It isn't funny or light, but I dunno where else it goes. . .

Ok, so, my little puppy (. . . Ok, 7 year old pure-bred Boxer, but still my puppy!) recently got diagnosed with Lyme Disease, that disease that you get from, I think, deer ticks and the like.

For the past few days, ever since she's been on her antibiotics, she is a literal faucet of, well. . . Doggie digestion. (She at least has a pattern: If mom is not home, vomit. If false, don't vomit. Else, if 1 AM, and Shaun is awake, vomit. If false, vomit anyway.)

Mom has been giving her breakfasts of chicken and rice, cause she was told that helps settle a dog's stomach a bit. I've been giving her cold water every few hours, hoping that helps as well. But still, she throws up. She actually did it again 20 minutes ago -- two times, to be exact -- but luckily, she only threw up outside. I caught her this time.

Has anyone had an animal, preferably a dog, with Lyme Disease? If you have, do you have any tips on how to settle her stomach? Either she is drooling all the time, leaving stains on the carpet, or she's vomiting around every corner. . . Sometimes immediately after eating her dinner (Like what happened this afternoon).

I hate seeing her like this, so if there's any help you guys maybe have. . . I'd love to hear it, please.

-Shaun/Deriaz/Bulwark

Created a new forum area for you and moved the post....

Well the good news is that the antibiotics should cure her, or help.

The bad news is, humans can get it.

A little I found:

http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0043.htm

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/lyme.aspx

I don't know how sensitive you are, but the second link has some pictures of someone who has it on their arm.

In any case it's caused by tics, you're in a moderate risk area according to some wack-job website and unfortunately my scant jaunt through Google didn't come up with much suggesting that vomiting was a normal reaction.

I don't know if you have, but I'd suggest talking to the vet about it, maybe it's an allergic reaction?

I'm not a doctor, I just play one on the intarwebs.

Ive done about an hours research hitting a variety of different sites that have anything about Lyme disease including the CDC site. Nothing that I have been able to find links digestive problems with lyme disease. Aches, pains, heart troubles and rashes yes. Not puking.

However some antiboitics are known to cause serious reactions, vomitting and diahrea among them. I would suggest giving your vet a call and let him/her know what his reactions are, ask if there is something (ie doggie gravol) that you can give him. That way you can get a response as to whether this is a normal side effect/reaction to the medication or not, and also letting the vet know, in case he may want to change the medication that the pup is on.

My heart goes out to you bro. Hope the little guy gets better soon

If you cant get a clear answer from your vet.. I will try to ask my sister. She is a vet tech and works with three different vet offices. Maybe one of them might be able to offer up an idea. I know when my collie retriever mix had a bad set of vomiting and the d word, my sister recommended giving the dog Immodium.. it works just like it does for people.. but I think she said only to give her half a tab of it.. But I would verify with your vet first.. just to give you a second opinion.

Its always painful when any loved one is sick and you dont know what to do to help them.. <hugs for you and yours>

*hugs* Sorry to hear that, and I hope she improves soon.

Apart from asking your vet and trawling the internet, the only other suggestion I can offer is to try putting her food bowl on a stool for her. My parents' dog had a problem where she couldn't keep her food down, and we had to feed her like this to help the process. It just means that the dog has to put her feet up on something while eating, so that the food 'goes down' easier than if she were bending over a bowl. I don't know if it would help in your pup's case, since our dog's problem was with her throat, but it may be worth a try. Also perhaps try feeding little and often, and see if she can keep that down easier?

Sorry, I don't know what else to suggest. Just give her lots of love, and don't make her feel bad for puking everywhere when she can't help it. Good luck... *more hugs*

Luckily, the sun is my enemy () and I don't go outside much, and I know I can't catch it from the puppy, so no worries there.

When my mom woke up last night, before I went to bed, I told her about Cinnamon (The dog's name, that is) puking outside. I think she took her in this morning while I was asleep, but I'm not sure. Either way, I'll relay both ideas about the Immodium and the stool eating to my mom. Maybe she can ask the vet if those help.

Thanks, guys.

-D

How's the doggie doing.. been thinking alot about it this week

I knew I was forgetting to update something; especially after Mirae asked me as well.

Cinny's doing pretty good. . . She's still throwing up, but she doesn't do it as often. Example: Today, she started drooling like she was about to hurl, but after 25 minutes of nothing, she was ok. . . My Ramen was cold, though. ;P

She's also been found up on furniture she's not supposed to be on. Which means her joints are ok.

She's been refusing to eat lately, though. . . 'Course, like Mirae said to me, that's probably just her stomach not liking the anti-biotics.

All-in-all, I'd say she's doing a little better. Not a huge amount, but slowly getting there.

-D

Yippie.. just keep an eye on her fluids.. make sure she at least is trying to drink..dry heaves are the worst for any species I think the food will come when she wants to eat I think.. <hugs>

Jaynna wrote:

Yippie.. just keep an eye on her fluids.. make sure she at least is trying to drink..dry heaves are the worst for any species I think the food will come when she wants to eat I think.. <hugs>

Yupyup. Been giving her cold water every few hours, just to be on the safe side. She seems to like that.

-D

Oh man. I am so sorry. I don't have any info that was not relayed to you already but I can just wish for the getting better. My dog passed away in October and yeah. I know how it can be. Good luck.

