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Post by iluvponies on Nov 15, 2009 16:07:44 GMT
Currently nursing my 17 week old puppy through a bit of a sickly patch and wondered if anyone has any tips to get her through next day or so before i can get to the vets (if this will be necessary), currently trying to avoid the out of hours charges!
She is a 17 week old Yellow Lab. Full of life and very boistrous usually and gives our 4 year old lab dog a run for his money when feeling herself!!
She has slowly gone off her food over the last 48 hours, eating 75% leaving the rest. Fed on James Wellbeloved Puppy Kibble. She has been eating the odd titbit inbetween on walks and for recall training. Over this last week she has enjoyed trips in the car to the local woods, has still been full of energy, has been racing around with my other Lab and has been into everything ( I guess this may well be the problem!!), she has been drinking from the fresh water streams, messing in water holes etc etc....obviously doing all that the other Lab is doing and he is fine.
She received breakfast this morning, turned her nose up and just sat back on her bed, looked quite sorry for herself, she had 2 loose stools overnight also. Went out for walk in woods, she seemed to have the same amount of energy and interest as before and even met two other Labs on the walk and played happily....however, during the walk she was sick, very fluid-like, and repeated this about three times. She was visibly skinnier by the time we finished walk from starting it!!!
Came home, she has not been sick or had diarhorreah ( the scats!) since, but very sleepy and when sleeping she is trembling ( i guess she is running a temperature although i do not have a rectal thermometre to check). She is still drinking!
I tried her with a egg scrambled at midday and she gobbled that up....it has stayed down and in, so to speak, so I guess some kind of progress. But she is still trembling, I have put a convector heater on to try and keep a constant temperature in her dog room and she is with our other Lab who is still fit and well.
If she doesn't pick up in next 24 hours then i will feth her to the vets.
But calling on any HGossipers with some doggy knowledge to advise as to what might be going on and how best to treat.
My suspicions are that she has eaten / drank sumit whilst out on her woodland walks that has not agreed with her but what else can I or should I be doing??!!
Thanks in anticipation
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Milliesmum
H G Addict
COCKERP00S RULE!!!
Posts: 23,901
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Post by Milliesmum on Nov 15, 2009 16:12:17 GMT
If she has a GI infection, it's perhaps best not to be feeding her anything, I would starve for at least 12 hours, then introduce just a handful of her usual food every few hours and build up gradually, if her gut is inflamed it needs time to calm down and anything she is eating could be feeding the infection. I would def get her to the vets to be checked out in the morning though.
Edited to add, if she stops drinking I would say she needs veterinary attention ASAP.
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Post by trixie on Nov 15, 2009 16:21:58 GMT
i would take her to vets asap just incase what she has eaten was poisonus sorry to scare you but i wouldnt risk it if shes shaking etc and if a lab not keen to eat you know theres a prob  please keep us updated |
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Post by Bordercreek on Nov 15, 2009 17:34:28 GMT
I agree with Trixie. Get her to the vet ASAP. We had cases of dogs getting poisoned by mushrooms in our local woods and they all had same symptoms. Sorry if I have scared you but its another consideration when you speak to a vet.
Hope she gets better soon!!!
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Post by iluvponies on Nov 15, 2009 17:58:42 GMT
Thanks for all the help / comments so far. Yes it is a bit worrying to think she could have been poisoned, OMG, and the point about the mushrooms / fungi is a valid one...this is the time of year for them.
I can honestly say that if i thought she was gravely ill (poisoned) I would have long since been back from the vets visit and I guess not posted on here at all for help/suggestions.
She is a little bit more perky now, (trying to chew the power cable on the laptop) It is now basically 24 hours since she really ate anything (apart from the scrammbled egg at lunchtime today) so guess she has now been starved as suggested by MM. As she is looking interested I may try her mid evening with a handful of puppy kibble again..see if she keeps that down ( and in!). She appears to have stopped the sleep trembling now, never really was violently shaking or anything, just looked a bit feverish, and her eyes nose etc are all looking a little more wet healthy and bright.
