Wednesday, March 7, 2012

HELP! Dog Question. What do I do?

Click on the pic to see the slobber rope!
I posted a while back about how we adopted a Cocker Spaniel from a family that didn't want him anymore. His is eight years old (almost nine now) and cute as a button.

Of course, now that we are taking care of  him, he is starting to have problems. For starters, he has recently began to drool out of the left side of his mouth. It is a very thick mucous that just about eventually reaches the floor and that's about when he does one of those dog shakes that flips his ears back and forth. You know, like after a bath when they want to rid their bodies of excess water.

But when he does it, that long piece of slobber wraps around his head a few times and gets all matted into his hair. He doesn't do it every day. Maybe every two or three days but certainly often.

Anybody know what the heck is going on here? Did we just get the dog right as he was entering his "senior" years?

AND, I just noticed he has just smaller than a baseball sized cystic mass under his left hind leg.  I just trimmed him less than a month ago and there was no mass there. By palpating it, and working in the healthcare field, I'm pretty confident it is purely cystic (fluid filled). It is easily squishy and moveable. He doesn't like me to squish it but he doesn't yelp either. It is right where his left hind leg meets up with his body, kind of on the underbelly, as it were.

Any ideas?

Update: June 2012, I just noticed the other day that Kohl hasn't drooled in a while. Don't know what it was but it has completely stopped. Weird, huh?

4 comments:

  1. Could he have gotten bit or stung by anything poisonous? If the slobber is just from one side check for bites or a bad tooth.

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  2. It is possible he could be epileptic. start keeping a log of when he does these shaking episodes. write down the time of day, and duration. Then get him a vet appointment and take them the log. They can do blood work etc... to see if in fact if it is epilepsy. I have worked in the veterinarian field, and have seen it in some of the smaller breeds.

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  3. He may have had a stroke. Years ago my dog had one about that age.

    He may also have what we call Bell's Palsy. I had a case of that a couple of years ago. It can resemble a stroke in the face with the muscles sagging and numbness, which might explain the drooling. Just for the record, I didn't drool. :)

    I hope it isn't a stroke. It didn't end well for my dog.

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  4. Thanks for the great tips. I'll keep my eyes on him for a little while and take a gander at his gums/teeth.

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