Chihuahua mystery sickness - Vet stumped

Question
Hi, My 1 year and 10 month old chihuahua, Frankie, is normally the spunky hilarious playful comedien of the family.  10 days ago, on Sunday morning, I woke up to find him unwilling to leave his bed, mopey and slept all day.  I saw his back side kind of fall down when I walked him outside.  I thought he maybe bruised something and it would go away.  I checked his joints/muscles, etc and couldn't find a point of injury.  He continued to mope and sleep.  On Wednesday, I brought him to the vet (we have plans with Banfield and he is up to date on all of his shots, and takes Heartgard and K9Advantix, just fyi).  They kept him for the day and discovered he had an anal gland infection.  They had also ran bloodwork and did fecals and it was normal, and he had no fever. Long story short, we figured he was uncomfortable from this and that explained his behavior.  They gave me pain meds and clavamox for him after expressing the glands.  By Friday, he had NO improvement so I brought him back to Banfield.  They expressed his anal glands again, said they looked a little better but were still infected and a little bloody.  They changed his pain meds to Ketoprofen in Syrup in little syringes for me.  On this second visit though, he had a 103.1 fever.  He showed a little more interest in playing with my other chi that day after leaving the vet and actually tried to slowly trot after a tennis ball my boyfriend threw with him for a little while.  Things were looking up.  By Saturday, he was back to square one, completely pitiful again.  On Tuesday, I brought him to the vet for the third time in a week.  His fever was 103.9 on this day, and when the vet examined his anal glands, he said that they looked much better and really had nothing in them at all.  Therefore, his mopeyness and apparent allover discomfort and misery could not be due to the anal glands.  They hooked him up to IVs for the day to give him fluids and try to get his fever down.  They also gave him a different antibiotic injection.  When I got him home last night, he seemed to be a little more lively, and actually chewed a bone.  This morning he woke up and got out of his bed, waiting for me to walk him.  He hadn't done that since this began!  But when I got home from work 7 hours later, he is again back to square one.  He just seems SO lethargic and antisocial.  I should mention that he has also had No diarhhea and No vomiting and while he hasn't touched kibble since that Sunday (mainly because he's so unmotivated to move) he will eat things that he doesn't normally get such as pieces of cheese and pieces of meat.  I don't know what to do.  I've been over every inch of his body pressing and prodding, and I can't find anything physically wrong with him.  He also will occasionally have tremors.  My heart is broken watching him suffer, and at the same time, having no clue what the culprit is.  I suggested Lyme disease to the vet, which he's been vaccinated against, and the vet told me they ran some test on him during the first visit that screens for lyme and it was negative.  Please help me!

Answer

Marie Peppers LPN MA Oh, I am so sorry for you two.  You know Anal glad infections can do this to a small dog.  I bet that is all that is going on here.
For Frankie please try the following:

Give his bottom a warm bath each day - don't get his face wet- just a 1/2 body bath.  Make sure you use some Oatmeal doggie shampoo and warm water - make sure you place cups of warm water over the anal area.  This will be soothing and help to reduce the swelling.

Next, I need you to get some Canned Pumpkin into little Frankie every day.  ( at least 2 weeks)-  buy the Pure canned pumpkin with no added sugar. Give him 1-2 teaspoons per day.  He should eat this because most dogs and cats love the taste.  Wonderful Fiber to help the anal glands.

I am sure the vet did not tell you that an Anal glad problem can be resolved with good food, fiber and the antibiotics.
They many times will not even tell you about good and low cost fiber!

In the future - please give Frankie 1 teaspoon of Unflavored metamucil powder 2-3 x per WEEK.. do this for a lifetime.
Mix this in his food and give him some good WET canned food like Wellness Formula...  He should be eating a wet food and dry kibble each day.  Cheese is not too great for his little anal problem.
I see he loves cheese...but is not helping little Frankie.

Please order some NuVET Plus powder / they also make a wafer tablet but I think the powder will be easy to mix into his food.
This will build up his immune system and help with digestion.
It will cost you about .60 cents per day for the NuVET Program.
Wonderful and does give a 60 Day money back guarantee.
Here is the link to NuVET-
http://www.apluspetcare.com/untitled4.html


BEST of LUCK-
Please update me at my personal e-mail

mtnmom@gci.net

Marie Peppers LPN MA
Dog and CAT Food expert
Alternatives for Pets