I am writing this question with the opinions of four different vets, and seven very sick puppies with a mystery illness.

I have seven puppies and a mama dog that came from a shelter in West Virginia. The puppies are estimated to be about five or six weeks old. When we got the puppies, they all had diarrhea, including mom. They were transported in a car with six kittens who developed upper respiratory and another puppy who has not gotten sick.

When we initially took the puppies to the first vet, he said they must have upper respiratory and gave us Amoxi to treat them with. When I went to check at the puppies at the foster’s house on Saturday, one of them was very lethargic and refusing to eat. I rushed him to the emergency vet where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and I was told to begin treatment using Doxycycline.

I took him home with me so he could have constant attention and have fed him formula, puppy food, and pedialyte every two or three hours. At first he perked up, but then began to go downhill again. At the same time, mom dog was rushed to a different emergency vet because she could not breathe- and diagnosed with kennel cough.

When my puppy began to go downhill again, I put him on nutri-cal puppy as well, and brought him to my usual vet. They suspected kennel cough in the whole litter and pneumonia in four of the puppies. Another puppy also began to go downhill (fever, vomiting, lethargic, wouldn’t eat, etc) so I brought her home with the first puppy. She perked up the next day so I brought her back to her litter- the first puppy was still very lethargic.

We weighed puppies and took temperatures regularly- more began coming down with fevers, while the puppy in my home was running a normal temperature, but was still very lethargic.

Now we come to today. I brought my puppy to the vet this morning- where they gave him fluid for a third time, took a fecal sample (bloody stool), and ran all sorts of tests, one of which was a parvo test. We have not gotten the results back for that yet, but we did get the results for the other tests- his liver and kidneys are beginning to fail and his red blood cell count is extremely low. He also has pain in his abdomen.

The really confusing part began a few minutes ago. This puppy has been lethargic with diarrhea for days. I have force fed him pedialyte, nutri-cal, and puppy formula (yes, they should be off that by now). Now, he is barking, jumping around, wagging his tail, and licking me (he has not licked me since he got to my house!).

All of the puppies are going back and forth. Some will be lethargic, then bounce back up. Then others are lethargic and later bounce back up. Some have crusty discharge from their noses, some are coughing. Some have a fever.

Does this sound like Parvo? Could this be something else? We are taking all Parvo precautions now- but might they not be necessary?
I should also add that my vet has given me the fluid and needle to administer the fluid with- because the puppies need to be hydrated if they do indeed have Parvo. Should we still be doing this even if we don’t know what they have?
Thank you for reminding me about the time frame, LeeAnn- it has been about a week.
I guess there will always be one person who doesn’t actually read the question and just touts a vet visit.

on friday a friend of mine is going to bring me a 6 month old dachshund who is very ill. he has a horrible cough that he’s had for at least a week so i’m assuming that its kennel cough. i’ve never had a dog with kennel cough and i’ve made him a vet appointment for the moment he arrives here. but i have two other dog and i need to know if this dog poses a threat to their health. also i’d like to know what treatment is involved and how long it takes. thanks
also i was told that there is something wrong with his hips and my friend said she tought it may be hip dysplasia but i’ve never heard of it in a dog that young. is it more likely from being confined in a small space or could it be hip dysplasia?

