pomquest

No, it was not related to EI. Possibly a mutant Parvo. The symptoms were quite different to the classic Parvo.

Great news that Flash is doing so well. Have you ever researched Vitamin C therapy? It may be worth a thought as some believe it works miracles. Hope she lives a long and happy life with you.

6-12 weeks. No adults affected that we know of.

Thanks to everyones commiserations Hopefully with what we have gone through in the last 3 weeks and what we have learned as a result then if we can save just one puppy in future than Fairy and Astros lives were not lost in vain.

Yes that is our understanding why with Poms. They have so little body fat to them.

After our recent heartbreaking losses we are reseaching more into the natural/herbal approach to some of our dogs health and wellbeing issues. Does anyone know of a holistic/herbal Vet in Brisbane at all. We are on the North Side but are very happy to travel for the right caring and knowledgeable Vet. We are grateful for the support we have received from our regular Vet and have recommended him to others in this forum in the past though we are hungry for knowledge to give our Fur Babies, who are all so special to us, the absolute best care we can. Thank you in advance.

Despite all attempts we tragically lost our dear little girl Fairy tonight at 11 weeks and she is now crossing the Rainbow Bridge We hope that you are amongst the best of friends while you are waiting for us and Wiz and Astro and Wombat will look after you. Fairy was only in our lives 3 weeks today and was the most endearing little girl and the most beautiful and perfect Pom. Bye Fairy, we will never forget you and all our Poms are crying with us

Despite all attempts we tragically lost our dear little girl Fairy tonight and she is now crossing the Rainbow Bridge She was only in our lives 3 weeks today and was the most endearing little girl and the most beautiful and perfect Pom. Please please anyone with babies or expecting babies please take the most precautions you possibly can as the heartache we are going through is so shattering. This is no isolated event and litters are being affected all across the country so please be vigilant and keep your babies safe from this awful virus. Bye Fairy, we will never forget you and all our Poms are crying with us

When we say "all the other pups" we are not refering to our own but others Australia wide over a period of months from different litters/breeds. For some unknown reason, they are responding better to the SubQ. One of lifes mysteries . Also, we are in constant contact with a Pom breeder of 30 odd years, who has studied Veterinary Medicine and who has proven time and time again that Poms respond better to SubQ than IV. We have elected to go with the odds on this one.

Hi, we were back at the vets this morning and the antibiotic injection is definitely cephalexin with a brand name is rilexine, maybe it is new? The cephalexin tablets we are using are of the same brand name too. This morning he is also moving her on to trisoprim tablets (brand name of tribrissen) which we believe has some sulphur in it to now protect her against potential coccidia problem while her intestinal tract is susceptible even though none have shown up in a stool sample. She managed to survive the vital day 3 and now hopefully we can get something into her belly today. Our vet has suggested starting with raw egg as it has the highest digestible protein to add to the nutrients she has been getting from Nutrigel and VAM etc which they lack. Does anyone have other suggestions to try and ease back her digestion? We have had farex baby food suggested, any thoughts on that?

Thanks PAX but EVERY other puppy treated with IV has died. Only those SubQ'd have lived. She may be two weeks older now but is still half the size of her littermates as she was the runt of a litter of 7. Huge litter for a Pom I know and she was tubed and put on another bitch to help her survive in the beginning. We hope she makes it too, especially as she could have very well not even made it through her first days of life. I have to say though, runts rule!

Thanks for peoples thoughts and tips here as well as PM's, emails and calls. We thought we had lost her this morning with her temp down to 36, gums opaque and totally unresponsive. We gave her massive amounts (for a 650g puppy) of saline fluid and glucose subQ and orally and smoothered her gums with glucose. We palpated her all over for 30 mins and after another dose of fluids and more palpation decided to rejoin the world. It was amazing how she went so quickly downhill after only an hour before thinking how bright she was becoming. 10 hours on since she had the bad turn and she is still hanging in there. She has had a program of injectable Vitamin C and VAM, boiled liver juice, Nutrigel, Lectade, Metacam, Echinacea etc etc. If she pulls through we will let anyone know interested what we think did or didn't help. So far by going with SubQ fluids approach and not by IV she has lasted 36-48 hours more than those that have been down the IV path. We were determined not to hospitalise her as the little Pom needs her family around her and a reason to want to live. On the good side she has no diarrhoea and is urinating regularly but she is so so weak and we hope she can stick it out.

