Very Sick Puppy!!!

[Bruno's Mama]

Hi all, I am very worried about my 8 month baby!
This will be his third vet to be to in the last 4 months!
He is constantly sick, either throwing up white foam or diarrhea!
I took him Friday to the vet again and he gave him cortizone pills, well that was bad, he is worse now. All he does is lay around and never eats or drinks, just real slow and lazy!
The love in his little eyes is gone too. I am so worried about him, I dont know what to to!
My husband spoke to a pet nutritionist this morning and he said that it sounds to be allergy related, and that he would call us back later with more info!
The vet advised we may need to take him to a Pet Hospital, which is only about 2 hours away!
Please help, does anyone know what is going on????

 

[KonaKoffe]

I would definitely get him to another vet for a second opinion. Skip the cortizone unless the vet has a definite diagnosis. Actually cortizone increases appetitie and drinking.

The white foam vomit could be the result of an empty stomach. Keep track of when it happens. You should be feeding him twice a day.

What are you feeding him and how often and how much. any treatrs

Has the dog been checked for intestinal worms, heartworms.
Has the vet run any blood tests?
What has the vet done to diagnose the problem.
Is the dog eating something it shouldn't - do you leave the dog unattended?

 

[Bruno's Mama]

This is the third opinion we have gotten!
He has been on antibiotics for 4 months straight now!
And no one can figure out what is wrong!
He eats Nutro-Max lamb and rice, never goes outside alone, never is left alone, he is always with me or my husband or both of us!
He eats three times a day when he was eating good! And he does get treats but only when training! Otherwise its just those little breath bones, but not in the past few weeks. He doenst even follow me anymore!
Now we are lucky if he eats once, he is eight months and has lost almost 20 lbs, he is a big boy but now only weighs 63 lbs! He should be around 80!
His dad weighed about 130 and was all muscle, very handsome!
I am waiting on my vet to call me back. The cortizone was becuase he thought he may have inflimation in his throat from all the coughing!
But that was a big mistake, he got worse! Any thoughts?
No worms in stool sample, the only thing on the blood test was an elevated count of white blood cells! We havnt had xrays yet, but I assume its our next step, the vet says his lungs sound good and his gums are pink, not white...

 

[KonaKoffe]

First of all the antibiotics cause diarrhea. When ever you give antibiotics they screw up the balance between the yeast and the healthy bacteria required in a normal intestinal system. If you see no improvement from the antibiotics and they never identified an infectious problem I would question the need for the antibiotics.
Get the dog on PLAIN yogurt 1 tabelspoon with each intended meal to help to balance out the intestinal system. The antibiotic are killing the healthy as well as any bad bacteria if there is or was an infection (most likely that is goen if it ever existed) bacteria and the yogurt helps to replace it.

Switch his food to a better variety or brand. If you want to stay wit the Nutro line the Nutro Ultra is the only variety they make that is decent based on the nutrition advice link. http://www.boxerworld.com/feeding/
The other option is to switch to another brand recommend in other links on this site. whatever you chose switch gradually to avoid additional intestinal upset. To help solidify the stool feed plain rice and boiled chicken for a few day. The antibiotics could also be causing the vomiting due to an upset stomach.

Look up the particualr drug on the internet for sideeffects.

Is he vomiting of coughing?

In my opinion 4 months of antibiotics is way to long and is really screwing up his system. I would never keep my dog on antibiotics that long unless the vet was sure of what was going on when they were first perscribed. Why were they first perscribed anyways??

Sounds like a dietary problems aggravated by the antibiotics. It at al possible I would stop the antibiotics all together. They don't seem to be doing any good anyways ( your call!).

 

[KonaKoffe]

Check the exact name of the food I don't see a "nutro max lamb and rice" on their website. I want to review the ingredients.

 

[Bruno's Mama]

Sorry it is Nutro Ultra, he used to be on Nutro Max!
I will try the yogurt along with the rice and chicken, thank you for the info!
My vet is calling the Vet Hospital for me now so I can get in sooner, they think it wont be until tomorrow!
I just want my baby to be okay, I love him way too much to see him suffer!
Thank you for all your help again!

He is coughing and hacking and it gets so bad that he hacks and throws up white foam thats really slimy!
Then he will do that so long that his tummy gets upset causing the diarreha. He has ran fever and did so bad he was shivering it was almost 104. Now he breaths short breaths and you can see his little chest move quickly like he is gasping for air!
It is a mess of problems, it started out with they thought it was kenel cough, well when it lasted for 2 months and the diarreha set in then we got concerned that it was more than that!
My vet just called while I was typing and he is trying to get me in to the hospital today. Please pray for us!!!

 

[KonaKoffe]

You have my prayers. Sounds like worse than you first described. Best to get him into the hospital. Keep us posted.

(As a side note I use the Nutro Ultra for the last year with no problems.)

Sounds like maybe the kennel cough is still the problem.
Regardless of what they do I would still provide daily yogurt to help recover form the antibiotics. The chicken and rice should help with the diarrhea and help him keep his strength up during treatment.

 

[courtney323]

Bruno's Mama -

You posted your Introduction a long time ago when you first joined, so there was no need to post another one this morning.

Cross-posting is against the Rules: www.boxerworld.com/rules

If you do it again, you will be removed from the site.

 

[crowpete]

I will send many prayers! I hope they can get your little guy better soon. Please keep us posted!

 

[Mama's Boys]

I'm sending my prayers as well. It sounds like you've got a sick baby on your hands and need to get him back to the vet quick. Wishing you all the best. Do whatever it takes to get your little guy better. Please keep us updated.