# Lots of sneezing, and super lazy!



## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

A LOT has been going on over the past two weeks, and I really think it's having a negative impact on our golden. I'll try to list them out quick:

- moved from house with multiple people to a condo with only my Fiance and I (we made the den Walnut's room)
- Alone from 7:30am - 10:00am, 10-12pm Fiance's dad played with him - now we pay group dog walker from 10am and comes back 12:30pm
- When we got home from work, he would go insane and wanted to play non-stop, now he goes crazy for 5 minutes, then just sleeps again
- On weekends, he prefers to just sleep and when we visit family, again, he prefers to play a little and sleep
- He's only really energetic when there is food involved/training
- He recently had pretty bad diarrhea after the day with dog walker - rice and chicken seemed to clear it up
- Got diarrhea again after managing to inhale friend's dog's food - almost cleared up…still rather soft, but formed
- as of yesterday, he's been sneezing non-stop and I noticed he rubs his nose a little (he usually does this when he needs to poop, but he's being doing it now even when he doesn't need to poop).
- I found a tooth on the floor - he's obviously teething - not sure if this has anything to do with it. 
- He's not sleeping as week as he used to throughout the night - almost like he's not comfortable. 

He's almost 5 months old, about 35lbs, and up-to-date on all his shots. He still inhales food and never seems to get full, and drinks lots of water. 

Any ideas? Is he upset? What's with the sneezing? Could it be the dog walks? 


So many things happened at once that I'm not even sure where to start!


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Probably a combination of things, 

change in his home and routine, he will adjust.
growth spurt maybe could explain sleeping more
teething he may be a little sore around the mouth, and teething can sometimes cause dh too
Maybe grabbed something on his walk he should not have eaten? And you know about the other dog food 
and if he is walking with a group of dogs I bet it's more exercise than he had before and he is good and tired afterwards
sneezing, something blew in with the season change here where I am and me and my dogs are itching and sneezing, could be there too.

I think he is just adjusting. Give him a couple of weeks and I bet he bounces back.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

mylissyk said:


> Probably a combination of things,
> 
> change in his home and routine, he will adjust.
> growth spurt maybe could explain sleeping more
> ...


Thanks for the advice. Yes, lots of changes...I'm even having a hard time adjusting. For a while we thought maybe he's just bored? He has LOTS of toys, and keeps grabbing them out of the box one by one and playing with it for 10 minutes, then going to grab another one. By the end of the night, we pick up 10-15 toys from all over the place. :doh:

We then thought maybe he doesn't like the smaller condo (800sqft), but we give him access to all rooms and the balcony (which he uses to people watch - then pass out on). 

We're just finding it strange with the energy level change. I read on these forums that if he's eating and drinking well, he should be okay. And he definitely loves his food and water. 

He was never super energetic (after all, we did ask the breeder for 'calmest' golden). 


I am really worried sneezing though. I'll wait a few more days and report back if anything changes. Hopefully it goes away, because we having had much a temperature change here (yet)


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

Does he get walked in an open field or somewhere with lots of weeds? Perhaps a fox-tail or some sort of weed up his nose? I've had allergy dogs and they never sneezed - at least to the extent you are talking about. I start to get worried when one of our's start to sneeze continually, particularly if we have been running in weeds, etc. Good luck!


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## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

He is probably just adjusting, I would give it a little time and see if it works itself out before you get too worried. It could just be a whole combination of things.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Alright, well...i decided to call my Vet and see what she had to say. 

She asked if it was a reverse sneeze or actual sneeze (with a head shake). I said he usually shakes his head and sneezes, so it doesnt sound a like a reverse sneeze. 

Next question she had was: how are his energy levels. I said lower than normal, but we also got a new dog walker so he's probably running around a lot more. She said for a 5 month old he shouldn't really be sleeping so much (he sleeps from 12-6pm, and from 6-10pm he's pretty 'drowsy', until he goes to his crate to sleep again until 6am for breakfast). She feels he should at least have a little more energy. If I take him for a walk around 7pm, he'll walk for 10 minutes, then just want to lay on the grass and chew on something. 

Final question was: Is there a bad smell from his mouth/nose? I hadn't really noticed it until my mom mentioned it last night. I had just given him a bath the night before too. He normally doesn't start to smell until at least 5 days after a bath. I did notice he had some bad breath (either from his mouth or nose) after my mom mentioned it. 

So, she wants me to bring him in. She's worried he may either 1) have an infection 2) have something stuck in his nasal passage 3) infection from teething or 4) chewed a stick which is caught on the back of his throat just below the nasal passage. 

Incidentally, she just had a golden in for something similar last week, although not a puppy. The dog had sniffed something that got caught in his nasal passage and became infected. 

7:20pm tonight....let's see what happens. :crossfing


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## Phoebe's mom (Jan 17, 2012)

10-12:30 on a group dog walk is a lot for him. He is probably just tired from that. The weekends is his days off lol! You are lucky, mine was like that and now she steps on my head at 7:30am to go pee!!


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## Phoebe's mom (Jan 17, 2012)

Forgot about the sneezing, your vet covered everything. Good luck tonight.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Phoebe's mom said:


> Forgot about the sneezing, your vet covered everything. Good luck tonight.


haha - Walnut just whimpers at 6:00am to go pee. It's actually really funny. He knows breakfast is right after pee/poo in the morning. So I take him out for a pee, and he bolts back to the door right as soon as he's done, but I know he's got some poop in him. So I said "Walnut…go poo" and he literally stares at me goes "woooooef" and hangs his head down (almost like a whine). So I say again "come on buddy, go poop" - and *baam*…he goes and does his business. 

