Juvenile Hypoglycemia, coccidia, and won't eat.....any advice

[Odie]

Hello everyone,
We are new to this website and would love some advice or suggesstions. Our story: We got (Odie) July 29th....he was 7 weeks old when we got him. Since, he has been home he has had a lot of problems......coccidia, low blood sugar level, etc.
We took him to the hospital and they hooked him up with fluids and meds....when he was brought home he had seizures from being hypoglycemia. He is back home again and we are giving him Ensure every two hours and his mediciation. He still has no desire to eat food, but will eat some of his treats. He also does not want to drink water on his own....should I try baby food. He does not want to eat chicken soup, innova, a/d, plain boiled chicken, liver and rice..... I have tried a lot of food. Also, he does not like Nutracal, which we are also giving him.

I was wondering if anyone has had this problem......and do you think he will every eat on his own? Also, when will he get back to normal?
Thank you for your help!

[diggy4]

Im right with you, you explained my Diggy to a T! Yes, he will eat eventually but until then, plan on no sleep, many home cooked meals, and gray hair!
First of all blood sugar tends to drop when the play, get stressed, and sleep. Keep forcing the nutrical, pea size amount 3 times a day if he didnt eat alot. Let him eat whatever he will eat, if its treats give him treats this is temporary and food is essential! Diggy had seizures after long sleeps and not eating. Here are the food he icked at and remember anything is betterthan nothing!
Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and white rice and chicken
He ate 1st foods meat and veggies (gerber baby food) ONLY 1st foods tho.
Gerber Graduates Finger foods strawberry apple puffs.
Cheerios dry
Yo-baby yogurt wothout cereal
low fat cottage cheese

Do you have kayro syrup?

[diggy4]

How much does he weight? That will determine when he will grow out of it...the more fat their bodies store the more sugar can be pulled from the fat maintaining a healthy blood sugar level. Also what did the vet give you for Coccidia? Diggy also had coccidia and it can be very tricky as they can test negative in a fecal exam and stil have it. Diggy was give Albon suspension drops. It was cleared up with one series of the meds. I have heard most are not that lucky and have to go thru a few series of Albon drops.
Diggy outgrew all of his hypoglycemic tendencies at around 14 weeks. check his gums frequently if they start looking pale white or grey, he needs nutrical immediately.

[Odie]

Thanks so much. It has definately been a stressful week with no sleep! When we first got him he was a normal puppie. Playful, happy, etc. After his seizure though, he has been pretty depressed. How long did it take your Yorkie to start behaving like a normal puppie and eat/drink on their own?

[Odie]

He is very little at 1.2 lbs. He was the runt of the litter. He is on Albon as well. 0.3 mls, twice a day. He showed up negative after about 4 days as well, but after the seizures it showed up again. We treating him again for the next 10 days. I really appreciate your help. It is nice to hear someone else that has had a similar situation. We were getting worried that he would never get better.

[diggy4]

Well it took about a week. He moped and sat in the corner, and yes, when I got Diggy he was a happy heathy baby boy bouncing playing and full of it! WHen did Odie have his first seizure? After playing or sleeping?? How big is he.
You probably didnt know better as I didnt either but 7 weeks is WAYYYY too young for these lil guys to be away from mom. Its nothing you did wrong but I blame your breeder for this baby's suffering! The stress of leaving mom alone can cause a great deal of depression which means they dont eats and then the hypo and seizures.

What does your baby do when he is seizing?? DOes he pee and poo and they last about 5-10 seconds with shaking and lots of spitting??

[diggy4]

Originally Posted by Odie

He is very little at 1.2 lbs. He was the runt of the litter. He is on Albon as well. 0.3 mls, twice a day. He showed up negative after about 4 days as well, but after the seizures it showed up again. We treating him again for the next 10 days. I really appreciate your help. It is nice to hear someone else that has had a similar situation. We were getting worried that he would never get better.

Ohhh he will get better but it's not easy!!! I pulled a matress in my living room floor and slept with him every second. well I should say stared at him all night cuz i was scared crapless. It seriously was the scariest thing I have been thru, you feel helpless and alone. I spent many many hours on here talking to people trying to get peace of mind.

As for the coccidia....yes it has to "float" in a fecal exam in order for the vet to see it and its doesnt always cooperate. Coccida also drain nutrition for what the baby does eat therefore he isnt getting all the nutrients it appears he is.

Funny you say 1.2 pounds as Diggy was 1.3 then down to 1.1 now hw is 5.5 months and just over 3 pounds.

Does you rbreeder know this is going on and what he has?? If he has it chanced are the other pups have it too.

[Odie]

He started getting seizures on Tuesday night (3am). It was after sleeping most of the day, and not eating much. He would stretch out his body and start shaking. He did pee on himself, but no poo. On the way to the ER he vomitted. They lasted about 15 seconds, but came in streams.

