Angirasu is very sick
Cross-posted from my kennel page. Most likely I will not be attending the NIPPO Classic so I wanted to let people know why.
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We rushed Angirasu to the ER vet last night and she is hospitalized in intensive care. Lots of people have been asking about her, so I wanted to write a full update so the info is all in one place. Here is a complete timeline.
On Friday, April 19th Natura Pet expanded their existing dog food recall for salmonella to include all dry foods they produce, including Innova. Our dogs are fed Innova PRIME dry food. I saw the recall Saturday morning after the dogs had breakfast. We immediately checked our food and saw it was from the affected batch. We filled out the paperwork for the recall, threw out what we had remaining, and went to the store to buy different food. The pet store had already pulled all Natura Pet products from the shelves so we switched to the brand we used to feed, Nature's Recipe.
Angirasu took a big, healthy looking poop at PetExpo on Friday. Additionally, the yard was cleaned of all dog poop Friday afternoon and no diarrhea was found. This is important to establish onset of symptoms.
Saturday night, Angirasu was sick in her crate and she vomited a small amount of fluid. She was otherwise normal and happy all day Saturday, with a good appetite and drinking plenty of water.
Sunday morning she did not finish all of her breakfast which was very unusual for her. Sunday evening she seemed a little listless and clingy but finished her dinner. In the wee hours of the morning she vomited up her entire dinner in her crate undigested.
Monday morning Aaron took her out to potty, at which point he saw she had bloody diarrhea. He immediately took her to the closest vet (which is not our preferred hospital). I met him at the vet shortly afterwards so he could go in to work. Initial diagnosis was hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, which is the term for sudden onset of vomiting and bloody diarrhea caused by inflammation and bleeding in the bowels.
The vet took x-rays to make sure she did not have any foreign bodies inside her. The x-rays ruled out a blockage and her spleen looked normal. (An enlarged spleen could mean that her body was destroying healthy blood cells which are filtered out of the bloodstream by the spleen.) The x-rays did reveal that she had a lot of gas in her intestines which could cause discomfort.
Initial bloodwork done at the vet ruled out canine parvovirus but revealed she was very slightly anemic. The vet said she showed no other signs of anemia, so sent out the blood to a lab to be retested on more accurate equipment. Her white blood cell count was normal so she did not seem to be fighting an infection.
An in-house fecal exam was done which ruled out giardia. They sent out for a fecal culture which would take three days but could determine if she had clostridium or salmonella bacteria. Clostridium bacteria is the most common cause of gastroenteritis and she could have picked it up while at PetExpo. Salmonella is less common and doesn't usually affect dogs as severely as humans, but is highly suspected because of the food recall.
The vet gave her subcutaneous fluids and an anti-vomiting shot as well as some anti-vomiting pills for us to take home. The vet made sure to warn me that if it is salmonella we need to take extra precautions cleaning up after her, lest we get sick ourselves. They were so concerned with what bacteria or virus she might have, that they did not allow her to leave through the front of the office but instead made me drive around back to take her home. I took that as a sign to quarantine her from all of my dogs and keep all of the dogs away from areas she has been the past few days.
When I got home I scoured the back yard for any sign that the dogs had gotten into or eaten something they should not have. There was no torn up trash, rat poison, food wrappers, etc to be seen. If caused by a toxin, which we had not yet ruled out, I don't think it came from our back yard. She could have eaten or licked something bad at PetExpo, however.
Angirasu remained listless on Monday. She went potty twice that afternoon, both times with more blood and less fecal matter. She politely drank water when offered to her but wasn't very interested in it.
At the end of her shift (closing time) the vet called me back to let me know about the blood work they had done. She informed me that Angirasu's platelet count was dangerously low (thrombocytopenia) and confirmed that Angirasu was slightly anemic. Angirasu's red blood cells looked "odd" which concerned the vet that she may have immune mediated hemolytic anemia. The treatment for immune-related conditions is to give a dog corticosteroids and suppress the immune system, which could be fatal if she is fighting off salmonella or a virus.
