We Really Need An Experienced And Caring Vet In Sa For Our Little Old

[DogsHome]

Hello,

At one point in our lives, we’ve taken in unwanted or sick dogs and kept them with us ever since. Luckily, they were healthy most of their lives with us and most never needed a vet, but as each dog got old and ended up with age-related diseases we really began to notice differences in the quality of care across different clinics and vets. The most common thing we saw was a sense of inexperience and helplessness when it came to treating more difficult diseases and we ended up spending thousands of dollars and traveling thousands of kilometers across SA to find the right vet to treat these cases, meeting everyone from rude and money hungry to kind but “baffled” and unable to help. While we know that some diseases afflicting our dogs are incurable, when we see them getting up each day, going on with their lives and eating, drinking and interacting we see no reason to simply “give up” and have them put down once they’ve been diagnosed. Which brings me to our current sick dog:

He is a tiny 14 year old miniature fox terrier/Chihuahua cross who only weighs around 2 1/2 kilos. He was healthy his whole life, except for a persistent snort/sneeze that would show up for a few moments after barking or getting excited. Throughout his life, you could feel deep vibrations in his chest when holding him. He also had bad breath in the later years of his life and therefore got dental treatment under full anesthetic, but the vets never found a definitive cause for the bad breath which didn’t stop.

The last few months he mostly lost his ability to bark, releasing persistent hacking coughs instead, which he seems to use as his “bark.” This problem appeared very quickly, over a couple of days only, and by the time we got him to a vet he was making strong noises when breathing. The vet heard fluid in his chest, but his heart sounded healthy. He got a “Convenia” injection as well as diuretics which worked successfully overnight and he was back to his usual self very quickly. After about six weeks of daily treatment with diuretics, the strong noises returned. Repeat treatment was unsuccessful and using liquid “Clavulox” seemed to only have a mild effect. Even though the noises returned, the vet could not detect any more fluid. When picking him up, it is apparent that he has problems breathing, but on the ground, when there is no pressure on his chest, he can breathe – often not making any noises at all, especially when listening for strange sounds with his mouth closed. He seems to have problems when panting or breathing through the mouth and sometimes, when lying down. Eucalyptus oil seems to help his breathing a little but we are running out of ideas and he is still coughing/hacking.

Since he is the stubborn, headstrong little dog that he is, he refuses to “stay cool” and stop trying to bark, which only makes everything worse. Because he gets so wound up and has such strong breathing issues, the vet is not keen to anesthetize to see what is happening and neither are we. This leaves us with a vet who does not know what is wrong and medicine that doesn’t seem to work anymore. We suspect that the second and third “Convenia” injection was outdated, since we received outdated meds from him on more than one occasion. He refused to order a new batch of this medicine for our dog since he said it is too expensive and has a short shelf-life, even when we offered to pay for the entire bottle. Is there not a smaller, cheaper bottle of this medicine available? We stayed with this vet for so long because he was the only vet our dog ever “accepted,” but it is time to move on.

We don’t want to “shop around” for vets anymore because of our very mixed experiences and many vets being very clumsy in handling him, at one point even injuring him.

He was a very vocal, brash, bold and confident tiny, sweet doggie much of his life, chasing and killing flies and grasshoppers and taking on our big male dogs 20 times bigger than him. He still lives life to the full and sees the front yard as his domain so we still want to give him another chance.

Do you know of a good, reliable vet? What is your advice for us/our doggie?

Edited February 16, 2009 by DogsHome

[GotAnyBlacker]

I find your post hard to read. Perhaps put some breaks in the text?

My favourite vet is colonel light veterinary clinic and they are always professional and I have been to many other vets but none are as good. They're also quite reasonably priced compared to other vets I've been to.

[Parkeyre]

I love my vet here in Whyalla.

I've always been going to him for anything and he's been the best.

There are two other vets here, as well as a few within 100kms of us, but Mustafa has been by far the greater one for me.

[Pug Hugger]

I find your post hard to read. Perhaps put some breaks in the text?

My favourite vet is colonel light veterinary clinic and they are always professional and I have been to many other vets but none are as good. They're also quite reasonably priced compared to other vets I've been to.

We go to Colonel Light Gardens too. Dr Bloch is fantastic very gentle (not that my dogs need that!). Dr Zoe [someone] I forgot her surname is also good.

[Pug Hugger]

If you need true specialist care the Specialist Clinic in Norwood is very good - but quite exxy.

[Rappie]

It might be time for some more investigation instead of further medication. Older small breed dogs may begin to have problems with dynamic airway disease but the change in bark would also make me consider checking out his laryngeal function. I would also suggest some thoracic radiographs as a starting point.

[Weimlover]

I find your post hard to read. Perhaps put some breaks in the text?

My favourite vet is colonel light veterinary clinic and they are always professional and I have been to many other vets but none are as good. They're also quite reasonably priced compared to other vets I've been to.

Ditto My family have been going to them for over 20 years, I wouldn't go anywhere else