Posted: 2/18/2004 3:02:34 AM EDT
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okay, good news i that i think the crisis is over. after reading a thread on here about spending 50$ a month on a dog, i went into the kitchen to check on my three year old greman shepard/border collie mix. i almost lost touch with reality when she looked as if she was dead. mucus was coming out of her eyes, she had vomited everywhere, pissed and crapped in the bed. this was all completely out of the blue as the only thing i had noticed odd about her behavior was that she had been a bit sluggish playing frisbee this afternoon. anyways, i almost lost it. her breathing was sharp, staccato and very labored. i called every vet number i could find online until i found an emergency clinic (not easy to do at 12am in a small town) i had my GF drive the car around front and hauled the 65lbs of bead quaking weight out to the car. as my GF drove i catyed in the back with the dog making sure that she kept breathing (i was ready to preform resuscitation if need be) needless to say, i was completely freaked out as she has up to this point been a complelty healthy pound dog. we get to the vet and the groggy vet instnatly stated that she had a seizure based i guess on the evacuated bowels and bladder. she says to let her take it easy and that it is hopefully a one time occurence. just as i was getting ready to leave, and i was putting my arm under her, we noticed a large pool of blood from the stool. this concerned the doc so she gave her an injection of something to help her GI tract. then sent us home with instructions to see a vet if she is not better tomorrow. i got her back home and was able to fully assess what she may have gotten into in the kitchen (where she sleeps at night). there was a bag of garbage that looked rummaged through. all i could find that she may have gotten into though were a few old strawberries and some edamame (soybean) husks. well, no sooner had i made this discovery than she vomited up some soybean husks.... which leads me to the question. does anyone know if soybean husks might be poisonous to dogs? i cant see that they would be since they are a common ingredient in dog foods. it seems though that that is all that she ate, and SOMETHING made her the sickest I've ever seen any animal that did not die. I didn't want to freak my GF out about the situation, so I tried to sternly take charge and be as cool and level-headed as I could, but I felt tears welling up on the ride out as I thought I may never see Zoe again! Zoe is still having diarrhea and occasional vomiting. She keeps going to lay down outside where it is freezing cold (where I tried to put on all my winter clothes and go out there to stay by her, but i froze my ass off) I havent slept at all tonight and I'm worried... if anyone has any advice, my eyes are hurting for searching on the net, maybye the AM crew can help out an brother and his cute pooch. i promise to add pics of her regardless to the pic thread floating around. take care, colin |
| I don't know about the trash that your dog got into,but when I was reading through the first thing I thought was seizure,since I have a dog with seizures. She is on meds. Maybe what she got into gave her the seizure I don't know,or as your vet said maybe it will be a one time thing. My dog happens to know when she is going to have a seizure and will come find you right before usually. We have had a few times where we didn't know. It is scary,but we stay calm since dogs can sense if you are flipped out. We've run the gammet from petit mals to grand mals. I wish you luck any questions feel free to contact me. |
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Hmm, Im no doctor or vet... But one thing I understand, is that Dogs (animals in General) Know whats good for them when theyre sick... I would just keep giving her Options like a place to keep warm if shes outside, water/ food to consume. Let her know your there, and let her rest... If youve ever been sick gone out side when your sick it does help to calm the system. So thats quite possably what shes doing... Hopeing for the best for you and Zoe. Fingers crossed for you.. |
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thanks, me too! she's a great dog although i sheepishly admit the circumstances of owning her. i have always been a cat person, cats are low maintenance and generally stay out of your way. my ex wife had been literally begging me to get a dog. i told her they were too much trouble. she finally convinced me that i could buy whatever gun i wanted if she could get a dog. she promised she'd take care of it entirely by herself yadda yadda we went to the local kill shelter to see what kind of animals they had. there was a mangy momma dog with two scruffy pups. all of them had fleas and worms. with her brindle coat she looked like a vile little creature, i admit she looked way more like chewbacca that lassie or rin-tin-tin. she had the best attitude between her and her brother so after 50 plllllleeeases I said, :whatever, it's your dog." Fast forward two years, ex leaves and asks if I want the dog because she can afford to take car of her and she's going to give her away. I hung up the phone and have had Zoe as MY dog ever since. Fast forward another almost two years. Zoe and I have bonded over hard times. She's slep in the bed and kept me warm in the winter and has kept me sweaty in the summer filling in her "Zoe holes" in the backyard. One day, I swear I'll have a great view of Shanghai!!! Needless to say, I'm still not a "dog person" but I sure love the hell out of this one! |
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Quoted: she's about due for her vaccination (it's been a little over a year) so she may be due for parvo shots. she's going to the vet this afternoon, so i'll be sure to mention that! thanks. Give us an update on this after the appointment... Be SURE to mention parvo to the vet... I'll tell ya why, later. |
