First off, for those that don't know, Faith is a Chihuahua who just turned 8 years old last month.

Sometime between the time hubby left for work at 3:30 am and the time I got up at 8:00 this morning I suspect Faith may have had a seizure but can't be sure as no one witnessed what happened.

I came down this morning to find her totally silent and still in her crate, very odd for her as she's very vocal about being let out first thing in the morning whether she's had an accident or not.

I discovered she'd pooped and pee'd in her crate, a solid BM too so not a diarrhea emergency...odd, she's really good about not going in her crate unless it's diarrhea.

I take her entire crate outside so she can walk out into the grass and not track poop through the house and open the door. She doesn't move an inch. I try everything to get her out and she refuses to leave her crate. Once I finally force her out into the grass she won't put her back right leg on the ground and starts hobbling around in shaky circles while urinating all over. Of course I go into panic mode, there is definitely something wrong here. She does this for several minutes before finally standing in one spot on 3 legs shaking and drooling excessively. This is a dog that I have never seen drool, ever.

Eventually she puts her leg down and I carefully check her over thoroughly but find nothing obviously wrong. I clean off the poop on her legs/feet and try to get her to walk...she won't. So I bring her inside onto clean bedding and offer her food and water. Now this is the most food motivated dog on the planet and she refuses to eat or drink anything today. At 10 o'clock she then vomited a thick, brown liquid which, thanks to having a toddler, I can accurately say resembles pureed banana that's been left out too long.

She hasn't settled down all day, she's been either sitting or standing while facing away from us. She still won't walk, she only turns around (always turning left if that means anything), and she won't eat or drink. I am trying not to bother her so that she can relax but every time I walk past her I notice an awful smell, not like anything I recognize except on dissection day in lab...weird.

I called 3 different local vets trying to get her seen today and the only one with an opening is the one we've had bad experiences with twice now. But I really want her to be seen ASAP, so I have reluctantly scheduled her to see the bad vet I swore I'd never go back to...I don't really have a choice right now. Anyway, they can't see her until 3:30 pm today so we've got 3 hrs and 15 mins to go.

I am so worried about her and want to get another blood panel done even though she just had one done 3 months ago.

In the meantime, anyone have any thoughts on what this could be? Advice?

Oh Val, I have absolutely no advice and wish that I did. You are a great mom and I know you're doing everything you can. My thoughts are with little Faith today!!

Thanks Tori, she's trying to give me a heart attack I'm sure. Lol

One other small note, I recently noticed a small yellow circle on the white towel I put her on, it's a little bigger than quarter size. It wasn't there when I put the towel in and it's under the side where her head is so possibly a yellow drool or something coming from her mouth I'm guessing.

I hate feeling so helpless, I want answers! Of course the internet presents me with lots of worst case scenarios so that doesn't make me feel any better. I will share whatever news I get, whenever I get it.

I can't even begin to imagine, and I'm sorry Val.


I can't offer advise really either.

I do know you are supposed to be able to do a simple neurological test at home to see if your pet understands where it's feet and legs are, the goal being to see if the brain is the one screwing with the motor functions or something else. They did it for our cat when they were trying to figure out what was wrong with her years ago.





Knuckle the paw and place the top part of it on the ground like you see above.

If Faith is able to "Feel" her paw is upside down so to speak she should simply flip it back right side up when you release it. If she doesn't they start looking for stuff like tumors, strokes, ect... At least I think that is what I remember.

Source

I'm so sorry Val, I hope everything is ok.

~Chris~

I don't really have much advice either, except that I can offer support and hope. I'd probably be calling the vet every 30 seconds asking for an earlier appointment, and I'd be much less calm than you! It sounds almost like she got into something toxic. I can't believe no one will see her earlier, as this sounds like an emergency... Damn vets!

Thanks for the responses and support.

Chris, she does seem to know where her feet are and corrects them herself.

Well, I figured out the yellow spots on her towel. It's urine and it's everywhere on her towel, big spots, little spots, trails of urine. She doesn't appear to be able to control her bladder.

I have such a bad feeling about this and literally cannot stop crying. I have her on puppy pads now on top of the towels so that I have less washing to do and can change the pads frequently.

Two hours till the vet.