When I described Angirasu's behavior during the afternoon, the vet was alarmed that she may have severe internal bleeding instead. We rushed the puppy to an ER vet, since that hospital was closing for the evening when they called us back. At the ER vet, Angirasu bled out of her anus all over the waiting room floor, which got us seen immediately.
We went over the case with the ER vet who is a specialist in intensive care. The vet felt that it was unlikely to be auto-immune given how young Angirasu is and that it would be safe to treat her for salmonella with penicillin. The vet tested for parvo again just to be sure (still negative) and also did a coagulation test to make sure that Angirasu's blood is clotting normally. The blood clot test was normal and was able to rule out rodenicide or another toxin.
As of this morning her condition is the same, although her platelet counts have dropped a little because of the IV fluids diluting the blood stream and all the blood she is losing through her bowels. She does not need a blood or plasma transfusion yet. They are taking platelet counts four times a day to keep a close eye on it. There will be a few auto-immune tests done today just to rule out more possible causes. They will also do an ultrasound of her gut to get a better look at what is going on in there.
We probably wont know anything more until the fecal culture results come back late Wednesday or early Thursday. In the meantime we are treating for salmonella because it seems most likely of the things which have not been ruled out. Angirasu will be at the hospital with 24/7 care for a few days at least. We can go visit her from time to time, and the vet said we can call anytime if we are worried or can't sleep.
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We rushed Angirasu to the ER vet last night and she is hospitalized in intensive care. Lots of people have been asking about her, so I wanted to write a full update so the info is all in one place. Here is a complete timeline.
On Friday, April 19th Natura Pet expanded their existing dog food recall for salmonella to include all dry foods they produce, including Innova. Our dogs are fed Innova PRIME dry food. I saw the recall Saturday morning after the dogs had breakfast. We immediately checked our food and saw it was from the affected batch. We filled out the paperwork for the recall, threw out what we had remaining, and went to the store to buy different food. The pet store had already pulled all Natura Pet products from the shelves so we switched to the brand we used to feed, Nature's Recipe.
Angirasu took a big, healthy looking poop at PetExpo on Friday. Additionally, the yard was cleaned of all dog poop Friday afternoon and no diarrhea was found. This is important to establish onset of symptoms.
Saturday night, Angirasu was sick in her crate and she vomited a small amount of fluid. She was otherwise normal and happy all day Saturday, with a good appetite and drinking plenty of water.
Sunday morning she did not finish all of her breakfast which was very unusual for her. Sunday evening she seemed a little listless and clingy but finished her dinner. In the wee hours of the morning she vomited up her entire dinner in her crate undigested.
Monday morning Aaron took her out to potty, at which point he saw she had bloody diarrhea. He immediately took her to the closest vet (which is not our preferred hospital). I met him at the vet shortly afterwards so he could go in to work. Initial diagnosis was hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, which is the term for sudden onset of vomiting and bloody diarrhea caused by inflammation and bleeding in the bowels.
The vet took x-rays to make sure she did not have any foreign bodies inside her. The x-rays ruled out a blockage and her spleen looked normal. (An enlarged spleen could mean that her body was destroying healthy blood cells which are filtered out of the bloodstream by the spleen.) The x-rays did reveal that she had a lot of gas in her intestines which could cause discomfort.
Initial bloodwork done at the vet ruled out canine parvovirus but revealed she was very slightly anemic. The vet said she showed no other signs of anemia, so sent out the blood to a lab to be retested on more accurate equipment. Her white blood cell count was normal so she did not seem to be fighting an infection.
An in-house fecal exam was done which ruled out giardia. They sent out for a fecal culture which would take three days but could determine if she had clostridium or salmonella bacteria. Clostridium bacteria is the most common cause of gastroenteritis and she could have picked it up while at PetExpo. Salmonella is less common and doesn't usually affect dogs as severely as humans, but is highly suspected because of the food recall.
