Thursday, November 06, 2008

Puppy Update: Concerned about Miss Sky


Before anyone panics, the rest of the litter is fine. But I'll post about them separately.

Now for Miss Sky (btw, the pictures in this post are all of her snuggling with DH late last night).

Bless her heart, yesterday she started to act a little punky, just not as playful as usual (and even more snuggly, if that's possible). She seemed tired, more than anything else, and, though I attributed her punkiness at first to the busy few days we've had, I kept an eye her (something just didn't "feel" right to me). In late afternoon she vomited a couple of times -- just typical puppy stuff; nothing alarming. But then she didn't eat dinner, and her stool, though right in color, seemed a little loose.

Still, no big deal. No need to get alarmed. Puppies do this. (At least I kept telling myself that).

Later in the evening her stool turned to liquid. So we gave her an anti-diarrheal, and watched. All she wanted to do was sleep.


So we stayed up with her, but she seemed to sleep soundly (her heart rate and respiration were fine). So we went to bed. When we came down this morning at 6 a.m., she'd obviously poo-ed in the litter box overnight, and it was the strangest looking poo I've seen (nearly white). And she still wouldn't eat.

Then she wouldn't drink anything. That's not good. Puppies can dehydrate quickly.

So I took her temperature, which was 103.6 (normal is usually 101 to 102). And we weighed her again (we weighed her last night before giving her the anti-diarrheal). She'd lost 4 ounces overnight (went from 10 lbs. 14 oz. to 10 lbs 10 oz. in less than 12 hours)

I called the vet. This was at 7 a.m.

They said bring her right in. Thankfully, Dr. Wagner was there (our beloved vet who's been following the litter for us). He didn't see any signs of obstruction (phew). But Miss Sky's temperature was still 103 at the office, and she was still clearly "off" (not acting like a puppy -- just very snuggly). Dr. Wagner suspects it's probably a gastroenteritis of some kind (could be viral, bacterial, parasitic... won't know until they test the stool samples we brought in).

In the meantime, he's keeping her there (they're an animal hospital, too) and is going to give her sub-cutaneous fluids (a shot of something similar to a saline solution under the skin to boost her hydration) and will also give her antibiotics in case whatever is going on is bacterial in origin. If it's viral, it just has to run its course, but pups can get really run down really quickly (and dehydrate quickly) so it's best that she's there with him.

So we're in wait-and-see mode.

We've been in contact with Miss Sky's family, and will update them regularly as soon as we know anything.

In short, it appears the little girl-pup has a tummy bug of some kind, which can be serious in puppies (as it can be in babies) because of the dehydration risk. Because Miss Sky has a higher temperature, we suspect it's bacterial, but we could be wrong.

In any case, we should know more this evening and will update you all then (after we call Miss Sky's family, of course).

The rest of the litter is as energetic as ever, eating robustly, vocalizing like crazy, and playing hard. And all of their poo is just as it should be (trust me, I know). ;o)

I'll post about them in a few minutes.

Say a few prayers for Miss Sky (or send good thoughts, or whatever you do in that regard). Your prayers and thoughts certainly helped Mr. Black (who is just fine now). It couldn't hurt to do the same for Sky.



Thanks bunches,
Joan

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Praying!

J said...

Joan, I'm sorry to hear about her. One of our dogs had gatroenteritis this summer and it was scary. I broke down at the vet's office because it was terrifying to watch her be so sick. But it sounds like your little girl is in good hands and getting good care! Praying for all of you.

JuliaR said...

Zap! Those are my good thoughts coming out of your computer now! Whatever it is, you got it early and that's a good thing.