Please read and help if you can!!!! UPDATE

[Foleys]

Thanks Sunny the Hippie Chick I do not get offended as easy as some people. But I do want to say it is not that I can never offord to take my anamils to the vet cause I can he was just there on 5/21/10 that cost me $100.00 so I can but when you live paycheck to paycheck like me and some people do nothing you can do about it...

But anyways Hubby and I took his temp again lastnight and it went down from 103.6 to 101.7 and he has been drinking alot of fluids lastnight so prey for him.

 

[Casey3043]

It's good news that he's better. Just keep on with what you're doing. Maybe it is food poisoning and not parvo after all. Then after he recovers you can do what another poster suggested, which is to buy the low cost vaccines at TSC and give them yourself.

Good luck to you and best wishes for the dog's recovery.

 

[Foleys]

Thanks he actually ate a little piece of roast beef this morning.

 

[SillyChicken]

if it were parvo, the dog would not be improving. I had a dog contract Parvo and lived even though he had to have 2 treatments to survive it. It's very painful to the dog, they'll hunch up and look at their sides, if laying down they'll straighten out their legs and curl their toes in pain. It's horrible to watch.

Parvo is very contagious too. So, if he had it you'd need to wash everyting with bleach.. shoes, floors etc,

I have a credit card that I have on hand just for dog emergencies (with 4 mastiffs, anything can happen).

He could be suffering some side effects from the accident or just ate something that didn't agree with him.

What I would do would be too feed him a mixture of cooked rice, cooked hamburger (draining all fat) Add chicken broth for moisture, and yogert. Don't feed any dog food until he shows a good appitite, then slowly add his reg dog food into the mix and phase out the burger and rice mix so he's back on his reg food.

A really bland diet will help keep things moving and allow him to eat and get better.

 

[cmjust0]

Sounds like it could be/have been either some kind of bacterial enteritis (gut infection...food poisoning, basically) or some type of protozoan outbreak (coccidia, giardia, etc).. With the fever, my guess would have been enteritis. Antibiotics were/are in order.

Some things to keep in mind, for future reference..

Not having the money to take the dog to the vet doesn't necessarily mean the dog doesn't get its shots...it just means you go to TSC, buy the shots for $6-$7, and give them at home. It's really not that big a deal. Rabies -- yeah, that requires a vet visit because you can't buy rabies shots, but I'd imagine that lots of low-cost spay/neuter clinics would also be places to get rabies shots for little or no money.

Also, not having the money to visit the vet doesn't necessarily mean you have to do without antibiotics.. You can buy antibiotics -- many different kinds -- OTC at farm supply stores, right off the shelf (or cooler, depending).. Penicillin, oxytetracycline, spectinomycin, tylosin, and sulfamethazine come to mind immediately as I think about the shelf at my local TSC.. Mail-order houses have all that and more, including sulfadimethoxine (generic Albon), and you can even find OTC amoxicillin and cephalexin that are *supposed* to be used for fish at fish/aquarium supply houses (Fish-Mox/Fish-Flex).. You can also find dog-safe dewormers at most farm-supply stores...fenbendazole for livestock, for instance, is safe (and usually MUCH cheaper) for dogs, provided you get your dosages correct..

Now, don't get me wrong here...I'm not saying "There's no need to ever go to the vet!"... Indeed, my personal thought is that if you have a healthy dog and you know you won't be able to spare enough money to go to the vet should the need arise, it's probably best for all involved to try and rehome the animal with someone who's better positioned to care for it.

BUT...if you find yourself in a pinch where you have a sick animal and an empty bank account at the same time, and something's gotta be done, there *are* things you can do besides wish you had money for the vet.

 

[schellie69]

those symptoms sound just like when my dog gets a pancreas attack, just feed him boiled chicken (just the meat no bones) and rice very bland diet until the fever and vomiting pass and then slowly introduce him back to the dog food over the next week or so, my dog can not have any tomato products or anything spicy due to have a sensitive pancreas we watch him very carefully now, we now know how to treat at home and vet will just let us pick up meds without a visit since he knows what happens good luck and thanks to the people who posted about getting the shots and tsc I am going to go do that for my dogs.

 

[cmjust0]

What exactly is a "pancreas attack?" Is it an inflammation, or an infection, or..? What causes it? What does the vet prescribe for it?

I've heard of a lot of afflictions in dogs, but that's a new one.. With 7 dogs (hence the reason to do a lot of at-home treatment!

), I'm beyond researching things on a "case by case" basis...I've upgraded to a "just in case" basis at this point.

 

[schellie69]

Quote:
the pancreas is inflamed it causes fever, bloody stools, vomiting it is not pretty I am not sure of the meds, it has been a few years since he had an attack, we are very careful with what he eats now, it is an inflammation and it is caused by eating something that cause it to become inflamed such as spicy food, or something with tomatoes in it, the vet said it is like when we eat something that is really spicy and greasy it can cause our gall bladder or pancreas to go crazy and get swollen and inflamed. like I said we just watch what he eats and make sure he can not get into anything he is not supposed to have we also do not change the dog food we buy we buy the same one so not to cause any problems with it also, he has done really great since we have known what to watch for or what causes it if we do see some blood in his stool which is the first clue we put him on the chicken/rice for a few days then start adding dog food for a few more days then he goes on to just dog food, we also have bought the chicken/rice and lamb/rice wet dog food and put him on that for a week clears it all up and no meds it has worked for us, the bland diet is the key to it to help so the pancreas does not have to work that hard. I keep a couple cans of the wet food on hand just in case we see any thing that might be a problem and he goes on that for a few days. we had 6 dogs my DD's dog just died in April so we only have 5 so I treat most things at home if I can.