Need some help with this one!!!!!!

[brknhrtskbeagles]

I have a 2 year old male beagle that myself and my vet are having a hard time figuring out what is wrong with him. I noticed a couple of weeks ago he had his tail tucked between his legs. I thought it might be a dominace thing since he is kenneled with another male, but the male he is kenneled with is very well mannered and friendly. This male had never been a big eater but I started noticing some diarreha. Took him running last week and he didn't do squat. We could tell he wanted to go with the other dogs but he didn't. And everytime another dog touched him he would squall like he was bit. Long story short, loaded him up and went to the vet. Vet agrees something is wrong but doesn't know exactly what. X-Rays were fine. HIs tail seems to be really sore. His white cell count was 21 which is double what it should be and being in the medical field I know this means infection of some kind. He is a very active dog. My vet put him on doxycycline and a 7 day supply of an anti-imflammitory. He had some hooks and whips so he gave him a panacur 3 day treatment. He also kept him overnight. He said I should notice improvements by now. He has always been eating and drinking and full of energy. Just keeps his tail tucked between his legs and seems to be painful in that area. The rest of his blood panel looked good so we are starting to come to a loss. I keep very few hounds (3) so I am very atttentive to them, sometimes too much so. There has been no squabbles in the pen and he will play in the yard with all the other dogs. Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated....

Thanks

[green river]

Sounds like cold tail. My male went through it not long ago. He would'nt go poop for a few days because it hurt to raise his tail. He was fine after a while. I hope this is all it is. Don't know what causes it, but he would squall when I raised his tail to check things out.

[brknhrtskbeagles]

Thanks green river! He has been pooping fine and will lift his tail up just enought to get it out. It's strange, this male used to carry his tail high, we can't figure it out.

[S.R.Patch]

I have acouple guesses...
(1)Your other male is man handling him during the night.
(2)I've reciently had a large number of bees around where the males mark the corner of the pen. It's as if they are drawn to the pee and become drunk on it, as they don't readily fly away when I walk by(I can step on every one). I guess he could be getting stung on the rump, if your have the same problem with the bees I'm having.
My boy stird up a nest of wasp the other day when we were tearing down an old rabbit hutch, got him 5 times before he knew what hit him, all I knew was, he was headed for the house at a high rate of speed...

I've never seen cold tail start right at the root of the tail, usually I've seen it start about 4" out from the root and look like the tail was broken.

[brknhrtskbeagles]

Thanks S.R. Patch. I cleaned out the pens last night and found nothing unusual. This a.m. I went out and gave him his morning meds and he was full oenergy and himself! He will stand up on my leg to take his meds and also to get petted. Soon as something touches his rear he squalls and gets aggressive just for a short second. I felt of the area this morning and he didn't squall ofter that inital touch but he tensed up a little bit. He will play will all the dogs I have and is acting normal except for the tail between his legs and the squalling. His is still eating and drinking fine too. I have two days left of his anti-immflamatory and 3 days left on his antibiotic so I guess we'll go back to square one in a few days, I just can't stand too many of these $200 vet trips....

[mike crabtree]

Infected anal gland??? Try Squeezing his Azzhole like a Zit with your thumbs. Ive senn them get bad enuff to have trouble walking.


Good luck.

[JesandDeb]

You should be able to feel the glands(one on each side of the rectum) if they are full. Pretty easy once ya get the hang of it(no pun intended ).....can use your thumb and index finger to squeez both sides at the same time.....may or may not be full....or one side could be full and the other side not.

[brknhrtskbeagles]

Checked that, no dice there either. It seems to be hurting him when another dogs touches his hips or back. This one is weird. Hopefully the follow up visit will help. He is wagging his tail just keeps it low. Thanks again for the replies yall!!!

[brknhrtskbeagles]

OK, few more days till the follow up visit. He has been off his anti-immflamatory for a day now, still on the antibiotic for 3 more days. I had them out in the yard today and as usual he is full of pi@# and vinegar. I was able to localize the pain to the base of his tail directly on top of his hips. He would squall when I touched that are about the size of a half dollar. No swelling, still eating and drinking, not putting on any extra weight, and seems to be dominating the male that in the kennel with him. He still is not carrying his legs or limping in any way. He acts like he is ready to go except when something brushes his rump he squalls and jumps away. They have all been eating Purina all their life. His stool has finally stiffened up so I guess the worms are gone. He also still acts like he wants to breed my female beagles and my rottie. I hope we can figure this out soon, it is tearing me up as i had high hopes for this young dog...

[brknhrtskbeagles]

By brknhrtskbeagles, shot with E7600 at 2008-08-25


Hope this works. I took him back to the vet today and his white count went from 20.8 to 18.7 after a week of doxycyline. The vet is not happy with the results and my wallet is not either. $68 more dollars and he gave me Baytol. Says it's the strongest anti-biotic he has. Wants him back in 8 days. I hope the pic turns out, my first one. He is hard to get on camera when you are by yourself but you can see how he is holding his tail...

[/img]

[brknhrtskbeagles]

By brknhrtskbeagles

[wvduece]

those vet bills can get expensive i had a male a few years ago act the same way local vet couldnt figure it out so i took him to charleston animal hospital in charleston wv they figured it out pretty fast my male had a slip disc in his tail or thats what they told me they told me to give him baby aspirin n crate him for 6 weeks n no excersize or running him i did crate the male n it worked i asked the vet how he got the sliupped disc he said he couldve slipped over a cliff or done it jumping off tail gate he said lots of things couldve caused it maybe thats whats going on with your dog as mine acted just like you described jb

[Ky. Hunter]

I had one once that got lost and found his way home over a week later and something happened to him while he was gone and he carried his tail like that when he got back home and was never able to lift his tail again. I hunted him like that for 3--4 years before he suddenly died on me.

[brknhrtskbeagles]

Ok, antibiotic is finished. He still holds his tail down and squalls when you bump it or try to pick it up. Ran him yesterday morning and he would go to the dogs when they had a rabbit up but put in very little. No hunt anymore either. We only had baby rabbits and the ground was dry and with 8 dogs on the ground not much scent for a lack lazy dog. Called the vet back as he wanted to see him again for a follow up visit. Got peeved at him when he told me I would have to pay another office visit for him to see if his interventions are working which they obviously are not. He is a young dog and showed great poteintal until this cropped up. It is really pissing me off about the vet and having a sick dog not getting better. He is still eating and drinking great so I know it is not life threating at this point. He is full of energy still also. I am really close to just having his tail cut off and be done with it altogether. Anyone have any other ideas? I am taking him to a different vet tomorrow.........