Sneezing Fits!
 

3 pound puppy 15 weeks old still continues to have terrible sneezing fits one and half weeks after his first episode. It consists of about 6 or more fast and terrible sneezes right in a row and covers the floor in water that appears to be clear. He is very traumatized by it and usually cowers in the corner or under something and refuses to eat for a long time afterwards. The vet says it is probably just a virus but gave him antibiotics anyway which he has taken for over a week. Vet refused to look up his nose even though I requested him to do it several times. Says his nose is too small.
Well the symptoms will disappear for a day or two but return with a vengeance with a sneezing episode about every 10 to 15 minutes for several hours. We are doing our best to keep him hydrated and eating but most of the time he is refusing to eat. I can't believe it is allergies. His feces are not watery but he does throw up occasionally, maybe once every few days.

The main reasons dogs sneeze are due to allergies, infections, or
in the case of older dogs, tumors. Since he is a puppy, I would
assume that it is either infection or allergies.

What food are you using? Are there other pets in the home?
I would keep up with the antibiotics and wait to see if the vets treatment
plan works. If it does not clear up in a week, or your pup shows any signs
of duress, I would take him back immediately.

At this age, he shouldn't have allergies yet. Poor fella.

Was he given the kennel cough (bordatella) vaccine?

I would really go to another vet, as soon as you can. A pup this young who is having ongoing vomiting, ongoing sneezing, and loss of appetite should really get a thorough exam and perhaps some blood work as well.

I'm sorry he is not feeling well! :(

Did he have bordatella? and was it through the nose or injectable? if it was through the nose that could be the problem. Try some Chlor-tabs from wal-mart 1/4 tab.Its chlorpheniramine 4 mg. same as you get from the vet only its under $3.00 at wal-mart and between $10 and $20 from your vet.

my dd has been sneezing alot due to her allergies :( usually they start 6 mos to 3 years but not to say it cannot happen early and it is that time of year for pollens in the air

Understand completely. My little girl has it bad in spring.
She usually goes on chlorpheniramine for several weeks.

LIL FU FU GRL, So do you know about the chlor tabs from Wal-Mart? It saves you a lot of money.

So I think when I describe them as sneezing fits it does not really give a true sense of the seriousness. I have seen dogs sneeze before and this is much worse. It is almost like he is throwing up through his nose. He is backing up and the floor is covered in mucus despite the fact he is so small and becomes very traumatized and lathargic from the episodes that happen over and over. I can feel some heavy rumbling in his system right before the sneezing happens.
Here is the weird part. They will disappear completely for days and than come back out of nowhere. Once we are able to get him to eat it eventually improves. I got the AKC family tree and noticed he has the same grandparents on both sides (mother and father were siblings) so I do not know if this could be a factor.

I really am worried about this puppy. It seems your vet isnt taking this serious and you need to see another vet. The sneezing fits, not eating and frequent hypoglycemia episodes arent normal

Well If his nose is plugged then he can't smell very good rite. Dogs don't eat very well if they can't smell. DID HE GET BORDATELLA THROUGH THE NOSE ? or injectible ? If his nose is really plugged he needs Mucinex, But you need to take care of it or he'll get pneumonia.

Ya know, I guess the vet I worked for was a rairity because he always called and checked up on his patients and if they werent showing signs of improvment in a couple of days he would change the course of treatment and keep researching till he found the answer. If he's got that much mucac then he really should be on mucinex. He needs to get it all out, not dry it up. He could have an infection in there.God I'm GLAD I have a really good vet!!!!!!!

The vet did call two days later but this episode is over a week later.
I have been told as long as he is eating and drinking and he takes his antibiotics then there is nothing more that we can do. IF it is just simple case influenza (must be flu season) then it will pass on its own but just seems different. Calling the vet they want me to come back in check him again. What can they do? Last time it was $60 for the visit, $38 for the antibiotics, $10 for the special food and $5 to disinfect the place and staff since he sneezed all over everything and everybody. I don't trust people doctors so I am not very comfortable about vets either. Again he weighs 3 pounds. I have not given him any vaccinations myself. That was all done by the breeder (lots of them in 3 stages) which were written out for me and we will need some more at 4-5 months old.
Funny now he is perfectly fine and very energetic but one of these days he will start again as it has at least three different times, usually with a 3-4 day gap.

Well has he done a culture of the mucas ? there are different types of infections and no antibiotic can treat all infections. So that would be my next step.

It would be good to know if he had the Bordatella through the nose or not , that could be the problem. It can cause cronic rhinitis and there is no cure for that only treatment, and it is lifelong. But regaurdless he should never have bordatella through the nose with his history.

