The matter with Maya
 

Mika was bought from a pet store (before I supposedly knew "better"), I paid a pretty penny for her for my daughter. Then I learned that I was supposed to boycott pet stores and patronize reputable breeders. Mika supposedly came from puppy mill breeders I guess, since she was in a pet store.

When it came time to get Maya, I came here and asked for help. Found a breeder, did some research, forked over TWICE and then some what I paid for Mika, drove 12 hours to get her so she would never have to be on a plane, and got her the best of everything.

Starting at age 1 1/2 Maya started this pattern of getting sick regular as clockwork every 12 days, I have a happy healthy yorkie for about 12 straight days and then it starts. First she gets quiet and less playful, then here it comes , the white foamy clear vomit, and then days of diarrhea that smells like diesel oil (have to bathe her rear and hunt for places inside she goes to do it to hide it. It ADHERES to the floor, clean up is hard. She usually forgets her house training during these episodes). She does not play or eat, and her tail is tucked down. She trembles a lot too, and this whole thing tears my heart out.

She was tested for Addsons, negative, and her vet has no clue what this is In the meantime, my almost 3,000.oo baby is sick all of the time, and my supposed puppy mill child is almost 5 and has never had a sick day in her life.

ok I'm through (feeling sorry for ME today, as well as Maya, she didn't ask for this)

(yes, also tried changing the food to a sensative stomach one and no that has not stopped it)

Sorry you are experiencing the opposite of what is "supposed to be." No matter how much research you do, the potential is still there to wind up with a sick pup. It sounds like more testing is needed though. If this is regular as clockwork as you say, then there is a reason behind it. She may have any number of GI problems. If this vet is not being helpful at finding the cause and hopefully cure, I would see if there is a specialist he can refer you to. No reason for you both to suffer if there is something that can be done. Have you contacted the breeder to see if she has encoutered anything like this with other pups?

What food did you switch to and what kind of treats, etc is she getting?

Have you considered taking her to UT vetrinary school? That might be worth a try. Sorry to hear that your pup is suffering so. It is a very heart wrenching thing to see.:(

Yes I did and she said she has no idea what it is. She did offer me another one but I would never abandon Maya and I can't have 3 of them, I can barely afford these two.

Science diet sensitive stomanh ,no treats

I will look into that immediately

I am sorry you are having such a hard time. The pup is lucky to have such a great mommy!!!

I wouldn't give up.. post in the health section.. there has to be an answer for Maya!

There is some kind of cycle .. what happens in your house every two weeks or so?? A cleaning lady, lawn care, bug spray, laundry, I am just brain storming....
I wish you the best of luck..

No, nothing changes or happens around here that trigger it. OUr life is extremely scripted, routine and the same. I changed to food and stopped treats on the advice to rule out food allergies and seems that is not the problem either as it has been about 4 months and the problem persist on schedule.

What does liver shunt act like???

UT I looked into it, They have a vetrinary school of medicine, STUDENTS who are training would be seeing her, not some experts, so that is OUT. Thanks for the suggestion though.

One thing I want to clarify here in case the tone of my original post seemed that way, I am not blaming my breeder nor the system of getting a breeder verses pet stores,I'm just centing is all, that is just one of those things that happened to me.

That's venting, not centing (see I can't even type)

Its funny (not to you I know) how things work out sometimes. Your dog you bought from the reputable breeder is always sick and the one that came from a puppy mill is always healthy. Both of mine came from a byb and they are 6 and have been as healthy as can be

Are you certain it's students who are training WITHOUT a professional veterinarian present? I took Max to LSU Vet School and it was a team of students along with a professional.

I know people do their homework for a reason and I guess it can go either way, but if it was gonna go wrong OF COURSE it would be in my case. Sigh

No NO I KNOW there is a professor/expert OVER them, But I am just saying having Maya be a test case for students training in the profession does not seem to be the way to get any more answers than a real vet to me. Maybe I am wrong. I just thought maybe the poster thought it was some high tech place with the BEST out there or something, but it is really students training to BE vets. I'm not sure they could come up with any more answers than the two I have already consulted with.

No make that 3 because I also paid online for the best of the best according to the TOday show, and all he could come up with was changing her food to hypoallergenic for a while, which I did and it made no difference. THis was to rule out food allergies, so next????

I'm sorry, I don't have any advice or suggestions for you. I just wanted to say how sorry I am your baby is sick. I know to have to watch her like this has to be horrible for you :(. I hope you can find a doc that can find out what is going on and get her on the road to recovery.

You know what I think??? what I REALLY think? I think it is as I always heard , these real little ones who have been bred smaller and smaller to some of our taste are just trouble. Mika is right at 10 pounds, a horse of a yorkie, but guess who is never sick??? MIKA

I honestly think she is just defective from birth and, cannot be "fixed". I got a lemon, a lemon I love, but a lemon still

I'm no vet but I say a digestive tract problem or obstruction of some kind. The cycles are what puzzles me. If you saw her on her good days you would never know she ever has a thing wrong with her. Tail up high strutting like a show dog. Playing, pestering Mika, loving on me. Then it hits and she is just PITIFUL, PITIFUL I tell you , it would break your heart. And you KNow KNOW that every 12-20 days it is coming. I am going to start logging it on a calendar, I don't know what good it would do, but still I am going to track it.

I hear you and I hear your frustration. I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I think the hardest part is not knowing a diagnosis. I can only personally tell you that my experience at a vet teaching hospital was incredibly positive. Sure, there were students there, but there were about 6 of them studying my dog along with the guidance of a professional vet. They bounced ideas off each other and then we all met for a meeting about my boy's diagnosis.

