I have an 8 year old cattle dog. The last few weeks she has been acting more lethargic. I noticed her eye seemed to be tearing and worried she had some kind of infection. She hates going to the vet so he prescribed some antibiotics and eye cream over the phone. She seems a little better but I noticed her lymph gland on the same side as the eye is very swollen and her eye still seems a little teary and red. She is very shy so I can't tell if she is just being shy sometimes or if something is wrong. She also has a problem with incontinence and I give her medicine but I noticed today she is leaking a little bit of urine. Any idea as to what might be wrong with her?

It's hard to speculate what could be wrong. I would keep a close eye on her, and let the antibiotics run their course. If her condition seems to worsen, perhaps your vet could prescribe something that would calm her before making that visit to the vet. He might need to do some tests in order to pinpoint the problem.

Sorry I couldn't have been of more help to you. Good luck! :)

Thanks. I just got another round of a new antibiotics and am going to see what happens. A few weeks ago I thought she might have gotten bit by a snake. The vet said, if that did happen she could have an infection as a result from that.
She got bit by a copperhead many years ago and I was able to see a bite mark and she looked like someone stuck a football on the side of her head. This time she came out of the woods and was obviously scared, a little slow, breathing hard and her head was stuck kinked to one side. I gave her half a bendryl and she seemed fine. I never found a wound on her so I don't know what happened.

Yikes, a Copperhead? I had a rattler in my backyard a couple weeks back, and my dog went after it. Luckily I got her away before she or I were struck. Maybe your dog did get bitten... poor baby.

Have you given her Benadryl before? Could she be having a reaction to that? That stuck out to me, because I got a newsletter, that I normally get once a week from a reputable vet, just last week. I always thought it was all right to give dogs benadryl. It said in the newsletter that in fact, it can be very toxic to dogs. I wonder if this might be part of the problem?

My dogs have bad allergies that cause them to tear and be down when it flares up. She may have eaten or sniffed something that made her not feel so great. This may be the case especially since you said she felt better after the benedryl. You really should take her IN to the vet though, it is risky giving meds over the phone to animals.