It’s a super long story but I’ll try to make it as short as possible. I’ve been working at a Veterinary hospital for 5 years. We take in stray animals. Here lately the stray population is out of control. I am in charge of the kennel. My job is to make sure that the animals are clean and fed and also to make sure that the kennels and cages are kept clean. Right now we have about 27 strays. We also have sick animals there for treatment and we do surgeries everyday. So I usually have about 35 to 40 animals that I take care of daily. I am a perfectionist. I always give work 150%. I do the best I can to keep up with everything but it is impossible. The other girl that works on the days that I’m off doesn’t do things like I do. Alot of times I’ll go to put an animal in a cage and have to pull it back out because the cage will have dried poop, snot, or whatever in it. If I wouldn’t put my own dog in it then I sure wouldn’t put someone elses dog in it for fear that the animal might catch something from the animal that was in it before. The Doctors are aware of the problem but no one does anything. So I asked them if we could have a 15 stray animal limit. Now everyone thinks that I hate animals and that I would rather they all just die then have to take care of them. It really hurts my feelings and obviously isn’t true. I work with evil women. Anyway, I told them that if we are going to have so many animals then I won’t have alot of time to make sure that everything stays clean and safe for the clients that trust us to take care of their pets. In the past year there have been several animals that have been healthy who have come to us to get spayed or something routine and when they leave they are sick, either coughing or sneezing or have something even worse. I think thats terrible. Right now every one of our 19 stray dogs have kennel cough and upper respiratory infection except for 2. Hello, thats is a serious problem. The hospital is filthy and I’m killing myself everyday to try and clean as much as I can. I’m thinking about leaving and I don’t know what to do. I love my job but it has gotten out of control. I need some advise. By the way it is mostly the Technicians who bring in all of the strays and then they refuse to help with them. They sit around and eat and talk on their cellphones and read magazines while I’m back there killing myself. What do you think I should do? Should I leave after putting in so much hard work for the last 5 years or should I try to stick it out and maybe try to talk to them again? This is a big life decision and I’m scared to death. This was suppose to be my last job.
Wow. I am very pleased with all of the first three answers. I geuss I was prepared for the worst comments like "suck it up or you’ll have that anywhere you go". What is even worse for me is the fact that I love my boss/owner. I know his heart is in the right place because when he sees a sick stray he can’t say no. He also pays for all of their food and medications and barely has enough money to stay open. If it wasn’t for that I would have probably left along time ago.

To all and any of you who have thought about breeding your dog for money… Please read this and tell me your thoughts now… I am in tears… This is taken from an american website called "For The Sake Of Dogs"…

Letter to Breeders

I found this letter on Craigslist, written by an anonymous shelter manager.

A Letter from a Shelter Manager

I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know.

That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn’t allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don’t have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She’s tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she’ll get adopted, she’s a good dog".

Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.

Those dogs just don’t get adopted. It doesn’t matter how ’sweet’ or ‘well behaved’ they are.

If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a 0 treatment.

Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk. I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don’t just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and it probably won’t even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head I deal with eve
CASH:
No, I live in Australia… I was just looking at American websites doing research for my Animal Rights website and stumbled across it.
LILY:
I think it does matter where your dog comes from… Just look at it this way- Every dog purchased from a pet store means that a shelter animal dies. It ALSO means that another litter of pups in a puppy mill will be born to meet consumer demand! The LESS we buy animals from pet stores the LESS demand there are for them and the LESS breeding in puppy mills takes place. The crooks go out of business and the poor breeder dogs no longer have to live in cages where they can barely stand up and are covered in feces.
Google "puppy mill" or look it up on youtube. You will be disgusted and heartbroken!

THIS IS A LETTER WRITTEN BY A SHELTER MANAGER…VERY SAD!

A Letter from a Shelter Manager:

I think our society needs a huge " Wake-up" call.

As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all. ..a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/ sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day.

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you
would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even
know. That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when
it’s not a cute little puppy anymore.

So how would you feel if you knew that there ’s about a 90% chance that
dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at?
Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders"
or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are;
"We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).
" Really? Where are you moving too that doesn’t allow pets and why did you
choose that place instead of a petfriendly home?

Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would".
How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?

"We don’t have time for her".
Really? I work a 10- 12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

" She’ s tearing up our yard".
How about making her a part of your family?

They always tell me: "We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a
place for her we know she’ll get adopted, she’ s a good dog."

Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being in
a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new
family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the
shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it
sniffles, it dies.
Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25
other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it
eats and sleeps.

It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that
abandoned it.

If your pet is lucky , I will have enough volunteers in that day to take
him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides
having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out
of its pen with a high-powered hose.

If your dog is big, black or any of the " Bully " breeds (pit bull, rotti
e, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the
front door. Those dogs just don’t get adopted.

It doesn’t matter how ’sweet’ or ‘well behaved’ they are.

