Any advice re dog with fluid in abdomen

corky

Well-Known Member
Hi there
i am putting this on general discussion as I am hoping as many people as possible see it .
Around 3 weeks ago my 5 year old black lab started looking overweight,I put it down to him not getting out much as I was really busy with work and wasn't, getting out to hill .After a wee while of reducing his food and getting out more I realised it wasn't,t fat but he actually was filling up with fluid so got him straight to vets and they checked him and confirmed it was fluid build up in abdomen(Ascites)They took him in next day and scanned and x-rayed Him and took blood and fluid samples which were sent to specialist vet,they concluded that his heart was ok but fluid showed signs of other problems so I was referred to specialist vets in Glasgow where he got a detailed scan which also showed up nothing clearly but there was slight enlargement of liver which might be normal or might not so they took more samples of blood and fluid.
They got back to me there and have advised an exploratory op as they suspect there is a problem with veins leading to liver and to be honest were leading towards the fact that he may have a Very serious problem and have quoted me £2000 for the exploratory op.I am not insured and have paid over £1000 already and do not have the money lying about but I will get it by selling my quad as I can go stalking without a quad but I do not go stalking without the dog,he has been invaluable since I got him for telling me when there is deer about and it's payback time now but I am just wondering if anyone on here has had similar problems with their dog and what the outcome was ?Dog himself is totally normal with no sign of anything causing any distress and is his usual hyper self and the fluid build up has been very minimal since first visit to vets as they gave him tablets which has stopped and reduced the fluid Don,t make the same mistake as me either and please insure your dog.
any info gratefully received
thanks
Iain
 
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Have same symptoms with my 6 year old Weimaraner bitch, but she is diagnosed as being in heart failure, due to what started as a leaky heart valve 12 months ago. Apart from her getting a bit out of breath you wouldn't know she is ill. The fluid in the abdomen is a secondary symptom as other organs liver, kidneys start to suffer. Since the end of December my bitch has been to our vets a number of times and 3 visits so far to Liverpool vet hospital. Where she now goes on a monthly basis. She has so far cost over £8000 in vet bills (she is insured) and they predict less than 6 months to live.
 
I had a similar problem with one of my springers ,the vet drew the fluid off and started her on diuretics Problem solved . Cost £60.00 no specialist this or that just a quality vet that knows his business.
 
I had a similar problem with one of my springers ,the vet drew the fluid off and started her on diuretics Problem solved . Cost £60.00 no specialist this or that just a quality vet that knows his business.

I hope everything works out for your dog (Corky)... Looking from the outside tho, it seems like someone (several someones) is taking advantage of your love of the dog and letting you pay the bill for some learning on their part... Hope you can find an honest vet and get things fixed (at least under control) before they get serious. Have you ever thought about visiting a vet (??) that practices homeopathics? Assuming you have one available. Good luck...
 
i have to agree with daven , it is just to easy for vets to bump up the costs wether it is needed or not , you are paying for either there lack of knowledge or practising on your dog to do exploritory opps, i am really gutted for you Corky and also Wingy , as i would have to do the same , but this insurance thing with dogs is an open ticket to be abused for some vets , hope it works out well in the end , sorry i cant be of help.
 
Lets put this in context - there are many possible causes of fluid accumulation in the abdomen and some are more easily treated than others. Some causes are expensive to investigate and treat. If you want the dog fixing it can't be done with a feel and some pills.

Homoeopathy does not work, anyone practising it should be struck off as a con man for taking innocent people's money. Proven time and time again to do no better than no treatment.

Main causes of ascities are heart failure (either through leaking valves and 'pump failure' or via fluid around the heart preventing it pumping properly), lack of protein (albumin) in the blood (either through increased losses through the gut or kidney, restricted dietary intake or lack of production in the liver), or infection (peritonitis) or damage to the lymphatic system putting chyle or bile into the abdomen. Things that increase the vascular resistance can cause the problem, although they would usually present in a younger dog.

These can be a nightmare to sort on a budget.

Hope the dog makes a good recovery.
 
Thanks for advice guys I do appreciate and wingy I hope things go much better for you than vets prediction.As may be noticed by time of my post I am up til silly hours going through Internet but bottom line is I am no vet and I realise it is a logical progression as to why vets have came to conclusion they have but they did admit they were going through a process of elimination and they say next step is to operate and see what they can find sooner rather than later.I was giving 6 diuretics a day for first week but this has dropped to 2 in the morning and fluid is still staying off and I have been measuring his girth last couple of days and no change in size so I will carry on doing this for next few days.
I don,t have any benchmark to say how good or not the vets that have looked at him are though I am not doubting them but my gut feeling is to leave things as they are for the next couple of days giving 2diuretics a day until they run out on Friday then see if there is a change over weekend then I am leaning towards local vets suggestion that they do exploratory op though it is old school way of full opening up rather than specialist with minimal invasive surgery but they seemed reasonably confident of seeing something if it was there and also getting liver biopsy at same time,I shall just have to wait and see-in the meantime I don't think there would be any harm in trying the cottage cheese as mentioned by Rake Aboot
thanks again
 
Finding out first if the blood protien is low, is an easy step. I would check this before any op. If they determine it is, then they will basically offer options on biopsies to find a cause, but don`t hold yer breath that an easy cause will be forthcoming.
At least this will offer you the chance to try dietery help.
 
