I am seeking advice from you, dear berner lovers. Our 3 year old Berner mix, Hubert, is worrying us. It all started on Wednesday, when he started severely limping in the morning. He would not walk on his right rear leg at all. He was prostrated and would not greet us as he usually does, and stayed lying all day and evening through the next morning. We lifted him to take him outside and he refused to eat.
By Thursday morning he already looked better in so much as he would now put weight on his leg and the limping was improved, but he still remained prostrated and we suspected he had temperature. This morning (Friday), Hubert showed great signs of recovery and almost did not limp at all. However, we saw that he had a bump on his nose, right above the muzzle, which was bleeding. My husband took him to the vet. The vet thought the bleeding was unrelated to the previous limping we had seen. He could not find through his examination the cause of the limping but did not do or suggest x-rays. He found Hubert had some temperature (at 39.5C – the standard is 38.5 and temperature is severe at 40C). He put him on a course of antibiotics (tradename apo-amoxil) and cream ( tradename Panolog) and we are waiting for the results from the blood tests. When asked, he ruled out the possibility of a tumour (which was a tremendous relief). However he was not able to further identify what may have caused this bump. At around 6 p.m. tonight, Hubert is already much more alert and almost perfectly normal, which is great; however we have noticed 3 or 4 new bumps, smaller than the one on his nose, and which are not bleeding. My husband also thinks that the bump on his nose has gotten bigger since the morning. He (Hubert, not Hubbie) also scratches his ears a lot. Any idea what this could be? Right now the two possibilities which I am thinking about most are that he may be allergic to something, in his food or outside, or that he could have had mosquito, bee or other bites. He has always received preventive treatment (tradename Sentinel) against fleas, ticks, worms and everything else. Hubert is normally fed Eukaneuba for large breeds and occasionally some other food and has never shown any signs of allergy. I guess this is already a very long question. Please let me know if you have any idea. For the record we also have a one year old berner, Charlotte, who is in perfect shape (and not pestering Hubert, for once! I guess she feels that he his sick). Thank you very much for your help. Although you may wish to post your answers to the list, which is fine, of course, I will gladly read any email sent directly to me. Véronique Marquis in Montréal, Canada (with poor Hubert and little giant Charlotte!)
