There were a group of puppies that needed homes, and I volunteered to foster 2 of them.
July 18 -
I coordinated to meet another volunteer to get my new foster pups. There were actually 3 - Young, Addy and Napoli. Young and Addy were going to stay with me, Napoli would be picked up the next day to go to another foster home.
When we met, she mentioned that the pups had diarrhea, but that was probably due to stress and changes in their diet. Little did we know...
Young and Addy were typical puppies...cute, full of energy and absolutely adorable. But 4 days later, Young seemed to have less energy, he wasn't eating with as much gusto, and I was worried he was getting dehydrated. His diarrhea had not cleared up, so on Monday I took him to the Highland Park Animal clinic (HPVC), another one of the vets the organization uses. They were concerned enough that they kept him for a few days, with an IV to get him re-hydrated. I brought him back home and he seemed better, although now he had some green eye goop...looked like the beginning of an eye infection.
July 27 -
Frankie was burning up - she was radiating heat and I didn't need a thermometer to tell me she was running a fever. I took her to my vet, North Dallas Animal Hospital, along with Young so they could look at his eye infection.
Tests were run.. x-rays taken to rule out a blockage...no diagnosis for Frankie.
The vet, however, cautioned me about Young's eye infection. "It could be a sign of distemper" she said, so keep a watch on him. She then launched into an explanation that the distemper vaccination was very effective, and as Frankie had been vaccinated, there was nothing to be concerned about.
Frankie was put on antibiotics and prednisone to help reduce the fever.
**Note here - normal dog temps are somewhere in the 101 degree range. Frankie's were spiking as high as 103 to 104 degrees.
July 31 -
Young seems to have gone downhill again, back to HPVC for an extended stay.
Frankie's fever had gone down, but was back up again. My vet referred me to the Center for Veterinary Specialty Care in Carrollton.
More tests, an ultrasound, and the diagnosis: "fever of unknown origin" - no kidding !!
Aug 6 -
Young comes back home. He now has "green goop" discharge from both eyes and his nose. HPVC is stymied...they don't know what is wrong with him. He is now in quarantine - a kennel in my home office rather than with Addy.
Aug 7 -
Frankie is developing a cough - kennel cough??? good news is she's still on the antibiotics
Notice that Young's paw pads are hard, like he has bad calluses. I begin to suspect he has distemper.
I sent a note to the rescue group...it was beginning to look like a bad day care...everyone sharing their germs...time to get Addy out of here while she was still healthy.
Aug 9 -
Took Frankie to North Dallas vet to do a viral panel - testing for rocky mountain fever, distemper and a few other viruses
Aug 14 -
Confirmed. Frankie has distemper.
We immediately take her off the prednisone. Although that was helping to keep her fever down, it also suppresses her immune system. We need that as strong as possible now.
**Another note, I had to go back to HPVC to get more meds for Young and had a discussion with the vet. He was shocked to learn that Frankie had distemper, passed on from Young. He said that it was a very difficult disease to diagnose - to which I now believe is just B*S*. When my vet made the first mention of possible distemper in Young, I started researching...and the symptoms that Young displayed - the eye infection, the hard paw pads, were classic signs that this vet missed. I honestly think that because this clinic is in high end part of town, its just something they have not encountered. My next door neighbor, who grew up in the country, called it just by looking at Young.
No comments:
Post a Comment