You sound like a very nice person. My only concern is maybe you have too many dogs. Can you scale down to get some control? E Coli is nothing to full around with. Is this your buisness? How many dogs do you have? Please keep us updated. Hope everything works out for you.

I wanted to start a kennel but with all the problems we have run into this year I have decided against it. I am planning on letting a lot of dogs go but until I feel they are healthy, I can't do it. I won't knowingly pass on a sick animal. Not even if I feel the least bit uncomfortable about it. I have about 55 dogs. I would have to sit down and count them again to be sure. When we lost puppies and 2 dogs over this E. coli, I didn't want to think about how many we lost and I just can't face it yet. Since they seem to be getting over this, it won't be long before I go through my roster. They are so sweet and loving that I hate to let them go but it would be better for them. Before anyone asks, I have to sell them or fight with my husband. I can't just give them away.

Can you find a good reputable rescue in your area? You may need to fight with your husband. I know I would. 55 is too many. How in the world can you afford to feed and vet this many? Hope you will reconsider and place these babies with a good rescue.

I just don't know what to say other than you have way too many dogs to possibly care for properly! :eek: As soon as they are well enough you need to start spaying and neutering them so they can be rehomed. :( Please keep us updated. I'm sure that you will be able to find many people even on YT that would be willing to offer loving homes.

How are your dogs doing now? Are they planning to contact a rescue or begin to rehome some to bring your numbers down? Please update..........

Everyone is doing fine now. There is no "they," it's me who has decided to bring down the numbers to a more managable amount of dogs. LOL

I'm sorry I just mistyped and understand that it is you. Good luck and please keep us posted on how things go with lowering the number of dogs that you have. Very wise decision. :thumbup:

I have 2 leaving this weekend and another one on the 20th. Hopefully, I can find homes for a few more soon. There is another one possibly homed. Just waiting to hear back from the lady.

I am so glad you have made this decision. :) Good luck to you and keep us updated. :animal-pa

She did say that she was already wanting to pare down the number of dogs as she was not making enough to pay someone to help with their care, before we all knew how many dogs she was talking about. So maybe just agreeing with her would be the way to go on this. She also said early on that she did have them on antibiotics from the vet but wanted to augment with some natural remedies. Seemed like some might have been missing those two facts when they replied.

As for your daughter causing the E coli by feeding wet dog food, I do not believe that could be the cause. E coli infections are caused by coming into contact with the feces -- from humans or animals. It usually happens when you drink water or food that was contaminated. Sometimes it is from animal feces getting into water or crop areas. Other times it is unsanitary practices of food prep people. Not washing hands after going to the bathroom. Feces getting into the water supply, food bowls, etc. could be the cause. Not cleaning the water and food containers well could be a problem. If there is a body of natural water the dogs have access to, I would check into that as a possible cause. There was a swimming lake near us that got contaminated and lots of people all came down with E coli. Nursing mothers can actually spread the E coli through their teats to the babies. Wet food alone, does not cause E coli. Wanted to make this clear so you would not be needlessly blaming your daughter.

Here is an excerpt you might want to read that suggest specific anti-biotics that might help as well as enforces your idea to seek other ways to sort of help the antibiotics work. The entire article is at: Infectious Disease - Bacterial

"E. coli is a normal inhabitant of the digestive tract of pets, or at least it is found frequently when it does not appear to be the cause of any problem. However, certain strains of E. coli do consistently cause problems and other strains can cause problems when the conditions are right. Cattle sometimes carry the strains of E. coli that are more dangerous and they do sometimes shed these organisms in their feces. So they would be a possible source of an E. coli infection. However, E. coli infections are pretty common in dogs and most of them don't have a source of cow chips, so there are obviously other transmission methods, as well.

When E. coli is pathogenic (a disease causing strain) there is a strong tendency for it to be resistant to most antibiotics. Usually the fluoroquinolones (Baytril Rx, Dicural Rx, others) are a good choice, as are trimethoprim-sulfas and amoxicillin-clavulinic acid combinations. An antibiotic sensitivity test may indicate that other antibiotics should work, too.

It is important to remember that antibiotics need help in order to kill bacteria. It is very difficult for antibiotics to kill infectious agents without the proper conditions being present in the body for the antibiotic to get to the area of the infection and without the help of the patient's immune system."


