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Fox Terrier/Jack Russell cross health problem
Hi everyone. My little 1 year and 6 months old dog has been ill on and off for the last year.
His symptoms are that he will suddenly become very lethargic and weak, eats and drinks very little, his body will shake occasionally like hes shivering. He vomits and sometimes he has diarhhea and a slightly warm belly.
Sometimes he's fine for months and then it will hit him suddenly. We cant see any sign of what might bring this on. There have been times when he's falling sick after a very busy day and also when he hasnt been out for a day or two. Everytime this happens we have to take him to the community vet and they put him on a drip to replace his fluids and he comes home the next day back to normal.
They have no idea why it keeps reoccuring. We cannot afford to take him to another vet. The one we go to runs on donations and they let us volunteer to help pay back.
We have him on a plain diet with only kibble. We've tried 4-5 different dry foods and he's been sick on them all. he's been on his current food for about 5 months. The only unusual thing he does is he will bite the fur off his back legs every day. Even when we try to discourage this behaviour he will always do it when hes alone. I'm not sure if this is related.
If anyone has any idea what this may be i'd be very grateful for your opinion. It breaks my heart to see him so sick every few weeks and i worry that one time he wont get better.
His symptoms are that he will suddenly become very lethargic and weak, eats and drinks very little, his body will shake occasionally like hes shivering. He vomits and sometimes he has diarhhea and a slightly warm belly.
Sometimes he's fine for months and then it will hit him suddenly. We cant see any sign of what might bring this on. There have been times when he's falling sick after a very busy day and also when he hasnt been out for a day or two. Everytime this happens we have to take him to the community vet and they put him on a drip to replace his fluids and he comes home the next day back to normal.
They have no idea why it keeps reoccuring. We cannot afford to take him to another vet. The one we go to runs on donations and they let us volunteer to help pay back.
We have him on a plain diet with only kibble. We've tried 4-5 different dry foods and he's been sick on them all. he's been on his current food for about 5 months. The only unusual thing he does is he will bite the fur off his back legs every day. Even when we try to discourage this behaviour he will always do it when hes alone. I'm not sure if this is related.
If anyone has any idea what this may be i'd be very grateful for your opinion. It breaks my heart to see him so sick every few weeks and i worry that one time he wont get better.
Mt friend has a 9 year old Jack Russell / Fox Terrier Cross female dog that now has Canine Diabetes and requires a needle twice daily. She puts up a great fight so wondering how this can solved. Is there any other method of giving her the medicine or something else rather than a needle.
She gets a morning shot of 6 units and another shot of 5 units in the afternoon. Very hard to give to her and getting worse each day,
Anybody have this problem? any other medicine she could use?
Thanks for any help.
She gets a morning shot of 6 units and another shot of 5 units in the afternoon. Very hard to give to her and getting worse each day,
Anybody have this problem? any other medicine she could use?
Thanks for any help.
Just an update the vets put him on "trim80" tablets 3 days ago. Day 1 when we got him home he was at his weakest and all he did was sleep and occasionally drink water. Then yesterday morning he got up as if nothing was ever wrong. He was back to his usual self. After 4 days of no food we finally got him to eat some white fish fillet and cooked chicken(vets recommendation)
We're going to follow vets advice for 2 weeks and finish his antibiotic course. and keep to only his kibble and chicken.fish. After that i think we'll seriously look at varying his diet and possibly adding in some probiotics.
regarding the fur chewing he does it every day. We thought it may be air fresheners etc but no idea what causes it. Also he did his first poo today as usual when hes sick it was wet and tarry with no real substance. It was a normal looking brown colour. I'll keep updated with his condition thanks for all the help and suggestions
We're going to follow vets advice for 2 weeks and finish his antibiotic course. and keep to only his kibble and chicken.fish. After that i think we'll seriously look at varying his diet and possibly adding in some probiotics.
regarding the fur chewing he does it every day. We thought it may be air fresheners etc but no idea what causes it. Also he did his first poo today as usual when hes sick it was wet and tarry with no real substance. It was a normal looking brown colour. I'll keep updated with his condition thanks for all the help and suggestions
What does his poop look like when he has one of these episodes? More than likely, it's the KIBBLE causing all his problems........Have you tried incorporating a good wet food as part of his meal???
Please look at dogfoodadvisor.com and make sure the food your feeding is not causing his problems.......Karla
Please look at dogfoodadvisor.com and make sure the food your feeding is not causing his problems.......Karla
JUST FOUND THIS ARTICLE TO CONFIRM WHAT WE ARE SAYING:
"Dog chewing on paws
Yeast infections cause dogs to lick their paws
Dogs licking paws or chewing paws can be signs of a yeast infection. Your dog may also have ear issues, stinky skin, weight issues. And, because a diet that is loaded with grains/carbs/fillers actually changes your pet’s pH, that paw licking (saliva) can cause the fur to actually turn pink. This is also true for dogs that have red, pink or brown eye/face staining as well. When a dog licks his paws constantly it is a strong sign you need to improve your dog’s food.
How to stop dog licking paws?