If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is
full, it will be destroyed.

If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable
enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long.

Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed
for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this
environment.

If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get
kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed
because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a 0
treatment.

Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed
a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put- down".

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash.

They always look like they think they are going for a walk- happy, wagging
their tails.

Until, hey get to "The Room" , every one of them freak out and put the
brakes on when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can
feel the sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens
with every one of them.

Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending
on the size and how freaked out they are.

Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process.

They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a
lethal dose of the "pink stuff".

Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk.

I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the
resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams.

They all don’t just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp
for air and defecate on themselves .

When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked
like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals
that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage.

What happens next?
Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and
it probably won’t even cross your mind.

It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right? I hope
that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t
get the pictures out of your head

"Hey I have a yorkie named toby and he is 2 years old..I am very stressed and worried bc I love him more than anything. He is my child and I got him from a breeder and got his papers, I got him when he was 9 weeks and since he was in rhode island, they put him on a plane, so I picked him up from the airport and 3 days later I noticed he was coughing, right away I got scared and took him to the er vet, and they diagnosed him with kennel cough and put him on antibiotics..

anyway this past weekend he was coughing really bad on saturday on and off so I panicked and took him to the same er vet..They checked him vials and said his heart was ok lungs ok, took his temperature and weight..Hes 100% yorkie, 8 lbs. They took xray that indicated a collapsed trachea..I lost it when he said that I asked him if it was serious he said it can be..but with treatment he should be okay..It also was inflamed. So they put him on prednasone and an antibiotic for his inflamation..He seems so much better and its only been 2 days, but I did alot of googling and researched it a bit and got upset saw stories of their dogs dying from it and I just got soooooo upset..I started getting chest pains and I have trouble sleeping bc I can’t stop thinking about it. I also got rid of his collar and bought a harness..hes going back to the vet in 2 weeks for a recheck and I want to know your opinion? it also says many dogs with collapsed tracheas get heart disease? is that only if its not treated? Also do you think they checked his heart for heart disease? Do u think they had a good idea when they checked him? bc after seeing that they can have heart disease I panicked is that only if its untreated as they get older? I also saw a site that has honey cough syrup and other stuff to help and heal his throat, and other natural stuf that I can give him wanted your opinion on it, but I will also ask the vet before I order any…So its normal that hell always have the cough right? You don’t think it will get worse as long as hes taking something right? I read that it can get so severe and it scared me I’m panicking here!! He is my life and I will do anything for him..He always loves to play and run but he needs to relax and take it easy from now on.

Heres the website..

http://www.pawhealer.com/71/Coughing-Collapsed_Trachea.aspx

I was wondering if I can also put him in a daily medicine to help? I was also wondering if you know if the bloodline and stuff with breeding was good or whatever they say when u get ur dog from a breeder? Do you think he will be okay? He is also not neutured..What should I do about that? Please get back to me asap I love animals!! If I wasn’t so emotional sensitive about animals I would be a vetinarian..Animals are like our family..I appreciate any responses, anything that will help.Thanks and hope to hear from you soon!

"Hey I have a yorkie named toby and he is 2 years old..I am very stressed and worried bc I love him more than anything. He is my child and I got him from a breeder and got his papers, I got him when he was 9 weeks and since he was in rhode island, they put him on a plane, so I picked him up from the airport and 3 days later I noticed he was coughing, right away I got scared and took him to the er vet, and they diagnosed him with kennel cough and put him on antibiotics..

