zeek's mom
06-19-2007, 04:43 AM
I was searching a list that I am on for an answer to the post on the puppy that is bobbing it's head, when I came across this. I am coping and pasting it here. The writer has asked for it to get passed along so here it is. Please read it Carefully.
************************************************** ********
Here is the account of what happened to Dakota the Aussie mix from
Huntsville who died recently. Mr. Montgomery was nice enough to
put
it into words in hopes to help someone else.
He has ask that it go out to as many people as possible. He can't
bring Dakota back but he might help someone else.
Kathryn Chambl
ARPH Rep.
Birmingham, AL.
OK, here we go again, I hope the computer does not crash this
time.
This will be kind of long, but I will go through everything I can.
To answer the first questions, no Dakota was not on Rymadil. In
fact
until this started she was on no medication other than the monthly
heart worm pill Interceptor and the monthly flea pill Program. She
had been on these two since we got her 7 years ago with no
problems.
June 10 - Dakota goes for yearly booster shots and check up. Vet
says she is in fine health. I need to get another 6 month supply of
Interceptor, the vet is out of the pills. They mention the
shot again. They have mentioned it to me several times over the
past
year but I did not want to try anything new. This time however I
agree to give the shot a try. I asked my vet if there were any
side
effects and was this shot safe and was told that it was safe and
there were no side effects.
June 15 - Dakota developed a hot spot on her tail, she had been
chewing on the spot. We go to the vet to have it checked out. They
give me some ointment for the hot spot and she gets an allergy
shot
and a steroid of some kid I am sure).
June 15 - July 22 - I think Dakota started throwing up at the end
of
June, beginning of July. This was happening in the daytime
outside so
I am not sure how many times it could have happened. I remember
seeing the vomit in the yard twice. I did not think much about it,
thought maybe the heat or something. She was still eating and
seemed
in good spirits. I think it was around July 10 or so that she had
the
first 3 am vomit episode. This was in the house and woke us up.
She
did not want to eat the next day. The following days she seemed to
return to normal. She was not quite as active as normal. 5 - 7
days
later, we had another 3 am vomit episode. It was the next day
that we
first went to the vet for the vomiting. He noted that her throat
was
a little red and suspected an infection. An antibiotic was given
along with instructions to feed her two small meals a day instead
of 1 big one.
7-10 days later after the antibiotics were finished, we had
another 3
am vomit session. Back to the vet. He now suspects that her food
may
be rancid or we could be dealing with pyloric stenosis. We are
told
to get new bag of food and given Reglan for vomiting.
5-7 days later we have another 3 am vomit episode. We go back to
the
vet again. This time x rays, a berium series, and CBC blood work
is
done. All of them come back normal. The x-rays are sent to a
specialist who also says they are normal. The vet now thinks we
are
dealing with a developed food allergy. We get sensitive stomach
food
and head back home.
5 or so days later we are back at the vet after another 3 am vomit
session. We are now also beginning to see neurological symptoms.
She
would not blink her left eye if you moved your finger towards it
and
she was drooling some out of the left side of her mouth. The vet
is
now stumped and refers us to Alabama Veterinary Specialists in
Birmingham to see a Board Certified Internal Medicine specialist.
In Birmingham more x-rays are done along with an ultrasound. They
find
nothing unusual. The ultrasound did show that the stomach and
intestinal walls were a little thicker than normal. The specialist
wants to do an endoscopy and some radiographs of her head. They
want
to look at her stomach and also rule out inner ear infection.
The endoscopy and radiographs are normal, other than the stomach
being redder than normal. They took biopsies while they were doing
the endoscopy. We are sent home with some different food and the
Reglan for vomiting.
The biopsy report came back last week, normal. No cancer. We were
given some prednisone, the Reglan and also Baytril. We were
supposed
to see how these drugs did with her symptoms and plan on going
back
to Birmingham in two weeks. We did not make that far. On Friday
evening Dakota had a seizure. It was not that bad and did not last
very long, after the seizure she seemed to have more trouble
walking
and was unsteady, like she was drunk. We called the emergency vet
and
asked what we should do. They said we could come in for a
checkout or
just watch her for a few hours to see what she did. I decided to
just
watch her and if she seemed to be doing OK wait and go to our
vet in the morning. I finally went to sleep around 2 am. Dakota
was
resting and seemed to be ok. We woke up at a little before 5 with
her
having another seizure, this one was worse and she never seemed to
recover fully from it. She could not keep down even water after
this
episode, her walking was very unsteady and she could not focus her
eyes. Both sides of her face were also showing signs of paralysis,
she was drooling out of both sides of her mouth. She was also
bobbing
her head from side to side. At this time she was also about 10-12
pounds under her normal weight. She did not have much of an
appetite,
and was very lethargic. My wife was home with her all day Friday
and
she said that Dakota just slept the whole time.
