Update on Teddy
 

Hi everyone,
I took Teddy to a new vet today to ask about his sneezing/sniffling/coughing. Apparently, Teddy has bronchitis! :( He also told me that they do not vaccinate for Lepto in his office, he disagreed and said that it is not a problem in our area! Anyways, he seemed to not think it was a big deal, he assigned an antibiotic and robitussin dm for ten days.

Poor lil guy. You must have had a gut feeling that something was not right. It's good to listen to those feelings. Glad you're getting to the bottom of his problems and getting them handled. He certainly has had a time of it. Did you get him from a breeder in your town? Did he have any of these problems when you brought him home? Anyway, I'm glad you're such a good mom and getting him the medical care he needs.

Honestly, in the entire time he's been with me I did not notice anything of the sort until just recently. He never sneezed, coughed or gagged until I first noticed the tapeworms in his stool about a week and a half ago. Although (and this might be me being paranoid again) the vet did not do an xray or anything like that for his diagnosis. He massaged his trachea and he noticed that it was sensitive. He listened to his breathing and checked his lungs too and said that they were normal. Is this a general way to diagnose bronchitis? He didn't make a big deal about it, but I thought bronchitis is something you cannot completely cure?

I thought of you and Teddy today when I passed the chinese restaurant. How is he doing?

First of all...:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D on the chinese restaurant...
Second, I went to a new vet today and he diagnosed him with bronchitis :( The vet prescribed him amoxycillin for the next ten days...the vet didn't make a big deal about the diagnosis, but I thought bronchitis wasn't something that's curable? So, I'm not sure how to take the news.

Yes it's curable. So, Teddy came home with worms, and with a cough, and I think you should take this up with his breeder. That aside, I'm glad you are fixing him up and he is lucky to have you. Also finally I'm glad you went with the new vet, did you like the vet?

I'm not sure if he came with it or not because he only started the coughing/sneezing and worms a week ago? Yes I really did like the new vet, he agreed about the Lepto vaccine not being necessary and that it was not prevalent in our area.

It depends if you are dealing with chronic bronchitis or allergic bronchitis. In a puppy, I would think you would be dealing with allergic bronchitis. I wonder if it could be kennel cough? I think chronic bronchitis is usually found in older dogs.

I was thinking kennel cough as well.

I thought it might be allergic bronchitis too, just don't know what he might be allergic too? As I've mentioned, the symptoms arose after the vaccines, but yet again just because there's correlation that does not mean causation. I only heard him cough once and it seemed like he was going to vomit, but he didn't. I thought it might be kennel cough too, but I watched the videos in the YT library that showed the difference between kennel cough, reverse sneeze, and collapsed trachea and none of them seemed to match what Teddy was doing (but then again, I couldn't tell the difference between a tapeworm and a roundworm in Teddy's stool so I don't think I'm good at discerning things lol!) But, the vet didn't even think that it might be kennel cough. He didn't even mention it. I even told him about my incident with the benadryl and that I was afraid he aspirated it, but he assured me that he did not. The only thing that is new in my household is that I'm spraying bitter apple spray on furniture, but I doubt that he's allergic to that? He spends A LOT of time around the house sniffing the carpet, I vacuum it constantly, but maybe its dust??

I just read this article How to Treat Kennel Cough | eHow.com

and it mentions that kennel cough is "bronchitis"

I just thought of something. Did you use regular benedryl or the flavored kind? I am not saying it is related to bronchitis. I know some have had reactions to the flavored kind.

Well, I sort of knew they are related, but I didn't really think they were the same. I've never had to deal with either/or. Chronic bronchitis would be kennel cough, but if it's the allergic bronchitis, then I would think not? I'm just guessing here. Hold on. I'll look for something.

Just read this too...

More often than not, kennel cough is merely a symptom of another, much worse disease that your pet is suffering from. Kennel cough may be a result of underlying health concerns such as heart disease, periodontal disease, heartworm, parasites, throat growths, pneumonia, irritations, and allergies.

Kennel Cough - Dog Kennel Cough Information - Kennel Cough In Dogs Treatments

That makes sense. The worms weakening his system.