anyway this past weekend he was coughing really bad on saturday on and off so I panicked and took him to the same er vet..They checked him vials and said his heart was ok lungs ok, took his temperature and weight..Hes 100% yorkie, 8 lbs. They took xray that indicated a collapsed trachea..I lost it when he said that I asked him if it was serious he said it can be..but with treatment he should be okay..It also was inflamed. So they put him on prednasone and an antibiotic for his inflamation..He seems so much better and its only been 2 days, but I did alot of googling and researched it a bit and got upset saw stories of their dogs dying from it and I just got soooooo upset..I started getting chest pains and I have trouble sleeping bc I can’t stop thinking about it. I also got rid of his collar and bought a harness..hes going back to the vet in 2 weeks for a recheck and I want to know your opinion? it also says many dogs with collapsed tracheas get heart disease? is that only if its not treated? Also do you think they checked his heart for heart disease? Do u think they had a good idea when they checked him? bc after seeing that they can have heart disease I panicked is that only if its untreated as they get older? I also saw a site that has honey cough syrup and other stuff to help and heal his throat, and other natural stuf that I can give him wanted your opinion on it, but I will also ask the vet before I order any…So its normal that hell always have the cough right? You don’t think it will get worse as long as hes taking something right? I read that it can get so severe and it scared me I’m panicking here!! He is my life and I will do anything for him..He always loves to play and run but he needs to relax and take it easy from now on.

Heres the website..

http://www.pawhealer.com/71/Coughing-Collapsed_Trachea.aspx

I was wondering if I can also put him in a daily medicine to help? I was also wondering if you know if the bloodline and stuff with breeding was good or whatever they say when u get ur dog from a breeder? Do you think he will be okay? He is also not neutured..What should I do about that? Please get back to me asap I love animals!! If I wasn’t so emotional sensitive about animals I would be a vetinarian..Animals are like our family..I appreciate any responses, anything that will help.Thanks and hope to hear from you soon!

i posted this question before and a lot of people just yelled at me to take her to the vet….. yes, of course i am taking her to the vet, i just wanted to educate myself a little bit first.

i just adopted my dog from miami animal shelter 2 days ago. They where going to put her to sleep because she’d been there for almost a month. Now she’s with us! and we love her.

when i got her they said she had kennel cough so i’ve been treating her for that for a day and a half but i was a bit skeptical when i noticed her coughs didn’t sound dry and one time she even coughed up a little saliva. she is also soo skinny which we attributed to her being a stray and possibly not eating much in the shelter. But today when i was walking her i saw 2 fat little worms in her poop. I had thought she might have worms before but now i know. Also, they told me she was about 2 years old and she’s had a healthy appetite since she’s been here.

my questions are…. 1) what immediately should i do, other than calling the vet?
2) what is the treatment?
3) is it an easy or difficult parisite to get rid of?
4) i’m assuming i should stop giving her the kennel cough meds right?
5) how long does it take to treat?
6) and lastly… are those tapeworms hurting her?? i know a little bit about parasites being a ecosystem science and biology major but i don’t really know if she’s in pain or how she feels… any dog owners know???

thanks Luna and I appreciate it
what is your problem? i just wanted to know about how to make my dog comfortable maybe by someone who’s had this problem before. You just said tape worms are this round worms are that… i’ve already looked up all the dog parasites and from what i’ve seen and the research i’ve done i’m fairly certain it’s tapeworms. you’re just a bully and a jerk
yes they looked like grains of rice that were moving so i’m sorry if i called them worms prematurely, and 1. is what else to do other than call my vet because i already know to do that and i’m going to as soon as they open

Hi! I am living in China and have had 2 puppys that died of what was called canine distemper. It is hard to know for sure if it really was.. Now I have a new puppy I am trying to save .

The first thing every vet does in China is a litmus paper based CDV test on your animal. An easy way to make 80 yuan and quickly blame every know sickness on Canine distemper.

The health care in China is quite poor for people, and even worse for animals. Just recently there was a picture on the front page of Chin Daily of a man dragging a dog behind a motorcyle at 50kph.

Initially 4 weeks ago my puppy had wha I believe was kennel cough, even though the local vet called it parvo. There was no dihareaa or throwing up… go figure…

So after 1 week of antibiotics the kennel cough cleared up. 1 week after stopping the antibiotics my puppy started to have red eyes, and runny nose and wheezing a bit. I dont know if its related, but above his left shoulder almost overnight there is what appears to be an abscess or swollen gland. I guess there are no lymph glands above his left shoulder, and as far as I know he never recieved any innoculations or shots there.

I started him on Amoxicillin and antibacteria eye drops. I gave him amoxicillin, 125 mg 3 times a day. On day five he seemed worse.

