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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:06 pm Post subject: I'm a New Foster! Whee!

I am happy to announce that I have just become a first-time foster for the Labrador Retriever Rescue of florida. I am so excited! I have just acquired Ollie, a yellow lab mix... and he is very sick. He's got kennel cough, hip dysplaysia, and an inverted eye lid that will need surgery. He's also not fixed and NOT POTTY TRAINED! I've been giving him robitussin for his cough but he's still hacking terribly. I'm wondering if I can give him NyQuil. I've been trying to research and can't find anything saying "don't"... but I'm leery about the alcohol content. Is it ok to give it to him to help him sleep? He's restless. The robitussin doesn't make him sleepy and he hates it because it tastes icky...

Help?

Ginger
Ollie's Foster Mom

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:15 pm Post subject:

First of all, congrats on your new foster baby. Smile

Thank you for fostering.

Second of all, please read this. http://www.cah.com/library/kennekcough.html I would for certain take him to the vet to get him checked out. I have no idea at all what you're going through, though. Good luck with him and please keep us updated on his health.

Welcome to petfinder! Smile

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:08 am Post subject: Kennel Cough

He's been to the vet and is on antibiotics... I'm just trying to find a solution to let him sleep peacefully at night. We went to sleep at 11 and here it is 3:00am and he woke me up hacking coughing again... poor guy..

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:56 am Post subject:

Our vet told us to give Robitussin DM to help them sleep (calms the coughing...
In the case of pups, he said to use the infant version of plain Robitussin.

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:49 am Post subject:

Dont give the dog Nyquil. It has aceteminophin in it, which is poisonous to dogs.

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:48 am Post subject:

NO NYQUIL. You can't give a dog tylenol, and nyquil has it. Just wanted to make sure people know that.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:37 pm Post subject:

ok lil' sis welcome to petfinder...

now lets get down to the bisness.

please listen to the lddies and genteal men her as the grand majority are very helpfull.

you may wantto ask the rests of the questions in animal community or in pethealthcare..

as for ollie havign a few accidents as i told you on the phone . i know he's driving you nuts , but it sounds liek the same things tader was doign untill he got altered he hummped us , and marked , and was a holyy terrior for those foist 2 weeks till i could claim him as miine and get the altering done..

you can give him an eqaut or benidryl pill. /

if robutussin isn't working ..

also it might be worth gettign him a kong . and for his hairy houdininess of escapting his crate . ask your resceu about the airline crate . for when your not home ..

I'm hopeign BIBI and annie weren't too traumatised havign him mess up ther cat toys .. al though knowing annie she probly egged him on..

it will get better .

just please be paitent . and don't return him . he needs time to learn the rules .. noty every dog is jingles. infact few dogs are as good as jingles was we got so lucky with him ..

promise me you'll stick around a bit when i'm on my feet better i'll even put some money toward basic obeadiance for him if you have time to do a class.

kennel cough should clearup in about 8-14 days .. remeber he feels lousy. which i dought is helping his behaviour..

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 5:26 pm Post subject:

Hang in there with the potty training; it takes patience. I had a dog who's been been me for a couple of months decide the playroom was a good place to poop today...it happens.

I give Benadryl for my dog with allergies and it knocks her out nicely. I mix it with yogurt, egg, liver, and/or cottage cheese, and she slurps it right up!

Before you give any mediaction, please contact the veterinarian who has seen this dog and make sure that it will be safe to mix with whatever antibiotic he is on, and to help you get the correct dose.

Good luck to you and him. It sounds like he's going to be in for some major medical stuff. I hope it all goes well.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:20 pm Post subject:

gig just got back from the vet ..
they don't know what wrong with him , ecept that poor guy is very very sick..
they tolf her he is extremely congatious and it could be the dog flu..
hes been on about 5 different antibiotics since , he was dummped at the pound in june?.. he is on calvomo? now , and they told her to keep him crated except for poty.
and to keep an eye on him ..

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:41 pm Post subject:

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:17 pm Post subject: Ollie's vet visit

Well, here's the official Ollie update.

For the last 3 days I've had to keep him crated while I am not home and he'd been good- the first time I left him alone he crapped in his crate and.. well.. he didn't like that very much so now he won't dare do it anymore.

However, if I don't take him outside as soon as I take him from his crate he pees all over my brand new carpet... and I live in an apartment, so I am none too pleased.

