Hypo Yorkie now Kennal Cough..ugghh

[DallasYorkie]

Hi everyone,

Ok, so this is our first Yorkie, actually for my family, first puppy, dog or pet in general (do dwarf hamsters count?) We have had lots of almost heartbreak and worry about her.

So let me give you the background;

We bought her from a breeder in Florida and had her shipped to Dallas. Her Health paper says she was born on 4/1/13. She has had two sets of shots including her Kennel Cough.

Sunday:She arrived Sunday afternoon the 30th via Delta and was happy and go lucky. She nibbled on her kibble (Canin mini puppy) and drank her water when she felt like it.

Sunday Night/Monday AM: 2AM she's whining and barking, so I go in and comfort and talk to her, but was told DO NOT pick her up..teach bad habits. She is ok for a couple more hours then whines again around 5, but then I am up at 6 so I went ahead and got her out carried her around, played for about 10 minutes, then let her rest.

Monday AM: She goes for her wellness visit, all seems fine, healthy happy and pissed off at me for letting this guy shave her butt for going potty (she had been sort of biting at her rear, which went away mind you after the vet did it) 1.5lbs. She is fine so far and I put her down for a rest again at around 1230 once we get back.

Monday 2PM: I find her near comatose, looking at me but cant move, soft whine, covered in drool (suspect a seizure) and she just keeps looking at me so I grab her and off to the vet (I have a pretty fast car and good flashers) we get there quick and the vet immediately pumps a couple of syringes or syrup in her mouth, then does blood work. Blood sugar lever of 16...holy crap..then they force feed her via syringe of a/d critical care.

Monday PM: So now we are on a syringe feed and water of a/d critical and karo/ped/water mix. 10cc's each, every 3 hours.

Tuesday AM: She now has a discharge from her nose, she wont eat on her own and has to be syringe fed. Pretty lethargic, but not completely, just tiring quick. I take her to vet and now she has an upper resp infection, they don't specifically say kennel cough because she isn't doing any coughing yet, just nose discharge.

So now she is on Clavamox for the infection, still syringe fed, wont eat or drink on her own. 10cc of everything including Nutical twice a day. Will walk around and likes to be held but rests a lot.

Wednesday: Same routine until evening, of course after the vet closes, hacking, cough, spasm and gagging. So wife reads about potential Trachea collapse, so of course, taking now chances (on go flashers and gas pedal) off to the Pet ER I go. Vet looks her over and announces all is well except Tracheobronchitis (otherwise know as Kennel cough right?) But heart, temp and weight is all good, no loss of weight.

Ok so at this point I live at the vet and my house has puppy food splatter all over..worse then your kid throwing food from their high chair!

It is now Saturday night, tonight was the first time I got her to eat some boiled chicken and rice with a bit of chicken broth but not much. I have been able to get her to eat about a 1/2 tablespoon of yogurt but she will not go near her water or her kibble or any food I leave down.

So at this point she is eating every 3 1/2 hours, and other than this past meal where she ate some chicken, she is still syringe fed food and water. I tired baby food and she will eat it, but in a syringe. She hates so many different kinds of food its crazy or atleast she won't eat them but I am sure her sore throat has something to do with it?

Here is my real concern, that I am feeding her to much, when I do the calculations, 10cc of both food and water equals 80ccs in a 24 period..to me that seems almost excessive on a 1.5lb pup?? I am doing the pea size Nutrical twice a day, plus her .25ml of Clavo. I am literally giving her 2.7 oz or 11% of her body weight in food AND water mix EACH, every 24 hours? Am I off the mark, should it be really half that each meal, 5cc of each? Just seems that I am stuffing her for no apparent reason??

So I would appreciate any guidance anyone has on if this makes sense, and other tricks to get her to eat on her own. I am cautious of things like cheese or peanut butter because she is SO small, but I am not saying I wont, just looking for some guidance.

We have been trying to follow the book, and we talked to vets and the breeder and they all seem to be relatively on the same page but I need to get her to start pulling out of the emergency effort and I feel like when I am with her that my feeding and that makes it worse at this point.

And how effective is cottage cheese? What does it actually give them that she might be missing? I read varying messages on it.

Thanks so much!!
Patrick

[Wylie's Mom]

First of all, WELCOME and Congrats! Second, what good fur parents you are to take *such* diligent and attentive care of this little precious one. By acting so quickly, you did save her life.

You're doing great - you're doing everything right. As you've probably learned now, yorkie puppies are very prone to hypoglycemia - did your breeder tell you that, btw? A good breeder tells yorkie parents to get Nutrical ahead of time and/or to use Karo or whatnot in case of hypo.

As far as the cough - watch it CLOSELY, as you already are. In pups, kennel cough can easily turn to pneumonia, which can be deadly if not treated correctly. Personally, I do not ever give kennel cough vaccine to my dogs bc it's not a Core vaccine; and I definitely don't believe in giving it to puppies for the very reasons you're seeing here. Their immune systems are so immature and that vaccine is especially prone to result in *giving* them kennel cough. If I were you, I'd avoid that vax going forward. If she coughs a lot at night, you want to be sure the vet provides a suppressant bc she absolutely must get rest.