For 5 days the mucous in his eyes worsened, and he had fevers peaking yesterday, with heavy labored breathing with what appeared to be fuid in his lungs and coming from his nose.

With his heave labored breathing it seemed similiar to the puppy I had who died most recently.

His paws are dry, I am not sure the difference between dry and cdv hard. The vet as always insisted on another cdv lithmus test and refused to help basically letting me take it home to die. Im now giving up so easy. I believe the dog is suffering from pneumonia.

Is it a result of cdv I am not sure. I have moved up from childrens centrum to adult centrum. I will start vitamin A treatment tomorrow and attempt to get Rebavirin. I chose to stop the amoxicillin after day six and switched to Cefixime. I know its higher than recommended, but as close as he was to death I decided to give 100mg per 12 hours, he has had 2 doses. Already he looks better… not as feverish. Not as close to death.

His stools were health untill 2 days ago . SInce two days he has had no ball movement. His appetite is down, not eating at all yesterday, but improving as he is eating a little today. I have been giving him gatorade every hour since yesterday.

Yesterday his mouth was very dry, even though his skin was not tenting.

He could not swallow the vitamin,,, today after the gatorade it is much better.

A strange thing I noticed was his left ear developed a strange crease on it self and folded back with what appears to be a strange vein ? not blue, but white..

I have been giving him an antibitic eye treatment… clearly there is less mucous from the eye after one day. although the white of the eyes is quite red.

I can not count out CDV, although I know from reading there is no way to quickly test for cdv in 5 minutes with lithmus paper like the Chinese "Vets" scam artists do.

However, if it is CDV, which very well may be? I want to start treatment before it gets to the brain /nervous system.

The initial two puppies, were more serious than my current puppy, by way of diahreaa, straight out stiff neck before death, pnemonia….

This puppy seems stronger and I am going to fight as hard as possible. From what I read on Wiki Vitamin ! and ribivirin have a chance to help against CDV.

I just need to know the proper dosem abd uf there is any danger in giving 100mg every 12 hours of cefixime, or is there a danger in cutting the dosage to the more proper 50mg per 12 hours after initially giving 3 doses of 100mg for the first 36 hours.

Thanks for your help. And remember, for those that say I shouild go to the vet, this is China. I went to 3 vets allready. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-02/21/content_9480924.htm has an interesting perspective of a dogs life in China.

Our puppy was sick, coughing like crazy, when we got her, and our warranty was 15 days. We took her to our vet, since her coughing was terrible, and we told him how she was treated for kennel cough before we got her at the store, which they had told us was cured. He agreed that she was still sick, and wanted to treat her. The store had told us that they would only pay for services performed by their own vet, and to take her back to them if she needed anything. So we told our vet that, and he wrote them a letter diagnosing her and urging treatment.

So we took her back to the pet store, within three days of getting her, for the treatment. They told that they would have to have their vet look at her, and ending up keeping her for a week for observation. When we went to get her back, they told us that they had heard nothing and didn’t have to pay for any treatment. The thing is, one of the employees told us that she’d heard it when we were chatting with her during one of our visits during that week.

We have her now, and it’s been a month since then, and she still coughs every night. So my question now is, how do I go about getting that pet store shut down? This is in Connecticut. Is there an agency I need to report them to, or an organization that does that?

Thank you!
All Pets Club in Wallingford

Recently rescued a border/collie, he had kennel cough. Was treated for it in the pound, and wasn’t getting better. Took him back to a vet 5 days later, with no improvement. Perscribed Antibiotics and cough tabs. No improvement in 3 days. Took him to a new vet, He said this dog was full of pnemonia. persc. more antibiotics, gave shot, and cough meds. No improvement, 2 days later, admitted him to last vets an. hosp. for 3 days. IV drugs and fluids. Brough home, no energy, was understandable. Then stopped eating & drinking. Finally, with syrynge, fed him pedialyte, brought some life back to him. Then, he started having trouble breathing. It was progressively getting worse over last 5 days. Yest. back to vet on emer. call. His tongue purple, gasping for air. Gave prednisone, albuterol, more antibiotics, had me take him home. LONG Rough night, returned to vet a 9am, they saw improvement, took Xray, same course of treatment. ? Has anyone ever had a dog do all this before? He’s only 5-6 month

Veterinary Thieves Or The Practice Of Money. Do Vets Rip People Off? You Decide.?