She seems to be showing signs of progress so will monitor her closely and will take her to the vets asap if i think it warrents it and won't wait until the morning.
The guy i was walking with this morning is a Lab Breeder and he just thought she had classic puppy trots and nowt to worry about, too much excitement in the big wide woodland world was his take on it!! Maybe!!! I just wandered what others thought, so thanks for your comments I will keep you posted and thanks to those of you who have taken the time to post ( even if you did scare me half to death!).
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Post by squidgetmidget on Nov 15, 2009 18:24:23 GMT
i would at least call the out of hours vets. i am a vet nurse i can tell you there is nothing more annoying that clients who want an appt on a monday when they have sat and watched there animal being poorly, purely to avoid the charges. im afraid that by buying a puppy you have to be prepared to pay these things or at least get it insured. this is not a dig, just a pet hate. but seriously i would at least call them as your puppy is only young and it wont cost you anything to do so
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Post by iluvponies on Nov 15, 2009 19:39:29 GMT
I have contacted the out of hours emergency vets and I'm still waiting for them to call back. Will update you on what they say/do.
I do consider myself a responsible pet owner and wouldn't want to trouble them unecessarily...... but how ill is ill ?? Hence the comments on poison / mushrooms / and from vetinerey nurse I have now contacted the vets ... hope their delay in coming back to me is not a reflection of dealing with alot of non emergency cases!
Will update you later.
The puppy meanwhile, although sleepy again now has had a little more burst of energy and showed signs of improving earlier.
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Post by iluvponies on Nov 15, 2009 21:37:18 GMT
Just back from the vets.
Emergency on call vet finally rang back an hour after i rang emergency number. Gave me the choice of coming into the surgery or waiting until the morning.....over the phone said probably puppy gastro-enteritis...if pup seemed more comfortble and I was comfortable to leave until morning then probably fine..she probably getting over it...however, I thought better just go and get sorted.
She was running a slight temperature, little sore in the tummy area so she got an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory and an anti-emetic.
Vet thought as i suspected she had maybe eat, licked at something in the woods, dead rabbit or summit like that....dismissed the mushrooms... normally violently ill and rapid death if anything poisonous.
It was a food for thought experience....typical labrador...eat anything......learn the hard way...immune system just not up to coping.
Anyway he said with the injections she should get better rapidly and have a rather more comfortable night and be as right as rain in the morning...and then probably go and do the same all over again the week after LOL
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kayjayem
Happy to help....a lot
Posts: 10,046
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Post by kayjayem on Nov 15, 2009 23:09:25 GMT
You'll probably have a more comfortable night as well now that you don't have to worry. One of mine was a real scavenger as a pup and had a sensitive tummy and she was a total nightmare. We got her a baskerville muzzle which worked a treat when we wanted to take her anywhere off the lead when she would swallow anything obnoxious and decaying in a matter of seconds!
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Post by iluvponies on Nov 16, 2009 9:13:55 GMT
You'll probably have a more comfortable night as well now that you don't have to worry. One of mine was a real scavenger as a pup and had a sensitive tummy and she was a total nightmare. We got her a baskerville muzzle which worked a treat when we wanted to take her anywhere off the lead when she would swallow anything obnoxious and decaying in a matter of seconds! Thanks for the tips Kayjayem. May try the muzzle thing...knowing her she would probably eat that at the same time as eating all the crap off the floor...she resembles a yellow hoover with a pretty face..bit like one of the 'Henry' ones...you just can't seem to switch it off!!! I did have a more comfortable night, woke up to ok puppy and a sick child instead!!! What a nightmare.... 2 teenagers off to school & one with a sore throat!!! All 3 horses fine as dandy standing in stables watching floods outside, 15 hens swimming like ducks, puppy and 4 year old Lab locked in prep stable while I muck out to discourage from eating chicken and horse poop.....best be on the safe side eh? LOL Puppy much better was doing cart wheels off the wall trying to do olympic pole vault over stable dooor!!! Puppies, horses, kids some mothers do have em!!! |
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