I'm worried about Teddy

[KanoasDestiny]

Tomorrow makes two weeks that something just hasn't been right. My husband had opened a new can of dog food and the next morning Teddy had the runs. We weren't sure if it was the dog food, and gave it to him another night. Same thing the next morning. So we stopped giving him the moist dog food. Since then, he has had mucus in his stools and they have went from a darker brown to a lighter brown. We stopped giving him human food as well (he usually got a bite or two of what we ate for dinner) as that didn't seem to settle with his stomach very well either. He is only eating dry dog food now, and the stools will be firm after he eats, but as he goes longer without food through out the night (he sleeps in a carrier), his stools become more loose and by morning time, there's a lot of mucus. He's went from going twice a day, to five or six times, and he has been waking us up in the middle of the night because he has to "go".

He has a vet appointment today at 2:00 but I'm trying to brace myself for whatever it could be. I took a fresh stool sample in this morning and when I handed it to the vet assistant, she said "That's a lot of mucus." We would have taken him in sooner, but we have been trying to eliminate possible reasons. He hasn't lost or gained any weight, and his personality is exactly the same. You'd never know something was wrong if you didn't see the changes in his pottying.

I'm so scared it's going to be bad news.

 

[Hosscrazy]

Sorry your little guy isn't feeling well - glad you're taking him to the vet to get him checked out! Just a thought...a few years ago my dog developed runny, mucousy stools and I brought a sample into my vet to be tested...turned out she picked up hookworm! I take her hiking quite a bit and they thought she probably picked it up somewhere along the trails. Easy fix - hope your little Teddy feels better soon!

Liz R.

 

[Miniv]

Your vet I am sure will come up with the problem.........It seems his digestive tract is upset - possibly from something he ate that you don't know about? The mucus indicates an infection going on there......

You may be advised to feed Teddy a chicken and rice meal for a few days.....plus, giving him an antibiotic.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I sure hope that it's something easily fixed! He's such a special little guy. I've been researching since I posted and so far, I've come up with possible coccidia, giardia, parasites or colitis. I think most of those can be brought on by stress and this guy is a huge stresser. He loves to be with us every second, and when we leave for work or to go shopping, he has to stay home. My mom lives next door to us and says he whines the whole time we're gone.

I just want the little guy to be ok.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

We just got home with Teddy and the vet said that he doesn't have coccidia or parasites/worms. They couldn't tell for sure on the giardia. So as of now, they don't know what's wrong with him but they did give him antibiotics and a special diet for a few days. If it doesn't work, then they'll need another stool sample to send out to a lab for better analysis. I REALLY hope it works!

Poor Teddy does not like the vet! First time they met, the vet squeezed his anal glands and Teddy tried to bite him. (He now has to wear a muzzle everytime.) This time, as soon as the vet walked in, Teddy started growling. He never growls at people, so apparently, he remembered their last encounter. As the vet tried to listen to his heart, an assistant helped hold him and Teddy's glands went off. Not sure what the anal gland is or how it works, but it sure doesn't smell pleasant.

Here's the big mean dog...

 

[Katiean]

My little 1 3/4lb yorkie thinks she is the boss of everything. She used to sleep with my mom when she worked a regular swing schedule. Since my moms work has changed Bea won't sleep with her and stands around me and cries. Well, she worked herself into an ulcer. She is 12 years old and doing much better since the ulcer meds were started.

Bea is the one that the 4lb poodle thinks she has to protect.

 

[Minimor]

How is Teddy doing? Has the special food and/or the antibiotics made any difference to him? I sure hope he is feeling better.

He's a cute little guy--obviously a big tough mean fellow in his own mind

 

[KanoasDestiny]

He is HATING the special diet. The first two days he was extremely happy to be on a moist food only diet (he hadn't had any for over a week while we were eliminating possibilities). I don't know if anyone remembers but he was BEYOND picky when he first came here and refused to eat almost everything. Well, he's been on the special diet since Thursday and last night he decided to go on strike. He refused to eat dinner and refused to eat breakfast this morning too. Instead, he'd try to sneak back to the cat's dry food. I smartened up pretty quickly to prevent that from happening again. Lol. Anyways, after starving for nearly 24 hours, he finally decided that eating the food was better than starving, and he ate lunch and dinner. Haha. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

As for if the diet/meds are working...we haven't been woken up during the night since last Wednesday night (his appointment was Thursday). I think he's a bit constipated, only going once a day sometimes. Maybe that's what was intended? But so far, no mucus and it looks like it's pretty much back to normal, as far as consistancy and color goes. I hope to add a bit of dry food back into his diet tomorrow, if he's lucky. I'm scared it might cause the problems again though.

 

[Miniv]

No mucus is GOOD......... Ask the vet if cooking him some rice and chicken as an alternative with what they've given you is okay.....