Sick with Upper Respiratory Infection
 

So I'm new to this and I'm worried sick about my little angel. I just got her last Wednesday and on Saturday she started sounding sick. She was sneezing a little but it wasn't until Saturday that she really got sick. She started having trouble breathing and coughed. Vet says she has an upper respiratory infection and is on Clavamox. She is not throwing up and I'm making sure she eats before giving her the med. She is currently on a dosage of .15... On Sunday she took her first dosage and ran a lot so I think that made it worse. I'm worried about any side effects... Do puppies go through this a lot? She's almost 11 weeks old. She is usually playful but now all she wants to do is sleep and is only eating twice a day but is drinking a lot of water. I leave her food and water out all day so that she can eat at whatever time she wants because her health certainly is more important now.

Have any of you seen any side effects on you puppies? I hear that Clavamox is the best because it's not as strong but it can usually take care of it. How long did it take for you to start seeing a difference in your dog's health? Having a puppy takes a lot of time and energy. She is such a bundle of joy and I hate seeing her like this.


:animal-paThank you!!! Any feedback is greatly appreciated.:animal-pa

Hi and welcome to YT. Did the vet say she has kennel cough/bordatella? And if so, was she actually given the KC/bordatella vaccine at some point? Bc they can actually catch kennel cough from the vaccine itself. Btw, kennel cough vaccine is not a core vaccine so you don't have to get it for her (I never get it for mine).

Read here for more about vaccines: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...-overview.html

She will likely heal nicely, but it can actually take a very long time to heal resp infections in very young puppies -- so keep a very close eye as you already are. The main thing you want to prevent is the cough progressing to actual pneumonia, which can easily occur.

Keep us posted on how she is doing :)!

It sounds like the kennel cough my puppy had after I got her. Unfortunately the first med my baby was on didn't clear her up and she got pneumonia. After they put her on a second antibiotic, she cleared right up.

I would let the breeder know she is sick since she became sick so soon after you brought her home. I hope the medicine works for you and that she gets better soon.

Bella had a cough for the a while. Our vet prescribed something like Bendryl to clear up her throat and she has not done the cough for a while now.

Thanks!
 

Thanks guys! She was hospitalized last night and we brought her home this morning. She scared us really bad because she had no energy, couldn't even hold herself up and ended up throwing up. If there's anything I can share from my terrible experience is to keep Nutrical on hand. Nutrical helps maintain there sugar level at a good point. Now you don't want to rely solely on this but it is extremely important to watch her energy and if she's not eating then you should apply this on her gums. I asked why and the doc said that it's important to apply it directly there because it gets absorbed faster. If a dog is not eating and is low on sugar it can affect the brain and that is why they won't be able to stand up. She seems a little better but still needs a lot of time. Her sugar levels were low. She's currently eating every four hours and is on the high calorie wet food.

I pray that she recovers soon. Good luck with all of your little angels and may they stay healthy and strong!!

Stay vigilant on the meds. It took Bella two rounds of antibiotics before we beat her cough too. But just hold on tight, these little guys are fighters and yours will be chewing everything in sight and being a puppy again soon.

- Update -

Vet has her on Orbax and Clavamox for 10 days. She says there is a slight chance she may not make it through but we have high hopes that she will. It's been very stressful and tiring but we are hoping for the best. Her nasal discharge looks better but the coughing got worse and that is why we added Orbax. She doesn't want to eat but food is important and we try to use a syringe to feed her. It's been an expensive road but we hope that the worst is over both in her health and money wise because as many of you know... hospital bills are super expensive and most of us don't plan for things like these.

:animal36 Have any of you heard of feeding the dog Goat milk?? Does it help? :animal36

She needs to eat.....the nutrical will not sustain her....a syringe is good but in my experience the best food for an anorexic dog is hills a/d. It's a canned hospital food and is extremely moist. Take a finger, grab a blob and wipe it on the roof of her mouth. Our senior husky had giardia recently and I had to feed her this way. A few blobs every hour was all I could get into her but if I hadn't done it she would have died. Please get some a/d right away at any vet and start hand feeding her.