My dog had a three day episode of vomiting and diarrhea. She has
never had any health problems before so we didn’t have a regular Vet (per se) with the exception for the immunizations (she’s only 2 1/2 years old) and an indoor dog (with the exception of the outside front yard trips to go potty)

Here’s the deal, How is it that one trip to the Vet for vomiting & diarrhea turns into a a now ongoing nightmare of "Kennel Cough" and 1.00 later in a matter of two days, still no real answers with three different opinions and one disagreement on treatment?

Answer?

Just like Allopathic People Medicine, with all of it’s technology… there is still the thievery that exists within the Health Care Industry, That’s how!

I have a Chihuahua that has been very healthy. She’s 2 1/2. A very active Chihuahua all of the time! About 4 days ago, she developed a diarrhea & vomiting thing. She refused to eat or drink. Of course, I took her to a Vet within two days since the episodes were still happening but not as much or as often as before. Figuring that this might be a viral thing, a gave it a day before going to Vet #1. In the early morning on Friday, We (My wife and I) took her to a Vet in Clearwater, Florida a few miles from where we live who came "recommended" by my wife’s family members. This Vet took her temperature & listened to her chest asked us a couple of questions and checked her for parasites which was negative and then said "it’s probably some viral thing" or "it could be Pancreatitis" but i’m going to give her three injections…. one antibiotic… one for nausea… and one for diarrhea and some Flagyl tablets to take home just in case it’s bacterial… That sounded logical so 0.00 and out the door we went.

The diarrhea and vomiting subsided the next morning, however the dog hasn’t really eaten except for some Ham (she refuses everything else) so not much of anything or drank much so nothing in and nothing out obviously. Resolved? maybe…. except for the fact that about 4 hours after leaving Vet #1’s office the SAME DAY… she developed a cough. A hacking dry cough. So, I made a call to the Vet the very same day when the cough started and they said "uhhh… hmmm…. well if it don’t get better bring her back". The next day (which was yesterday) the cough was worse and they were closed (they close at 3 pm and I got home to my scared wife… and a coughing dog at 3:30pm. as I work … by the way…. in Health Care… (so i’ve seen first hand the nonsense that happens with human beings)

By 4:00pm we were at Vet #2….. at what used to be a reputable place where we took another dog that we had some years ago that had health issues (she’s now in doggie heaven) and where there was a great Vet that we really trusted and thought highly of…. whom was an older man with many years of experience… unfortunately, he’s no longer there and the place has been really "remodeled" and beautified and probably sold off …. (someone’s really doing well financially!) and of course the basic visit fee is .95 to walk in the door! So, what happened? we saw a young Vet…. with two earrings and a wigger beard that had to be less than 30 years old who asked a few questions…. auscultated her chest with a stethoscope and pressed an the Trachea and determined this to be "Kennel Cough". She’s not around any other dogs except for my brother in law’s dog that is symptom free and immunized against Kennel Cough…. but whatever. This Vet (whom is Vet #2) prescribed Doxycycline and Hycodan (Hydrocodone) syrup for the coughing jags and said "If she doesn’t get better then take her back to Vet #1." The cost….. 3.00! Ka Ching!…. Well, later last night…. which is still in the same day and a few hours later after giving her the Hycodan Syrup and Doxycycline … she started breathing very hard & rapid and still was coughing and looked worse than before. By 11:00pm, we were back at SAME Vet hospital as Vet #2) because my wife and I were afraid that she was worsening and don’t want her to get to the point of dying and they stay open 24 hours a day. Anyways, we saw Vet #3….. since there was a shift change…..& here comes a young Czech female DVM that asked some questions (we told her the whole scenario) pressed on her belly… auscultated the chest again with a stethoscope and said…. "The labored breathing is no doubt because of abdominal pain" We should do X rays…. and the cough was probably something she caught at Vet #1’s office…. when I asked how could a virus incubate so fast… she replied "oh they can develop in 2 hours". I’m educated…. and have had advanced courses in Microbiology and Virology years ago in Collage along with Pathology and although I’m not a Vet…. I’ve never heard of this ever in my life. I deal with people medicine for a living. Most all viruses and Bacterial infections have an incubation period
Zellparis wrote: "the only thing i have decided is you are a sad and sick person to mock the president of the united states"