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sorry.... i had a lot of sleep to catch up on :) the lab results came back negative for everything exceot for liver enzymes. this was likely besause of whatever she got into. she threw up a little bit this morning, but has been scampering around the yard and wagging her tail and otherwise being happy. she's going to go back to the vet in a week or two (after i give her all of the antibiotics she was prescribed) and then we'll know if the liver thing was temporary. she's not really eating yet, so that's the only thing im still concerned about... once she eats and holds it down I will officially breathe a sigh of relief! BTW- i'll post a new pic of her after going to the vet in just a sec. |
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Hang in there...glad to hear things are looking up. If she is up and running around, her appetite will most likely be back to normal in a few days. As long as she is eating some, dont worry too much until she is off the meds. Sick pets are as bad as sick babies, all they can do is look at you with those "why cant you fix this" eys, and they cant tell you what this is. We got lucky 2 yrs ago right after my bro. brought home his Rottie/Pit. The vet caught the Parvo very early, and had her good as new in just about no time. Turns out she is one of the best dogs we ever had. |
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here she is looking quite serious after the vet visit (she was really well mannered, even when they took blood) [img]http://www.cox-internet.com/dmstephe/Zoe/zoevet.jpg[/img] thanks for the concern and advice all... remember to keep your pets out of the trash. that is the lesson for me at least. what is ok for humans can make animals extremely sick (which was why i never gave her table food anyway) I'll post any updates if anything changes. lib- thanks for the advice on parvo, the doc gave me assurances that it wasn't parvo, but that he would check specifically for it just in case. he said that in 12 years he has only seen one properly vaccinated dog with parvo, and that it was in his first year of practice. it's not something to pussyfoot around thoug as it is extremely deadly! take care, colin |
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Quoted: lib- thanks for the advice on parvo, the doc gave me assurances that it wasn't parvo, but that he would check specifically for it just in case. he said that in 12 years he has only seen one properly vaccinated dog with parvo, and that it was in his first year of practice. it's not something to pussyfoot around thoug as it is extremely deadly! take care, colin Glad to hear it colin... I nursed a dog ALL the way through parvo. I had him on IV's, and was cleaning up his bloody shit, as he lay dieing. Lost the war. I'll never do it again. |
| Glad your dog is doing better. Is there any chance she got into some anti-freeze? As little as one teaspoon can kill. Also, any prescription or OTC drugs in the trash? Chocolate can make them sick as well. Keep the following in mind, if there is a college vet school in your area, consider using them. They have an incredable wealth of knowledge & resources at their disposal and their rates are lower than a regular vet. |
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Hey Colin, good luck with your pup, I hope she makes a full recovery and that this was a one time "garbage rummaging" incident where she ate something she shouldn't have. (can lids? Glass?) Just remember that if she is really sick and continues to get worse, you should do whats right for her. |
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Have her checked for distemper. I found a little puppy about a month ago at a gas station.Healthy happy little guy after a couple days. A couple of weeks later it was acting weird and having seizures, runny nose, bloody diarrhea, vomiting, etc. When he had a seizure it looked as if he was chewing gum.Weird to see that. We took him to the vet and they put him on an iv, gave him blood transfusions, gammaglobbin(sp?) transfusion and a host of other shots and pills. On Super Bowl sunday, he got a seizure that he never came out of.I took him to an emergency clinic to put him out of his misery as he was suffering. My wife and I spent close to 1500.00 on him, but it didn't help. Cool pup, too. Hope yours gets well. |
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Quoted: Was it strawberries or soybeans(yuck!)?? Did the vet have any idea? neither the vet nor mayself have any clue. although in poking around on the net, i found that a lot of humans are allergic to both items, some of them extremely and deathly so. lib- sorry to hear about the pup, thanks for the heads up thugh, becasue she had a lot of the symptoms. cs223- i dont have antifreeze or any chemicals that are acceesable to her. no chocolate either (my GF makes sure it is all properly disposed of, if you catch my drift) the only thing that i noticed that she got into was the trash. and there was nothing in her vomit other than the soybeans. i'll look into vet schools, but i doubt there are any since its a fairly small town. balzac- thanks, i will do whats right for her if she stays sick. heck, i cant really afford the $300 i just spent on her, but if it means i eat ramen or borrow money from family, they understand just as well as i do that you make sacrifices for those you love, even if they are covered in fur and have a tendency to "dumpster dive" tactical- im fairly sure that tha would have been tested in the blood panel she got yesterday. she is also current on vaccinations until the end of next month. im sorry to hear about your puppy and cant imagine that putting him to sleep was an easy decision, but it was the right one! thanks again guys for all the positive and insightful comments. Zoe certianly appreciates the much needed help. (she's still staying away from her food for now) |