Prayers needed for Xena
 

Hello all -

My poor baby Xena is not doing too well. She's been through so much in her short time here on earth. A few days after we got her she was hospitalized due to a bad upper respiratory infection. Doctors could not assure us that she would make it through but she did. She is a walking miracle. At only 10 weeks she survived what doctors thought would kill her. Her cough never went away 100% but she was doing so much better. She was eating and even licking her plate clean. She was playful and a zoomie. She's a loving dog who with one look at you tells you that she is going through hell but is not giving up. I never thought I'd see her this sick so soon. It's very heartbreaking to have to go through this. If it's so hard for us I can't imagine how it is for her.

Here we are today at 4 months of age struggling to pull her through. She has pneumonia. We are feeding her and giving her water all through a syringe. She's on Orbax and will be on it for a month or more. Doctors also want to put her on Doxycycline and I don't know what to do. Has anyone had a dog with pneumonia that has pulled through and would recommend being on two antibiotics at the same time?

Please pray for my little girl.

Aw, your poor little girl :(! Stay on top of it, and she will pull through this. And if the vet recommends 2 anti's at once, I'd do it. She will be in my thoughts!

Awww....poor sweet Xena. She really has been through a lot. Does your vet find it odd/unusual for her to have two serious respiratory infections within a few months and at such a young age? (I don't know if it is odd/unusual or not - it just caught my eye and I wondered.)


At any rate, years ago my Scooby had pneumonia. He was about nine months old when he was diagnosed and he was very ill with a white blood cell count at over 38,000. Yes, he did pull through but it took months of antibiotics and intensive nursing care. He was first on IV antibiotics - I would drop him off at the vet office first thing in the morning and they would hook him up to antibiotics and fluids. He'd spend the day, and then I'd pick him up and bring him home at closing time. We did that for about a week, then he was weaned onto oral antibiotics. Baytril and Doxycycline for 30 days and then Antirobe (clindamycin) and Doxycycline for 30 more days.


Doxycycline is a tough antibiotic on the liver, so ask your vet about adding something like milk thistle or denamarin to protect the liver if you decide to go with the Doxy. It can also be tough on the digestive system and might mess with her appetite. You might want to try giving her a probiotic. Doxy will kill off all the bacteria in the gut, and a probiotic will keep some of the good bacteria going.


Our little guy coughed and wheezed and wheezed and coughed and ran high fevers for several weeks. We didn't think he'd make it either. He was at zero on the energy scale and could barely get himself up to go potty. Slowly but surely he finally started turning around, and the second month of treatment was much easier. The coughing, wheezing and fevers were mostly gone, but he was more tired and slept a lot. Eventually his energy level came back and his wbc's dropped to normal range. It was a tough couple of months, but he made it through.


We found out later that his pneumonia was a secondary complication to Coccidiomycosis (Valley Fever), a fungal infection in his lungs. He might not have been so ill without the fungal infection.


I wish you the best of luck and am sending prayers for your sweet Xena. Keep doing what you're doing and don't get discouraged.


Diana

Thank you Wylie's Mom. I will be discussing options with the vet today. If she wants to add the doxy then we will start it today. I currently have a humidifier running all day and I will speak to her about using a nebulizer. I pray that she is strong enough to pull through :(

Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your story. I think that her sickness came from the very beginning. I bought her from a pet store (which is currently under investigation). I'd say that Xena was lucky to survive the first one because my friend bought a puppy a week or two prior to me buying Xena from there and hers died. I've talked to at least 3 other people who had similar experiences with this store. I'm sad to see that places like these still exist. I hope that this will be nothing but a memory soon.

Bubba had kennel cough, which we first noticed as we drove home from the pet store where we purchased him (yes, I know but believe me I have since been educated by this great group). We took him to the vet the same day and were advised to take him back. We opted to keep him and treat him. The ABX were not working and pneumonia developed. The pet store offered to take him back but we were attached and afraid of what they would do with him. It took weeks of multiple ABX, many tears and finally he began to improve. AND by the way he was 10 years old in Jan. sending prayers and good thoughts for your little
Zena. Please keep us posted!

I'll be praying for your baby. It's so hard when they are sick and we can't help.

Thank you, I called the store when she was hospitalized (6 days after purchasing her)... They said that it was normal for dogs to catch that due to stress but the fact is that a lot of dogs coming from there were sick. I'm glad that your dog pulled through. Thank you for giving us a little hope during this difficult time. Dogs can only depend on us for survival and we plan on doing everything we can so that she lives. Thank you for your good thoughts and prayers. :animal-pa

Thank you so much. It's very difficult. Can't hold my tears back and I'm watching her on the camera the entire day. I hope that she has a miracle. Thank you for your prayers.

My little Xena is gone

:littleang

Omg, I'm so sorry.

I am very sorry for your heartbreaking loss. She is gone far too soon, but she knew your love. Rest in peace little Xena.

I am so sorry for your loss.

I am so sorry for your loss of such a precious baby. Know you did all you could and even tho her life was short she got to know what love was ♥♥♥♥♥♥

:animal-paAbsolutely she knew what real LOVE was. I'm so so very sorry for your loss!!!

I hope you and your friend band together to put this horrible place out of business and save other pups from this type of store.