Ollie's been diagnosed with Kennel Cough- or at least that's what they diagnosed him with LAST week. He has been taking about 500mg of Clavamox, and I have given him a child's dosage of Robitussin every 4-6 hours. It seems to have quieted his cough, but he's miserable. His nose runs a dark greenish-yellow liquid, and many of his coughs produce a viscous yellowy-white substance I can only assume is infectious bronchial mucous. Most of the time he swallows it back down but sometimes it comes up. (ever had bronchitis? I do right now. I know how he feels. Poor thing..)

Today I came home to find he'd gotten out of his crate, torn apart my garbage (all over the floor of my apartment..), chewed up my FAVORITE pair of shoes, knocked some shelving off the wall- breaking a couple of porcelain figurines that were irreplaceable, chewed up several of my cats' toys, and pee'd all over my living room carpet. (yeah,... the new one.)

I was quite livid about this and since we had to go to the vet anyway I threw him in the car and off we went.

The vet took a look at him today- he really is a beautiful dog- he's very big, has a coat that's golden retriever colored but short like a lab. He has a big head like a lab, lab ears, but he has HUGE feet (and he's three!)

Anyway, after telling him that 5 days of antibiotics has done nothing for Ollie's situation, and his cough is getting worse, it has been determined that he might NOT have Kennel Cough, and in fact it could be the highly contagious dog flu. This would be the first case in Hillsborough County, FL reported, if this is true. They want to rule out Phneumonia, because his lungs seem to be clear... which is odd enough that his cough is this bad but his lungs are fine.

Tomorrow I bring him back to the vet for a Transtracheal Wash (they sedate him, run water down into his lungs, swish it around, and rinse him out. Then they run a culture on whatever comes out.... wow... sometimes I wish someone would do that to me to get rid of all the bronchitis --I have a Potty Mouth-- in MY lungs!!), and then they'll do a couple of x-rays on him.

I have been instructed to take him off Robitussin until they can figure out what's causing his cough. He's been fairly quiet but now has a coughing fit every 15 minutes or so. It used to be every 45 to an hour.

Poor dog....

He's so contagious that anyone I know with a dog has to wash their hands/change their clothes after touching Ollie and before going near their dog. Same goes for me. If I'm going to a friend's house where there is a dog, I need to bring a change of clothes and wash my hands.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:57 pm Post subject:

Wow! Poor Ollie Shocked

I hope he has as speedy recovery. Bless you for taking him in and fixing him up in every way. Sorry to hear about your stuff he trashed.. I know how ya feel.. my Nitro trashes stuff every so often. Rolling Eyes

And she's a Houdini dog too.. I couldn't contain her the first few months either... We've worked on that and 'if' I have to contain her she's okay now. But for the most part she gets the run of the lower level while we are away. I just had to dog-proof a bit.

Get some Nature's Miracle for the carpet or some other enzymatic cleaner that will neutralize the odors so hopefully he won't continue to mark the same spots.

Best wishes for his health to improve.

Regards,
A/M

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:49 pm Post subject:

hugs ginger...

well wishes to ollie..

just hang in there

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:41 pm Post subject: Ollie Update 10/28

This morning the stuff coming out of his lungs that he coughed up was even more viscous and green than yesterday. He also wouldn't eat or drink and seemed sore, although jumped up into my SUV just fine when I said "let's go, honey"...

Just got back from the Vet- Ollie's been there all day today having his procedures done. I saw his chest x-rays... not good. His entire lower lung lobes are pretty much solid with infectious mucous, his bronchii are diseased and very inflamed and infected. He's got pneumonia, and he's not doing very good.

The vet decided to keep him AT LEAST over the weekend, possibly longer. He's on a fluid IV, being given antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. They're hoping that several days of being closely monitored and given medecine will clear this up. They won't give him back to me until he's stable.

Until then I'm disinfecting my house and throwing out all of his toys so he can't have a relapse when he comes home.

Poor thing... I knew fostering was tough work, but I never thought I'd be so heartbroken. Sad

If anyone wants to donate some new chew-toys for the cause, send me a message and I'll give you the address to mail it to... He likes rawhides, lamb-skin chewies, and furry things. (luckily, not my cats) ... I think he'd make a great duck hunting dog- because he wants to jump in the water after the ducks in my pond every time he sees them.. haha...

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:37 am Post subject:

Rawhides can be very dangerous to give to a dog. Raw marrow bones are much better for them!

I'll be hoping for a speedy recovery for the poor guy. If you need cheap toys for him to rip into , try goodwill. You can get little stuffed animals for a quarter or so. I like to get those for the puppies because it doesn't matter if they shred them or not; I just pick up the remains and toss them a new one!

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