Luckily after 2 (expensive) days at Texas A&M specialized vet hospital, he has not had any seizures. Now he is just mopping around, with no energy or desire to eat. We have been feeding him via siringe about 4ml of ensure every two hours, and putting about a 1/4 inch of Nutrical in his mouth. He hasn't had any signs of hypoglycemia since, but he stills seems a long way away from being back to normal.

Hopefully if we stick with the program, he will get better and start eating on his own in a week or two.

[diggy4]

I would scramble him and egg with a little cheese and meat in it. I let Diggy eat ANYTHING he would eat during this time. Stuff that normally Id say No to but it is soooo important to get food in them. His seizures sound Identical to Diggys. Yes they stream, once the sugar is down you have to help his body get it back up, they just cannot do it alone. A small amount of nutrical on the gums will bounce him right out of the seizure, its amazing how fast it works. My vet did not have me feed ensure but it sounds logical. Yes, this is a VERY expensive illness as I bought out the grocery store trying to get Diggy to eat anything! Baby carrots are a great fill in as they are a complex sugar source. Im trying to think of anything else I did.....Oh I did get up every 3 hours during the night and make him eat as Diggy would try and sleep through the night and they just cannot go that long. SOme will say dont wake them up tp eat well when i followed that advice, e had a seizure 5 hours into his sleep so thats not good advice. DO you have any cereal? Like cheerios or anything?? He ate those very well and also have sugar in them.

[Odie]

Funny, I have a mattress out as well! Sounds like a VERY similar story. And yes, it is very helpless and stressful. I was looking for reassurance that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, because we were considering putting him down after all the suffering he has been through.

The breeder knows and has treated all her puppies for coiccidia. She gave us our money back, which helps, but we incurred some pretty expensive bills from the regular vet visits and trips to the ER. Once the dust clears with Odie I am going to call her and let her know not to let her little puppies go so early. She has been cooperative, but I hope she doesn't do this to any of her future puppies (or puppie owners)!

[YorkieRose]

I wish you little Yorkie all the best...you might tell the breeder in the future they can insure a better result most often by waiting until at least 12 weeks to place a puppy. New homes are stressful, no matter how loving and caring the new owners are...I do hope all goes well.

[Odie]

Thanks soooo much! You've told us more than the 5 vets that have seen Odie. If we have any other questions I hope you don't mind if we msg you. Really, you don't know how much that meant to hear your suggestions!!!!

[diggy4]

Yes I would definately call her and advise do not sell before 12 weeks. Its just too young and I assure you THIS IS due to the age. They are such a small breed and it does not take much to mess them up.

Oh don't put him down....he will be fine! You are doing everything right and obviously love him very much. There is light at the end of the tunnel. If it gets to be too much Ill take him! I felt the same way though...I cried and cried and felt so bad for lil Diggy but with love and determination you can do this...its temporary and when its all over, Odie will be the love of your life! I wish I could help you more as I know how devastating it feels when u are going through it, and until you see your baby go thru it, its very hard to understand. I cam give you my Phone # too and if you EVER need to just talk you can call me..anytime....I had a person on here offer their # to me, because of course These episodes only happen when your all alone and total panic fill your whole body! I called her one moring at like 7 am and she TOTALLY calmed me and made me feel 100% better!

[diggy4]

I sent u a private message with my # did u get it?

[Yorkieluv]

When Miko was a puppy he was also severly hypoglycemic and had a severe case of coccidia...It took 3-4 rounds of Albon to get rid of the coccidia. It was an absolute nightmare!! He wouldn't eat at all, regardless of what we fed him...We ended up having to homecook and force feed little by little through a syringe...

When he had seizures, he didn't pop right back up like most dogs with hypoglycemia. Usually, a hypoglycemia dog pops right back up when you give him nutri-cal or honey or karo syrup...But Miko didn't. It really took a toll on his body, and I could tell that something wasn't right.

One night he was falling to the sides, had no sense of balance, and we rushed him to the emergency vet...They ran bloodwork and all kinds of tests on him. They basically told us that we had a dying dog and to either put him to sleep or he would be dead by morning....Can you believe that??
We noticed that some of his bloodwork was off, and we believed that he might have a liver problem like a liver shunt or MVD, so we asked the vet to please check for that. She said that it was not a possiblity..That at 4-5 months old, he was way too young to have a liver shunt.

Little did this woman know that most of the time, dogs are BORN with a portosystemic shunt!! Well, we took him home, and we did everything possible to nurse Miko back to health. By making him eat, giving him his meds, etc.

Anyway, he was the pickiest dog I had ever known in my life. Then a few months later, he had a seizure out of the blue...We rushed him to the vet where they ran a couple of tests, including a bile acid test the next morning, only to find out....

Yep, you guessed it....Miko had a serious liver problem...

I know most puppies are probably just hypoglycemia, but liver shunts are a REAL problem in yorkies...

So maybe when your pup is a little bit older and can handle a 12-hr fast, you can get him bile acid tested. It's only around $45, but it's important to have this done...If nothing else, it will give you peace of mind...