Hi any help would be great as I have never had this before. I have a male German shepherd 15mths old. A week today I took him to the vets as he was lethargic, didn't want to sit with other dogs, didn't drink too much and looked a bit sore.Vet said he was an ill dog gave him 4 jags(didn't say what they where) and run bloods, his white blood cell was high vet had said max should be was 10 and he was at 29 so said it must be an infection he had no temperature . Got given Antibiotics to take and had to return to the Thursday I did get given painkillers on the Wednesday. On Thursday he was put on an iv drip of antibiotics and fluids. He was given a different set of antibiotics and was told to return on Wednesday, vet said if that didn't work he would have to run extensive test to find out whats wrong. All he is doing is sleeping and doesn't want to come never other dogs he is now happy to get up to go out for a toilet but still isn't himself.I'm at a total lost.

A week on, with not much change I would have him back pronto for those extensive tests.......you need to find out what is wrong.

Your vet can all but guess until the tests are done........antibiotics and painkillers are given hopefully to cure most problems, they are always the first port of call for a vet, if they don't work there is a more serious problem it needs finding now, could be just about anything.

Just get him in for those tests the sooner the better.

Fingers crossed, poor boy must be feeling really poorly.

Just a thought as I had a rottweiler 10 yrs ago with similar symptoms and it turned out to be lungworm she was given high doses of liquid panacur and recovered,have u wormed recently for lungworm?

I agree, you need to get on with the further tests sharpish.  Has a full general blood check been done (liver, kidneys etc) and a blood count to check for anaemia?  With high white blood cell count I would be looking at possible auto-immune issues.

Don't dogs cough with lungworm (I'll have to look it up).   But regardless of what it is, I'd now be getting further testing done.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health/pet-health-information/lungworm/

has he been checked for hyper-eosinophilia?

Hyper what?

Dogs with lungworm do cough would request he is tested for lungworm and perhaps time for 2nd opinion

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Jo Cartwright says: When was his last vaccination/booster?

Stephanie Presdee says: you must ask what the vet is giving!

He is now back to his old self. We had asked if the vet at the start if it could be panosteitis and that was dismissed. But it turned out that was what it was.

So glad that all has turned out well for you and your boy. I was beginning to feel a bit sick at the thought that your vet was unable to work out what was wrong.If I were in your shoes however I would be considering changing my vet, after all you made the diagnosis before he did and if you were dismissed out of hand when you suggested it then his attitude is wrong and in the future how could you have confidence in him?

Hear , hear what Garbo said. Depends if you detected even the merest hint of regret and apology in the vets demeanour at their "omission" , medics ARE loathe to admit any small error on their part , the way they are trained grhrr  ; but sometimes someone who knows your dogs history can be useful so at least I'd not leave it to an emergency to re-register elsewhere if you feel inclined to.  I just wanted to stick my oar in and say now that hopefully he's over the worst don't go overboard with taking him out to little local parks where dog poo is rife and bugs lurking is pretty above average seeing as its January. The immune system is always weaker after such a big hit to it , and that sounds horrific ; props and may your 'luck' continue that you(pl) got through it...

I have a male German shepherd 15mths old. A week today I took him to the vets as he was lethargic, didn't want to sit with other dogs, didn't drink too much and looked a bit sore.

Always a worry especially when they don't drink much water. They do say 'You Can Take A Horse To Water, But You Cant Make It Drink' years ago I had a bitch that all of the sudden, wouldn't drink water for some reason ...? she looked a little lethargic, so I took her straight to the vets, it was a 20 minutes drive, but before I left the house I decided to give her 'Water' with a 'Syringe' (not too much) as I was worried about her getting 'Dehydrated' it really helped by the time we got to the Vets she had made a Miraculous-Recovery.

Could be any number of reasons why he is lethargic ...?   hope your vet finds out what the problem is and your dog gets better very soon.

I have a male German shepherd 15mths old. A week today I took him to the vets as he was lethargic, didn't want to sit with other dogs, didn't drink too much and looked a bit sore.

Always a worry especially when they don't drink much water. They do say 'You Can Take A Horse To Water, But You Cant Make It Drink' years ago I had a bitch that all of the sudden, wouldn't drink water for some reason ...? she looked a little lethargic, so I took her straight to the vets, it was a 20 minutes drive, but before I left the house I decided to give her 'Water' with a 'Syringe' (not too much) as I was worried about her getting 'Dehydrated' it really helped by the time we got to the Vets she had made a Miraculous-Recovery.

Could be any number of reasons why he is lethargic ...?   hope your vet finds out what the problem is and your dog gets better very soon.

He is now back to his old self. We had asked if the vet at the start if it could be panosteitis and that was dismissed. But it turned out that was what it was.

Just noticed the above (that he's now o.k.) that's excellent news. Cheers.

Typically Pano doesn't present like that.   It's a condition of the longbone which usually hits at around 8 months.  It's very painful and this condition rotates round all the limbs so the dog may be lame on one leg one day/week, and lame on another the next.   Not for nothing is it called the creeping disease.   The good news with this is it's self-limiting.   Growing pains.   Provided the pain can be kept under control, the only thing is complete rest while it hits.   And obviously the breeder needs to know as it can run in bloodlines - again it does in my main breed.   Vets didn't used to know about this and went to Hip or Elbow dysplasia.   It's more prevalent in many breeds, my main one included, these days so vets are more aware.

I have no idea about the involvement of the white cell count because it's inflammation.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_multi_panosteitis

I hope your vet HAS made an accurate diagnosis.   Did he x-ray?