Dog limped up to me yesterday and collapsed while chukar hunting. Buddy and I were trying to figure out what was wrong. She had blood on her face. We found a chin cut in her. She got worse as she laid in front of us. We thought low blood sugar and tried to give her honey, snack bar and water. She wouldn’t take it. She was declining to the point I had to lift her head and make sure I got an eye reaction. I was afraid she was dying in front of me.
Buddy happened to have dog carry sling. I carried her to the road about a mile and he ran back to the truck two miles away. I kept reaching back to raise her head for eye contact as I hiked.
She slept on my lap to the vet. Vet took blood thinking low blood sugar - it came back normal. He gave her fluids which perked her up. She was a little more coherent but definitely hurt. He did an ultrasound. Weird coincidence but the vet had TCI for pups a month ago, form of AI, and I had an ultrasound scheduled for Monday.
He looks and says lots of pups! I get up excited to see the pups. He then says what is this fluid, gets very serious. There was loose blood in her abdomen around her belly. She had internal bleeding. He said it was blunt force trauma to her left side. She was bleeding from the spleen, liver or uterus. He decided to watch her for an hour to see if the fluid grew. It hadn’t at two hours. She spent the night under observation. Vet didn’t want to do surgery if the wound stopped bleeding.
I chatted with the vet this morning. She’s up and running around the vet office. He wants to monitor her for the day. I’ll pick her up in the evening.
He thinks she had rhabdomyolysis too. A life threatening condition that happens with working dogs.
“Exertional rhabdomyolysis, also commonly referred to as tying up, Monday morning sickness and muscle cramps, results from a muscle cell imbalance between energy needed and what is in stores.”
He wanted to flush her kidneys and monitor blood samples today. He said she had very dark urine which is an indicator. I google vetted the disease and my dog didn’t have any other symptoms. No muscle cramps, hard muscles or pain.
Cady is 4 3/4s years old. Very athletic and used to hunting chukar rocks. I’ve watched her dance on and off cliffs acrobatically. I think she had a cliff crash due to the chin cut and the internal bleeding. One cliff too high!
This episode has me thinking harder on what I need to start carrying medical wise hunting. We were 1 1/2 hours from the vet.
I’ll work from home this week to watch her. A follow up appointment later this week to check up on her and the pups.
Buddy happened to have dog carry sling. I carried her to the road about a mile and he ran back to the truck two miles away. I kept reaching back to raise her head for eye contact as I hiked.
She slept on my lap to the vet. Vet took blood thinking low blood sugar - it came back normal. He gave her fluids which perked her up. She was a little more coherent but definitely hurt. He did an ultrasound. Weird coincidence but the vet had TCI for pups a month ago, form of AI, and I had an ultrasound scheduled for Monday.
He looks and says lots of pups! I get up excited to see the pups. He then says what is this fluid, gets very serious. There was loose blood in her abdomen around her belly. She had internal bleeding. He said it was blunt force trauma to her left side. She was bleeding from the spleen, liver or uterus. He decided to watch her for an hour to see if the fluid grew. It hadn’t at two hours. She spent the night under observation. Vet didn’t want to do surgery if the wound stopped bleeding.
I chatted with the vet this morning. She’s up and running around the vet office. He wants to monitor her for the day. I’ll pick her up in the evening.
He thinks she had rhabdomyolysis too. A life threatening condition that happens with working dogs.
“Exertional rhabdomyolysis, also commonly referred to as tying up, Monday morning sickness and muscle cramps, results from a muscle cell imbalance between energy needed and what is in stores.”
He wanted to flush her kidneys and monitor blood samples today. He said she had very dark urine which is an indicator. I google vetted the disease and my dog didn’t have any other symptoms. No muscle cramps, hard muscles or pain.
Cady is 4 3/4s years old. Very athletic and used to hunting chukar rocks. I’ve watched her dance on and off cliffs acrobatically. I think she had a cliff crash due to the chin cut and the internal bleeding. One cliff too high!
This episode has me thinking harder on what I need to start carrying medical wise hunting. We were 1 1/2 hours from the vet.
I’ll work from home this week to watch her. A follow up appointment later this week to check up on her and the pups.
Last edited: