bit of a problem) to ND(where we only had one incident of fleas) when she was 8-10 yr old and had only been on it for 3-4 yrs that I can remember.
I was only pointing out that what was wrong was possibly a reaction, not to got back to the vet and get meds, such as prednizone. Since there were no problems before with bread, my guess is that the bread was possibly poisoned(for rats/mice, since it was next to a trap). Then again, I could be wrong, since the vet didn't know what the problem was either.

 Quote: Keleah Schmaltz

I was only pointing out that what was wrong was possibly a reaction, not to got back to the vet and get meds, such as prednizone.

I know you were.

I've been studying canine nutrition and allergies for a few years now, and one of the things I tend to react with alarm about is animals left on pred for extended periods with insufficient informed consent on the part of the owners.

So it wasn't anything personal about you.

If the bread was near the mouse trap the bread could have been poisoned to kill the mouse....

It's OK Connie, I just thought I'd explain a bit more about it I understand that having an animal on pred for long persiods of time isn't good.
Somewhat unrelated: My aunt and uncle have to give insulin shots to their obese diabetic cat twice a day and then have someone come over when they're out of town to give the shots-how/why they let it get so fat after getting fixed, beyond me. They spent an initial $1200 vet bill to find out that she was diabetic.

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My dogs symptoms sound exactly like yours, except he didn't pee or vomit, and I didn't let them last that long. When I took him to the vet, his head was still wobbling.

Out of the 5 "episodes" my dog had, two of them involved him dribbling a bit of pee while he was swaying. Out of the 5 episodes 2 also involved vomiting some bile at some point. There were "episodes" that had no peeing or vomitting associated.

He could somewhat follow commands, but if I would tell him to lay down, like to rest, he would but would stand back up whining again. A fair bit of pacing too, kinda confused and wobbly. Occasionally he would actually fall, but mostly could stay upright. Pulse, heart rate, pupils, temperature, gum colour all within the normal range (HR and P slightly elevated). No squealing or guarding on palpation of anything during episodes.

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Did they do any blood tests? Do you remember about his eosinophils levels? Or however they are called? My dogs tests were normal except for that one, which was at 3000 something. The vet said normal was between 500-1500

Blood work was done when I brought my dog to the vet after the first one (vet over an hr away). I do not have the results of that test, but everything was in the normal range. I had the blood work sent to a vet familiar with my breed as well, and she concured pretty normal. I am going to call and find out the levels for that though becasue you said symptoms are similar.


I went to quite a few different vets. Tests I had done were Addisons, lyme, bile acid...feel I am frogetting one. It was brushed off by vets as "must have gotten into something" at first. Seeing as though my dog is with me or in his crate all the time, has never been in the garbage, has a secure yard, I did not buy it.

Episodes also happened summer and winter, ruling out some vegitation. I don't have any chemicles in the house, or use anything in the garden. Also symptom free for over a year and nothing in our house, work or lifestyle has changed.

Episodes happened on days with a lot of exersise/stress and ones without, before eating and after....

I mention these things because should you be unfortunate enough to experience this kind of thing again, you should be looking for a pattern, or the absence of one.

One thing I wish I had done that I can suggest is that yo have a video camera ready to capture this should it ever happen again. I wish I had. By the time you get to the vet, the symptoms may be better.

By the way, thanks for mentioning you dog is unvaxed. Mine was vaxed. I have never revaccinated since those episodes, not knowing what caused them, I didn't want to chance anything.

I also switched to a raw diet after the 2nd or 3rd episode. Episodes got further apart and then stopped. Could be coincidental, but thought I would mention it.

Now that OP and my dog had seemingly similar symptoms, I wouldn't mind hearing what people think. SInce we are disscussing cats too

Joe, I hope this is a one time thing and your dog just ate something bad and now is better. I HATE not knowing what caused something, makes it hard to avoid history repeating itself

Jennifer