Hi All. My 8 month old Lab Buster has had a terrible month. He had terrible breathing problems and collapsed, he was drooling out of both sides of his mouth and panting frantically this was 2 weeks ago. He was in hospital for 4 nights £1000 later the vets have no idea what caused it, they are looking at lungworm as a possibility but awaiting stool test results. His blood samples were all normal and the red/white cells were all in balance, his x-rays all looked good, so am pretty baffled at his condition his breathing is still not back to normal.
On the same day he collapsed he also started to limp heavily on his front leg and his paw was folding over on him (Imagine your hand folding under your wrist) Anyway he has been home 1 week now and his leg is bit better but he still can't walk on it, it's not folding under him much but he hardly moves himself much now, and looks so sad. He was so energetic before this.
He had a couple of problems limping before on his legs, before this current episode, but we took him to the vets and they suggested less walking time and put a plan in place to build him up more gradual. He had some Metacam and was back to being fine a 2 days later ad had been great up until he collapsed. Now he is always showing me a his paw as if to say this is hurting me and constantly licking at the joints and limps everywhere. He looks likes his 12 years old not 8 months old. has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

Has he been checked for lymes disease from a tick bite? it can cause joint problems and could have caused his other problems. If he has had antibiotics during his episode it could have partially cleared up the symptoms but his joints may well still ache, especially if he is off the metacam.

Thanks. He has been on antibiotics since 27th and only finished Saturday. I am taking him back to the vets about his leg Wednesday. I am trying gain as much knowledge as possible as they really need to break this down into a condition. Whilst in Hospital they simply said they did not look at his leg because the breathing was a priority, even though they had no answer on the cause. For a whole week he has been on meds for Lungworm even though they have no evidence that it is that. I also read something earlier about the condition Pano which could be linked but to come on that sudden, Im not sure. It all seems very strange that the two conditions came on together and the vets can only guess at lung worm.

Could it be Exercise Induced Collapse? Known in Labradors, typically younger dogs, and I believe it can affect breathing as well.
http://www.akcchf.org/research/success-stories/groundbreaking-discovery.html

We may have given him to much exercise over the first 5 months, But he had been on strict plan for 4 weeks of ten minutes in the morning, ten in the evening all on the lead. We were building him up to be able to get back to more regular routine so we had definitely not over walked him. It was very strange he was fine that night, he had his evening walk at 7pm, all was normal until he went into the Garden for 10 mins late that evening. When he came back he seemed to be crying a bit, next morning when we awoke he was in a terrible state and that's when it all started. Still awaiting the results of the lung worm test.

> his x-rays all looked good

Did they rule out HOD (Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy)? Even though it is a bone problem, it can make them very ill.

What is the protein content of his food?

Here is a bit about it .

After reading your link that does sound like it could well be what Buster has.. Whether that was linked to his collapse, I have no idea. The drooling points me to poisoning of some sort but his toxin test's cam back normal (Which is why the vets were quite confused and Lungworm is their only guess so far) (again still awaiting results on that). I'm taking him back to the vets tonight for his legs so will mention this condition as a possibility. The one things that does stand out is that Buster grew very quickly and is a large puppy, he is bigger than most Labs for his age. He has been on Puppy Pedigree since we got at him at 10 weeks old. I have never really thought twice about changing his food or the protein side of things, but I think I will have to look into his diet now, even though they say their is no proof that food can instigate a particular condition.

Have they ruled out neurological ?
I thought the paw going over was a neurological sign.

Fingers crossed for you both. X

Could the panting and salivating be pain induced? I only mention this as you say he grew quickly and is a large puppy - so could it be Panosteitis (SP)?

It affects the long bones of large breed dogs (usually males as they're bigger), as I understand it, it's a virus which affects the marrow in the long bones, no treatment other than pain management.  Essentially it's growing pains, and they grow out of it.

2 of my Rotties had it at around the 7/8 month stage, the first was my bitch who was intermitently limping, initially diagnosed as a sprain, by £700 of xrays later we were told it was Pano. The 2nd was my boy, who it hit so badly, we initially thought that he'd broken his leg - again it was Pano, so just a course of Metacam whilst he was growing out of it.

I sold a puppy from my last litter that had a dog puppy that started to limp on one front leg. The Vet gave anti inflammatories for a week and lead exercise. After a week and no improvement they were sent to an Orthopaedic Vet fairly local to them. He said that as the pup was quite well grown he would advise anti inflammatories for one month and leash walking and that they should put him on Adult food immediately. He said that he would not expect a well grown pup to repair after only one week of anticinflammatories. Pup is now fine with no lameness.

Thank you all for you insight. We have just had the results back from the stool samples and they say their was no sign of lung worm, so that's good, but gives me no indication of what possibly caused his collapse. His lameness is still present, a little better but still their, we had the scans done on Friday. The vets said they can see no sign of bone problems or legions but have sent the scans away to a leg specialist. Poor dog is not having a great time at the moment yesterday and today he has had sickness and diarrhoea.

If he is still on pain medication then that could be causing the sickness and diarrhoea. If he is still on Metacam then I would consult your Vet.

>Poor dog is not having a great time at the moment yesterday and today he has had sickness and diarrhoea.

We always stress to clients whose pets are on Rimadyl, Metacam or Previcox to STOP the medication if there is diarrhoea or vomiting, and to contact the vet for advice.

One of my girls can't tolerate Metacam, she's fine if it's given as an injection, but the dispense at home liquid makes her vomit.

We have taking him off the Metacam and he has been much better for the last 2 days no sickness at all. Still awaiting specialist result on limp, it has got a bit better even managed to give him 5 mins on the lead yesterday he was so happy. PANO seems to be the most likely at present.
I have another question for all you. Buster had a black nose until 4 days ago, it has now turned brown, I love his cute black nose. Is this a natural occurrence.

Sounds like Winter nose, kelp is supposed to help get it black again.  Pano was my first guess, but confused with the other symptoms which of course may have been separate issues.

> PANO seems to be the most likely at present.

Has his diet been changed yet?
Switching to a lower protein food (eg.. from puppy to adult food) should help with both pano. & HOD.

"From personal experience as well as speaking with scores of breeders, I am almost totally convinced that those dogs with breed and/or family susceptibility for pano, who are fed very "rich" (high protein, especially) diets are the ones most likely to come up limping with the disorder. One after another, people have told me that by going to a lower-protein but still highly-digestible food, and not feeding very liberally, they have stopped the course of pano in their kennels." - Fred Lanting (presents seminars worldwide on orthopedic disorders, gait-&-Structure, and other topics.)

Taken from here