(((((Hugs)))) Buddybear and Jennifer

Oh, I am so sorry. My heart is breaking for you and her. RIP Xena


Diana

OMG I was not expecting to read your baby did not make it, my heart is bleeding for you, no words can express how very sorry I am for the loss of your sweet little girl. Praying for you to stay strong through this painful time (((HUGS)))

I am so very sorry for your loss. You have experienced such a roller coaster of emotions throughout Xena's illness, and my heart breaks for you. You will forever be touched by your little angel.

I'm just so sorry for you both. She fought like hell and honored her name. The universe is just so @##%ing cruel sometimes to make these little ones fight so hard and then take them anyway. My heart goes out to you. I hope that someone makes the bastards who allowed her to get sick and then sold her anyway pay.

I hope so too. But her death will not be in vain. I will continue to play my part in what will hopefully change legislation so that places like these stop doing what they are doing or close down! It was very painful as some of you will know. I don't think I'll ever forget how she died :'(

It was scary for me but she died in my arms crying and she never cried not even when she was facing death the first time. She was the dog I dreamed of having my entire life. She was the perfect dog for me. I never thought I'd go through this. She was a sweet loving dog. she will never be forgotten. I wish there was more I could have done :(

Thank you all for your kind words.

I am so sorry for your loss. I can feel your pain through your words and my heart breaks for you.

Keeping you in my thoughts.

So sorry for the loss of Xena. You are in my thoughts and prayers. And know, you were the BEST mom to Xena.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for everything.

There was nothing else you could have done. I have cried my eyes out over her loss. She was a fighter and deserved to live.
If there is anything that can be done in your fight for her memory just say so.

I am so very sorry you lost your sweet baby Xena. She did not deserve to suffer like that. At least she got to know what love felt like in her short life. Your story broke my heart. You should not have had to go through that either. Hugs.

I am so sorry for the loss of precious Xena. My heart aches for you, and there are no words to make this any better. Just simply so sad. Hugs to you.

Thank you everyone, it has been difficult. She has taken a piece of my heart with her. It was wonderful coming home to her. It's nice having a YT family.

Thank you again for your kind and sincere words.

Please stay here if you are able to. We care about you and want to be here to support you. I fount YT after my sixteen year old little girl, Ashley, was diagnosed with irritable bowel. I lost her nine months later, yet I still came here most days for almost two years without a dog in my life. My two dear friends I met on YT found Katie for me, and when I was unable to travel to get her, one went and got her and brought her to me. That was three years ago, and I completely adore her. I will always love and miss my other babies before Katie, and we talk about them a great deal with such joy. The pain is still there, but the more powerful feeling in our hearts is overwhelming love.

Xena's death hit me hard. I know the terrible pain you are feeling, especially after caring for her the way you did. You saw such improvement, and then to lose her after that is devastating. I experienced that with one of my Yorkies. Her illness with congestive heart failure brought me to an even closer bond with her, if that was even possible. We pulled her through and went on daily hourly round trips to the vet with just her for fluids, a quick checkup, and a vitamin B-12 shot (my vet charged me only $19 a day for that) for a month. Kiwi got much better, and we were so incredibly happy. She was weak, though, and we lost her from an eye infection. To say my husband and I were heartbroken is a huge understatement. Kiwi was close to ten years old, and then her baby sister, my tiny little girl with severe collapsed trachea all her life, passed away four months later. My husband believes Gracie died from a broken heart because she idolized Kiwi. She was only 9.5 years, but my vet told me after the fact that he never expected her to live beyond five. Losing our two babies so close together was devastating to us. We always said if we lost Gracie we would get another puppy, so they'd always have a sister, but we were so heartbroken that we weren't able to consider a puppy at the time. So Ashley remained our little princess for all of those years by herself, and we poured all of our love into her. I fell in love with her from our first night together, so I know how devastating your loss is, especially since you had so many hopes and dreams with her.

When you feel ready, please consider another baby. You are so caring and loving, and you're a great mom. No Yorkie can replace another one; I say that with experience. My last three were within a year of each other, came from the same breeder, and had the same beautiful sire. There were similarities in looks, but each of them had a different personality, all of which I completely adored. When I lost my first Yorkie, Jolie, I never thought I'd love another one as much as her. But then I soon found out that I was wrong, and Ashley stole my heart really from the first time I held her soon after I lost Jolie. We had to wait several weeks before she could leave her breeder, and that gave us time to grieve for Jolie. Waiting almost two years for Katie was far too long. We were so lonely and sad, and we really didn't know how to live without a dog.

If there is anything I can do to help you, all you need to do is ask.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write me such a nice message and for sharing your personal experiences with me. After having her I will agree that it feels hard to live without a dog. Sometimes the unexpected happens and as dog owners we always want to do the best we can and sometimes our best doesn't seem enough (at least to us) and we always want to do more for our four legged babies.

I hope to buy another dog soon because the house is empty, my heart misses her and I just need another dog (my husband feels the same). This weekend was our first weekend without her and time just seemed to go by soooo slow. We talked about "what would Xena be doing right now.." She was part of our daily/weekend and we did everything with her and spent so much time with her that it was very difficult. My mom was heart broken with the news also... We all cried as we said goodbye...She touched many hearts during her short time on earth.