Odd symptoms - not sure if specialist needed

[NewOwner0712]

My dog started acting "off" about 3-4 weeks ago; her symptoms are listed above. Diarrhea and salivating I didn't stress, as I assumed she had a passing illness. I switched her over to plain white rice boiled with chicken to ease her stomach.

Then a few days ago I had to drag her out to pee at night, as she has been getting so lethargic in the late evenings that she will refuse to go out (then need to go at 4-5am).  As she walked to her pee spot, one or both right legs seemed to give out and she stumbled.  She also fell down the last 2 steps out of our apartment, then walked back up them one at a time like a very old dog might do.  This finally scared me enough to take her to vets.

Vets here are EXTREMELY resource-constrained. They cannot test for heartworm or Addison's or most hormonal illnesses (or even a lot of parasitic illnesses).With normal bloodwork, they guessed perhaps a parastic infection and advised I give her the May dosage of Sentinel (I was 1 week late) and wait it out.

There are no other vets to go to here, and our vet can do very little diagnose. I am writing this question here now in the hopes of getting advice on whether this constellation of symptoms warrants me going through a complicated process of getting export permission to take my dog to a specialist in South Africa? She still seems ok during the day -active and pretty normal. Symptoms are intermittent and only really bad at night when she tires out, so I'm tempted to just wait it out and see. If this sounds more severe than I'm giving it credit for, though, I'll try to get her to s.africa. Thanks.


Other random info:
• She has more tooth decay than she should at 2 years of age.  We now brush her teeth 3x /week and wipe them with a chlorhexidine wipe 4x/week
• She is currently eating Diamond Naturals brand chicken & rice dry dog food (not one of the ones recalled, to my knowledge).
• She receives Sentinel pill and Advantix II topical treatment each month

[Cliff Redford, DVM]

Very interesting but troublesome case.
My first thought was Addison's disease and unfortunately it will require additional testing to determine. I cannot say if your dog will recover on its own or not, if this was my patient I would be recommending a very aggressive diagnostic set of tests as early diagnosis could make a big difference.
Addisons disease, Myasthenia gravis,autoimmune disease, toxin, these are all conditions this could be and they will progress.
If it is at all possible I would recommend getting your dog to a vet who can further test for these conditions.

[NewOwner0712]

Thanks, opus88.

I already have a bag of Acana ready for when we switch her off rice/chicken.  Lack of fever and normal bloodwork makes me doubt a dx of salmonella - but could be.  No reason to take a chance, though!  Especially since she's sick already - the last thing she needs is to eat contaminated food.

I recommended Diamond Naturals to a friend just before the recall.  Oops.  I've already warned her of recall, but will forward her the very helpful websites you posted.  

[opus88]

hi I am not the Vet on this site I suspect he will reply to you shortly, in the meantime I am sending you what I think is the full list of the recalls....I would suggest you find another food to give your dog and hopefully find a solution to his troubles...best of luck♥


http://truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/diamond-pet-foods-issues-voluntary-recall-of-dry-pet-food.html

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/updated-notice-includes-kirkland-and-taste-of-the-wild-recall.html