Hope some of this helps! Good luck in the continued paring down of your population by finding new homes whether for money or love alone. I can not begin to fathom how, even with your family's help you could care for that many dogs. It must be exhausting and all-consuming! You have made a good decision here for the sake of yourself as well as the dogs.

Edit: Seems I am late with this, as I read further down that your remaining sickly one is now doing well. Thank goodness and pray the good health continues.

(portions of this message have been removed) She also said early on that she did have them on antibiotics from the vet but wanted to augment with some natural remedies. Seemed like some might have been missing those two facts when they replied.

Thank you.

As for your daughter causing the E coli by feeding wet dog food, I do not believe that could be the cause. E coli infections are caused by coming into contact with the feces -- from humans or animals. (portions of this message have been removed) Feces getting into the water supply, food bowls, etc. could be the cause. Not cleaning the water and food containers well could be a problem. (portions of this message have been removed) Nursing mothers can actually spread the E coli through their teats to the babies. Wet food alone, does not cause E coli. Wanted to make this clear so you would not be needlessly blaming your daughter.

The wet/moldy food was suggested by our vet. That is when it clicked. We had already gotten that mess taken care of before the dogs were showing obvious signs of sickness. Even though I feel it was something she didn't do correctly, I can't really blame her because I should not have fully trusted her to do what was asked of her. She is 13 and old enough to know to dump wet food and change the water, washing both pans but ultimately I am in charge so even though I let her know that she was wrong no one is allowed to harangue her about the dogs getting sick.

Here is an excerpt you might want to read that suggest specific anti-biotics that might help as well as enforces your idea to seek other ways to sort of help the antibiotics work. The entire article is at: Infectious Disease - Bacterial

(portions of this message have been removed)

When E. coli is pathogenic (a disease causing strain) there is a strong tendency for it to be resistant to most antibiotics. Usually the fluoroquinolones (Baytril Rx, Dicural Rx, others) are a good choice, as are trimethoprim-sulfas and amoxicillin-clavulinic acid combinations. An antibiotic sensitivity test may indicate that other antibiotics should work, too.

We are using Baytril, Metronidazole, Reglan, Di-Methox, Clavamox and in some cases Penicillin.


It is important to remember that antibiotics need help in order to kill bacteria. It is very difficult for antibiotics to kill infectious agents without the proper conditions being present in the body for the antibiotic to get to the area of the infection and without the help of the patient's immune system."

I was out of state for most of the early part of the year tending to my father who died in May. When I came home we brought parvo so their immune systems were weakened already. Our vet has also recommended we clean with bleach water to help kill bacteria from the parvo, E. coli and other bacteria.

Hope some of this helps! Good luck in the continued paring down of your population by finding new homes whether for money or love alone. I can not begin to fathom how, even with your family's help you could care for that many dogs. It must be exhausting and all-consuming! You have made a good decision here for the sake of yourself as well as the dogs.

At the beginning I only wanted 7 dogs, 5 females and 2 males. And there were 12 of us here, 6 adults, 3 teens and 3 babies. Everyone was for starting a kennel but as we got more and more dogs I found out, no one wanted to actually do the work or even help properly. As time passed and my husband and I had to slave day and night to save puppies with low blood sugar we became so attached to them that we couldn't part with them. So we have pets, breeders who are pets and then there are dogs that just didn't sell. The unsold dogs will be even harder to find homes for now since they are older and not housebroken so I expect it to take a lot longer to find homes for them because I will not lie nor will I omit this fact. If someone wants one of them, I want them to know all so that they don't later go, "I have to get rid of this dog because I can't housebreak him." I believe that if people know the full truth of a situation that they should have a good idea if they can handle it or not. I do not want someone taking a dog and thinking they can potty train a dog and then get frustrated with my dog and hit him or her. I don't hit them and I don't want anyone else hitting them.

Edit: Seems I am late with this, as I read further down that your remaining sickly one is now doing well. Thank goodness and pray the good health continues.

Thank you again, Sylvia

This is so sad. :(

Sylvia, have you contacted any rescues yet? Are any of these dogs spayed or neutered?

Sad and disgusting. I am going to unsubscribe because I have nothing nice to say to someone who keeps so many dogs they cannot keep count of them.
Sorry...I don't buy the stories. So...I am going to make like a tree. :)