I have seen several breeders say goats milk is great for puppies...I know they will chime in if I'm wrong ;-)

Our puppy got worse while she was on the first med when she had kennel cough. We ended up having to take her to the vet again and she had to have IV therapy after which they put her on the stronger antibiotic. The vet told us to make sure she ate and drank and if she wasn't, to call immediately. Please make sure your puppy eats and drinks as they are so little and can't afford to lose any weight. I think it is so frustrating when our furbabies are sick and they can't tell us where they hurt or feel sick.

Have you phoned your breeder yet to tell them how sick your baby is? Since your puppy was apparently sick when you got her, the breeder might help you with your vet expenses as ours did.

I hope that your baby turns the corner soon and starts getting better quickly.

Health is improving - crossing our fingers
 

Thanks for the input. I've been feeding her with a syringe because that's pretty much the only way to get her to eat. After I brought her back from the Hospital she wouldn't go poop and it took almost 24 hours for her to poop phew that was another scare!! I agree, food is extremely important, as is water. I feed her as much as I can and also give her the Nutrical as added support. The doctor says she is still congested but she is better and there is still hope that she will make it through.

I read a lot about Raw Goats Milk and bought some but I was going to do a little more research before giving it to her since she is taking antibiotics and dairy can interfere with antibiotics for humans. Has anyone tried it on a sick puppy that is on antibiotics?

Unfortunately when I contacted the place I got her from the lady pretty much told me that she was healthy when she left so it's not her problem. I'm extremely upset with how they do business and hope that they get shut down for bad practices because there were at least two other dogs showing the same symptoms when I got mine but since I knew nothing about kennel cough and was super excited about her I just decided to get her. I feel bad for others who will go through this because that place is still in business and always busy. I wish there was a way to get places like those shut down. I am putting all my energy and time in fixing my poor baby before I seek advice on how I can shed light to the government on how bad the conditions are for these poor pups. Puppies deserve to be treated in a humane manner and not just used to make money.
I'm extremely sad and mad that puppies are the ones who are suffering in this situation.

So was she given the kennel cough vaccine then or...?

Hope she continues to improve :).

Yes! She was given the vaccine but too late. She was already around sick puppies for the vaccine to kick in. Here's a photo of her sleeping.

She is just adorbs :)!!!

What I'm trying to get across (and not doing very well at it, lol) is that she actually may have caught kennel cough from the vaccine itself, which happens to many young puppies given this vaccine. I personally don't ever get this vaccine as it's not a necessary vaccine. If your pup may have contracted KC from the KC vaccine, then I'd be considering if you'd want to ever give it in the future, know what I mean?

I can see how that can happen. I got sick when I got the flu shot myself. I've been doing a lot of reading and I hope to learn a lot more to keep her as healthy as can be. It's hard to know which shots to give her and which ones not to. They are like babies who depend on us. I'm doing a tiny bit of goats milk just to see how she takes it and so far she's doing fine. I hope she recovers soon. Thank you all for all the valuable information.

The vet told me that she's seen a couple of dogs that were bought there and they have been sick also. Apparently the place is currently under investigation and I guess the truth will come out at some point.

Hoping that a full recovery is just around a corner! Praying for you and your lil one.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers! It's truly a miracle that she's been able to hang on this long. She truly is Xena the Warrior Princess :D:animal-pa:animal-pa

Thank you!!

How is your little warrior princess doing?

She's doing a little better. Still has a cough and runny nose and is sleeping all the time but deep down I think she will overcome this!! I'm still feeding her with a syringe. Thanks for your prayers, they are needed. I hope your furry baby is doing well :)

-Update-

Xena's cough has improved but now we are treating her for an ear infection and Giardia. She is back to not eating and we are from time to time finding ourselves force feeding her. Her giardia is really affecting her... She is bloating up and having really bad diarrhea. We complete her 10 day Orbax for her upper respiratory infection this Thursday and we can't wait because I hate to see her on so much medication. Her health is like roller coaster... one day it appears that everything is ok and the next she's back to not eating and being lethargic again. I hope that all this will be over soon and that she will become a healthy puppy. We hope that her giardia will clear up with one round. We hear that it's hard to get rid off. I can't want to finally relax knowing that she is going to be ok.

Hold in there! I had about 12 weeks of ill health with Poppy to do with Kennel Cough. They are strong little pups!

She had 3 separate rounds of 10 day meds and they didn't make a blind bit of difference we just had to run its course.