My first yorkie got a piece of grass up his nose 8 inches long and had intermittent attacks of violent sneezing. The vet saw nothing. Get a flashlight/penlight and look up his nose next time he sneezes. If you find something and choose to remove it yourself, do it very slowly.

Any update? Maybe to the vet for xrays, or better yet an endoscopy? If it is a foreign object the body will coat it with mucous to prevent damage to the tissues. If the foreign body extends into the lungs, excessive mucous will build up there too, and possibly cause pneumonia. His violent sneezing is an attempt to dislodge the FB and is not normal. Something is very wrong here and he should be seen by a vet. Don't let this go on much longer....

Well it has been four days so that means the "sneezing fits" have come back but now they are more violent and frequent than the ever gave been, about every 10 minutes and completely covers the floor in mucus but again the mucus is clear and all the literature says this is not a problem as long as it is clear, however, the vet said sometimes it can be clear in small puppies but still be a problem. It has completely incapacitated him since he is so scared of what his body is doing. Yesterday he was very energetic and not a sneeze in four days. He pooped for the first time in days yesterday which was a relief because his tummy was so tight for a 3 pound 4 month old puppy. One time when this happened force feeding Nutri-Cal helped. Again before he sneezes I can feel his tummy gurguling sort of like when we eat something that does not agree with us so I am trying to figure if stomach juices are getting into his nose since he it not throwing up at all.
Is the most important fact every time it happens he has not ate anything for at least 6 hours.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Have the vet do a culture of the mucas. And get him on some Chlorpheniramine. You can get it cheaper at Wal-Mart it's called Chlortabs by equate under $3.00 between $10.00 & $20.00 from the vet. It is EXACTLY the same as what the vet sells you and the same mg. I know , I used to work for a vet. Start out with 1/8 of a pill 2x a day. if the 1/8 seems to really wipe him out then only give it to him 1x a day. Talk to the vet about it. AND MAKE HIM DO A CULTURE the antibiotic he has your puppy on may not even be the rite antibiotic.

There you go, Good Job Kjc!!!!!!!!!!
So I still say do a culture, and inquire about ENDOSCOPY, although the scope may be too large for this tiny nose. A CT or Ultra sound may or may not show a foreigh body, depending on what it is or if there is even anything in there.

I was thinking the FB to be very long and can be seen in the pup's throat. The piece of grass I removed from my pup's nose was longer than her! It curled in on itself which made it narrow enough to fit up the nose. Best suggestion is to take a video of a sneezing episode or at least some photos, especially of the amount of mucous and how tired he is after, to show the vet. I would also change vets, as the first said nothing more can be done.

I reread the original post, you got the pup from a large group of puppies? Was the place clean? Where the pups clean?

You also had another similar post, is this about the same pup or a different pup?

Also, what's his temperature? Have you seen anything unusual in his poo since this started??

I know this stuff can get expensive. Please if you cannot afford to take him to the Vet again, consider surrendering him to a Yorkie Rescue. They will see he gets medical care. Or CareCredit is a credit card for medical treatments, human and animal. Are you near a University? Some times they are less expensive than regular or specialty vets.

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University
Main Hospital Switchboard: 509-335-0711


The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Washington State University

I agree, CHANGE VETS. If puppy is not pooping well he needs some pumpkin or digestive enzymes, Super Digestaway, By SOLARAY is a good one and most healthfood stores carry it . Open the capsule and sprinkle a tiny bit on his food each time you feed him. I also noticed you said he goes for 6 hrs without food. This is not a good thing for a puppy of his size and maybe it is his stomache acids coming up in his nose. The gurgling in his tummy are hungry tummy sounds, Exactly what my dog with acid stomach does, but he will vomit bile. However People can suffer cronic cough and or sinus problems with acid reflux. I have never seen a dog do this, but I would think it is possible. BUT you do need to rule out a foriegn body in there. I live near washington state university, and thats where I took my dog with cronic rhinitis caused by the bordatella through the nose. And they Do Not cut any breaks, they scoped every hole in his body, cost a couple thousand. But it was worth it just to know there was no foriegn body. And he has much improved with treatment-ChlorTabs 3x a day for the rest of his life. Also try Famotidine its pepcid. Equate Acid Controller is the same thing and again much cheaper then from the vet. You need to check with the vet about the dose , my dog is 11 lbs and can take 1/4 tab but not sure for a pup that small, maybe kjc could answer that for you . Anyway some things to try while waiting for the vet to figure it out.

