We had a bit of a crisis on Wednesday. Stoli hadn’t been feeling well all of Tuesday. She wasn’t going potty, eating, drinking, she was depressed and lethargic and all she wanted to do was sleep. So on Wednesday I took her to the vet to see what was going on. Unfortunately even though I called when they opened they couldn’t fit her in until 2:40. Initially we thought she was depressed and stressed by Dude but then we started thinking that maybe she had Parvo because her symptoms sounded similar and it’s common in puppies so we thought maybe Dude have given it to her.
We were at the vet for over 2 hours but finally they figured out what was wrong with her. She has a parasite that the vet thinks she got while we were in Virginia because it’s (the parasite) not common to Colorado. He thinks its been working its way through her system and has just now reached the large intestine (he saw it on the x-rays) and that’s why she’s feeling symptoms now. I don’t think the stomach is very hospitable for the larva to hatch. The vet said that the parasite being in her is similar to colitis in humans. He doesn’t know if it’s causing any blockage but he also saw gas pockets on her x-ray as well. They gave her subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids that have been slowly releasing fluids into her system. It’s not as fast as an IV but she would have had to stay at the vet overnight for that and I’m afraid we all would have been stressed out about that.
Now that Stoli’s home she’s on twice-daily antibiotics and once daily, Panacur, which is a powder, we have to hide in people food so she’ll take. We were originally given the liquid formula to put in dropper down her throat but she coughed most of that up so the powder is turning out to be the better option for her. The good news is she’s not vomiting or having diarrhea because those symptoms would indicate the parasite is causing more severe damage to her system. The vet wasn’t able to give an estimate as to how soon she’ll be feeling better but the Panacur she only gets for three days and the antibiotics for a week. She’s already feeling a little better. She still doesn’t want to eat or drink but is going just fine eating ham, turkey, and tuna and getting her water from the dropper that I squirt in her mouth. The vet recommended three cups a day and she went a little above that yesterday. As of right now, Stoli’s only had a cup of water, so I need to get some more fluids in her so she can flush that parasite out of her system faster.
I also posted more pictures in the gallery. They start on page 5.