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.

I am so sorry for your lost. Prayers being sent your way.

Starlene mom to Taffy :aimeeyork & baby:animal36

Sending healing thoughts for your wee family.

I am so very very sorry for the loss of your babies. everyone one is in my prayers tonight.

I am so sorry for your losses
 

I am so sorry that is just awful news

that's so so sad. I've seen someone right on this site (long time ago) say Coccidia is 'common' and not life threatening and this tells me how dangerous it really is :( :( :(

My Chanel had it when she came to us also and I\'ll never forget how sick she was and how close we came to losing her too......I\'m so glad you saved the rest of the puppies but you\'re right - you shouldn\'t have lost any babies. May their little tiny souls rest in peace and I\'m very sorry.

ps...tell your husband for me I\'m very sorry will you please ?? sounds like he was right there throughout that whole sad ordeal :(

sorry for the loss of 2 of your babies...and glad to hear the rest are doing fine...

I am sooooooo sorry.... Sophie went through this starting the day after I brought her home and it is heart renching. In my case however, my little Sophie pulled through and it breaks my heart to hear that your 2 babies couldn\'t. Take care and again... I am sorry for your loss

problem
 

You may want to do a routine course of Albon with each litter in the future...many breeders do this no matter what the stool check shows. Be careful of bird droppings..I had a problem one summer until I talked to Sandy Lemire..she used to breed exotic chickens and her dogs had lots of coccidia..got rid of the birds and the coccidia stopped..I found some of my puppies licking bird droppings from the concrete play yard that was by a large oak tree...made a new one without tress and the problem stopped.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your puppies...

I am so sorry for the loss of your two babies.
You and your husband certainly did your best to
help them. It is so sad these things have to happen.
Thank heavens the others are doing well and I pray
they remain that way and get loving homes.

That is so sad. There are always IF\'s aren\'t there? I know they couldn\'t be in any better hands than yours. Bless you!

I\'m so sorry for your loss of your puppies. I\'m going through the same thing with my 14 week old puppy. When I got him he had coccidia. We treated him and all of his symptoms came back but the fecal test was negative. So the vet put him on Flagyl for bacteria. Once he was done with the Flagyl his symptoms came back. His poop has been negative everytime. We are now going to start giving him Albon today. I know how you feel, it is so frustrating.

I\'m terribly sad for your loss. It\'s so difficult to go through something like this when things are out of your hands. Despite our best efforts, we\'re pretty helpless and at the mercy of someone else\'s "hunch", education and expertise.

Years ago, I nursed nearly an entire litter of kittens from my mother\'s cat as they one by one died. I was devastated and had nightmares about kittens for years.

God knows you nurtured, cared and loved these little ones and one day your love and devotion will be returned by them. God bless.

I\'m so sorry for your loss. I do hope the remaining pups recovery quickly with no residual effects. The vets should have done a fecal test right away, you will be able to help others with this story. Its just unfortunate that it was at the cost of puppies.