So no, Flame is not a Basenji, but he is our Toller we added to our pack last fall. For the past few weeks he has been not feeling so great, he didn't want to eat but would still drink water so we gave it a few days. He would perk up, play ball and eat and be his normal happy self, then he wouldn't feel all that well again, you could tell because he slept a lot. Yesterday he started breathing a little heavy and kind of funny and he was coughing like there is something caught in his throat. Around 7pm hubby called the vet and vet said to bring him in this morning around 9. So right now Flame is at the vets office. Vet called and said it sounds like he has some fluid in his lungs so they are going to do some bloodwork and xrays I believe to see what is going on.

I thought maybe it is kennel cough but some of the symptoms don't sound right unless it has turned into a type of pneumonia. So I imagine they are testing him for bacterial and viral causes and we should know more by the end of the day. Hope the little guy is ok though, got about 4 hours of sleep last night because he slept with hubby in the spare room (he is usually a porch dog).

Does this sound like kennel cough to anyone?

Any fever?

Oh, poor Flame. I do hope he feels better soon. Re: kennel cough, Spencer had it once, and he had a persistent, dry, hacking cough and some sneezing. No breathing issues or fluid, though, and I don't remember any fever. The vet put him on meds, and he bounced right back.

Sending positive, healing thoughts to Flame (and you, too, of course). Keep us posted on his progress.

So I just got off the phone with the vets office. I guess he has a pretty large chest infection. They are going to start treating him with IV antibiotics and then he can come home with us tonite around 5:45pm then they are going to give us some oral antibiotics to give him. I hope he feels better once the IV meds hit him. He was pretty raspy this morning.

Sounds scary. I hope it clears up super quickly!

Flame is home, I picked him up yesterday after work. They had him on IV antibiotics all day and he sounded much better than he did when he went in in the morning. I gave my vet's office heck for not answering their phone at 11:30 at night, if it was an immediate emergency then what? He is still hacking quite a bit but I have the humidifier going in the porch, where he sleeps and this alleviates some of his coughing. Apparently he has to cough all of the crap out of his lungs. He is on antibiotics for 10 days and some anti-inflammatories also. He ate a little bit last night but not a lot, but he sure wants to devour his Liver treats! His eyes look better they are not so red today. If there are any problems when we get home today then we will take him back to the vet for another round of IV antibiotics. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on how he is doing.

I'm glad to hear he's on the upswing. Tollers are such neat little dogs; we know several agility tollers in the area.

Please keep us posted on his recovery! I don't know what a Toller is, so once he's feeling better, perhaps you can post some pictures?

Hugs and roos-

Sorry a Toller is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. You can google it, my laptop died and I haven't got a chance to recover all of my pictures yet! But I will post some soon. He is doing better again this morning. When I came downstairs this morning though he barked and growled at me. I was a little surprised at that! But he is starting to cough less and his fever has mostly gone. He is acting all happy again, but he still has not ate a lot if anything at all. So I think I will boil him some chicken tonite and make some rice then he will gobble that down for sure.

So we ended up taking Flame back to the vet's last night. My regular vet kind of blew us off, saying to bring him in in the morning and then they would take a look at him then. I said F-that and went and found a vet's office that was open. I do not mind paying the call-out fee but when a vet's office says, no we are too busy to see him now bring him in tomorrow, oh and bring a crate for him because we have nothing available here, I get pissy. I think that was the last straw and I will be looking for a new vet….possibly the one we went to last night.

So apparently all of his lymph nodes are swollen, he is lethargic, without fever, breathing kind of fast (but still good), poor appetite and no play drive. We took him back to the vet's office today, they are going to aspirate the lymph nodes and take tissue samples to send out to the lab to see if he has cancer. The vet put him back on some antibiotics which I gave him last night but he threw up. So I only gave him one this morning and he did end up eating a little bit, well almost a whole hotdog and then some liver treats. That is not a whole lot when it comes to a Toller. They are also going to end up doing some more blood tests and those results will come in sooner than the aspirations.

So sorry to read things are not going well for flame, I was hopeful in your orginal post he would be better…let us know the results and glad to hear you're getting another vet!

I am also sorry to hear about poor Flame– I know we were all hoping he was back to his old self. I hope the news is positive and it turns out to be something that meds can fix. I don't know if it will help Flame, but sometimes, Spencer will throw up antibiotics, too. If I hold him in my lap and rub his head and tummy for a few minutes, then get him to lie down in my lap or beside me and either rest or better yet, go to sleep, he can usually keep the bitter stuff down.

Good for you for finding another vet! I've had to do that a few times over the years. Not having time for a sick animal kinda goes against what a vet has chosen to do. Sending healing thoughts to Flame.

Poor Flame! I do hope he's on the mend very soon, It's so hard when our little ones are not feeling well.

I hope the vet can find out what is wrong. I hope Flame gets well soon!

Jennifer

So just wanted to update you all on how Flame (NSDT retriever) is doing. He seems to be bouncing back with the antibiotics. I guess they got 2 really good fluid samples out of his lymph nodes yesterday and they also took a tissue sample of one as well. They had him hooked up to IV antibiotics also. He took his meds well this morning and ate his whole hot dog and some liver treats. Doesn't want to try the kibble though, he just turns his nose up at it. Tonite I will fry some ground beef and make some rice and he can have a supper of beef and rice, whoohoo!

Thanks for the warm wishes everyone!

Wouldn't it be better to try boiling ground hamberger or better yet turkey and pour off the fat then mix with rice (and white rice is easier to digest). I have always removed as much fat as possible when the kids are sick to prevent tummy upset… and on top of not feeling well, antibotics can cause tummy upset.

Just a thought

Thank you Tanza. I buy extra lean gound beef and there is hardly any fat in it, but I will definately try to boiling it tonite. Maybe I can boil him up some meatballs! He will be a happy puppy no matter how he gets it. The meds are very hard on his stomach. Wednesday night we gave him two antibiotics and he didnt really eat so he threw up. Yesterday and this morning we only gave him one pill and if he eats a good supper tonite I will probably give him two again and see how that works.

Any idea of when the biopsy results come back?
Glad to hear he is improving

So it's been a few days but Flame has been getting worse. He went in for a true biopsy today but it is just a better confirmation that he has Lymphosarcoma(?). It looks like he may only have a few days left on this earth. Not a good situation. After the biopsy today they are putting him a steroid to see if we can make his last days a little more comfortable. All of his lymph nodes are affected and we could try chemotherapy but it would only buy him months and there is a high likelihood that it would come back being that it has affected every lymph node. We are going to have to make a very big decision in the very near future and all I can say is that it does not seem fair…..he is the most wonderful dog and only 4 years old.

Wow, I really am in awe…greatly saddened to read this and you will surely be in my prayers along with flame in this incredibly difficult time. I agree, four years is so unexplainably short..have the strength to make the best decision you can for him and know by doing that, you gave him the very best.
So sorry