She also went days with only eating one meal she was drinking lots.

She is now a healthy 8 months and you would never know how unwell she was. There was a good few weeks where the vet wasn't sure she would make it but ww got there in the end!!

We totally know what it is like when a good day with the pup is a great day in the house. Keep it up, they are tough little guys and it is so awesome when they are running around the house like little maniacs!

Thanks! We are working hard to keep her alive!! She is a sweet dog and we hope to have her for many years to come. Last night we got her to eat by putting sunflower seeds on her food!!! SHE LOVED IT!!! So this morning I put a few pieces to get her to start eating. I still find myself putting food in her mouth to try the food before she starts eating again...but she still eats a tiny bit! I've been giving her pure wet food and I hope to introduce her to dry food as soon as I can!!! :p

I hope your baby feels better soon. Poor baby. Glad she is eating.

-Update-
 

We still cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel :(

Our poor baby has been on antibiotics since June 6th and has chronic diarrhea. She's finished with the giardia medication but is still on Orbax for her cough which is still there and only has gotten a little better. She is not eating much... about twice a day at most. I am feeding her Fromm's chicken and duck... about 2-3 teaspoons twice a day. I am finding myself giving her a lot of nutrical because I don't want her to go into a hypoglycemic episode specially since she is not eating. Our vet has given us Fortiflora for her diarrhea and she's been on it since Friday with no improvement. I have some canned pumpkin I will try if it doesn't improve.

I've put a camera to monitor her as much as possible so that she can sleep and I can just watch her without disturbing her. I'm feeding her myself because even if I leave food out she just doesn't touch it. I feed her at 6am and then try to feed her at noon and then once more at 6pm. I have to get her started by force feeding her two finger fulls before she is interested and starts licking it off my hand. I have to be quick or else she stops and I hate to force it in her mouth but I know that if she doesn't eat she can die.

She is almost always tired and I'm not sure if this is normal for a 14 week old puppy. I'm extremely concerned with her health. :dogzzz:

It's sad to say that laws don't protect animals as much as they should from puppy mills. I have confirmed that the place I got her from has had various complaints and are currently under investigation. I'm doing my part by providing the county with my story and documentation showing that they are selling sick puppies. I think that things can change one person at a time. Shops that don't take good care of the puppies and sell sick dogs should be shutdown. Both the pets and the consumer suffer from this. It's tiring, costly and sad when something like this occurs.

I am so sorry to hear that Xena still isn't doing well. I have been following this as I know what it's like to have a baby sick with kennel cough. I was so hoping that Xena would be doing better by now. Does she still have kennel cough or has it gone on to pneumonia as my baby's did? Are they going to place her on a different antibiotic?

I hope that she will start eating more soon so she can start getting some energy. The Fromm's you are feeding her is wet food, isn't it? Does she seem to like it? I was wondering if she wasn't eating it because she didn't like it. My puppies have given me a very difficult time in the 6 months I have had them. I have changed their food quite a number of times because they have decided they didn't like it and wouldn't eat much.

Keeping Xena and you in my thoughts and prayers.

@wigglewomyn thank you so much! Yes, she eats it after I give her two finger fulls but only eats about 2 teaspoons of it (sometimes I just have to force feed her the entire thing). I've been measuring it to have a better idea of how much she is eating a day.

I think the kennel cough and giardia combined are draining her. She sleeps all day and thankfully she didn't get pneumonia which was the scare at first. She is still congested and the vet wants to keep her on Orbax for another week.

I had her on Royal Canin wet food and then changed it to Fromms chicken and duck wet because I felt it would be better for her and she seems to like it. I was debating weather to give her the plain chicken or the chicken and duck but went with the chicken and duck. I don't plan on changing the food for a while because of her bad diarrhea and I just want her to eat and she seems to eat a little more with this. She eats kibble only once in a while and seems way to picky with that for me to try to explore at this point in time. The most important thing is to get her to eat and well Fromm is working ok for now :(


How long did your dog have kennel cough for? How many rounds of antibiotics did it take? What did you give her? How are your dogs doing? Have you found food that they like? YESSS Gosh it\'s stressful! I\'ll keep you and your fur babies in my thoughts and prayers as well!

Come on baby you can do this!! Please keep us updated on her. Sending prayers her way.