My dog has a fever, isn't eating, and losing weight. What should I do?

A fever this high is usually indicative of a bacterial or viral disease going on. Your veterinarian will need to run some tests to try and determine the cause of the fever. Once the cause is identified the proper antibiotics, antifungals, or antipruritic drugs can be prescribed. The tablet given to your dog is basically a fever reducer but will not treat the cause of the fever. I would recommend taking your dog in for a recheck as soon as you’re able to. The exact cause of the fever cannot be determined without further workup and diagnostics. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

My next step would be to send off blood for a test for plague (Yersinia pestis) and Tularemia, especially if your dog has access to areas where there are rodents, squirrels and rabbits. These would not be included in regular blood work. You may also want tod discuss a disease called malignant hyperthermia with your veterinarian. Other common causes of "fever of unknown origin" would be tumors, however your vet apparently ruled those out with blood tests, ultrasound, and xray and possibly blood parasites such as Ehrlichia spp, Babesia spp and similar. A heartworm test may also be advisable.

Hi there, It sounds like your dog may have an infection based on the fever and red gums. The weight gain could be due to thyroid disease, or something affecting her endocrine system. I would recommend an exam and blood work as suggested already and possibly an X-ray if she’s gained the weight rapidly. Best to you and your dog.

This sounds like a pretty complex situation, and I'd agree that an infection of some sort seems likely with a high WBC. I'd be worried about something viral, perhaps even meningitis, especially if it seems that she has neck pain, but that's basically a guess on my part. She should be tested for tick-borne diseases (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, ehrlichia, babesia, Lyme) if that hasn't been done. I'm not sure how far you are from a specialty hospital, but it sounds like she's still not out of the woods, and in the absence of a definitive diagnosis, I too would be worried. I would recommend taking Sky to a specialty hospital, where they might be more capable of diagnosing the problem and getting her the appropriate treatment.

The problem here is to establish the underlying cause of thrombocytopenia (low platelets). Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia is one of the most common causes. This process usually occurs in the spleen although the liver also plays a role. Thrombocytopenia develops as platelet destruction exceeds compensatory production by the bone marrow. Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia can be classified as primary or secondary. Secondary processes can be caused by infective diseases or tumors very commonly. Usually to determine a diagnosis more tests needs to be performed like abdominal ultrasound and chest x rays. Infective diseases like Ehrlichia, Anaplasma spp for example should be ideally evaluated as well. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum (where you can post pics of the blood tests) or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I am sorry to hear that Sandie is not feeling well. If she has a high fever and is not improving, I would take her back in to the veterinarian for further treatment. If she has not been on an antibiotic, I would recommend doing so and also consider giving her a fever reducer, which your vet can provide. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Based on the symptoms you have outlined, I would guess that Chai most likely has some sort of infection somewhere within the body. Given that there is some vomiting, a reasonable assumption would be somewhere within the digestive tract, liver, or pancreas. Only blood work would provide us with enough information to at least point us in one direction or another. Chai is going to require some medications to address the vomiting and fever, as well as some fluids most likely to correct any dehydration that is taking place. If there is an infection somewhere within the body, at least one antimicrobial drug will be required to clear things up. I don't know about the Philippines, but in USA most of the drugs that will be required to help Chai are prescription only, meaning you will have to find a veterinarian to help you. Some other possibilities other than an infection would include organ failure, an endocrine condition called Addison's disease, and even cancer. Let me know if I can assist you further in this matter.