crumbilina
Well-Known Member
I need some ideas about what could be wrong with silly Lily. She is acting... off and I cant think of anything that it could be. My vet is in the same boat, he has no ideas but we both know there is something "up". Figured this might be the best place for advice so if anyone has ANY ideas, put them out there, they are certainly welcome.
Lily is a 27 month old unspayed female. She has had respiratory issues all her life and therefore has been on and off antibiotics pretty much all her life (say every 3rd-4th month of her 27 months, combinations of baytril, clavamox, doxy, zithro). In the summer time (2012) she developed a nasty respiratory noise which actually sounds a lot like a pigeon. Back in the summer we treated her and the noise would go away. In November the noise returned and we put her on a combination of baytril, doxy and zithro along with theo to hopefully help her breathing. In early December we added prednisone because she was having a couple issues (breathing again). On the combination of Baytril, doxy, zithro, theo and pred she is stable and has been stable for a few weeks - noise is still there but I think it is a permanent thing. Now, you have to understand that Lily isn't a "normal" respiratory rat. She seriously runs on her wheel - you know the bounding kinda run. During her runs, she will be gasping. I'll skoot her off the wheel and she would look at me, gasping but fine, as though I took away her favourite toy. As soon as I leave she is back on it. So, I don't think that this respiratory issue is something that is bugging her even though it is obviously effecting her ability to breath. Her nail beds, gums, tongue, etc are a healthy shade of pink so her blood is being oxygenated properly.
Recently she has stopped a lot of her running - her breathing is no different, the meds have kept her stable and I watch her like a hawk so I would notice. Problem is her coordination is... off. She also has a head tilt which tilts her to her left. She passes the cheerio test perfectly fine except she holds her right back leg behind her and eats over her left front leg arms still up and no clubbing/dropping. Its strange and I have tried to get a picture of her stance but gave up after multiple attempts. She seems off, she bumps into things, she will put down the puff and forget it is there, she falls off shelves, she test nips my fingers all the time and she never used to do this... I feel like the symptoms scream inner ear and/or pituitary tumour but she has been on antibiotics for months and she is on a steroid. Both these are the treatments for the diagnoses that I have come to. I have also smelled her ear an have found no abnormal smalls, nor is she scratching that ear or irritated by it in any way.
An abscess could have developed after the prednisone because of prednisone's effect on the immune system. The abscess wall could be too think for the antibiotics to penetrate BUT the abscess would have had to start right? So if it was already seeded before the prednisone, then couldnt the antibiotics penetrate the abscess wall then, before it started to grow out of control? I don't knowâ¦
Does anyone have any ideas? Im seriously at a loss here. I don't even know what to try, I think I have tried everything. I really don't think it is a PT because it doesn't fit. Its almost like a different kind of co-ordination issue then what you see with a PT. Its very difficult to describe...
Lily is a 27 month old unspayed female. She has had respiratory issues all her life and therefore has been on and off antibiotics pretty much all her life (say every 3rd-4th month of her 27 months, combinations of baytril, clavamox, doxy, zithro). In the summer time (2012) she developed a nasty respiratory noise which actually sounds a lot like a pigeon. Back in the summer we treated her and the noise would go away. In November the noise returned and we put her on a combination of baytril, doxy and zithro along with theo to hopefully help her breathing. In early December we added prednisone because she was having a couple issues (breathing again). On the combination of Baytril, doxy, zithro, theo and pred she is stable and has been stable for a few weeks - noise is still there but I think it is a permanent thing. Now, you have to understand that Lily isn't a "normal" respiratory rat. She seriously runs on her wheel - you know the bounding kinda run. During her runs, she will be gasping. I'll skoot her off the wheel and she would look at me, gasping but fine, as though I took away her favourite toy. As soon as I leave she is back on it. So, I don't think that this respiratory issue is something that is bugging her even though it is obviously effecting her ability to breath. Her nail beds, gums, tongue, etc are a healthy shade of pink so her blood is being oxygenated properly.
Recently she has stopped a lot of her running - her breathing is no different, the meds have kept her stable and I watch her like a hawk so I would notice. Problem is her coordination is... off. She also has a head tilt which tilts her to her left. She passes the cheerio test perfectly fine except she holds her right back leg behind her and eats over her left front leg arms still up and no clubbing/dropping. Its strange and I have tried to get a picture of her stance but gave up after multiple attempts. She seems off, she bumps into things, she will put down the puff and forget it is there, she falls off shelves, she test nips my fingers all the time and she never used to do this... I feel like the symptoms scream inner ear and/or pituitary tumour but she has been on antibiotics for months and she is on a steroid. Both these are the treatments for the diagnoses that I have come to. I have also smelled her ear an have found no abnormal smalls, nor is she scratching that ear or irritated by it in any way.
An abscess could have developed after the prednisone because of prednisone's effect on the immune system. The abscess wall could be too think for the antibiotics to penetrate BUT the abscess would have had to start right? So if it was already seeded before the prednisone, then couldnt the antibiotics penetrate the abscess wall then, before it started to grow out of control? I don't knowâ¦
Does anyone have any ideas? Im seriously at a loss here. I don't even know what to try, I think I have tried everything. I really don't think it is a PT because it doesn't fit. Its almost like a different kind of co-ordination issue then what you see with a PT. Its very difficult to describe...
I hope someone here is able to help.
