You have no idea how encouraging it is to hear this. We took our 1 year old in for a dislocated toeā¦apparently he has lax joints and that toe needed to be amputated, at that time they x-rayed the other paws and the other back one showed up with lytic bone. The vet said this could be infection or cancer and to amputate that as well. We thought that was extreme at the time and didn't do it. Instead we took anticbiotics to clear up the infection...5 months later we are awaiting surgery in 2 days to have it amputated and sent off for histology. He's been on antibiotics for months and the new ones have taken care of the swelling but now his lymph nodes are enlarged and he is obviously sick. We have had every test possible without amputating and no answers as to whats going on...so happy your dog is going to be fine and have hope that our boy will get the same diagnosis.
Poor Baby..
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And until he sees the Vet, I would not give him anything that might mask what is going on.
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Parvo dogs and puppies have a kind of mousey smell to them and often blood in the stool that may appear either fresh or like coffee grounds.
I have been reading this forum long enough to know a lot of you disagree with vaccinations, however, if you have ever had to watch a dog suffer with and/or die from Parvo, you would change your mind in a huge hurry. Parvo is a devastating, painful and highly mortal disease that is entirely preventable. The virus is not delicate like HIV. By that I mean it survives for long periods of time in the soil where affected dogs have been. I personally have seen a dog die from Parvo. It is heartbreaking.
I pray that is not what's going on with your boy. I hope he has what the vet told me was "Idoiopathic Gastroenteritis" and can be taken care of by giving him a sedative that will make him sleep for a whole day. That's what got AJ out of his "sick cycle" last year. May the Grandmothers look over you and your friend.
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Is Kairoe up to date on his vaccinations? If so, it is unlikely to be Parvo.
The two tests that my vet usually runs in this situation is bloodwork and a fecal. They will also do a physical exam and palpate the abdomen to see if there is any tenderness. Then go from there to see if further testing is in order or not.
The big thing they will need to do is try to figure out whether it is something like a bacterial infection like food poisoning where he might need antibiotics to clear it up. If it is viral and will just run its course. If it is something like colitis where the GI tract is inflammed and irritated and would benefit from something like Pepcid and Veterinary Kaopectate. Or if there is a blockage of some sort.
The most important thing is going to be keeping him hydrated. If he won't drink they may give him subQ fluids or even keep him and put him on IV fluids.
Unfortunately, he's never had his Parvo vaccines.
Would it be too late for him to get them now that he's over a year old??And regarding his chew toys, we don't give him rawhides nor bully sticks. He wasn't chewing anything as far as we know.
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@AJs:
Parvo dogs and puppies have a kind of mousey smell to them and often blood in the stool that may appear either fresh or like coffee grounds.
I have been reading this forum long enough to know a lot of you disagree with vaccinations, however, if you have ever had to watch a dog suffer with and/or die from Parvo, you would change your mind in a huge hurry. Parvo is a devastating, painful and highly mortal disease that is entirely preventable. The virus is not delicate like HIV. By that I mean it survives for long periods of time in the soil where affected dogs have been. I personally have seen a dog die from Parvo. It is heartbreaking.
I pray that is not what's going on with your boy. I hope he has what the vet told me was "Idoiopathic Gastroenteritis" and can be taken care of by giving him a sedative that will make him sleep for a whole day. That's what got AJ out of his "sick cycle" last year. May the Grandmothers look over you and your friend.
We hope so too.
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After he is well (optimist here) he can still get Parvo vaccine. It's not too late. Adult dogs can and are regularly vaccinated for this in shelters.
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It is not too late to get the vaccine. He would get a series of 2 or 3 boosters, 2 to 3 weeks apart depending on the vaccine your vet uses, then a booster 1 year later, then he would be able to go to either titers or boosters every 3 years.
Do not vaccinate while a dog is sick. Vaccines stress the immune system, so the pet must be healthy in order for the immune system to react properly to the vaccine, and to avoid serious problems from the vaccine.
There is a snap test to check for Parvo made by IDEXX. It is taken by swabbing the rectum, or (I think) can be taken from a stool sample.
I will also pray for you that it is not Parvo.
Giardia is difficult to find in a fecal float, so there is now an antigen test for that too by IDEXX.
If there is suspicion of a blockage, x-rays, ultrasound or a barium study may be necessary.
Please keep us posted. What time is your vet appointment?
-Nicole
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If it's difficult to get him to drink use a 15cc syringe and dribble the water into his mouth. As you say it's important that he doesn't dehydrate. Do this as often as you can to get as much as possible down without making him sick.
I expect you've been to the vets by now and I hope he finds out what's wrong. Not being morbid, but it does sound rather like some sort of poisoning. They can pick up something bad from the ground without you being able to get in and take them away from him.
I hope he will soon recover. My thoughts are with you.
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@-Clar|Emm|Kai-:
Unfortunately, he's never had his Parvo vaccines.
