December 15, 2008

puppy health update

As of today we have 2 that are still feeling poorly but seem to be getting a little better... still have to keep a close eye out. 4 have not gotten sick at all & I need to call the vet in the morning to find out if it'll be safe to vaccinate them now or should I wait a bit first.

I'm not longer comfortable with not vaccinating dogs/puppies, especially after this. Pixel, 6 months old, had her 7-way & didn't get very sick, was only sick for 2 or 3 days & then... watch out world!

Today Puzzler showed a lot of interest in Gary's soup so I decided to go warm up some chicken broth for her... she attacked it (along with the others) so I now have a pot of chicken broth baking in the oven.

Yes, you read that right. Baking. If I don't keep the pot in the oven & Theresa gets into the kitchen, she might knock it over & get broth all over the stove & possibly get herself burned... so if I won't be in the kitchen, cooking stuff on top is not the greatest idea in the world. The pot is a stainless steel dutch oven, no plastic handles, all stainless steel, so baking it should be fine.

YinYang also showed some interest in the puppy food we put down for the others but isn't ready to eat & was not interested in the chicken broth. The biggie is to make SURE that everyone is hydrated & we've been giving a tea to all the puppies which will hopefully help.

Also it is cooooooooold in Texas...should be back in the upper 40s/50s by Wednesday... we're supposed to be in ice storm mode anytime between now & tomorrow... ugh.

Can't wait until March. I might not mind cold weather so much if we had the house a bit more fixed up so that it heated better...

Posted by Jessica at 08:33 PM | Comments (2)

December 13, 2008

Saturday

We lost 2 more today...and 2 more are sick. I've been doing some research & found an emergency tea recipe and another site with good information on how to boost recovery here.

It's scary & frustrating & makes me feel helpless.
Theresa (momma) is having a hard time with it. Normally she snaps at her puppies if they try to nurse but she's not doing that so much, maybe she's afraid of losing more of them.

I'm trying to think positive & to encourage the others to...also trying to get help with getting things done around here...we taking turns being up so that someone can keep an eye on things over night. California Jack's advice gives us a better idea how to proceed...

Posted by Jessica at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2008

Parvo isn't pretty

One of our puppies died today. He was sick from around Tuesday until this afternoon... Monday or Tuesday I noticed he was looking thin & asked Gary about it & he thought it was from growth spurting (he was also looking longer & taller)... Tuesday he was still eating well but was quiet, didn't want to play with the other puppies... Wednesday he stopped eating. I started giving him some gatorade by syringe & this morning we took him to the vet. The test was positive. We opted for home treatment with Subcutaneous fluids, antibiotics, anti-nausea meds..

We're under a burn ban, else we'd cremate him... need to call the vet in the morning to find out what to do.. we've already buried him, but I'm reading that even that might not be safe.

Kinda kicking myself here for not going to the vet yesterday... was wanting to find out if the puppies had worms, was HOPING against hope that it was worms & not parvo..

Meanwhile, we're going to do what we can to keep the others from getting too sick to save. Gonna wash all floors with bleach & wipe down the puppies sleeping area and stuff like that...

No knitting news at the moment as all my energy is going to the puppies & other animals. One of the other shelter volunteers took one of our cats to be spayed today & I'll go to pick her up in a little while, soon as the volunteer calls me to let me know she's on her way back...

Posted by Jessica at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)