Paw licking in dogs is NOT a “bad habit” or “boredom” it is a symptom of a systemic problem that is corrected through changing and improving your dog’s food. Changing your dog’s food from carbohydrate based to a meat based dog food. It is simple, really.
"Dog chewing on paws
Yeast infections cause dogs to lick their paws
Dogs licking paws or chewing paws can be signs of a yeast infection. Your dog may also have ear issues, stinky skin, weight issues. And, because a diet that is loaded with grains/carbs/fillers actually changes your pet’s pH, that paw licking (saliva) can cause the fur to actually turn pink. This is also true for dogs that have red, pink or brown eye/face staining as well. When a dog licks his paws constantly it is a strong sign you need to improve your dog’s food.
How to stop dog licking paws?
Paw licking in dogs is NOT a “bad habit” or “boredom” it is a symptom of a systemic problem that is corrected through changing and improving your dog’s food. Changing your dog’s food from carbohydrate based to a meat based dog food. It is simple, really.
I believe that Jerry is correct. It sounds like a food allergy. When the dog shivers like that, they are either in pain, or nauseous, (other then scared or cold). He is only a year and a half old. If he is feeling better on an IV that means he is not eating there and the fluids will build his strength for a day or so. You need to monitor all of his food, or outdoor grass eating intake. Try to be consistent. Are you positive that there is no poison on the lawn where you walk him? Try giving him half a pepcid when he is nauseous. There are many homeopathic remedies that will help with digestion as well.
He also seems stressed, as he is biting the fur on his legs. Cut the hair short there and try to find out what stresses him. Does he only do it when you're not home?
I think Jerry is correct in suggesting the probiotics.
He also seems stressed, as he is biting the fur on his legs. Cut the hair short there and try to find out what stresses him. Does he only do it when you're not home?
I think Jerry is correct in suggesting the probiotics.
Thanks for the reply. I forgot to mention that occasionly when hes sick the vet asked us to put him on a bland food diet. which usually consists of boiled rice, white fish, scrambled eggs. Apart from that its just plain dry food. I'll see about maybe varying his diet to make sure he gets everything he needs. We're in the uk but i'll ask the vet tomorrow about that tablet to see if it may help.
Sorry to read of the suffering...the problem sounds to me like food/allergy problems.
On the dehydration issue, a dog feed only (or more than 50%) of its diet on dry kibble could suffer if it doesn't drink a lot of water. Also, dry food is missing some of the nutrients found in wet/canned food. The kibble is baked and this "kills" some of the good "stuff". Grains are also often a source of problems, I always feed Westie Terrier a Grain Free kibble and add a portion of a can of canned/wet food. He is a good water drinker too, and still has the feet problem you mention.
As for airborne allergies some people, not me, have had luck giving their dog an antihistamine. In the USA a Benadryl (or generic store brand version) has been successfully used. I'd start with one tablet a day - here is where wet food is nice the pill can be mixed into the food.. or if you put water in the kibble that too can help get the pill down.
Interesting on the UK experience with getting vet help. I wondered if the UK health system included some support for pets.. seems not, but the volunteer work to help offset the cost of care wonderful and that is something that may exist in the USA but I do not know of any such arrangements.
The foot chewing can be very hard to beat... the vet can put our dog on steroids and he'll quit and his feet/legs recover in days. But he can't be kept on that kind of strong medicine. It will eventually destroy him, I believe.
Our Westie breed is known to been sensitive and prone to Yeast infection and we use a special shampoo too... alll helps but sadly I don't have anything I can point to that works... yes we add probiotics too, that is something that could help you dogs digestive issues/problems. I was going to mention this earlier but my rambling got me off track, the probiotics idea goes with the food/digestive issue more than the feet licking/biting.
On the dehydration issue, a dog feed only (or more than 50%) of its diet on dry kibble could suffer if it doesn't drink a lot of water. Also, dry food is missing some of the nutrients found in wet/canned food. The kibble is baked and this "kills" some of the good "stuff". Grains are also often a source of problems, I always feed Westie Terrier a Grain Free kibble and add a portion of a can of canned/wet food. He is a good water drinker too, and still has the feet problem you mention.
As for airborne allergies some people, not me, have had luck giving their dog an antihistamine. In the USA a Benadryl (or generic store brand version) has been successfully used. I'd start with one tablet a day - here is where wet food is nice the pill can be mixed into the food.. or if you put water in the kibble that too can help get the pill down.
Interesting on the UK experience with getting vet help. I wondered if the UK health system included some support for pets.. seems not, but the volunteer work to help offset the cost of care wonderful and that is something that may exist in the USA but I do not know of any such arrangements.
The foot chewing can be very hard to beat... the vet can put our dog on steroids and he'll quit and his feet/legs recover in days. But he can't be kept on that kind of strong medicine. It will eventually destroy him, I believe.
Our Westie breed is known to been sensitive and prone to Yeast infection and we use a special shampoo too... alll helps but sadly I don't have anything I can point to that works... yes we add probiotics too, that is something that could help you dogs digestive issues/problems. I was going to mention this earlier but my rambling got me off track, the probiotics idea goes with the food/digestive issue more than the feet licking/biting.
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