Ok then, maybe something I should consider.

I'm not saying run there, but I am saying not to rule it out. These kids are smart these days and up to date on all the advanced conditions. And, if they can't figure it out and you truly got a lemon, then make lemonade and do the best you can.

I hear the frustration and the worry. I think it is a great idea to chart the symptoms. It will be a good record and because you are making a record, you will probably be alert to more subtle signs or symptoms.

I too think the Univ is a good idea. Some more ideas, IBD, a parasite with a 12-18 cycle, also try once booking an appt, take consecutive stool samples, date and label them. At least then hopefully the stool samples can be analyzed over a period of days before the onset of symptoms, then of course some for the symptom days.

You asked about liver shunt symptoms, you can search on here there are lots of threads, but why not get a BAT bile acid test done, just to see.

I wish you the best and hope that in the near future you will get some answers.

I'm no vet but that stool sounds tarry, like there may be blood in it. My last Yorkie had stool like that occasionally due to blood due to the extreme irritation of her G-I tract from her food until I found one she could tolerate. She could eat no - and I do mean no premium dog food or any dog food other than one - Science Diet Sensitive kibble, not the moist version. I spent a fortune on trying her on all kinds of special dog food B4 arriving at this several weeks into our ordeal. And Jilly could not eat even one small bit of any human food without the vomiting and dark, sticky stool, which varied from diarrhea with bright blood/pus to that dark, sticky version of it. She very nearly died B4 I found her one food that she could tolerate. In her case, once her diet was settled, she still had bouts of upset from time to time - she would forage out in the yard B4 I could get to her - but lived the rest of her 12 1/2 years out quite normally. And she was small - the runt of her litter, of which the others averaged around 5 lbs. My poor vets were absolutely no help with this as the more meds, tests and special food they recommended, the sicker she got. We lived at the vets office for about 5-6 weeks and it was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life - let alone what my poor llittle dog went through. Only when I started the Science Diet Sensitive and some Kaopectate did her little life turn around and she became a full-time playful and not sick little dog. Of course I don't know if extreme food sensitivity could be your little baby's problem but I am sharing our experience just in case it might be her food causing this. I am hoping for the best for your baby as I know what it is to witness your baby being so ill. You really feel helpless.

Is Maya on any type of heartworm preventative or flea meds? Wondering since this might affect on & off again cycle. I truly hope this can be figured out & Maya will be on the road to recovery & feeling better!

You are describing exactly what Maya's stool is like. We are currently on Science Diet

sensitive stomach.....is this the one you used. The kibble in this one is not very small it is sort of a medium side cushion looking thing. SHe has to crunch is to eat it. Also how and in what quantity did you do the kaopectate?? I'm curious. This sounds like it is getting to the heart of what goes on with Maya.

Yes we do heart worm once a month, the flea stuff we do not do in winter and still the cycle repeats , so that could not be the culprit.

Did you say if they have checked your baby out for pancreatitis and other things. They did that with my Jilly but all 3 vets came up with was acute gastroenteritis. Well, it was risky but since the vets were talking about "quality of life" issues with Jilly having been ill so long and no other Dx except her gastoenteritis, the vets were talking of just keeping her hooked to an IV there at the clinic while they sought out another consult for her to A&M. I took her home to just try my own regimen for a couple of days. I took her off of the antibiotics they had her on(each dose caused a fresh bout of horrible diarrhea followed with diarrhea changing into the dark, tarry stool), gave her a 1/4 quarter full of a dropper of kaopectate, and syringed sugar water 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. in her lip pocket once every 15 -45 minutes and took her off her last special dog food. After about 8 - 10 hrs., I gave her a few pieces of the Science Diet kibble all mashed up into powdery bits and she licked it off the tip of my finger. Later, she licked a bit more off. I had her on a towel wrapped heatig pad turned to low for her rumbling tummy(could hear her thrashing insides - knew she had riotous gas) for about 15-30 mins. at a time, and after a bit, I gave her a drop or two of Simethicone from a Phazyme capsule I had. Her stools would vary from awful diarrhea/pus to the dark, sticky stools but they started to get less watery when they were diarrhea and less dark and sticky after a 2nd dose of the kaopectate 6 hrs. later. We kept up this regimen for about 2 days and she began to eat the Science Diet off my finger with relish and drink water on her own so I gave her the kibble sort of broken up into smaller pieces and she gobbled it. Next dose of kaopectate was just 1/8 of the dropper and 6 hrs. later, another 1/8. Her stool began to get quite firm and normal and went from that to what turned out to be "normal" for her, slightly dry. Took her off the kaopectate and over the next few days right after any strange stool, I gave her 1/8 dropper of Pepto-Bismol to soothe her tummy every 8 hours or so. Within about a week, she was doing great. Wasn't too long after that she was panting for a bite of my Cheerios and I got her a dry Cheerio out of the box and gave it to her. Boom! Within hour or so, vomiting, both diarrhea bouts - runny water turning into sticky/dark later - loud tummy sounds - sick little girl. I redid my original treatment for a day and she settled back down and got well again. Thereafter, even the tiniest bit of regular dog treat of any kind, any bite of human food and she was very sick again for 12 - 20 hours so I learned this little dog of mine could not eat anything ever other than the Science Diet Sensitive kibble so I learned to make treats of it, cook it, microwave and bake it to give her some variety but that is how she lived the rest of her life out and she flourished. As I say, that is what worked for Jilly when her myriad vets and I were all at a loss as what to do next and I do not know if any of that would help or hurt your baby at all. I sure hope you do find out what will help her as it is a scary and awful time when your baby is not responding to vets' care but is just getting worse. My prayers are going out to you and your baby.