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Sea Monkey advice on septic arthritis

debpdx54321

Member
Hi, I have been reading this forum for years and Sea Monkey is my 3rd wonderful mastiff. I have been so lucky with the health of my dogs, one (a fluffy) lives with my daughter in Oregon and is almost 9 and still is healthy and gets around town -everyone lets him in the stores and even restaurants.
Anyway, Sea Monkey is only 4 1/2 and woke up with acute lameness and swelling. I had heard him bump his leg while dreaming the night before and I was watching it. It was non weight bearing and swollen. The next morning there was no improvement so we went to the vet. I am not one to rush after a day of limping but this was obviously something else.-hot and swollen and completely non weight bearing.
Well the X-ray showed arthritis, the microscopic slides showed nothing but the culture showed bacteria. He has septic arthritis and although they can cure the bacteria, I could not believe the amount of bone damage and that he had shown no signs of it-he is bit lazy but I had been hurt myself so we did not do the extensive hiking my other mastiff and I had done-plus it is Florida where I live now and he does not like the heat unless we are swimming.
My question is this-has any one had this experience? It is now 5 days later and he is still limping but the vet suggested going to an animal hospital to have the joint area levaged or rinsed with sterile solution. He is already on antibiotics.
They will again have to put him under 9as again as they did for the X-ray and the culture collection. He was in so much pain I could not have them bending him all around and go through that.
Anyway-sorry it's so long-but I have been so upset. The money I have spent was the last of my savings and I applied for credit and was given it-but I needed this money to start a new job-I was a housewife for years and left a creepy abusive husband and have been living on a strict budget-(he eats better than I do -taste of the wild with a 1/2 cup of Bjorn plus he loves raw chicken as snacks) and pit myself through 6 years of college and need to pay for licenses and have my stupid car fixed so that I can start my new career. This will literally compromise my getting employment-I am still doing it -the appointment is for the consult with the specialist tomorrow-they will keep him over night and the procedure in the am. But, if others have done a different route with good results I would love to hear from you. for example if just the 6- 8 weeks of antibiotics cleared it up.
Does anyone know if the washing is necessary-it is literally my last cent I have spent on him-he is worth it-but if anyone has experience with this the I would love to hear from them. This is monkey at the beach at 2 years-
Dmonkey.jpg
 

scorning

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear Sea Monkey is not doing well, I hope he feels better soon. I don't have any experience with septic arthritis, so I can't comment on the washing or antibiotics. My senior Doberman did have regular arthritis, the most helpful thing for her was acupuncture, we tried to go every 4 weeks. We also started her on Dasuquin and fed a raw diet, which I think helped. I avoided any prescription medication unless she had a really bad flare up, which she did once over doing it in the snow. She was already on a lot of meds for a heart condition, so I tried to keep everything else as clean as possible to giver her poor body a break.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about Sea Monkey. I don't have really any advice, but I would definitely get it cleaned out as much as possible.
 

marke

Well-Known Member
I have a very close friend whose dog had it in her knee ..... it can be serious , her infection was next to impossible to cure , by the time they got it the joint and bone was so degraded the joint was shot , she was not a candidate for a knee replacement because of the condition of the surrounding bone , luckily she was a candidate for an amputation , she had great hips and was very athletic ....it very near killed her , I was surprised it didn't ...... probably not what you wanted to hear , and I don't mean to scare you , but those infections can be very serious , you need to do whatever is necessary to make sure they get the infection , and then deal with the arthritis later...... they did open her knee up also to clean it out ........ my brother in law had a fila , she had the fungal one , the dog was on meds forever , don't remember what they were , but that dog did pretty well , as did the other dog on three legs ................... good luck , sorry to tell you my experiences , but make sure the infection gets cured , and then worry about the rest ......
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
My dog has a deep tissue bacterial infection on his foot. It is unknown how it happened but I have an idea but it's a bit ridiculous when you think about it or maybe not - but by standing on the dirt in his outdoor kennel for a couple of hours. Anyway he has been on 3000 mg cephalaxin since thanksgiving. I really hope this is his last round.
 

debpdx54321

Member
Wow, I have heard of a tripawed mastiff with the back legs. I can't imagine him getting around without the front leg. My vet had called me the next morning and I brought him in to her office. She thought he looked so much bettering that the selling has gone down and all over improvement-alertness, appetite, and still limping and on rest but walking a lot better. She advised i wait on the rinsing so as not to add complications that could arise when he seems to be getting better. Thanks for all of your support. It means a lot to me.

I have a very close friend whose dog had it in her knee ..... it can be serious , her infection was next to impossible to cure , by the time they got it the joint and bone was so degraded the joint was shot , she was not a candidate for a knee replacement because of the condition of the surrounding bone , luckily she was a candidate for an amputation , she had great hips and was very athletic ....it very near killed her , I was surprised it didn't ...... probably not what you wanted to hear , and I don't mean to scare you , but those infections can be very serious , you need to do whatever is necessary to make sure they get the infection , and then deal with the arthritis later...... they did open her knee up also to clean it out ........ my brother in law had a fila , she had the fungal one , the dog was on meds forever , don't remember what they were , but that dog did pretty well , as did the other dog on three legs ................... good luck , sorry to tell you my experiences , but make sure the infection gets cured , and then worry about the rest ......
 

debpdx54321

Member
Sorry to hear Sea Monkey is not doing well, I hope he feels better soon. I don't have any experience with septic arthritis, so I can't comment on the washing or antibiotics. My senior Doberman did have regular arthritis, the most helpful thing for her was acupuncture, we tried to go every 4 weeks. We also started her on Dasuquin and fed a raw diet, which I think helped. I avoided any prescription medication unless she had a really bad flare up, which she did once over doing it in the snow. She was already on a lot of meds for a heart condition, so I tried to keep everything else as clean as possible to giver her poor body a break.

Never heard of acupuncture for dogs! I will be looking into a lot of post rehabilitation they want him to get later-after the infection is gone-swimming is one I know he will like!