Abby appears to have lost weight in the last 2 or 3 weeks, yet her front legs appear to have swollen. Her eyes also have had lots of yucky matter that I wipe out once or twice a day. She cough ocassionally, but not excessively. The vet recommended switching from Beneful because of my other dog licking a lot, he thought it might be a reaction to the colors in it. They had been on half and half of beneful and iams rice and lamb for the last couple of weeks. I've gone back to just beneful, because Beau didn't noticably change his behaviour, and Abby was losing so much weight.
Weight loss and swollen legs and ocassional cough
Posted on 2008/08/25 by M.E. Langley
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AbbySymptoms: coughing, eyes, weight loss -
Hello The weight loss and swollen front legs is very unlikely to be anything to do with her diet. I would first of all weigh Abby to get a precise weight so that you know whether she really has lost weight, or whether you are imagining it. Your vet should be able to tell you over the phone what her weight was last time they weighed her. Swollen front legs is a concern if they really are, and could suggest edema (fluid build up) due to a heart or liver problem, or obstruction of lymphatic drainage by something. Either way, this ought to be checked by a vet. The discharge in the eyes may be conjunctivitis if it is mucoid in nature (like boogers), in which case you would need to apply some topical antibiotic drops for a week or so. Hope this helps
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M.E. Langley says:
Abby is too big for me to weigh easily, as she is about 75 lbs. I wonder if starting her on Advantix could have anything to do with any of her symptoms. She had her first treatment of that just prior to my noticing her apparent weight loss. Is it common for dogs to have reactions to it? Another thing I've noticed recently is that instead of jumping up and down off the porch easily, she will walk up the steps (only three of them to the porch) on a diagonal angle to make it easier. I'm really wondering if she is simply showing her age all of a sudden. Dobermans are pretty old at 9 1/2. Thank you for your time