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Sick puppy

Hollyowner

New member
Hi,
I recently got a tri colour Cavalier, Holly.
She is a absolutely gorgous 9 week old. When we got her, she had a touch of the runs. we put it down to new enviroment etc.

We are a bit worried now, she has passed blood this morning in her no.2. We have broughts her to the vet twice last week, to see if there was a problem, but when we found the blood this morning, well, as you can imagine, we are up the wall, and again, back to the vet.

Under the advice of the vet we did change her food, she received a oral injection. and on friday gone she got 2 more injections into the back of her neck.

can any body shine a bit of light on it for us. we have had 2 other dogs that both lived to be 18, and we have never seen this happen before.
While it has only been over a week since we got her, she is already a big part of the family, and would hate for anything to happen to her.

Thanks
jim
 
I could be a virus, worms, many things can cause diarrhea w/ wo blood. In a pup it is very important to not let it go -- they can go downhill fast.

I don't give shots in the neck area anymore-- I've talked my vet into giving them in the thigh or butt area-- well away from the spine.
 
Hi Jim-

I've had this problem with Mia off and on since I brought her home. It's probably colitis, which is pretty common in Cavaliers. It's good that you're taking her to the vet, because you need to keep an eye on it. Mia's colitis seems to show up after vaccinations, heartworm meds and if she's stressed for any reason. She's also had mushy poop/diahrrea off and on since I've had her--and that seems to be a food issue. I think we've solved that one. I've heard others say that Cavaliers can tend to have sensitive tummies and that most eventually grow out of it--my fingers are crossed on this one!! :xfngr:

Good luck with Holly--I'm sure she'll be fine! :)
 
Sorry to hear you're going through this - how awful. :(

I also agree with Sandy - make double triple sure to keep her hydrated. Pups can get dehydrated so easily especially when they are small like that.

Have you tested her for worms or internal parasites yet? Some people recommend giving boiled chicken and rice to settle an upset stomach. I've never tried it personally, but there are lots of others here who have. Maybe they can shed some more light.

Good luck. :flwr:
 
Seems to be the thing with new puppies. When we first got Max at 9 weeks old the first week was practically spent down the vet with bloody dirrohea. It was constant, and trailed all over the floor as we couldn't get to him in time to take him out. I was worried sick, the breeder told us he has vaccinated him himself but my vet wanted to be doubly sure so he did it again for the 'records'..he thought it just might be 'stress related' moving to a new home away from his family etc..
One day on his second week home there was just blood everywhere, emergency visit with vets, who were great, they gave me a paste called 'pro-kalin' which I had to give him over the weekend to settle his tummy, I also had to starve him for 24 hours, very difficult to do with a hungry puppy, and re-introduce his kibble slowly - well it worked - his poop began to firm up and honestly we have rarely looked back.

I know they can be ill but sometimes it's perhaps a change in food or circumstances that bring it on. Though Medical advice should be always sought.
 
Worms very often cause blood, puppies often have worms, and depending on the breeder puppies may not have wormed. Also it often takes two wormings in a pup to get rid of a bad worm load (working with a vet of course). Many puppies have worms that they get in utero from the mother as part of the worms' life cycle.

There are other things too that can cause this, as others' note. Often it just goes away but always needs to be monitored in a puppy. Worms also should not be dismissed as a minor problem as puppies can easily die from a bad worm infestation -- this would be very unusual in a puppy from a responsible breeder but I say this more as a caution to be sure to take worms seriously, too, and not let them continue to build up if the pup happens to have them.

(y)

I've seen blood from bad food and stress as well.EG dogs coming from pounds or other stressful situations. So a wide range of things can account for it and often it isn;t anything really serious, though definitely always something to check out thoroughly.
 
hi jim. i went through bloody diarrhea when i first got zack. seeing the blood completely freaked me out. cleaning the rug was not enjoyable. zack was older than your pup, he was about 16 weeks, the younger they are, the more vulnerable, but even though he was older, it scared me a lot. The vet didn't seem very concerned, apparently it's very common, they gave me pills (flagyl) which quickly cleared it up. About a week or two later, i had the last of the puppy vaccinations and after that, the bloody diarrhea came back. he was given the same pills as before which cleared it up at first, then after a week he started vomiting. Vomiting and bloody diarrhea continued for another two weeks (which felt like 2 years) until he was cured overnight by taking deworming medication one time, Dontral Plus.

What i want to share with you is that from the beginning, over those weeks, Zack had 4 stool samples, tested for everything, at my initiative, the vet didn't ask for them. They were all negative, they showed nothing. Yet when he was treated with this broad spectrum deworming medication (which he got from the 4th new vet i tried)(i also had one trip to the emergency room at midnight too) the symptoms went away permanently (he also had a second follow up dose of the Dontral Plus after a week or two, as prescribed).

none of the vets i talked to after this experience would ever confirm that he had had worms. The last new vet i saw, a couple of weeks ago, implied that there's no way of knowing what he had, dontral plus is very broad spectrum and kills everything. I've also known people who's dogs have the same symptoms and worming meds don't help. so i feel lucky.