We were waiting at the vets office when he arrived Saturday
morning.
After examining Dakota he said there was nothing he could do. He
said
this was central nervous systems related and he did not think she
the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I could not
continue
to put my dog through this and she was getting worse not better.
Dakota was not just a dog to us. She was a family member, she
went on
vacation with us, she had a stocking at Christmas, she was in our
family pictures, she slept in the bed with us. She was an equal. I
dot know if I will ever get over this.
I am certain that the Proheart 6 injection was to blame for this.
The
side effects listed on the package are exactly what was happening
to
my dog. The peak concentrations of the drub, moxidectin, are
reached
7 - 10 days after the injection. This is the time frame of when
Dakota began to have problems. I do not know the decay rate of the
micro-capsules used to deliver the drug, but the 5-7 days between
vomiting seems to fit the pattern you would see with the decay of
these capsules and them releasing more moxidectin into her system.
Also, after all of those tests and x-rays they could find nothing
physiologically wrong with my dog to explain the symptoms.
Finally,
if your dog is having a reaction to this injection, there is
nothing
they can do to get the chemical out of their system. Once the
injection is given you are stuck with the stuff being in their
system
for 6 months. If your dog has a reaction you will have to ride out
the 6 month period, Dakota was not able to make it that long.
I also contacted Fort Dodge, the makers of Proheart, and they
assured
me that this could not have been caused by their product. However
they did say that if I would send them the vet bills they would
reimburse me. I found it odd that they are willing to pay the
bills
for problems they are supposedly not responsible for.
I am angry at myself for allowing this shot to be given, when I
was
uncomfortable about it to begin with. I will never take the word
of a
vet again on face value. I will question everything. I am also
angry
at the vet for not disclosing the possible side effects of this
drug
and the fact that it had only been out for a year.
Dakota had had no problems at all prior to this injection. I am
telling everyone I know who has animals NOT TO USE this
injection. I am also asking that they be very clear to their vet as to why
they do
not want to use the shot. If Dakota's story can spare someone else
the agony of what we have been through this summer then maybe
something good can come out of this. She was a very special little
girl to me, I called her "Daddy's Little Girl."
Keep me posted on what you find out. Thanks for spreading the
word.
John
************************************************** ********
Here is the account of what happened to Dakota the Aussie mix from
Huntsville who died recently. Mr. Montgomery was nice enough to
put
it into words in hopes to help someone else.
He has ask that it go out to as many people as possible. He can't
bring Dakota back but he might help someone else.
Kathryn Chambl
ARPH Rep.
Birmingham, AL.
OK, here we go again, I hope the computer does not crash this
time.
This will be kind of long, but I will go through everything I can.
To answer the first questions, no Dakota was not on Rymadil. In
fact
until this started she was on no medication other than the monthly
heart worm pill Interceptor and the monthly flea pill Program. She
had been on these two since we got her 7 years ago with no
problems.
June 10 - Dakota goes for yearly booster shots and check up. Vet
says she is in fine health. I need to get another 6 month supply of
Interceptor, the vet is out of the pills. They mention the
shot again. They have mentioned it to me several times over the
past
year but I did not want to try anything new. This time however I
agree to give the shot a try. I asked my vet if there were any
side
effects and was this shot safe and was told that it was safe and
there were no side effects.
June 15 - Dakota developed a hot spot on her tail, she had been
chewing on the spot. We go to the vet to have it checked out. They
give me some ointment for the hot spot and she gets an allergy
shot
and a steroid of some kid I am sure).
June 15 - July 22 - I think Dakota started throwing up at the end
of
June, beginning of July. This was happening in the daytime
outside so
I am not sure how many times it could have happened. I remember
seeing the vomit in the yard twice. I did not think much about it,
thought maybe the heat or something. She was still eating and
seemed
in good spirits. I think it was around July 10 or so that she had
the
first 3 am vomit episode. This was in the house and woke us up.
She
did not want to eat the next day. The following days she seemed to
return to normal. She was not quite as active as normal. 5 - 7
days
later, we had another 3 am vomit episode. It was the next day
that we
first went to the vet for the vomiting. He noted that her throat
was
a little red and suspected an infection. An antibiotic was given
along with instructions to feed her two small meals a day instead
of 1 big one.
7-10 days later after the antibiotics were finished, we had
another 3
am vomit session. Back to the vet. He now suspects that her food
may
be rancid or we could be dealing with pyloric stenosis. We are
told
to get new bag of food and given Reglan for vomiting.
