Canine Voice Change- Bark now VERY shrill

[Nicker]

Hi all. I am new here. I have a 12 year old Bichon who has been a very sick little boy. Don't worry we are under the care of a very good vet. I will try to make a very long story short... He has pancreatits that was diagnosed in February. He will not eat the gastro dog food. He ate it for a couple of days and then refused. I had a couple of recipes from the vet (origionally from Royal Canin). I got him eating one of the recipes (with mineral supplements) and he was doing really well. Gaining weight and everything. Then he started to have some eye troubles that seemes to set him back in the eating department. He had an ulcer on his eye that wouldn't heal. While we were treating that we also noticed a slight bulge. His pressures were borderline for glaucoma so with the advice of an opthamologist we started treating for that. Okay so now the ulcer is healed and the pressures are normal (even since we discontinued treatment) we are monitoring very carefully though...

My little buddy spent Wed-Friday last week in the hospital on fluids to rest his little pancreas. The little bugger was refusing to eat especially food that is good for him. I did get him to eat a little but two days in a row when he ate the tiny bit he would eat he vomitted so in to the hospital he went. He is a really picky eater and force feeding was looking like the next option if he didn't start to eat. I think the vet didn't really believe how strategic the dog really is. I have to puree any food I make for him or else he will pick out the protein and leave everything else. While he was in the hospital the were feeding the cat in the cage next door and my dog went nuts so they tried giving him some. He ate it and he is able to keep it down. They tried to mix the cat and dog food, but hepicked out the cat food and left the dog food behind. So I picked him up last Friday. As we were leaving the hospital he had a major bout of the runs (watery) which had not been occuring during his hospital stay so back in we went. The vet offered to keep him but thought that it could be the result of a new med and that the dog would perhaps do better at home as he goes through separation anxiety and had already been away from me for three days. We went home and I gave him Kaopectate twice a day for the entire weekend. The vet checked in with me on Saturday and told me to call on Monday or if anyting got worse on Sunday. On Monday morning we went back to the hospital as the diarreah had not gotten better he didn't eat much on Sunday. While in the hospital the vet re ran labs and found that the blood work was ery similar to that in February meaning that his necrosis of the pancreas isn't occuring. He started him on flagyl and the diarreah improved and he was eating well and not vomitting so I brought him home on Thursday. He is still eating well and his spirits are improving. Today he even wanted to play ball a little. He hasn't played in a while. His tail was wagging and he was affectionate.

Okay so now that you have all of his background the point of my post. In March I noticed that his bark seemed to be a little more shrill. He has always had quite a shrill bark,but this seemed more shrill. As he got sicker, he really didn't bark. He isn't usually much of a barker. The other night he barked when a dog walked by on the path behind my parents (I was happy because he cared about something) but it was extremely shrill. Today again I noticied he barked a tiny bark when the dog across the alley was by our back gate but it was really shrill. I am wondering (actually hoping) if the voice change could be from the drastic weight loss and loss of muscle tone (can't jump up on couch anymore). I will call the vet again tommorow. I just don't want him to have another serious medical ailment to deal with. I mean for him to deal with not me. I will do anything for him. For example, he had artificial lenses put in his eyes when he was five because he was blind.

[TacoGrl]

Wow...poor little guy...

I don't know about the voice issue..I know when my Mooki was vomitting a lot, her voice sounded scratchy...could be his throat is sore?

Someone else here might be of more help

BTW...sometimes stomach acid keeps them from eating properly...my vet suggested Equate (Wal-Mart brand) Acid Control tablets 10 mg for Mooki...I have to give her a quarter of a tablet when I notice her not eating well and what do you know, it works! The pills are small and I would ask your vet, but Mooki has a lot of stomach acid from her ailments and she actually swallows the pill no hassle and eats after maybe 10-15 mins

[t.pettet]

Maybe he barked so much at the vets that he strained his vocal cords? Poor wee guy, hope he's feeling better.

[Nicker]

Oh yes.. we have been on Zantac (or I got the Exact brand from Superstore) too. When he gets bouts of vomitting we with hold food for 24 hours and start on anti nauseants and zantac for a few days.

Perhaps he did just bark a lot at the vets.... I will still ask vet about it tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies.