Tragedy regarding our Two Litters!
 

We have had a horrible last week regarding our adorable and fun loving puppies. Our babies have finally been diagnosed with coccidea!! We have had two puppies die because of this very common thing. I want to tell everyone about it to bring attention on how fast a puppy can die. I will explain...
This all started on Wed. of this last week. Our smallest puppy was very sad and did not run up to us when we entered the room. She wouldn't eat and was just all around very depressed. I got her an appt. into the vet that day and my husband took her in. They checked her out and said that it was only because of the weaning process and with her small size she was not taking it as well as the others. Just that we needed to start force feeding her every three to four hours. They DID NOT do a stool check!!!!!!!!! Now if it had been me that had taken her in that would've been done although I am NO way blaming my husband - the vet should've done this!
The next day another puppy started to do bad. We took her to the ER vet at 1am and was there until 4 am. Nothing wrong...they did do a stool sample and everything came back fine and nothing showing up. We were like ???????????What is going on!!?? We started to also force feed this puppy...Friday we force fed all day and saw a little improvement. We woke up on Saturday to find my little Gizmo Jr down and unable to stand. I called the vet and said that something is VERY wrong here and I HAD to come in that day. (Please keep in mind that stools are still normal appearing at this time) There is NO reason why these pups are doing so bad. We started force feeding everyone as the vet couldn't get us until 1pm and this was at 8am. By the of our appt. that same day the stools went bad...very bad. We took them in. With the physical exam of Gizmo Jr he stated that he was going to die from lack of energy not lack of food. We learned at that time how tube feed!! Not a fun thing at all. We had to also give Ivs. We were at the vet for another four hours that day before they sent us home - this time finally finding coccidea in the stool.
That night Gizmo Jr crossed over the bridge in my husband's hands and male #1 from Paris crossed over in my hands. A HORRIFIC thing to go through! I am very upset with the vet as if this was caught on Wednesday all of our babies would be with us right now! So all in all I want to say that if you really think something is wrong ..stand up for it!! We went to two different vets and neither found this the first time so I think we did all we could and perhaps this was just something that was meant to be, but still it was at the cost of two puppies lives!! Horrible..just horrible!
As of now all puppies are doing pretty well. The small female that was sick at first has done an AMAZING job of fighting this and although still sad at this point is ok (although food is forced through a syringe. Lancelot (Krystal's future boy) and Cleo have runny pooh, but are eating on their own and are brats. LOL Our big girl and Emma are eating on their own too although a little down in the dumps ALTHOUGH they are both giving kisses and want petted. We have been told that since they have made it through the 48 hours since the meds started they will all be fine! SO that is good news!! I thought I would share...............ALSO I want to thank a lot of breeders that have helped us along the way with both listening to my tears and keeping me going through this horrific time and not to give up.

i'm sooo sorry you lost two of your precious babies. they must have had really bad coccidiea. Sometimes the eggs cannot be found in a particular fecal sample that you bring in or that was taken and they won't be diagnosed until the next one. its very hard to lose a pup over something that could be treated. maybe since they didn't find the coccidia the first time, they also didn't pick up on another parasite as well. have your remaining pups been tested for giardia as well? it makes me worry that you lost babies to just coccidia. again i'm so sorry you lost them.

Oh, that is terrible, how frightening. I pray that the rest of your babies recover. :aimeeyork hugs.

Let me start by saying that I am sooooo sorry for your loss...That is very, very sad...You did everything that you could....Thank you so much for posting this, as I believe that many people don't know the grave dangers of coccidia.

Many times, the fecal tests come back negatively when they have coccidia, and that is so sad because noone knows what's wrong with the pups...

My yorkie had coccidia (along with several other problems) when we first got him, and it was a horrific experience, and several vets told us that he wouldn't make it, but thank goodness, we were able to nurse him back to health. He was on albon for quite awhile because the coccidia wasn't going away, and he was having terrible hypoglycemic attacks due to the coccidia stripping his intestines of everything...And we had to force feed all the time because he was refusing any food. He wouldn't drink water, so we had to entice him with a little honey in the water.

I am so sorry that you're going through this, and I pray that all of your babies are just fine!!!

Wendy - it is so terrible that you've had to go through this for something that is treatable!! I'm glad to hear the other pups are continuing to do well.

OM, I'm terribly sorry for the loss of your pups. What a tragedy. I will be praying for the quick return to health of all your remaining pups!

OM, I'm terribly sorry for the loss of your pups. What a tragedy. I will be praying for the quick return to health of all your remaining pups!

:( Oh my... I am sorry about your babies death... How scary!!!!!!!!!
I am glad the rest is doing better....

Oh, I am so sorry. I know how horrible coccidia can be. My puppy had it and it was hellish!
How is it the babies contracted it? Do any of your adult dogs have it? Just wondering how that happened?

I am so sorry for your loss!

It was heartbreaking just to read your post..:cry8: I can't imagine going through what you did....How is the Mom's doing... Keep us posted....I am truly sorry for your loss....:sad:......

I read your post with tears..... I am so very sorry for your loss. I don't think anyone can really truly understand the multitude of this type of loss until they have lived with a pregnant mom and spent the sleeplessl nights waiting and watching only to fall inlove at first sight. Sending hugs :ghug:

What a tradegy. :( I'm so sorry you are having to go through all of this.

Thank you all for your nice thoughts - it brought tears to my eyes again. The vet has started our adults on their meds just today. They are all put on Albon as they want to make sure everyone is ok - only two are showing signs. As of Sat he told me to forget the adults (he said that they won't die) and put all of our attention on the puppies only. That is soooo much easier said than done! Our dogs are our babies - there isn't a way for me to forget them!! So I called today and got the meds - he said that we are doing great (even though we lost the two) and he wished us luck. He thinks they will be all good very soon. This last feeding we had FOUR out of five pups running around! YEAH!

I am so very sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine all that you had to go through, it must have been devastating :( My thoughts are with you...

I\'m so sorry for your loss and sending healthy, healing thoughts and prayers your way.