5-7 days later we have another 3 am vomit episode. We go back to
the
vet again. This time x rays, a berium series, and CBC blood work
is
done. All of them come back normal. The x-rays are sent to a
specialist who also says they are normal. The vet now thinks we
are
dealing with a developed food allergy. We get sensitive stomach
food
and head back home.
5 or so days later we are back at the vet after another 3 am vomit
session. We are now also beginning to see neurological symptoms.
She
would not blink her left eye if you moved your finger towards it
and
she was drooling some out of the left side of her mouth. The vet
is
now stumped and refers us to Alabama Veterinary Specialists in
Birmingham to see a Board Certified Internal Medicine specialist.
In Birmingham more x-rays are done along with an ultrasound. They
find
nothing unusual. The ultrasound did show that the stomach and
intestinal walls were a little thicker than normal. The specialist
wants to do an endoscopy and some radiographs of her head. They
want
to look at her stomach and also rule out inner ear infection.
The endoscopy and radiographs are normal, other than the stomach
being redder than normal. They took biopsies while they were doing
the endoscopy. We are sent home with some different food and the
Reglan for vomiting.
The biopsy report came back last week, normal. No cancer. We were
given some prednisone, the Reglan and also Baytril. We were
supposed
to see how these drugs did with her symptoms and plan on going
back
to Birmingham in two weeks. We did not make that far. On Friday
evening Dakota had a seizure. It was not that bad and did not last
very long, after the seizure she seemed to have more trouble
walking
and was unsteady, like she was drunk. We called the emergency vet
and
asked what we should do. They said we could come in for a
checkout or
just watch her for a few hours to see what she did. I decided to
just
watch her and if she seemed to be doing OK wait and go to our
vet in the morning. I finally went to sleep around 2 am. Dakota
was
resting and seemed to be ok. We woke up at a little before 5 with
her
having another seizure, this one was worse and she never seemed to
recover fully from it. She could not keep down even water after
this
episode, her walking was very unsteady and she could not focus her
eyes. Both sides of her face were also showing signs of paralysis,
she was drooling out of both sides of her mouth. She was also
bobbing
her head from side to side. At this time she was also about 10-12
pounds under her normal weight. She did not have much of an
appetite,
and was very lethargic. My wife was home with her all day Friday
and
she said that Dakota just slept the whole time.
We were waiting at the vets office when he arrived Saturday
morning.
After examining Dakota he said there was nothing he could do. He
said
this was central nervous systems related and he did not think she
the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I could not
continue
to put my dog through this and she was getting worse not better.
Dakota was not just a dog to us. She was a family member, she
went on
vacation with us, she had a stocking at Christmas, she was in our
family pictures, she slept in the bed with us. She was an equal. I
dot know if I will ever get over this.
I am certain that the Proheart 6 injection was to blame for this.
The
side effects listed on the package are exactly what was happening
to
my dog. The peak concentrations of the drub, moxidectin, are
reached
7 - 10 days after the injection. This is the time frame of when
Dakota began to have problems. I do not know the decay rate of the
micro-capsules used to deliver the drug, but the 5-7 days between
vomiting seems to fit the pattern you would see with the decay of
these capsules and them releasing more moxidectin into her system.
Also, after all of those tests and x-rays they could find nothing
physiologically wrong with my dog to explain the symptoms.
Finally,
if your dog is having a reaction to this injection, there is
nothing
they can do to get the chemical out of their system. Once the
injection is given you are stuck with the stuff being in their
system
for 6 months. If your dog has a reaction you will have to ride out
the 6 month period, Dakota was not able to make it that long.
I also contacted Fort Dodge, the makers of Proheart, and they
assured
me that this could not have been caused by their product. However
they did say that if I would send them the vet bills they would
reimburse me. I found it odd that they are willing to pay the
bills
for problems they are supposedly not responsible for.
I am angry at myself for allowing this shot to be given, when I
was
uncomfortable about it to begin with. I will never take the word
of a
vet again on face value. I will question everything. I am also
angry
at the vet for not disclosing the possible side effects of this
drug
and the fact that it had only been out for a year.
Dakota had had no problems at all prior to this injection. I am
telling everyone I know who has animals NOT TO USE this
injection. I am also asking that they be very clear to their vet as to why
they do
not want to use the shot. If Dakota's story can spare someone else
the agony of what we have been through this summer then maybe
something good can come out of this. She was a very special little
girl to me, I called her "Daddy's Little Girl."
Keep me posted on what you find out. Thanks for spreading the
word.
John