Would it be too late for him to get them now that he's over a year old??He is not too old to be vaccinated. This year I am using my repro vet's recommended vaccine, Continuum DAP by Intervet. It is the ONLY vaccine challenged tested effective for 3 years for Parvo and Distempter. Most likely this will be the vaccine I use for all my dogs in the future. It is effective for 3 years with no 1 year booster needed as long as it is administered after 12 weeks of age.
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He is not too old to be vaccinated. This year I am using my repro vet's recommended vaccine, Continuum DAP by Intervet. It is the ONLY vaccine challenged tested effective for 3 years for Parvo and Distempter. Most likely this will be the vaccine I use for all my dogs in the future. It is effective for 3 years with no 1 year booster needed as long as it is administered after 12 weeks of age.
Suppose you had a pup that was given the first set of shots at say 9wks?ā¦ Can this still be used then after 12wks?
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@AJs:
After he is well (optimist here) he can still get Parvo vaccine. It's not too late. Adult dogs can and are regularly vaccinated for this in shelters.
Good to know.. thanks!
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Yes, it can. As long as the shot is given after 12 weeks it should be effective.
Here is the company's sample protocols
http://www.continuum3.com/canine_core.asp
My repro vet actually recommends 8 weeks, 11 weeks, and 14 weeks and if I understand correctly only uses the Continuum at 14 weeks (it is more expensive than the other brands). I will be able to tell you more after Thursday when L'Ox goes in for his first shots.
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Yes, it can. As long as the shot is given after 12 weeks it should be effective.
Here is the company's sample protocols
http://www.continuum3.com/canine_core.asp
My repro vet actually recommends 8 weeks, 11 weeks, and 14 weeks and if I understand correctly only uses the Continuum at 14 weeks (it is more expensive than the other brands). I will be able to tell you more after Thursday when L'Ox goes in for his first shots.
Great, let me know, interesting that the one core is including Rabies. I will be interested to hear what your Vet says about using that with the other vaccinations as an all in oneā¦ since many of use separate the rabies from the other shots. Will you just use the core without Rabies and continue to do that separate?
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If it's difficult to get him to drink use a 15cc syringe and dribble the water into his mouth. As you say it's important that he doesn't dehydrate. Do this as often as you can to get as much as possible down without making him sick.
I expect you've been to the vets by now and I hope he finds out what's wrong. Not being morbid, but it does sound rather like some sort of poisoning. They can pick up something bad from the ground without you being able to get in and take them away from him.
I hope he will soon recover. My thoughts are with you.
I too have always used the syringe.
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First and foremost , we'd like to thank the admin for continuing this forum board and the plethora of knowledge found amongst its members. We are grateful that we have a place to come to with certainty!
Just a little update:
Oh the drama of owning a dog! Kairoe's appointment was scheduled at 3pm and prior to his appointment he had exhibited all the signs mentioned aboveā¦
We did not take Kairoe out for his morning walk as we decided to keep all fluids [stool & urine] in him to ensure that we would get an accurate sample for the vet. He had been having bouts of diarrhea all weekend and would only eliminate once compared to the 2 - 3 times when he wasn't sick. So, we concluded this would be most ideal and seeing as he did not want to go out eitherā¦
SO...we get to the vet and I run in to get a sample cup for his stool and armed myself with a plastic bag to block the stream of liquid coming out of his rear. Clarisse walked him around the clinic while I trailed behind ready with cup and plastic bag. Kairoe begins to squat and as we wait in anticipation, all of a sudden...out comes solid stool! It appeared to be parts of his fleece blanket! We couldn't get over it and just shook our heads all the way into the vet clinic.
They took his temperature which was at 39.6 but was very alert and much to our surprise he ate the treats that was given to him (remember he wouldn't take from us, except for the handful of rollover bits from last night). He was a bit dehydrated and had sub Q fluids to fix it, plus they also did a CBC and CC3 (what is a CC3?), which they will call us with the results sometime tomorrow. He listened to his heart, which was fine and also massaged his body/belly to see if anything was stuck.
So $300 dollars later.. we have a dog who seems very well. He is taking treats, drinking his water, playing with his toys and doing his b-500's!
Here's a before and after video of Kairoe..
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I would be watching him very carefully for the next few days. He may not have passed all of the fleece bedding and could still be at risk of a blockage.
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I agree with lvossā¦ I would watch him really carefully... and I think if he were mine I would have requested an xray to see if they could see any further blockage.....
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I would be watching him very carefully for the next few days. He may not have passed all of the fleece bedding and could still be at risk of a blockage.
That's what we're doing, as we don't know how much he has ingested. We're keeping our fingers crossed!
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I agree with lvossā¦ I would watch him really carefully... and I think if he were mine I would have requested an xray to see if they could see any further blockage.....
We've decided to wait it out.. and he seems to be A LOT better. The vet also suggested to give him some gastro stuff to feed him, but we opted for boiled chicken and rice as this has worked for him before. We're still keeping our fingers crossed.. especially because he had a fever, which threw us off. We just gotta wait for the bloodwork results.
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Fever would be expected if there are foreign bodies in the intestinesā¦
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Fever would be expected if there are foreign bodies in the intestinesā¦
Thaaaaat's why! Thanks! We didn't know that.