This is about bronchitis. I'm going to read your article now.

http://www.webvets.com/PDF/Bronchitis.pdf

The good thing is that you said he did not have a persistent cough and that you'd just heard him do it a little?

Right, I only heard him cough once, every other time he was sneezing or sniffling. He's sneezed a lot today, but I have not heard him cough once.

Oh, and I checked the benadryl it was children's cherry flavored...just in case I'm never going to give him that one again.

I wouldn't use the cherry flavored. There was a guy who posted here and had used that instead of the regular and it had caused problems with their little one. His username was armyvet, but I can't remember if there was more to his username. His little yorkie was Bailey. If you can find his posts, that would explain to you. It hasn't been very long ago that he posted here in the sick and injured forum.

I just found this book online. You might want to save it.

Small animal medical therapeutics - Google Books

This is the thread. I'll let you read it. I forget now what he said about it, so I'll let you read it. I'm getting too tired to concentrate.:)

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...ease-help.html

OK. He had purchased the generic benedryl instead of the name brand. It caused problems.

Great book, thank you. I actually came across that thread when I searched the word benadryl a week ago. I just remembered that the reason I gave him benadryl in the first place was because he was sniffling/sneezing which means that the benadryl didn't cause it, but didn't fix it either...I definitely think it may have been a result of the tapeworms, it seems to make the most sense to me...poor baby suffering from both things at once! I've spent so much money in the past two weeks on vet visits, but I am glad I did because I sleep in the same room as him (he sleeps in his crate) and everytime he sneezed/sniffled it woke me right up and worried me. This experience helped me find a good vet, which is ultimately what I wanted to do. Having a puppy is scary, and even though nothing "major" happened, it made me realize how much I care about him even if my little furbutt doesn't follow directions all the time! Teddy is 5.5lbs (I deliberately chose a larger dog) and I am extremely happy with the choice because I think a smaller dog requires a lot more care/attention and quite frankly I think I would be even MORE on edge than I am right now with mine! I am horrified when I read about all these people that purposely REQUEST tiny dogs (Teddy is tiny, but not as tiny in comparison to other Yorkies)...they're so fragile! HUGE responsibility, and frankly I doubt that half the people that want these tiny dogs can handle it! I might be young, but I consider myself a fairly responsible person...and I wouldn't trust myself with a 3lb adult dog...but that is just me.

I had forgotten what was said about the benedryl until I read it again. At least, you have that info. I think he'll be just fine. It'll take time to recover from that. I know very well how attached you become to them. Have a good night!

Daily Teddy Update...LOL
 

Worms are gone! He's still taking the amoxycillin....he's on day 2 and I think the sneezing has lessened considerably! Still keeping a close eye on him though! I've enrolled him puppy classes with the Tallahassee Dog Obedience Club. Here's a link to their page Home
let me know what you guys think! He starts January 12!!!

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Yay so glad your little guy is feeling better! :D

You want an obedient dog?:eek: Just kidding! I think that is a wonderful idea. He'll learn so much. I'm glad he's doing better now. Quick working stuff once they make a correct diagnosis, huh?:)

Haha! I know, poor guy- he spent so much time sick it broke my heart. I played with him a little too much today and he coughed a little...I think he should probably take it easy until his bronchitis clears up...too bad even when he's sick there is no stopping him!:eek::eek:

When they're young like that, they remind me of the energizer bunny!:D

Teddy is on day 4, I heard him cough twice last night, and twice this morning and he's still sneezing. I'm not quite sure what the timeline of how fast/quickly this medicine works- but I haven't really noticed a difference as of yet. I was told to give it to him for 10 days...

When Lolli was a therpy dog The military required lepto shot for the dogs. Lolli is 5 lbs and did not do well. Personnel opinion is only get your yorkie that shot if you absolutely have to. Jan

:animal-paI just checked what flavored benydrl I've given Lolli in the past-guess I'll be going to the store tomorrow to see if they have regular flavor for future use. Thanks!:)

I was wrong. It was the generic not the name brand. I don't think the cherry flavoring had anything to do with it.