[MJJean]

I bought my first Basset last August. I did research the breed but haven't heard of Pano til today.

Owen, the basset, is 10 months old. Last Saturday he started limping and refused food and water morning and night. We took him to the e-vet and he was given sub q fluids and we were told to take him to the regular vet Monday if he didn't improve. He weighed 48.7lbs.

Monday he still hadn't eaten or drank anything and we went back to the vet. She did x-rays and a rectal exam. Removed a piece of cow hoof he had broken off and swallowed. His tummy and intestines were all full of air, so he was given Flagyl. The vet said she thought the limping was a hurt knee from maybe playing with our American Bulldog and/or American Pit Bull Terrier and she gave him Tramadol for pain. She said his knee was in place and the ligaments looked great for a Basset. He was also put on boiled hamburger and rice and given more sub q fluids.

Tuesday he ate a bit and then refused food Wednesday and Thursday. called the vet Thursday and she advised taking him off the pain meds to see if that helped. It did not.

Today we went back in and saw a different vet thats part of the practice. she did another couple x-rays, said she saw no signs of obstruction in his abdomen. However, she said she sees some mottling in his thigh bone and she thinks its Panosteitis. He was given a new med for pain and a new med to make his tummy better and another round of sub q.

He has lost so much weight, a total of 8lbs this week and I am worried sick. Plus he seems so miserable! he's not even barking out the days events when the hubby comes home or barking at strange sounds. Its eerie, this quiet. Any suggestions how to get him through this and how to get him to eat his burger and rice? Never thought this boy would refuse food...ever. I am considering taking small amounts and putting it in his mouth til he chews and swallows.

 

[Mikey T]

pano is self regulating in that over time once the dog stops growing it resolves itself. The pain can be intense for the dog If the dog lost 8lbs inorder to loss that much weight that quickly a large portion has to be fluids. I would be worryied about dehydration even with sub Q's. Never had a problem with mine eat with pano. I would not be surprised if the cause of the not eating is still not gastrointestinal related. If he drinks but does not eat you can try substituting low sodium, chicken stock for water.

FWIW pano ussually begins in the front end given you said knee I am assuming he is limping on a back leg.

 

[bubbad]

Somehow this is not sounding like Pano,given he was limping, but the not eating or drinking is not something that is usually identified with pano. Get him some pedilite(not sure I spelled that right ) or the vanilla shakes (no chocolate)they have for senior humans,see if he will drink that.You can ball up a small amount of food and force feed him,put the ball as far back in his throat as possible close his mouth till he swallows it, and that may even start his hunger up again, but even though I am no Vet I would be concerned there is something else in his GI tract.If he isn't eating he isn't pooping so it will be tough to tell.

 

[SophieB]

I don't know what to say other than it must be VERY worrying if your Basset has lost a sixth of his weight in one week and is being miserable, not eating, drinking or barking! As we all know, Bassets love their food!

I do hope you get to the bottom of this awful worrying situation and I'd be very surprised if the not eating etc is connected to the pano! Could you get him some goat's milk to see if he'll drink that for a bit of nourishment? Is he weeing and pooing at all?

 

[MJJean]

Yes, guys, its his right rear leg if you are looking at him from the back end. He never stopped peeing normally, but he did stop pooing when there was no more food to poo and the vet said it may be a few days after he is eating again before he poos normally.

I was thinking obstruction since he does tend to chew and eat anything he happens to find on the floor, but the 2 sets of x-rays are showing that the gas patterns are changing and they show no obstruction. The vet said that if he had something in there that doesn't appear on x-ray the gas patterns would be different. The x-rays on his knee came out good, but the 2nd set she x-ray'd him on his back and got everything from his chest to his rear paws and there is definately some really white spots on his thigh bone which lead her to Pano.

Her theory is that Owen ate the small piece of cow hoof around the same time he started feeling the pain and that the foreign object plus an empty stomach caused irritation and excessive gas. She also thought that the cow hoof piece would have passed naturally had there been food to push it through the anus.

As for the refusal of food and water, that could be explained by the pain. Vet thinks he isn't eating because he is in such severe pain. We were hoping the new meds would help with that. He was started on Carafate once a day one hour before food and Deramaxx with food also once a day.

last evening I fed him some burger and rice by hand. I basically opened him mouth, put some in and held his head with my hands under his jaws til he chewed and swallowed. A few hours later I did it again and he ate a few bites that way and a few more bites on his own. This morning I had to put it in his mouth again but he did drink his usual amount of water on his own. When I take a bit of food and place it in his mouth he seems to chew and swallow willingly enough and he does seem a bit more perky an hour or so after.

I'm hoping he is on the mend. I was really hoping there were some tips or tricks to try to tempt him to eat solo, but maybe I will have to muddle through. From what i read here this could last 3 weeks? Gah, I'll be a basket case!

 

[MJJean]

I didn't even want a Basset. My husband did. I preferred the bully breeds. I got talked into getting the hubby his own dog (meaning I feed, water, train and he claims the dog). We went to the breeder (4.5 hour drive each way) and there is this perfectly nice litter of sweet Basset Hounds. Then this big puppy comes barreling around the corner and cross checks his litter mates out of the way for feeding time. The breeder said he was an annoying puppy who was loud, complained about anything he possibly could and beat up his littermates. I knew he was the one for me,lol. He's so spunky and funny and loving and now I can't imagine life without him. This mystery illness is killing me.

