My dog is sick, scared it's serious

GlasweJen

I've had my dog since she was a puppy and she's now 12 years old and we have her daughter here as well who is 10.

She's a papillion, stays in the house most of the day because of her age and she had back surgery about 4 years ago but apart from that she's always been healthy.

In the last few days she's been shivering and has had diarrhoea and vomiting. She's not been getting any better or worse over the last few days, she's just sick.

Mum is taking her to the vet tomorrow, she's not insured because of her age but we're happy to pay from savings for any treatment and her vet is excellent, she's been treating her since she was first born.

I'm really scared that it's serious though, I'm not sure why I'm so wary of it but I don't want to lose my doggy, does anyone know if sickness is serious in elderly papillions?

CFC

Fingers crossed, it could after all, just be a stomach bug. I hope it is nothing serious.

Kinski

keeping everything crossed for your wee girl, I hope it's just a bug that can easily be cleared up with a course of antibiotics.

hethmar

I do hope she is ok. But a dog that tiny and old (for the breed) should have been taken more quickly to the vet as she will dehydrate.

YorkiePud_3

Hi there ... how did you go on with your little girl at the vets ... ?

Paps and chis are notorious for doing the shivery tremble bit ... the times people stop me and tell me off, saying my dog is cold when he is merely doing his trembly thing ... but with the sickness and diarrhoea, this is obviously something more and needs attention.

Nobody can say really whether it is serious or not (though of course we hope it isn't!) ... but the good thing is that your vet knows your dog, having treated her all this time, so she will have a better understanding of her than a vet who may not have seen her before.

I hope everything went well. Do let us know!

GlasweJen

The vet thinks that it's nothing to do with her stomach and she's going in tomorrow to get chest x-rays, ECG, bloods taken and some other stuff. She got an anti-inflammation jag today and she's keeping food down a lot better so we're glad of that, vet thinks that her heart murmur has got worse and best case scenario she'll need medication. She's not in any pain and the trembling is just the typical pap tremble for attention so we've got her home over night.

I made a mistake in my OP, the puppy is 12, the old girl will be 14 in may! So she's had a long life but the vet says there's still life in her yet and she's the strongest specimen of papillion that she's ever come across. Both of her litter mates passed away a few years ago but her mum only went last year so there is hope that she's got a while to go yet.

hethmar

Very pleased to hear she is getting better.

GlasweJen

So we've got the results from the x-rays.

There is fluid in her lungs and her heart is enlarged, the vet has prescribed medication to drain the fluid and correct the heart problem. There are no tumours or anything too nasty so we're very relieved.

CFC

Fingers crossed for you both that this turns the trick.

GlasweJen

Thanks, she's to go back 2 weeks today for a review of her progress. She is getting back to her old self, she tried to bite the vet when she was getting x-rayed (they couldn't knock her out because of her age so they just gave her a slight sedative to relax her), she's also been pacing around since she got home making sure everything is as it should be, pup has been told off twice and now she's up in bed after having her chicken and rice (and throwing a disgusted look when we put it down to her).

Meds start tomorrow which should be fun, she's not one for taking pills at all so you have to be careful she doesn't spit it out and the little one doesn't get hold of it.

hethmar

Liver pate works for pill hating dogs. Crush the pill a bit and mix it with the pate, its sticky so they cant sort out the pill from the meat.