My dog is very sick!!! We don't know what's wrong with him yet, but we know something is. We will know for sure next week. However I am going insane during this wait. I am not looking for a diagnosis, but I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience with their dog, or heard of anything similar.

Last evening I noticed my dog's face was getting a little swollen. Just around the cheeks. It wasn't bad, it had me a bit concerned, but I didn't think much of it. When I woke up this morning he was even more swollen, the swelling now extending to his neck and it felt like fluid to the touch. It was so bad that his eyes started sagging.

Immediately I took him to see the vet, and he checked his temperature, which was normal. Checked his lymph notes which were a little swollen. Since I got him new chew toys, including bones, the vet figured that it was some kind of allergic reaction, and decided to send me home. He told me to watch if there was anymore swelling. If there was I should bring him back.

Sure enough couple of hours later, I noticed the skin around his scrotum was swollen, and his penis was now unvisible because of the fluid building up. It feels like someone shot a gallon of water underneath my dog's skin. So, we went back to the vet, he took blood and urine samples and said that he will have the results back next week sometime. He said that it might be an indication of liver or kidney failure. Thats why the fluid is building up inside his body. He also said something about him not having enough protein.

Please, if anyone has had this experience or heard of something like this let me know.

In the meantime I hope for the best.

I should also add that his behavior hasn't changed one bit. He's still active and alert. No diahhrea or vomiting, eating and drinking fine.

thanks

Strangely enough, I have seen something similar, and it was from a spider bite. The dog in question was a great dane puppy and after a few hours you would have sworn he was a bull terrier pup. (you know, spud mckenzie)

Very jelly-like to the touch and in his case the skin was warm to the touch.

I hope your dog turns out ok. Let us know what happens.

Darn
This is twice in a row I,ve been forced to agree with Deana. Any way she is right.I've had that twice.Both times, per my vet I gave a human dose of plain old drug store Benadryl, one in the am and one in the pm. Next day all was back to normal.
Ron

Looks like anasarca to me. I would be concerned.

Thank you for your replies and kind words. First off I want to say that the vet and I thought about the possibility of a spider bite, but we couldn't find the bite mark. Plus he's building up fluid around his penis, scrotum and on his elbows. Could this still happen with a spider bite? His face isn't as swollen as it was this morning though, so I guess that's always a good sign.

Yash, what is anasarca, and why should I be concerned? I will search on google, but any additional info would be very appreciated.

Thanks again and I will keep you posted

First of all , pl. note that I am working with incomplete information, so remember the discussion below is theoretical and a worst case scenario.
Anasarca means generalized swelling due to fluid accumulation. If the generalized swelling was due to an allergic mechanism (e.g. spider bite) there might have been additional breathing difficulties.

In your case it appears to be a more general mechanism because the swelling extends over the face, elbows and lower abdomen. This could imply kidney or heart failure. In kidney failure, this is due to loss of large amount of protein in urine (can be easily tested). Heart failure is due to inability of the heart to pump properly. Main causes such as valvular defects etc can cause this. Liver failure can cause this by decreasing the production of protein in serum which causes fluid to shift out of the blood vessels (unlikely in your case).
The disapperance of the swelling from the face does not necessarily mean much, because during the day, fluid shifts due to gravity to the dependent parts of the body (i.e. legs, abdomen).

My guess is that your dog has a kidney problem. Pl. keep us posted.

Yash, thank you for the explanation. That's what the vet told me also, that its probably a kidney problem <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

However he told me it doesn't necessarily mean kidney failure. Its possible that he just has some kind od infection. He listened to his heart and it sounded normal.

I guess all I can do now is wait for the results to come in and hope for the best.

Well after extesive testing it turned out my dog was losing proteins through the kidneys. His protein to kreatin (sp?) ratio was extremely high, 10.1:1. He did have a large concentration of bacteria in his urine so he's on antibiotics now (clavamox). His swelling did go down completely and never came back, and he's been swell-free for two weeks now.

The vet said he's optimistic and that his protein loss could have been caused by the infection of the urinary tract. If it was a failing kidney his swelling wouldn't have gone down and even if it did it would have came back.

I'm hoping for the best, and thanks again for your responses