Please let me know. I have been following this thread holding my breath.

I am waiting on pins and needles to find out what is wrong with your baby.

Get well Sam, we all will be thinking about you!

Im sorry ive been looking for this post all morning and i couldnt find it. Chewy had his tracheal wash done by a regular vet which wasnt our normal vet but our breeder had suggested her vet because when he came down with the cough and they wanted to do xrays she said her vet was alot cheaper because she was footing that part of the bill at that time.I really hope that Sam is ok. I cannot tell you what heartache we had to go through and are still pursing our claim to get ALL our money back. How old is your puppy? I have talked with many vets and most vets do not perform this procedure unless absolutely critical and certainly not on a small puppy. Chewy had no other signs except his cough and this was their first option to diagnose what he had. Please let us know how he is doing. I have been thinking about him all weekend!

Kendraleigh,
I guess I have a dumb question about Sam's symptoms. How do they know he has pneumonia or anything going on with his lungs if he isn't showing the signs of pneumonia? Our biggest assumption about what happened to Chewy was that he had bacteria in his throat (that was causing the Kennel Cough) and when they passed the tube through his throat it caused the bacteria to get into his lungs and begin the process of pneumonia.

In your second post you say that

"He could have bacteria in his esophagus that is pushed down every time he eats or drinks into his lungs"

If that could be true and there really isn't any signs of bacteria in the lungs wouldn't it not be smart to put a tube through that area into the dogs throat?

This statement is our biggest question about what happened to Chewy...

I know everyone here is keeping their fingers crossed that Sam will pull through with flying colors, everyone just needs to keep their positive thoughts flowing.

Thank you everyone! Sam is home!!! The trachea wash went fine and he is acting like nothing ever happened. They got some mucous out to do the culture that will reveal what is going on in 5-7 days. The doctor did say there seems to be a collapsed lobe in his left lung. She doesn't want to say this is the case until the culture comes back. Blykmyk44, Sam is 4 1/2 months and weighs a whopping 5lbs which was to his advantage here. The question of bacteria in the esophagus is our last test if the cultures don't reveal anything. I doubt this is the case b/c of the x-rays showing the mucus already in the lungs. It has been there since I got him. He has like 5 sets of x-rays so that's how they know he has pneumonia. Sounds to me like Chewy only had kennel cough which produces bacteria which was probably pushed further down into his lungs causing him to aspirate. The doctor today said a puppy will only pass during the procedure or right after (like an hr). It wouldn't take a day like it did for little Chewy. I told her all about your little pup b/c I was so scared to consent to the procedure and she said it sounds like he already had a type of pneumonia that might not have been curable. Plus he was so small and young. He wasn't on any antibiotics yet right? Sam has been on antibiotics which might have helped with some of the bacteria. According to her there is mucus in his lungs, not fluid, which is why he doesn't cough anything up or have a runny nose. He either has some odd bacteria or the collapsed lobe is trapping in the infection. I am so happy everything went well and now we can finally get a step ahead. For now, he is back on the Clavamox and given a nebulizer with albuterol and gentamicin. Until they figure out what bacteria is causing the infection to prescribe the right antibiotic, he will be on these medications. Thanks for all of your prayers and help. :)

That is SUCH great news - I know you must be on Cloud 9 having him home with you - Very good and I hope he gets better fast and is back to his normal puppy self really soon !

Glad to hear the news.

Great news!!! Home in mommy's arms!!!
 

I'm also from Jersey, and would be curious about the Allentown vet.

Is it a Yorkie or a lung specialists?

Guccimygirl - Sounds like my vet? Could you be talking about RBVH?? :confused:

Sherry Lynn why would you be curious? They are have specialists for all dogs in all categories, heart, lung, etc. I am very happy with their services and am just wondering why are questioning them? No hard feelings, I just like to hear everyone's opinion. Thanks!

Kendra --

So glad to hear Sam is home now!! These lil babies sometimes give you a scare!!

Please give him lots of hugs and kisses from Sammi and I

Chloe sends her love
Joy, Nikki :animal36 and Chloe rose :rose:

Kendra I am sooo happy everything went well, now lets hope for a speedy recovery :)))


Sherry Linn yes I take Gucci to RBVH.. its a great hospital


Gina

I wasn't questioning them...
 

Just want to know who/where the good vets are heaven forbid I ever need them.

My in-laws are in Flemington right at the PA border. (My father-in-law has stage 3 cancer so we've been spending a lot of time out that way and probably more so in the months ahead.) Just thought it would be good to know of a good vet in that area. Especially since there isn't much in Flemington besides the shopping.

No offense intended. They just sounded like good doctors...

Gina, We LOVE :love: RBVH and especially their new facility! I've lived here over 10 years, and that's where we've always gone. Everyone I know goes there...

So glad that Sam made it out and is doing better, we are both very happy for you. Hopefully the tracheal wash helps you fix what is really wrong. Still have lots of questions/comments, concerning Chewy =):

You said:

The doctor today said a puppy will only pass during the procedure or right after (like an hr). It wouldn't take a day like it did for little Chewy.

Are you saying that the vet said that if Sam didn't it make it, it would have been right away? Basically what happened to Chewy was that he had a cough and then he woke up and his lungs were 75% full of fluid (Xrays a couple days earlier said that there was minimal fluid in tge lungs) and he couldn't breathe without being in an oxygen tank.

Also, Chewy was on Amoxi-Drop before the procedure and although he was only 12 weeks he was 4lbs so he was a pretty big guy too. The thing that I have noticed is that almost every time a puppy had Kennel Cough they were perscribed Clavamox at one point in time. This was also suggested by the Xray technician after viewing his Xray (which the vets were supposed to take into account before doing the procedure).