My answer, Excuse me? What’s your trip? Don’t like my Icon? Too frickin’ bad!!!! I don’t particularly like your icon either. I’ve decided that you’re a sad and sick person to try to look like a thug! Not everyone in the world likes Messiah Obama….. so, when our health care turns into that same nonsense of what i’ve dealt with from Vets in the past few days… just remember, you love Obama!

PS: To everyone else….. My dog is showing signs of improvement!

Still, Vets are wayyyy toooo expensive for their services nowadays!

Please click on the link and read the treatment section. It says sometimes prednisone is given, but in the second paragraph it says steroids are not recommended.
My mother’s dog was lost over the weekend (last weekend) and was found and kept at the dog shelter and she got kennel cough. She is taking an antibiotic. I was searching on the internet for other things we can do to keep her comfortable and found this article.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1556&articleid=452

I asked a question after not quite having enough faith in the vet i had, After visiting another two vets my dogs have been confirmed to have kennel cough by two vets (although PDSA got me to rush there over 15 mile in less that half hour to send out an unqualified vet who got another opinion which also said kennel cough and said come back in a week but no treatment).they apparantly made me go there for nothing in a taxi when no appointments were available with a vet anyhow,
Well now my dogs had kennel cough injection too which is rare in the u.k
I also have an eight year old, she’s showing no signs and is fine, I felt ill all day but i am high risk to disease as i have apnoea,diabetes and epilepsy but no coughing just aches n pains and tiredness and stomach and back cramps,
My main worry is my daughter and daughter in law are pregnant and i have four grand babies all under two whom I want to visit during the day.

I adopted my 4 month old shepard mix from the shelter on 9/18. He had been in the shelter about 8 days prior to adoption. He was healthy and active until 9/22 when he started to show symptoms of Kennel cough. Hacking up mucous, but was still very active and had a healthy appetite and drinking plenty of fluids. I took him into the vet on 9/24 and was given antibiotica and a cough syrup. On the 26th he began to lose his appetite Ithough possibly due to meds. By the 27th he was lethargic and not eating, had become suddenly thin and had a bloody bowel movement of diahrea. I took him into the vet and he was diagnosed with parvo and had a white blood cell count of 2200 and temp of 106 degrees. The vet said that with intensive treatment he only had a 10% cahnce of survival. We opted to put down and while waiting for the euthanization he died in front of us. Based on my research I do not understand how he could have died so quickly after showing signs. Is is possible the symptoms may have been mistaken for kennel cough and were really parvo symptoms? Or is it possible he contractyed parvo at the vet visit on 9/24 and it hit him hard? based on timelines for incubation had no symptoms before initial vet visit it seems hard to beleive that he contracted parvo in the shelter if he had been there over a week.
Please help.
Devastated

I have adopted this 9 months old half German Shephard mutt from the street and it’s been 1 month since I’ve done so.
Today,in the morning,I saw him snorting,dry coughing and clearing the grate.I guess the problem is about his throat mostly and his nose.I couldn’t see anything wrong with the lungs yet.
I’ve looked up in wikipedia for kennel cough and the symptoms kinda resembles with his.
Could you please give me a broader information about kennel cough,the symptoms,how serious a desease it is and the treatment?Is it deadly?
Can it be something else?Another desease?Can it be allergy?
I’m feeling so down pls help me.
Hey I’m smart enough to take my dog the the VET . But it’s not possible for the next few days.Pls stop giving me false advice!!!

This was posted in the "Best of Craiglist" It was not written by me.