The vet gave her subcutaneous fluids and an anti-vomiting shot as well as some anti-vomiting pills for us to take home. The vet made sure to warn me that if it is salmonella we need to take extra precautions cleaning up after her, lest we get sick ourselves. They were so concerned with what bacteria or virus she might have, that they did not allow her to leave through the front of the office but instead made me drive around back to take her home. I took that as a sign to quarantine her from all of my dogs and keep all of the dogs away from areas she has been the past few days.
When I got home I scoured the back yard for any sign that the dogs had gotten into or eaten something they should not have. There was no torn up trash, rat poison, food wrappers, etc to be seen. If caused by a toxin, which we had not yet ruled out, I don't think it came from our back yard. She could have eaten or licked something bad at PetExpo, however.
Angirasu remained listless on Monday. She went potty twice that afternoon, both times with more blood and less fecal matter. She politely drank water when offered to her but wasn't very interested in it.
At the end of her shift (closing time) the vet called me back to let me know about the blood work they had done. She informed me that Angirasu's platelet count was dangerously low (thrombocytopenia) and confirmed that Angirasu was slightly anemic. Angirasu's red blood cells looked "odd" which concerned the vet that she may have immune mediated hemolytic anemia. The treatment for immune-related conditions is to give a dog corticosteroids and suppress the immune system, which could be fatal if she is fighting off salmonella or a virus.
When I described Angirasu's behavior during the afternoon, the vet was alarmed that she may have severe internal bleeding instead. We rushed the puppy to an ER vet, since that hospital was closing for the evening when they called us back. At the ER vet, Angirasu bled out of her anus all over the waiting room floor, which got us seen immediately.
We went over the case with the ER vet who is a specialist in intensive care. The vet felt that it was unlikely to be auto-immune given how young Angirasu is and that it would be safe to treat her for salmonella with penicillin. The vet tested for parvo again just to be sure (still negative) and also did a coagulation test to make sure that Angirasu's blood is clotting normally. The blood clot test was normal and was able to rule out rodenicide or another toxin.
As of this morning her condition is the same, although her platelet counts have dropped a little because of the IV fluids diluting the blood stream and all the blood she is losing through her bowels. She does not need a blood or plasma transfusion yet. They are taking platelet counts four times a day to keep a close eye on it. There will be a few auto-immune tests done today just to rule out more possible causes. They will also do an ultrasound of her gut to get a better look at what is going on in there.
We probably wont know anything more until the fecal culture results come back late Wednesday or early Thursday. In the meantime we are treating for salmonella because it seems most likely of the things which have not been ruled out. Angirasu will be at the hospital with 24/7 care for a few days at least. We can go visit her from time to time, and the vet said we can call anytime if we are worried or can't sleep.
Comments
For the oddly shaped RBC, is there any indication that she has Pacific Rimism? (Harmless to a dog, but gives false positive high K+ on blood tests and misshapen RBC. Can complicate blood transfusions).
(on a minor note, though, I sent your tshirt out with Nippo Classic box this morning unfortunately. If anyone is close to you, who is going, maybe they can pick it up for you?)
As much as a vet can do, even more so I'm sure Angirasu really appreciates you helping her every step on the way to getting better. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
I forgot to mention they found campylobacter in the most recent fecal smear. Still waiting on the salmonella results, but they're treating for that as well.
Should the other JAs who hung out with Angi at the OC Pet Expo be tested as a pre-caution?
Anyone who took a dog to the Expo (regardless whether they went to the AKIHO booth or not) that starts having stomach or bowel problems should take the dog in to the vet and look for campylobacter. This stuff is like the "stomach flu" or food poisoning in that it has a rapid onset and short duration, so if they don't already have symptoms are probably fine.
The symptoms present exactly like parvo (and we tested for it twice for that reason) so its good to find out which it is.
Im so sorry you and she had to go through that...
Get well soon, Angi!