 

[Mikey T]

As for the refusal of food and water, that could be explained by the pain. Vet thinks he isn't eating because he is in such severe pain

I have never had a basset not eat because of an orthopeadic condition regardless the amount of pain. The only time they did not eat was a gasticor mouth issue or an over all systemic problem ie cancer . Is it possible that the dog is not eat because of the pain of pano? yes. but given the number of dogs / basset hound that do not have similar reaction and the accomanying gastric problem with the cow hoof, I would be concerned the vet is taking the easy answer and not the correct one

 

[Mikey T]

From what i read here this could last 3 weeks?

The pain in one leg but pano tends to effect more than one limb on a revolving basis. I had on dog effect on and of from the age of 5 month to 18 months with every limb effect twice and one of the fore limbs 3 times.

 

[bubbad]

I agree with Mikey.

 

[Mikey T]

I agree with Mikey

now it's getting scary

 

[MJJean]

Since the x-rays aren't showing any obstruction, I can't prove the problem is just the removed hoof. But, years ago, I had a Lab mix that went off food. Turns out he had a few pizza crusts with the cajun seasoning on them and the dough turned into a ball in his stomach that was trapped in place by gas. Antacids and burger-rice for a few days and he was fine.

Considering that I am leaning toward the hoof irritated his tummy, he got all gassy and didn't feel like eating because gas gives you that over-full feeling and can be painful. The limb pain could just be a coincidence.

I looked up the meds he was originally given and the pain med could have caused further irritation and the Flagyl is an antibiotic that can reduce intestinal irritation, but I think an antacid would have been better in the first place. Now that he has had 2 doses of the new tummy med he is more active, barking and whining like usual and is more interested in eating.

Since you other Basset owners haven't had them go off food due to pain I think I am siding with experience rather than guesses made by the vet. The Pano seems to be there and hurts, but I think the gas and irritation from the hoof was what got him not eating.

 

[SophieB]

MJJean, what's "cow hoof" and why was he eating it? I've never seem that in the UK.

a long time ago I stopped giving my Bassets those hide chews shaped like bones with knots on each end because I was worried they were both getting through them so fast compared to my previous bassets that made them last for ages.

I was worried they were swallowing big bits or the 'knots' from the end and one day i put one of the knots and a complete hide 'bone' in beakers of water and both filled the beakers as they swelled with the water being absorbed, so I no longer give them hide chews in case they swallow them and get a blockage with them getting so big and I'm sure they would swell inside a moist tummy too.

Could it be that your Basset has swallowed something like these hide chews and it's blocking the intestine or is that a silly question Mikey?

 

[MJJean]

I also do not give hide chews and regularly inspect the dogs toys because the Pit and Bulldog are very hard chewers.

The cow hoof is exactly that. A real cow hoof. Here you can buy them in a bag at pet stores. They are supposed to be indestructable, but obviously Owen or one of the others broke a piece off and Owen swallowed it. The vet showed me what she removed and there is no doubt as to what it was. I searched the house and removed all the hooves.

The good news is that he ate his dinner this evening all on his own!

 

[SophieB]

That's good... let's hope he continues eating!

 

[Mikey T]

They are supposed to be indestructable,

they are far from industructable. you need a cow or elephant hock/knuckle for that. Mine have access to them all the time. but I have had two of the harder chewers break rear most mollars which may be bcause of the hooves. The are more industructable than raw hide and the like but some of the thinner sides can shatter into rather sharp shards. Theorretically they are digestible, ie keratin, but, given the dogs digestive system not very likely. There is no 100% safe chew toy, for my guy's I find them one of the safer ones on the market, but what is best for an individual dog is highly variable. They also tend to have a rather strong odor.

 

[Yogi's Mom]

Yogi had pano as a puppy and was in a great deal of pain to the point where he was not eating. Some days I think were worse than others for him. I remember being alarmed by the fact that he did not want to eat and ended up taking him to the vet. He limped off and on for a while.
Hope you pup is doing much better.

 

[jaleely]

I would get another opinion. Especially after reading what happened to Hannah on the board. She had leg pain and it turned out it was a nasal infection that went to her brain! I think that was an extreme case, but back leg pain suggests an injury, but having it at the same time as all the other things is ODD and maybe treating things separately isn't the best. There could be a bowl puncture that is causing a leak which has spread to his nerves or something and affects his leg. How can he have gas when he wasn't eating anything? Something had to cause the reaction. Gas is a byproduct of the digestive process, it doesn't just happen on an empty stomach and empty intestine.

anyway, i did see where you wrote he ate on his own. That's GOOD.
But, I would still get him checked out. He may not be wanting to eat, but is starving so he does...meaning there still could be a problem!

 

[MJJean]

Thanks for all the help and support! Its nice to have people to bounce worries and ideas off!

Jaleey, I went to 3 different vets last week and each of the 3 had a different diagnosis. I am not sure what it really was, but Owen is now eating and drinking all on his own, begging for treats, sassy and playful and he even pranced around my husband and 'talked" to him when he came home from work tonight.

The limp is much less pronounced and its been 10 days since onset. I'll buy Pano and the cow hoof happening at the same time since that vet is the one who managed to treat him properly and get him back on track. She even called the house today to get an update, which makes me really like her and I am going to start requesting her when I go to the office. We have a recheck on Saturday and I hope he will have gained back some of the lost weight.

The hardest part for me will be getting him back to his proper weight without over feeding him and letting him get fat!

 

[Mikey T]

without over feeding him

actual just feeding him his normal ration he will be back up to his normal weight fairly quickly. It also avoids the over feeding problem

 

[MJJean]

I really hope so, Mike. He looks so pitifully skinny right now that its hard not to let him eat all he is willing to eat, but I know if I did that he would likely eat himself sick again or become fat. So, measured portions until he gains it back naturally!