Corky, hope things work out for you & your dog, I don't know what your vets are like but I've always seemed to get good honest advise from mine.
On thing I have found is as soon as they know the dog has good insurance doors seem to open and nothing is too much trouble.
My vets told me straight the best option for my dog was beyond their capability at the practice and made an appointment at Liverpool veterinary teaching hospital that's where the cost really starts to rocket.
Fingers crossed Wingy
 
Hi Iain. A friend of mine has a german wire-haired pointer. He began to fill up with fluid and inflated to alarming proportions whilst losing all his muscle. Tests revealed severe liver damage (only 20% of normal functioning) either from poisoning or something congenital. The vets wanted to put him down but Andy wouldn't have it did a lot of research resulting in a radical change of diet (avoiding cereals in particular). This gradually did the trick and he's getting back to normal though tests still show some liver deficiency. He couldn't have diuretics at first because that would strain the liver further but had some as he improved and the fluid disappeared altogether. PM me and I'll put you in touch if you like. The dog was at death's door, the vets were clueless, but Andy pulled him through by asking around as you are.
 
Sorry to hear your problem . Lost a 4.5 year old lab to pericardial effusion caused by a tumor on the heart.We had 2 ops at Royal Vet College -not insured gave him the best because he was my mate but chief vet said that chances of recovery were slight. So brought him home went pigeon shooting for last tiome and to my vet the next morning. I could not bear to see him suffer . Hope your outcome is better but sometimes in our hearts we know what has to be done. Be brave- you owe it to him .
 
Thanks again for the advice-dvbookshop thanks and yes any more info on your mates course of action would be most appreciated.Fluid build up was very minimal since the diuretics stopped until sunday when I went stalking in the morning,I shot 2 roe and let dog (basil-cos he has been daft as a brush since first day I got him)find them which he did without fuss though I try to get him away from them quick as since september to november he has suffered badly from lumps under his chin and lumps on edge of paws which he licked constantly and bit at making a right mess which coincided with a change in food and vets were fairly certain this was a reaction to new food so I went back to normal food(wainwrights turkey and rice) and was told to keep him strictly on this food with no treats or other food whatsoever and this meant no slice of heart when I gralloched a deer which I always gave him for finding them.Once these lumps cleared up I then changed to wainrights hypoallergenic turkey and rice and the lumps have kept away.
He did lick blood up when he got to the deer but got no titbits from the pluck but by late last night his abdomen had swollen noticeably and it got me thinking back that after stalking several times he has been sick and in fact the first time the fluid build up happened was a few days after shooting 3 hinds which once again he was in about the blood.
I told vet this tonight and she has not heard of any reason why blood would cause a reaction but she is going to look into it but she did say that it could be a factor as they really don,t have a case like this where a dog in such good health and fitness has had ascites without any other symptoms-another possibility she thought of was the increased energy and excitement when he was out were aggravating the situation so she advised that he only gets a couple of short walks per day and no stalking while she looks into it some more and is leaving him off diuretics for a few days to see if the fluid reduces naturally but if it increases drastically to get him back in.
If there is no change she has advised that he goes in next week for operation to see what they can see and to get biopsy so its a waiting game again
I asked about the blood protein levels from his tests and she said they were perfectly normal but I held off from Rake aboots cottage cheese for the moment but may try it yet,milk thistle also crops up a lot on internet sites for liver problems so I may try and track some of that down and give it ago depending on how things look over next couple of days.
thanks again for all advice and any more no matter how obscure I will listen too
 
Keep us posted. There are ,surprisingly, quite a few folk with this issue, or similar, so keeping us updated with what works and what doesn`t may help someone else.

ATB
Rake
 
I hope this gets sorted and you get a resolution for you and your pal - as Apache said, please don't waste time, money or emotion on homeopathy...it doesn't work and has no basis in science.
 
I hope this gets sorted and you get a resolution for you and your pal - as Apache said, please don't waste time, money or emotion on homeopathy...it doesn't work and has no basis in science.

Thanks for that-no further progress back on the diuretics as fluid still present,had him back at vets to give more blood to send away this time checking for any tick related issues but she is not too hopeful about getting any positive samples back as though there are many diseases possible through tick bites he doesn't show any other signs to make them think this is the issue but its worth a try none the less
 
Spent all last night on living room floor with a very groggy and sore lab as we ran out of options when last set of bloods came back negative so he was in at local vets for exploratory op-good news was they found no masses or lumps but bad news was liver is definitely enlarged and round edged and looking not too good-they took liver biopsy so hopefully get results ASAP and they can start dealing with it-they took a lot of fluid out and she did say that first time they removed fluid it was clear and thin but this time it was darker and thicker but hopefully they say that no other symptoms showing mean that it is still early enough to see and deal with but a waiting game now!
 
Fingers crossed
My bitch has been back to Liverpool 3 times already this year each time they upped the medication and said she's deteriorated. She is now stable on the meds and seems ok in herself if a little less active
 
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