Trying to understand

[skaterchick0501]

I had a yorkshire terrier for 17 days, I bought him from a Petland (first mistake) the day after I bought him, I took him to the vet for a check up, just to make sure everything was ok.  They said that he had some type of bacteria, and gave him medicine.  Then 2 days later, I took him back, because he was coughing and acting wierd.  They gave him medicine for Bordetella.  Then he seemed like he was doing a little better, but not great.  Then on day 17, he was fine. and eating, we gave him a bath, and after his bath, we went to bed.  He had drank some of the bathwater, but I wasn't concerned, until he woke  up with a LOUD yelp.  I woke up, but he seemed ok and went back to bed.  This happened 2 more times, and I called the emergency vet.  They said not to worry and that he probably had an upset stomach from drinking the bath water.  just a few hours later, I woke up and he was really lethargic, and blood was comming out of his nose.  We took him to the emergency vet, but by the time we got there, he was gone.  We had a necropsy done on him, and they said that he had serosanguineous fluid in his thoracic cavity.  and that basicly he had blood and fluid in his lungs and around his heart.  I got another puppy a few weeks later (one I already had paid for before getting the first puppy) not from the same place but from a breeder, one week to the day after I got the second puppy, she passed away, she hadn't been eating, and she seemed out of it, I took her to the vet and they said that she had pneumonia, and fluid in her lungs and around her heart.  Then only a few weeks later my bird died.  I am wondering if this is all a coincedence, or if there could be something in my house or something I could have done differently.  I have 3 cats and want to make certain that they will be ok.  Some one please help me understand!

[sassy1192]

I have a 3 lb yorkie with kennel cough and was told by vet to give her 5cc of robitussin and antibiotic I was wonderin is that safe

[skaterchick0501]

Thanks for all of your comments, they helped a lot.  I wanted to let you all know that since then, I have purchased yet another puppy, my husband thought it would be good for the both of us.  She was a little bit older and she is a Maltesse.  Her name is Princess Fiona, she is healthy and WONDERFUL! I am so glad I didn't give up on dogs! Thanks again!!

[Ghilly]

It doesn't have to be cold in your house for the freezing weather outside to be dangerous to birds living indoors.  Drafts are deadly to birds, and depending upon how the air currents move around your house, she could have caught a draft during the opening and closing of the door.

There are several other possibilities.  Birds have extremely high metabolisms.  They need fresh seed every day, and going for 24 hours without food can kill a small bird like a budgie (parakeet).  Do you have non-stick cookware?  If non-stick cookware is allowed to heat up too much, it will give off fumes that are deadly to birds.  Is there a possibility that someone put something on the stove and let it cook for a long time at a high temperature?  Aerosol air fresheners and some scented candles are toxic to birds, as are many cleaning agents.  Are any of these things a possibility that you are aware of?

Both of your puppies were extremely tiny.  I wish I could offer you more to go on, but right now I am at a loss as to what it could have been.  How long have you had your kitties and how old are they?

Ghilly

[Jaybay]

Dumb question: since you live in frozen Minnesota, were your puppies kept warm enough?  They need to be kept at about 85 degrees until they're fully weaned or they can't digest food.  Obviously that doesn't tie in with the bird, but it's something to consider anyway.

I wonder if you could hit up the EPA to do a toxicology study on your home?  I know they get called in for such things in cases of human illness, but that's about all I know about their operations.  I can't hurt to ask.  You could start with a simple carbon monoxide sensor on your own to at least rule that out.  How long have you lived in your current home?  Have you had any major work done in that time?  I'd sure like to rule out environmental toxicity before getting any more pets, and as you say, you've got kitties to worry about too.

Your story is one of the saddest I've read in a long time.  I'm so very sorry.

[skaterchick0501]

Oh, and P.S. The second puppie was a Malteese - Yorkie Mix.  They did say that her blood sugar was low, but not dangerously low, and we had been force feeding her soft food, so she had been eating, just not very much.  Both of my puppies weighed under 2 lbs.  (1 lb 14 oz and 1 lb 6 oz)

[skaterchick0501]

Hey, Thanks for getting back to me.  It was a parakeet, she was a female, We only got her a few months before the puppies, so she was still very little.  Our cage is on a shelf in the corner of the room, too high for my cats or my puppies to get to.  We live in Minnesota, and it is cold here, but not in our house.

[suzi-q]

I am so so sorry for your losses.  It must be so very hard.  I don't have any anwers, but I want you to know how sorry I am that you have gone through all of this.  I hope that everything works out for you.

[Ghilly]

You poor thing!  What an awful couple of months you have had!  My condolences on your losses!

Although I hate to put it this way, the puppy you got from Petland probably didn't stand a chance right from the start.  It is not uncommon at ALL for puppies from these types of places to have numerous health problems, and it is all too common for them to die, or to have to be put to sleep due to the severity of their illnesses.

You had said that the second puppy hadn't been eating.  Was she a Yorkie also?  If so, Yorkies are EXTREMELY tiny puppies, and not eating for even one day could cause a drop in blood sugar.  If she had gone a couple of days without eating, it definitely could have killed her.  It would not have been possible for her to have starved to death in a couple of days, but when a puppy is being weaned from its mother, its system is not yet totally "in gear" in terms of being on its own.  If it goes longer than a few hours without eating, there is a dramatic drop in blood sugar.  Every organ in the body needs glucose to function.  If the body's glucose drops too low, everything simply shuts down and the animal dies.  In a puppy, this could definitely happen within a matter of a couple of days.  It's entirely possible that that's what happened with the puppy from the breeder.

What type of bird did you have?  How old was it?  Was it a male or a female?  Where was its cage located in your home?  What part of the country do you live in?

I will reserve making any comments about the situation as a whole until I have the information on the bird, the reason being that although it was monstrously bad luck for you, under the circumstances, the deaths of the two puppies are completely explainable.  Depending on the bird's circumstances, that may or may not tie everything in together.  I will wait until you post back.

Ghilly