Mysterious Health Issue in Young Healthy Dog

Suddenly in an active, healthy 5 year old Lab last Sunday there was sudden Lameness in his back leg. Very next day, one eye shut, sensitive to light, depression, & what looked like neck pain. Went to vet looked in eye, nothing X-rays negative. Next morning both eyes shut, extremely depressed, in pain… took to emergency vet. Wednesday all test looked good, except he had high white blood cells & low red blood cells, blind in one eye. Thursday, blood results were trending in the right direction, blind in both eyes, loss of appetite … urine analysis was good, no auto immune… their next step is to test for valley fever… has anyone experienced anything like this?  They are running out of options and have no Answers.

Hello!  It is very common for clients to tell me on this page that their dog is presenting with (an unusual collection of signs) and that the vets have no answers.   Having worked in 100%- emergency-medicine centres as well as general practice, I sometimes wonder whether this is a result of poor communication / understanding of the diagnostic procedure between clients and vets:  it is very rare that after 24 hours of presentation, the emergency vet won't have found anything out or done anything to help (otherwise, what is the point of it being an emergency?)  For many clients, a diagnosis or the name of a condition is what is most important; for the vets, trying to stabilise the condition or limit the damage is often most important, and giving the condition a name comes much lower down the priority list.   By now, I would have expected the vets to have identified specifically what isn't working - which body systems are being affected and in what ways.  Perhaps, for example, this is a progressive neurological problem in X part of the nervous system, being caused by a change of pressure in brain or spinal cord, etc (I don't know the case;  this is an example not a suggestion).  As well as testing and monitoring of the neurological system, they may also be monitoring fluid levels, electrolytes, blood pressure, intraocular pressure etc and intervening where required to keep the patient as stable as possible.   As deteriorations are still happening and a diagnosis hasn't been reached, this must be extremely frustrating for everybody.  (Tbc)

So: how to understand what your vets have been doing all this time and where that puts you?   I would start by asking 'What DO you know about this case?   What have you ruled out?' and then 'What is left that this could be, that explains the signs that you are seeing?' and - as it seems they do have a possible differential - 'What if that test comes back negative?'  You should also try to understand how much your vets know about this particular field - it could be that one of them has a special interest, but it could be that this is really not their favourite bit of the body.  At this rate, 'Do you think that another vet could rule this out for us / identify this lesion faster?'  or 'Are there specialists who might see something you haven't,' and ' how quickly can we set a referral in motion' and 'What might that change?'. These questions may help you to assess whether or not a referral might be helpful.

Obviously, without having any of the information that your vets would have picked up on their first neurological examination and blood test, I am not the person to answer these questions for you.  But hopefully I've said something here that might set the ball rolling in a particular direction for your lab.

(or for your understanding of where things are up to with your lab).

Thank you, speaking with vets today both ER and regular practice.