"I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge ‘Wake-up’ call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if you will. First off, this is a forum to for adoption and/or rehoming as clearly stated in the rules. All of you breeders/sellers on craigslist should not only be flagged (and I hope the good people on craigslist will continue to do so with blind fury), but you should be made to work in the ‘back’ of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know, that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore.

So how would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are ‘owner surrenders’ or ’strays’, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs. The most common excuses I hear are; ‘We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).’ Really? Where are you moving to that doesn’t allow pets? Or they say ‘The dog got bigger than we thought it would’. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? ‘We don’t have time for her’. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! ‘She’s tearing up our yard’. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me, ‘We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her, we know she’ll get adopted, she’s a good dog’. Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy; if it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the ‘Bully’ breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don’t get adopted. If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, not for long though. Most get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression, even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a 0 treatment.

Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being ‘put-down’. First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash, they always look like they think they are going for a walk, happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to ‘The Room’, every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door; it must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process, they will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the ‘pink stuff’. Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk. I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don’t just ‘go to sleep’, sometimes spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and it probably won’t even cross your mind, it was just an animal and you can always buy another one right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this: DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me or flag me if you want to, the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say ‘I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want adopt,’ that would make it all worth it."

Additional Details

21 minutes ago
FEEL FREE TO COPY AND PASTE IT EVERYWHERE!!! I GOT IT OFF A PUBLIC SITE…

I’ve read some on-line articles about his symptoms and have about 12 different possibilities so I’m hoping someone may have a similar situation. I’m new to the dog owner thing and so I’m not sure how serious his coughing is.

A few days ago he was just sneezing a whole lot. Now it’s gotten worse and he sort of does this goofy inhaling thing that is really loud and sounds almost like a motor starting up. His eyes have been very gummy, I have to clean out the corner of them 3 or 4 times a day due to the pile of eye boogers in there.

He mostly does it outside, so my first thought was allergies and I still think that is most probable. But we had him neutered at the humane society last week so I’m wondering if he didn’t pick up something there too, like a kennel cough. He is up to date on shots but maybe they didn’t have time to "set in" before he went there (got the shots about 9 days before he went to be neutered).

Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful. The vet can’t fit him in for another 7 days so I really want to pin this thing down to make sure I don’t have to take him to a doggie ER to get quicker treatment.

Thanks!

I I rescued a HW+ dog from a shelter in GA. He also tested positive for erlichia. He was fostered for a week in a woman’s home with four other BC’s- she said he was fine while he was there and coughed only occasionally.

He was brought here via three volunteer pilots. He arrived yesterday, extremely thin, with a hacking cough. Occasionally he coughs up mucus out of his mouth and nose. The woman who fostered him took him to the vet three times- once for the initial shots and HW test, once for x-rays and bloodwork for heartworm treatment, and once for a cold that she said he had developed (was having problems with diarrhea and vomiting).

I have not had him vomit yet, but he still has diarrhea. The part that is worrying me most is the coughing- he can’t move much without coughing. When the vet looked at his x-rays, she said he clearly had a bit of asthma. I can only assume that this is heartworm related. I know heartworm also causes coughing (and that would probably explain why he is so thin).

He is seeing a vet at four today. I am wondering though if anyone might have any other ideas about what could be wrong with him. He seems to smell like pus when he coughs- could this be a URI? Possibly kennel cough as a result of receiving the Bordetella shot?

Is there anything else I should be paying attention to?
The dog is a Border Collie, about two or three years of age. He was running loose for two months.
Blunt object- I’m not sure where I’m putting a dog’s needs before a human’s needs….perhaps you could clarify?

I pulled this dog from a shelter. How could I know he had any disease? I’m not going to just throw him off to the side. I intend on keeping him- that is why I am willing to spend the money to help him. I have a responsibility for this dog now. Had I been some other person asking an ignorant question about "what is wrong with my dog" you would have told me to take him to a vet- which I am doing. Make up your mind.
Suzie- The dog hasn’t been treated yet. I only got him yesterday. He was pulled from the shelter a week ago.