Also, i want to add that Zack had received deworming treatment by his breeder's vet before i got him, repeated dosages, Panecure i believe. So with the negative stool samples, it didn't seem like worms. But the 4th vet said she wanted him to take the Dontral Plus and she said "i would hate to miss that diagnosis." One other vet i saw said, more than once, "I'm stumped," and said that the next step was $600 barium studies. The vet i saw before that said the only thing left that she could do was endoscopy or exploratory surgery. so i've been really grateful to that 4th vet, but later when i asked her about him having worms, i noticed she didn't really seem to confirm that he did have worms. I guess without seeing any worms, it's always just a guess . As bad as his symptoms were, i would think i would've seen some but i didn't.

diet does seem to effect the texture of the stool, and can cause diarrhea if the dog is hypersensitive to something in the food. On Innova Evo, Zack has very firm stools. On various other things, they are more soft. But no more diarrhea or blood.

like you, i had two other dogs who never were sick, so i wasn't ready for what happened at all. I thought, you just get a dog and you enjoy dog things and i never expected an immediate health crisis. but after that worm medication, he's been healthy without symptoms, except when he got a skin infection from fleas and needed antibiotics, but that was something that was quickly diagnosed. The diarrhea thing is often so frustrating because the cause is not found and treatments don't work.
 
Jim, Judy & everyone else :)

Tucker keeps getting loose stool. I went through the bloody stool with him on Oct 31st at midnight. He spent the day at the Vet's on Nov 1st, they gave him an IV with fluids as he was dehydrated. They sent him home on Flagyl. The bloody stool cleared up in a couple of days. He was also sent home with 5 cans of gastroentestinal something, food, he loved it. His stool became normal. This past Thursday had very loose stool again. I quickly took food and water away, the next day gave him boiled rice and boiled hamburger. Kept him on that for two days, went back to his dry food and the loose stool came back. I've got him on rice and boiled hamburger again. Diahrrea (?sp) disappears. So I conclude it's his food. I'm going to the pet store tomorrow where they have a large selection of foods. I found some online that looked like it might be good, but to add a 10 or 12 dollar shipping fee for a 8 pound bag of food seemed too expensive to me. What dry food do you feed your dogs with sensitive tummies ??
 
Lucky also has Colitis. You can read all about his tummy troubles as I've posted for advice a couple of times. He gets both runny poo and bloody poo sometimes.

It was very scary at first and we still watch it very closely and go to the vet whenever it flares up ... It alwasy lasts for about a week then settles down again for a few weeks ... He's on a prescription diet as well. It'd be nice to think there is a treatable cause behind it, but after at least 4 vet visits (maybe more?) we still haven't identified one and he's had several anti-parasite drugs (flagyl and Panacure for sure ... maybe others).

It's intersting that colitis seems to be so prevalent in Cavaliers. One of the vet techs at my vet's office mentioned that because Cavs are such a needy (people loving) breed, they are more prone to stress colitis. We got a DAP diffuser to see if that might help Lucky relax a bit in case stress is contributing to the colitis.

I don't have any more ideas, but I'm always looking for anything to help and this board is a great place to start. You've come to the right place and at least it is good to know that you and your puppy are not alone. :flwr:
 
Re: Jim, Judy & everyone else :)

Joanne M said:
...I quickly took food and water away, the next day gave him boiled rice and boiled hamburger....What dry food do you feed your dogs with sensitive tummies ??

hi joanne--better not take water away, especially with diarrhea, because they already are losing fluids and can get dehydrated, which can be dangerous. it's good if they drink water when having diarrhea, if they want to.

i've heard several people say that Natural Balance Duck and Potato did not cause irritation.

good luck!
 
Definitely keep them hydrated when they get like is. I encourage mine to eat ice chips since they think that is a treat. I have both of mine on CA Natural chicken and rice, specifically because Jake had horrible tummy problems for the first 18 months of his life. I also add a spoonful of pumpkin to their food and they also get a probiotic and an enzyme. Jake seemed to just grow out of it eventually. They are both very sensitive though and I'm always aware of changes to our routine since that will easily set them off. We also travel with science diet canned i/d food since that seems to be the one thing that will settle on off tummy.
 
My two cavs also battled with bouts of diarrhea which lead to blood in their stool. They both had this several times.

After a fecal, my vet diagnosed coccidia and treated them with flagyl, which initially worked great. But shortly after they finished the 10-14 day round of medicine, it came back again.

After the second (or was it the third?) go around, he added some additional meds because he suspected they may have built a tolerance/resistance to the flagyl.
  • Doxycycline - 25mg 2x per day
    PetoBismo - 3cc 4x per day
    Flagyl 250 mg 2x per day
    Hill's Prescription Diet canned W/D - give 1 Tbsp with the Doxycycline since that med is hard on an empty stomach.
They've been clear for over two months now...which is the longest span since I got them in June. Knock on wood....

I don't know if any of this helps you, but I hope that whatever ails your pup goes away quickly. Good luck!
 
Mickey...I'm knocking on wood for you!! I remember realizing....wow it's been two whole weeks now!!! We are now up to it's been over a year! Hooray!!

And....no upset tummy with our recent mountain trip. I brought along the canned i/d just in case though.
 
Jim my apologies for hijacking yet another post

Tucker will eat almost anything, except Pepto Bismol or bananas, including Ralph Lauren sunglasses. Amazingly that didn't give him bloody poop. As for the water restriction it was on the Vet's advice that I did that. Theory that anything by mouth might cause the runs or vomiting when he was nauseous. I gave the ice chips to him too, he loves crunching things, its a treat.
 
Our vet has never told us to restrict our dogs' access to water. When they had bouts of colitis as puppies, the vet told us to give them water and food at room temperature, not cold water or food as it could cause colon spasms.
 
It could be all kinds of things. You'll want to have a stool sample tested and it doesn't hur to deworm even if the test is negative. Sometimes there's just no worms in that particular piece of poop! Boiled chicken and rice are good for an upset tummy. I'd put it in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off. I actually have some in the deep freeze for the next time we need it! Last time, Kallie got better, I threw out the leftover chicken and rice, then two days later she was needing it again. Kallie had the worse case of coccidia anyone around here had ever seen, so we've been there and back.
 
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