Oh Val I'm so sorry to hear this.
Good luck at the vet, I wish I was able to add to the advice. Our thoughts are with you and Faith.

I would run a blood panel, Val. With the excessive urination and vomit I'd be concerned about renal issues. I'm not a vet, but I did witness this occur in my parents schnauzer when she went into kidney failure. It was the same color vomit, urination issues and the dog even had a mild seizure. I'm not saying that to scare you, because perhaps it's something simple.

I really hope Faith has a positive vet appointment today. Please, keep us updated.

I'm so sorry to hear about this Val.

My prayers go out to you and your little Faith. Hopefully everything will turn out ok.

Oh Val, these dogs do love to scare us! i hope you can get her feeling better, have you tried to give her any raw honey? if it was a seizure the sugar in the honey should help her recover, its our go to thing for sierra when she has one, but she has not have any other issues like the peeing and such after the event. when sierra has a seizure she is very out of it, will pee or poo and drool and her eyes glaze over and she shakes a lot, has trouble walking. i think a sign of them wanting to drink after is something as well so since she is not wanting to drink that seems odd. i would still call the other vets and see if they cant get you in if someone did not show.
keep us posted i will be sending good thoughts your way

Thanks all for the support, it means a lot.

Megan, I am having her bloodwork redone today. She had it done on March 1st of this year so we can compare the results from today with those from 3 months ago when she was fine.

Oh Jenn, believe me I tried for any other doctor so long as I could get her seen today. Her appt is the only one I could manage.

I just hope she is not in pain, she looks so miserable and I don't want her to suffer. I just can't believe that this is how she is today when yesterday she seemed perfectly fine.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for good news

Good luck Faith x

Kidney issues caused by a toxin was my first thought too, but I really have NO experience so I didn't want to say anything and get you scared, since I'm pretty ignorant in this area. Well, I'll keep thinking about you and her, and I really hope she's okay!

Oh Val you all our in my thoughts, I am so sorry.
Butkis used to have siezures that consisted ofhim being very out of it, with glazed over or "drunks" eyes and he would shakes a lot, and be unsteady. But then 1 hour later he was just lethargic or old acting and back to "normal" several hours later. Some of that sounds the same but not all of it.
Please keep us up to date. Hang in there!

Yeah, Colleen, these effects are lasting way too long to just be a seizure only.

Just changed the puppy pad she's on. It is so sad that she just lays in her urine, doesn't even try to stay out of it. The Faith I know wouldn't dare even step in urine even in the yard, much less sit or lay in it.

Still no change in her condition as of now. One more hour till the vet.

Sounds like a reaction from something she ingested. Could be a "stroke" of sorts too. The loss of bladder but not bowel is interesting. Definitely something going on with her. She probably did have some sort of seizure. Poor thing, keep us updated I'm interested to hear

Keeping my fingers crossed for Faith & sending good vibes her way! Keep us updated and hang in there Val!

Hang in there Val. Keeping fingers cross for Faith.. keep us updated.

Hang in there.. keep us updated. Hope Faith is okay

Sending good vibes your way. You're probably at the vet now. Paws crossed!

Still at the vet right now, waiting on the results of the bloodwork. They do their bloodwork in house so they will have the results in about 30 minutes and then we'll move forward from there.

For now they have confirmed that she has a fever, temp is 103.4 F and the vet kept saying she felt really hot all over her entire body.

She's really weak and unresponsive, can't stand without assistance. The vet says she has a heart murmur which wasn't present when she was last here 3 months ago.

The vet also noted that Faith won't turn her head upward. Apparently her neck/back muscles along the spine really tense and contract whenever she tries to turn Faith's head up. She said it could be a symptom of spondylitis. She asked if Faith had looked up at all today, and I had to say no, she kept her head down all day.

So hopefully the bloodwork shows something useful and points us in a direction so that we can start dealing with whatever this is.

Aw, I'm so sorry to hear that Val. I hope you guys are able to get some good answers so she can get the best treatment, and I hope she feels better soon.

I am very sorry to hear about Faith and I hope the vet finds what is wrong. You guys are in our prayers!

Oh Val, thats the last bit of stress you need right now. sorry there is no clear answer yet, i hope you get something with the blood work. hang in there!

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this Val. Thoughts to you and Faith.