I will admit the fact that your puppy made it through the procedure a'ok (yeah!!!!) and was showing many of the same signs as Chewy makes me believe our case against the vet is not as strong. However, it still doesn't make sense that he would turn so bad so quickly (2 days...whereas your puppy has been getting treatments for 2 months) if something had not gone wrong.

We will continue to think good thoughts about Sam and we know he will pull through it. Hopefully you can sleep a little easier tonight.

We just gave Sam his first nebulizer treatment and he did so well! He just lays in our arms and puts the mask on. So sad that he has to do this, but he's adorable. Sherry Lynn I didn't think you meant it in a bad way, it's hard to tell by just reading...lol. They are called Valley Central Vets in Whitehall, PA and they are excellent. They offer 24 hr emergency service from Friday-Monday morning. Then Monday's they switch staff over to specialists. The doctors are very thorough and whenever you call for information on your pet if they're staying over they will talk to you and reassure you for as long as you want. I would definitely recommend them to you if you will be in that area. Hopefully you won't need them, but with these little guys you never know! Blykmyk44, yes our doctor said that if he wasn't going to make it, it would be right away. I don't really know what happened to poor Chewy. It does sound like him and Sam had the same thing, but we're not really sure since we won't get the culture back until the end of the week. Maybe Sam doesn't have the same kind of pneumonia Chewy had. Sam might have bacterical pneumonia and Chewy may have had aspiration pneumonia. I know it's different in different dogs so in one dog it might progress faster and might be harder to beat. I didn't know Chewy was on antibiotics or that they did x-rays. Sorry for my mistake! :)

"Chewy had his tracheal wash done by a regular vet which wasnt our normal vet but our breeder had suggested her vet because when he came down with the cough and they wanted to do xrays she said her vet was alot cheaper because she was footing that part of the bill at that time."

That part of what you said would make me worried. Sometimes the breeder's vet isn't always good even if it is cheaper. I mean of course she would want you to go to a cheaper vet since she was helping. I don't want to jump to conclusions and I don't want to offend you if you know this breeder personally, but it sounds to me that the vets rushed and didn't have enough evidence to do something as drastic as a trachea wash. Yes, Sam was lucky and did make it through, but he also had 2 months of problems with no answers and it was done by specialists who consider this a routine procedure. I would not think that your case should be weakened from my experience. If I were you I would continue with the fight to get all of your money back b/c you didn't deserve to have a precious puppy pass that way. I am so sorry for what you had to go through and are probably still going through. I'm glad you found comfort in little Pudgy though...he's adorable!

Also, before I forget, these vets tend to label kennel cough pretty quickly to new puppies. I don't believe Sam has/had kennel cough. He has some kind of bacteria that is resisting every medication. Doesn't sound like Chewy did either. The pneumonia causes coughing which is good b/c you want them to get the mucus up except Sam doesn't produce any mucus. That is another question of ours as well that will hopefully be answered soon!

Couldn't agree with you more on this point:

I don't want to jump to conclusions and I don't want to offend you if you know this breeder personally, but it sounds to me that the vets rushed and didn't have enough evidence to do something as drastic as a trachea wash. Yes, Sam was lucky and did make it through, but he also had 2 months of problems with no answers and it was done by specialists who consider this a routine procedure.

If they had gone down many of the normal roads (such as Clavamox) and then finally felt that they needed this risky procdure I would have been OK with it. It was the fact that they acted like all dogs get this when they have a cough which is the problem. Im glad Sam is doing OK and don't worry we will continue to fight until we get an answer.

Thanks for the replies

I'm so sorry your baby is sick. I will keep you both in my prayers! Good luck and I hope he feels better soon!!!

Sherry Linn.. I think they are the best , I know people and have spoken to many who come from NYC and all over to use them. I am in Monmouth Cty. for the past 5 yrs.. Sherry we should start a outing by us with our babies...lol


Glad everything went well once again Kendra.....

Gina

Sam seems to be doing great. He slept well throughout the night and has been eating REALLy well! We did his nebulizer treatment again this morning and he gets so hyper after the albuterol, but he hates the gentamicin. I am taking pictures of him later today and will try to post him so everyone can see the little guy. Now I am impatiently waiting to hear back from the doctor about the cultures...ugh!...lol :p

Poor little Sam! Codie and Katie send him lots of love and kisses!

Glad the young man is doing better. Let us know more as you find out.

im so happy for you! glad that he is doing well :)

Bump!!
 

How's little Sam the man today? Are the nebulizers helping? Keep us posted.

Sam is doing wonderful! He's running around like a nut and playing w/ our cat Rocky. Eating really well too...he waits in the kitchen when my mom cooks to see if she'll drop any food (which she won't or I will yell at her!). The nebulizer seems to be helping. He coughed a bit today which is good though b/c we want him to start bringing up the mucus. Other than that he needs to be brushed since he went without that for 4 days in the hospital! He looks like a little rag doll! :p Thanks everyone for caring and for all of your concerns! I will keep you updated.

GO SAM!!! Hope he makes a full recovery very soon!!!!! GO SAM!

Hi everyone! Sam had another great day today! I took some pics of him doing his nebulizer treatment and another one of his new shirt I got him today! Just click on the link for the photo gallery. :p

Just saw the pictures, lol, the new shirt is cute! Bless his heart, he looks like he's being really good about his treatments! You're a good mommy. :)