YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - Seniors Only

Raes3 · 11-16-2005, 09:00 PM

Certainly having older yorkies (Gus 17 1/2 and Mimi 16 1/2) has been a challenge of late. Lots of sitting up a good portion of the night with them.

Gus for the past three years has been getting recurring nasal infections. We put him on panmycin and he has generally come out of it in about a week or so....but during that week it means sitting up with him, clearing his nasal passages (using an infant syringe). There are times he has a difficult time getting his breath....he is so congested. Have always thought it was allergy related which evolved into an infection. He's not bouncing back this time and am now thinking that he has a swallowing problem....mostly drinking water. In fact we have realized that for sometime and have had him drinking strictly from a gerbil bottle. Now that's not working.....he drinks and then chokes and water goes up his nose. The last few days I've been using a syringe, with his head up and slowly giving him water...and that has been a bit better, but still have a choking session and back to square one. Took him to the vet and she suggested using neo-synephrine diluted 5 to 1 .....that really seems to help him clear up for a bit......but then he wants to drink again.....and off we go! After this long dissertation, my question is does anyone have any other ideas to help him drink in a more effective way?

I'll talk about Mimi at a later date....she is having stomach/eating problems, but not as serious a condition as Gus at this point.

P.S. Just started using a vaporizer and that seems to be helping him breath a bit easier.

Thanks all!

11-16-2005, 09:00 PM	#1
Raes3 Yorkie Talker Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bigfork, MT Posts: 13	Seniors Only - Yorkies That Is Certainly having older yorkies (Gus 17 1/2 and Mimi 16 1/2) has been a challenge of late. Lots of sitting up a good portion of the night with them. Gus for the past three years has been getting recurring nasal infections. We put him on panmycin and he has generally come out of it in about a week or so....but during that week it means sitting up with him, clearing his nasal passages (using an infant syringe). There are times he has a difficult time getting his breath....he is so congested. Have always thought it was allergy related which evolved into an infection. He's not bouncing back this time and am now thinking that he has a swallowing problem....mostly drinking water. In fact we have realized that for sometime and have had him drinking strictly from a gerbil bottle. Now that's not working.....he drinks and then chokes and water goes up his nose. The last few days I've been using a syringe, with his head up and slowly giving him water...and that has been a bit better, but still have a choking session and back to square one. Took him to the vet and she suggested using neo-synephrine diluted 5 to 1 .....that really seems to help him clear up for a bit......but then he wants to drink again.....and off we go! After this long dissertation, my question is does anyone have any other ideas to help him drink in a more effective way? I'll talk about Mimi at a later date....she is having stomach/eating problems, but not as serious a condition as Gus at this point. P.S. Just started using a vaporizer and that seems to be helping him breath a bit easier. Thanks all!