For food - one thing to make it more appetizing is to try sprinkling Parmesan cheese (the cheap kind, not the deli kind) on her food - it has a nice cheesy, pungent smell that is often very attractive to dogs. Remember that dogs eat first with their nose (ie, smell). You might also try sprinkling some broth on her food. As far as amount, according to feeding calculators, she should be getting somewhere around 1/2c of food a day at this time/age/weight.

If I were you, I'd go ahead and try bits of cheese and peanut butter bc they're dense in calories, and she prob needs that right now to maintain her weight. I'd hold off on the cottage cheese, since it's dairy and may mess w/ her tummy at this time.

I'd be thinking about getting her on a probiotic though. The meds will alter her flora in her small intestine, and at this age, that could really be a mess. I'd want to repopulate that flora asap. The probiotic I like and use is this one: Nature's Farmacy - Store - Product Details or this one: Nature's Farmacy - Store - Product Details

Best of luck on this little one, and please keep us posted !

[DallasYorkie]

@wylies mom

Thanks so much, ill try the cheese idea!

Ok so a couple questions, is the 1/2 cup both dry and wet food or is it different for wet? Is the water intake the same as well?

The breeder did say to get the nutrical and karo and mix the karo in her water. I think between all the stress and lack of eating or drinking enough, that's what caused the hypo episode..of course I'm guessing..

The part I think that upsets me is that the emphasis on making "sure" they are maintaining a certain intake of food, water, karo etc. to stay stable as a preventive measure was lacking and coukd have been avoided. Telling me to give a pea size and mix some water is relatively generic but then I'm mad amd worries so I could be slightly subjective on this lol


The peanut butter, do I put it on her food or in her mouth? It's so small in worry about it sticking and not being able to swallow it?

The vet said to use vanilla low fat yogurt? Is that ok or no, I was reading your comment on dairy and the cottage cheese?

Awesome advice and I thank you! So informative!

[gemy]

No you are not feeding her too much. Right now it seems to me you are doing a great job.

You can use some yogurt 1tsp into her food daily. Plain yogurt. That also aids in digestion.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by DallasYorkie

@wylies mom

Thanks so much, ill try the cheese idea!

Ok so a couple questions, is the 1/2 cup both dry and wet food or is it different for wet? Is the water intake the same as well?

The breeder did say to get the nutrical and karo and mix the karo in her water. I think between all the stress and lack of eating or drinking enough, that's what caused the hypo episode..of course I'm guessing..

The part I think that upsets me is that the emphasis on making "sure" they are maintaining a certain intake of food, water, karo etc. to stay stable as a preventive measure was lacking and coukd have been avoided. Telling me to give a pea size and mix some water is relatively generic but then I'm mad amd worries so I could be slightly subjective on this lol


The peanut butter, do I put it on her food or in her mouth? It's so small in worry about it sticking and not being able to swallow it?

The vet said to use vanilla low fat yogurt? Is that ok or no, I was reading your comment on dairy and the cottage cheese?

Awesome advice and I thank you! So informative!

You're very welcome .

The 1/2 cup total food would apply to both wet and dry and/or combined. For the water, I'd let her drink what she wants -- unless you have to force some, then I'd follow what the vet suggests.

I know what you mean about feeling stressed about non-specific instructions, when all you want to do is the most right thing. Isn't it amazing how vulnerable these little creatures are? They truly are, and it can be scary when they're young....I know, I've been there. You're doing perfect with the Nutrical - right around a pea size is just right. She may lick it right off your finger if she likes the taste, then you wouldn't have to mix it at all.

For the peanut butter, she will likely lick that right off the tip of your finger. Most dogs love PB, so it's likely she will. She may lick funny right after as PB is kinda sticky, but it'll go down.

The yogurt should be okay...I'd start slow though. The thing about yogurts though is that they really *don't* have a therapeutic concentration of live cultures (probiotics); the amount of probio is fairly low and usually only 1 species. Whereas probio supplements are highly populated and have multiple species of live cultures. And, the species best for humans is a bit different than the best ones for dogs. Lastly, dogs' stomachs are much higher in acidity than ours, so it's unlikely that the cultures in yogurt will even live past the stomach in order to make to the small intestine, where they're needed to populate. Some of the probios for dogs are specially micro-encapsulated so that they survive the tummy's acid to move to the sm intestine.

Cottage cheese isn't bad or anything...but it's a little rich and milky, and it can sometimes result in a little upset, so it might be good to just avoid it for now as her whole system is so stressed....and when we (dogs or humans) get stressed - our digestive system can be highly affected...esp puppies.

I hope she continues to improve...she sounds like a little fighter, so I'm sure you'll get her thru this tough time. And her vulnerability to hypo *should* ease up as she grows in puppyhood (unless there are other underlying things going on).