So, another little update:

Turns out that Cinny isn't having a reaction to her meds. The vets think that the disease did something to the part of her head that controls nausea and all that. So, if she eats, or she just does something weird. . . It triggers, and the vomit just comes. So they're giving her meds to try and stop that part of her head from going off. (Ironic statement: Cinny threw up 20 minutes after taking her new meds. Lol. [Not that they don't work; they do. Just bad timing on our part. XD])

Also, Mirae, good call: Mom took Cinny to the vet again today, and they also think that something may be wrong with the joints in her; that's why sh'es not eating. It hurts her to bend down and eat. So, the vet said to try putting it on a stool. . . Unfortunately, Mom tried that, and Cinny just looked at me and her like, "I'm not doing that. Today's not backwards day. Put my food on the ground." Heh. . .

She's at least still eating a little more, which is a good thing, though.

-D

At least what's wrong with her is starting to come to light, which is good... now you just have to figure out how to control it!

As for the stool - if that doesn't work, try looking around pet stores for a tall bowl. I've seen them in catalogues but I don't remember where, although a swift googling came up with several types of 'elevated feeder' in a huge variety of prices! The ones I saw before were kind of like a regular stainless steel bowl but were up to a couple of feet in height for various sized dogs. The ones my search just pulled up are mostly on stands. (There was also something called a 'Big Dog Feeder' by a company named Our Pets, which was like a double bowl on legs.)

Perhaps Cinny might eat from something like that, since she wouldn't have to actually put her feet up on something, it just raises the bowl to the right height so she doesn't need to bend her head. Look around and see what you can find...

Good luck with that, and I'm glad that things are improving!

*hugs*

Well, um. . . I guess I'll just be blunt in this update. Cause sugar coating it isn't helping at all.

I woke up, went upstairs, and found vomit all over Mom's favorite chair. And a puddle of blood and vomit in my room. Mom rushed home from work immediately, she's been at the vet for an hour and a half. Cinny's being put to sleep. There's nothing else we can do for her. She refuses to eat, she can't stop vomiting, each breath has become a wheeze for her. . .

Gonna take some time to get used to, especially now that when I'm "home alone", I'm really all alone. >> No one to say goodbye to when I leave for school this year. No one at the door, waiting for me when I get home. No one at the stairs when I wake up in the mornings. No one to lie next to when I'm out watching TV with the family. . .

I don't know what else to say. *Shrugs.*

-Deriaz






"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy, when skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Till you take my sunshine away."

R.I.P. Cinny.

<Hugs hun.. and more hugs..>

Mom just got home from the vet, so I guess I have a little more to say.

I thought Cinny was looking a little "bigger" for some reason. Turned out her stomach and everything was filled with blood, and that's why she was having problems breathing. The vets think it might have been cancer, but either way, she's being cremated.

*Hugs back.*

-Deriaz

Oh, Der...

*huge great hugs*

I'm so sorry. If it's any consolation at all, this is one way that we're kinder to animals than we are to people. At least she'll be at peace now.

Give yourself plenty of time to deal with this, and don't expect too much of yourself too soon - she was a member of the family just like everyone else.

You know where to find me if you need to talk.

*more hugs*

I am sorry this happened to you. We had to put our dog of 12 years old to sleep not so long ago. It was a long time before I could look at another dog again. My wife who was there when they put him to sleep was pretty broke up too.

A year later we got a new puppy that follows her everywhere and is the light of our lives. It may not seem so, but it does get better.

Each of these things that are taken away from you, can be (not replaced but) exchanged with something wonderful. If you let it...

Big hugs to you friend. Let us know if we can help.

-Rex

I just keep learning more. Heh.

Apparently, Boxers are susceptible to cancer, and that's why they think it was cancer now instead of Lyme Disease. She probably had both at once, though, because they were 100% sure she had Lyme Disease at the start.

She was wheezing this morning, not because of the blood in her stomach, but because one lung was filled with blood. Like, 50% filled. The other? It had collapsed. There was so much excess blood around in her that when the vets took an x-ray, her heart wasn't even visible in it -- there was that much blood swimming around in her. Her heart was still pumping. . . I don't doubt that 80% of it wasn't even in her veins.

What's even worse is she was only 7 years old. Her birthday was in less than a month. Youngest dog I've ever had. . . Blackie, a black Chinese Pug, died around 14 years of age. Freckles, a tiny Boston Terrier, made it to about 12 (She had complications due to Cinny. . . Cinny is, or rather, was rather protective of Mom. Almost ripped apart Freckles. ). To have a dog that only made it to 7 is. . . Awkward. But I know that some day later on in life, I'm definitely getting another Boxer. >> Maybe name her Cinnamon the Second. Heh.

Thank you all for the support. *Hugs.*

-Deriaz

Its so hard.. you develope a loving relationship with an animal or person and when disease strikes.. tis heartbreaking. We had adopted an older dog, Darla, from a family who lost their father to cancer. The wife just couldnt deal with having the dog around anymore as it reminded her too much of her husband. 2 years later, we were putting Darla to sleep from complications due to liver cancer.. <smiles saddly when she remembers the collie/retriever mix>

and you can grow attached to animals in a split second too..

Saturday morning my husband heard what he thought was cats fighting in the lot next door.. when it went on a bit too long, he looked over the fence and much to his suprise he saw two dogs (there was not barking sounds..) attacking a cat. He managed to chase them away, and wrap up the kitty in a towel, and we put her in one of our spare carriers, while waiting for animal control to get here. I wanted to hold the poor thing so bad, but not sure if it was a stray or someones outdoor kitty, it was not wise. But my heart bled for her. When the animal control gentleman got here, she had saddly passed away. The only good note is.. that the woman that owned the dogs got ticketed for them running loose.. I just hope there is not a family out there missing their kitty..

I have had so many animals in my life and continue to do so.. but when they pass.. a bit of me goes with them.. I just hope there is enough to go around..

Hugs again to you and your family.. warm thoughts to you all.. <smiles.. and hugs again>

*hugs* to you from me to bro.