This happens EVERY MORNING. And EVERY MORNING he will try to come back up without a poop and gives a little whine. Cracks me up every time. 


But yes, the sneezing is new. Even after puppy training though, he still had energy to go for a walk, play, and cause havoc – and that was at 9 weeks! 
Now he's 19 weeks, and his energy levels seem to have dropped. I don't mind, I just want to make sure he's okay. We did request for the laziest golden from breeder – so maybe we got what we wanted?!?!

I'll find out in a few hours.


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

I think you're right to have him checked out. He may just have a doggy cold or flu...be sure to come back and tell what you find out.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Hi all, 
I was way too tired to post yesterday. I was at the vet for about an hour last night. My vet loves Walnut, so every visit is extended because she like having him around :doh: 

Anyway. I walked in, and walnut started greeting everyone at the office as usual. We went into a closed room with the Doc, myself and walnut. The doc and I were chatting, and within about a minute, he walked up to the vet, looked at her, and slept by her feet with his head hanging over her shoe. 

My vet did find this behaviour rather strange. She knows he's a pretty mellow Golden, but said he's WAY too mellow. She did a thorough physical, and couldn't find anything. She checked inside his mouth (he didn't even resist..just held it open for her), and she notice some redness/blood around his far back tooth on the left side. She did several other tests - such as a cotton swab on one nostril while block the other to test for blockage, etc. 

Long story short, other than the blood on the tooth, and strangely mellow behaviour and sneezing (which he did do at the vet), she couldn't find anything else. She took a blood sample (again, he didn't even resist..just closed his eyes) and also gave him an antibiotic shot which she said will run in his system for about 2 weeks. 

Bottom line, her thoughts are:

1. Had an infection from foreign object puncturing inside his mouth, causing swelling around the nose area (it was a little swollen) - which also explains why he rubs his nose with his paws. possibly getting better by itself. 

2. sniffed a grass seed or ate a foreign object, and got stuck by coughing it out but getting stuck on it's way out between the through and back of nose (not sure what all the terminology was, but I do remember the diagrams she showed). This is a worst case, and she recommended leaving it until it's time to neuter him - so she only has to use anesthetic once. She says it's common, but probably not the issue with him, since the airways are clear based on her test. 

3. Has caught an infection from other dogs during dog walks in the upper respiratory - which she is going to treat him for with the shot. 

4. allergies (she says this is likely not the issue because of his age. 

She said to give it two weeks and report back, but wants me to really keep a good idea on him and record any additional physical/behavioural changes. 

Let's hope for the best. 

Here he is chewing on wood chips. I have a feeling [1] is the issue. He chews EVERYTHING he can find outside, and leaves everything inside the house alone (except his toys).


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## vjm1639 (Feb 20, 2012)

LOL on the chewing everything outside! My husband swears we didn't get a full blood Golden. He thinks he's half goat! I try to watch everything he gets but you can only watch so much..


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

vjm1639 said:


> LOL on the chewing everything outside! My husband swears we didn't get a full blood Golden. He thinks he's half goat! I try to watch everything he gets but you can only watch so much..


He walks with his head down, so it's almost impossible to catch everything 
I'm working on "go sniff" command - so as to not allow him to sniff on walks, and only sniff when told. It's kind of working, but needs more training. 

The problem is that I have no idea what goes on during the walks with the dog walker! I'm sure he's not watching walnut as diligently as I do on walks.


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## Phoebe's mom (Jan 17, 2012)

I can't remember if you mentioned this but did you notice him slow down while eating? They chew with their back teeth. Well normal dogs. Goldens inhale. But in the off chance you noticed that then I would suggest 1 also.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Phoebe's mom said:


> I can't remember if you mentioned this but did you notice him slow down while eating? They chew with their back teeth. Well normal dogs. Goldens inhale. But in the off chance you noticed that then I would suggest 1 also.


Nope...he still inhales his food. It's gone within 20 seconds or less -- even with 4-5 ice cubes to slow him down. Literally 20 seconds. 

HOWEVER, the vet did try holding a treat and making him chew on it. All three times he started with the front and ended up on the left back.

She moved the treat to the right, only to have him turn his head and chew with the left again. 

But she said that he may just favor one side over the other - I don't know because I never really paid too much attention before.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Hi all, 
Walnut's blood work came back. The vet left a message saying his Creatinine was rather high at 169, and that normal should be around 141. She said it could lead to kidney failure and would like a urine sample to ensure nothing crazy is going on. 

I'm wondering though, I fed him his dinner at 6:30 and the blood sample was taken at 7:30. Would this have an impact on the results? I'm wondering if maybe that's why his creatinine was high 

He's still super laid back for some reason. He did lose 6 teeth over the weekend (well, 6 that I found). So maybe he's in pain and doesn't want to play?

I took him to the park, and he ran around quite a bit. As soon as he got in the car, he passed out. Usually he just lays in the car, but doesn't sleep. Lately he's been sleeping heavily in the car.


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

I don't know anything about kidney disease (others on here do though) but its good you got him checked by a vet. I hope he's ok. Sending good thoughts to you and pup.


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