Do you have any in mind Ahona? We are open to all suggestions.

Thanks for the info. She is getting about 8ml saline + glucose subQ every 4-6 hours (using gum colour and skin pinch test as guide for sooner or later). It makes a reasonable lump but not so that there is a lot of pressure against the skin. She is peeing ok so kidneys are holding up. The Lectade mixed for her water bowl has glucose in to. The antibiotic being used is Cephalexin administed IM daily and we have tablets to give her orally as well. It treats GI infections and is apparently very safe whereby the potential for over dosages is low, eg try giving anything 1/8th of a 5mm tablet .....

Did she manage to save any? If so, how?

Of all the litters that have had this mystery virus there hasn't been any puppies survive using IV (to our knowledge), yet with the subQ approach there has been success so we are trying to go with the odds. Yes she has had samples and is definitely viral. Thank you for the gastric tube suggestion. We have discussed with our vet and he doesn't recommend as yet but will look at in 24 hours if she continues vomitting. At the moment he is reluctant to as worried it will aggravate vomiting and is sticking with Maxolon to help. She is getting 0.2ml of Nutrigel every 2 hours (she is only 650grams) and is keeping some down if we restrict any access to her water for 15mins afterwards. She is urinating freely at the moment but has not had any form of bowel movement for 24 hours.

It does sound familiar, could you please let us know the forum/thread?

We had a call from a very nice person last night who made us aware of a very widespread "unknown" virus with many litters being lost with these symptoms. Our vet is of the opinion that it is a mutate as you suggest and we are doing everything to boost her immunity that we can which we have been doing for over 2 weeks now hoping she ward it off but unfortunately it is now getting the better of her.

Hi, We recently got two new puppies & flew them up from Sydney. Within days the boy was ill and was taken to our Vet. Unfortunately, our regular Vet was not there and he was seen by a stand-in. She diagnosed Parvo although I questioned her diagnosis as he had recently had his first needle and they can test positve to the live vaccine. His syptoms were similar to Parvo with vomitting, diahorrea and lethargy. He never had the apparently unforgettable Parvo stench though & he was dead within 36 hours of first showing symtoms. Another Vet who has subsequently treated other littermates still in Sydney doesnt think it was Parvo although they died as well. Anyway, the other puppy we flew up is now showing the same symptoms as her brother after almost two weeks of waiting and watching her every move and even beginning to think we had avoided it. We are doing everything we can to help her fight it. She has been on Protexin, Vitamin C and Nutrigel every day (before she got sick). Today I took her to the Vet (she first gave us reason for concern last night) and instead of putting her on an IV drip we elected to SubQ her with fluids instead. She has been given antibiotics both injected and orally. We have also given her Vitamin C injections as some professionals believe in Vit C therapy working miracles. She is getting weaker though as she can not keep any food down, only tiny quantities of Nutrigel. She hasn't pooed (runny or otherwise) since this morning, probably because she has nothing in her tummy. Does anyone have any answers? Has anyone been through this before? Has anyones Vet come up with a logical explanation for inexplicable sicknesses? I am putting this out there in DOL land in the hope someone will have some answers.

LOL, that's where I found it!!! Were you able to get any from CSS? Even though they have Thornits down on their drop down selection list for manufacturers it come up "There are no products to list in this category."

Noticed you are from Brisbane Laffi....We got our last one from Redcliffe Produce. Is that near you? Any local produce should be able to get it in for you though. Pets on the Park is great too if you can't get to a produce store.

We use the powder too. I mix it into my Poms dinner (BARF) and they don't notice it. Our boy had a sensitve tummy but has had no problems since introducing the Protexin. Great stuff! They all get it now.

This is a good link that expands on the myth of mini/toy/teacup Poms http://www.teacuppoms.com/

One of our Poms had to have his retained canines taken out. He was about 7 months old and they were starting to make his adult canines grow crooked. We chose to have them removed because the bite is an important part of judging. He now has an almost perfect bite. We have another one who looks like going the same way. They get bones most days and her retained baby teeth are just not budging.