He is back to normal again for the rest of the day. But I have to think it will start again in a few days. One other thing about the not eating for 6 hours is also he is sleeping for a long time when the episodes start. The reason he has not eaten for so long is because he is sleeping. Believe it or not this puppy can sleep for 6 hours straight. Never seen anything like it.
Nutri Cal, then other food, chicken, or whatever we can get him to eat. Probably not good for constipation but we are very concerned about his eating. He did poop again today so two days in a row is pretty good for him. And now he is pooping as I type, two times today.
He has been very playful today. This is why I am thinking this is not a virus/illness kind of thing.
The AKC people gave me a coupon for a free vet visit so I will print that up because it looks like the 90 days of free insurance has a 30 day waiting period for illness. But it is the procedures that will be expensive not the visit.
The puppy did not come from the cleanest house in the world but they were kept inside and I trust the breeder since I bought my original dog from her 10 years ago before he was killed recently. One concern is he was much less active than all the other puppies at the breeder (I chose him because he looked like my other dog that died and he happens to even be his nephew). He was the last of the January litter and six weeks past the time he could have been first adopted. She was already selling through two younger litters and he was still there, the last in the litter. I wonder if some issues showed up that caused people to not select this puppy or possibly return it. We love him a lot but two thousand dollars for diagnostics is not an option. We were ready to just throw up our arms this morning with frustration but we did everything we could on our own, force feeding, then he would drink water.
I need to get his nose checked. Or are you saying the FB could be in his digestive tract?

I think it could extend that far. Up the nose, down the throat, into the stomach or lungs. I think the lack of appetite and not pooing regular is more resulting from the excessive mucous. I also think if it were allergies, he would be sneezing all the time, not just every 3-4 days.

If you get it on film, you may be able to email it to the University. An x-ray would be helpful, but I really think it will be visible in his nose and throat when they do the exam. So you may get away with just the exam and x-ray fee.

My pup's episodes were so violent, I was waiting for her to have a heart attack. It took quite a few tries looking up her nose with a flashlight everyday at different times to try to see something. Then I saw something bright green, maybe the diameter of a dressmaker's pin. I grabbed my tweezers and very slowly removed a blade of grass. The odd thing is that the tip of the grass came out first. So that means that she ate the grass, then vomited and this blade of grass went up her nose instead of coming out of her mouth, and got lodged there.

No , As kjc said her dog had the fb in his nose and down throat because the fb was so long. If it's something like that it could be seen by looking down his throat. Probably have to knock him out to do it . I would start the other things tonight or tomorrow the sooner the better. That way if it's one of the things I mentioned, he will be on the road to recovery. And those treatments certainly will not hurt him, and are very inexpensive. If you see no difference in a day or two , Then I would have a culture of the mucas and either pictures of some kind or endoscopy. And if you have access to a video cam that would be helpfull to show the vet, as kjc said. I think there is a lady vet somewhere in oregon that does endoscopy for a whole lot cheaper then WASU, I will make some calls tomorrow to see if I can find her.

Also I'm sure he sleeps so long because he is exhausted from these episodes.

KiKi is eating again, almost everything, except his puppy food. Shredded boiled chicken and ground beef (no fat), and puppy treats, too. He has been very active for the past 36 hours. He wants to play, even 1 o'clock in the morning. He poops twice a day, now. Yeah!!!

Ok. I found her name Dr.Janet Gordon. I just can't find her location. She was in Spokane for a while about 4 yrs ago , last I heard she was giong to Oregon. She does rhinoscopy for WAY less then any one I have heard of. Wish I knew about her when my dog needed it. Any way I will keep searching for her

OK went to the vet again today after he started having the attacks again today just like clock work. We were pretty much able to determine it is probably not his nose. We could squeeze his belly and get the "sneezing" fits to happen. I actually think it is fluid from his stomach coming up into his nose. I went ahead did some X-Rays and they were able to see everything down to stomach was fine but some blockage down in the intestines and they were quite irritated. Of course, they said nothing obvious they could see from X Ray so ultrasound would be an additional $500... :( :( :( I said no, of course.
They are giving him Sucralfate to make his stomach feel better and recommend Metronidazole but that one is expensive. Metronidazole is an antibiotic used to kill intestinal parasites (giardia) and bacterial infections and they said it could help with the inflammation. They were going to give me Panacur but said they could not because it looks like it could be a partial FB obstruction which would make his condition worse if they gave him that. He is pooping every day but they were concerned about its black "tar" like consistency, a sign that blood may be present.
Of course they were asking for $150 blood tests as well but I not ready for that either. Because of his weakness and health they would NOT give him his Bordetella, which he has never had, a 4th Distemper shot and a rabies shot. Of course he is running around now but 2-3 days from now he will be on death's door again.
Any idea if the Metronidazole is worth the expense?