puppy emergency!! plz calm me down

637 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by k9rider, Jun 20, 2007

female18-

Discussion Starter · Jun 19, 2007

We have a female jack russell puppy 4 months old. -shes our first dog.

For about the last 3 weeks, every morning and sometimes during the day, she has a session where shes been scooting around on her bottom on the carpet, as though shes trying to relieve some sort of itchiness.

I was told at a dog forum it was because her anal glands must be full and advised to try expressing them myself, looking if they were swollen, and to cut out all wet food. Shes had no wet food for about a week, her anus doesnt look swollen to me, i tried applying pressure in the correct area there and nothing came out. I just assumed with time, the dry food would sort it out.

Another symptom she has had for about 3 weeks on and off, some mornings she will refuse to eat any breakfast, even though her stomach is rumbling hungry. And she passes quite a lot of mucus from her anus. Then she seems to feel bad the rest of the morning and just sleeps. Then wakes up better and eats after lunch time.

This happened again this morning, only something else.......I noticed more mucus than usual coming out and she was in more discomfort dragging her butt around and trying to poop something out. So I had to follow her around cleaning up the mess as she went.

After a while, I noticed something hanging out her anus, it was a worm....I knew that immediately through common sense, but was extremely shocked as Ive never seen anything like that before.

: It was out her butt about an inch, and my gut instinct was to get it out of her immediately, so using tissue I gently slowly pulled it out of her. It was about 3 inches in length, and I flushed it down the toilet. It wasnt flat, but thin, and a whitish color.

I was trying not to panick but I was so freaked out and upset.

So has she had worms for the last 4 weeks since shes been scooting about and having mucus etc?

She had 'puppy worms' 7 weeks ago, when I took her to the vets for her vaccinations, her tummy was very bloated so the vet gave me worm treatment to squirt in her mouth for 3 days. I did that and her stomach wasnt bloated anymore so I guessed it worked. Vet gave me another supply of it to give her after 3 months (which is august). So how does she have worms again already? and are these ones different to the ones she had at 2 months old? because theres no tummy bloating this time and a worm actually came out -which never happened before.

I dont understand any of this....

:

She also had the flea treatment drops on her neck from the vets (i gave her it) yet shes had fleas again for the last week or so. And Im not sure but I thought the vet told me to give her flea treatment every month, but it has been 6 weeks so thats why? Should I be giving her flea treatment every 4 weeks? I was bathing her every week back then, so could that have ruined the effect of the flea drops because it got washed off her?

Ive been told online by a breeder that the fleas could have caused the worms, or the raw hide chews can give her worms, or the park I walk her in could give her worms as dog poop isnt cleaned up very much. Are any of these true? I dont know what to think, im lost and scared for my puppy.

So I have just given her a dose of the vet worm medicine, which is a 3 days course so I will give her it for the next 2 days also. But is that safe? As she had this medicine only 6 weeks ago and the vet said to worm her every 3 months? The doig breeder online told me its ok to give them more worm medicine as long as the last dose was over 4 weeks ago, is that true?

For the fleas, im buying some flea drops from the store today. -I no longer bath her every week, so hopefully they will be more effective than the vet ones.

Nightmare day! Sorry this is such a long post, im freaked out after seeing that worm, I feel sick and so bad. Please please help

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Quindin

· #2 · Jun 19, 2007

We too have a Jack Russell puppy - he is 7mos.

About 2 months ago he was just not feeling good. He just wanted to sleep in his crate, did not want to eat and was scooting his butt around on the ground when he got up. We took him to the vet, and they said he was badly constipated. They gave him some pain killer, and he cheered up right away, had a lot of water and then the day after pooped A LOT, so no more butt scooting. better.

Caspian has not had any worms - or at least none we have seen or affected his health, so I am not sure what worm symptoms are. We have been worming and given flea meds to him as per vet's advice since he came home, but it could be that one's dog is more prone to worms depending on where you live?

I don't think I read anything about vets on your post - have you taken your puppy to have her checked since she began getting sick? That would be what I would do at this point.

Hugs to you all - and your little Jack Russell

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female18-

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 19, 2007

Thanks very much. I know shes not constipated, she poops several times a day, and eats several times a day too. Her poop is usually softish, how im guessing it should be. It was too soft when she was eating wet food but on dry food it doesnt seem to be too soft or too hard. It can vary in color. What color should it be? Its dark brown, light brown, brown with black, green! (i think green sometimes because she loves to eat grass)

Shes very small because shes a miniature one. We do live where lots of people have dogs and walk in the same park they do on the grass and people dont pick up their dog poop much and leave chicken bones from kfc everywhere, shes chewed them but I try to keep her away. Im going to start walking her on the sidewalks instead because its cleaner.

I havent taken her to the vet since last time 6 weeks ago because of 2 reasons. 1 reason is this doesnt seem to be too serious as shes fine in herself most of the time, she eats, drinks, sleeps, plays. the 2nd reason is the vets is difficult for us to get to and we are on a low income so im worried about the expense. Ofcourse if it was really urgent I would take her but im trying to avoid it and sort it out myself if possible. If anyone could advise me on the worms especially, I would greatly appreciate it.

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3boobykins

· #4 · Jun 19, 2007

I'm not an expert--first-time dog owner, but you could treat her yourself with wormer. You can get it from a place like PetSmart, or the feed store. Based on our breeder's instructions, we dosed out puppy with Pulvex, which we bought online, shortly after he came home. You just mix it with the food.

I hope your poor pup feels better fast!

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Zamber

· #5 · Jun 19, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by female18-

She had 'puppy worms' 7 weeks ago, when I took her to the vets for her vaccinations, her tummy was very bloated so the vet gave me worm treatment to squirt in her mouth for 3 days. I did that and her stomach wasnt bloated anymore so I guessed it worked. Vet gave me another supply of it to give her after 3 months (which is august). So how does she have worms again already?

Is it possible that they are still working their way out of her system?

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lokidoki

· #6 · Jun 19, 2007

First, even the most experienced dog owner gets freaked out by worms. They are nasty. Being a person who cannot stand the sight of any worms (snakes being the worst)...I can relate.

Dragging their bottoms can be a sign of anal gland issues but is also found commonly in dogs with worms. They can also cause mucusy stools. You do not mention what kind of worms she had ~ just 'puppy worms'. There are lots of possible parasites puppies can have ~ and each can be gotten from different areas and in different ways.

Yes, fleas can cause worms ~ tapeworms. The life-cycle of a tapeworm is that the eggs have to be ingested by a flea and then the flea is eaten by the dog therefore infecting the dog. That is not the only way to get them...but the actual lifecycle of the egg.

As for flea treatments ~ if you bathed your puppy within 3 days of giving the treatment it could have weakened the application and caused it to last less amount of time. How dense is your yard where your puppy plays? Is there a lot of shade and wet areas? Some yards have more fleas than others. My yard is very sunny and doesn't have lots of shade...so my dogs don't have an issue with fleas. We use protection in the summer and fall months (but about every 45 days or so).

The last thing for the parasites ~ take your dog in and have a stool sample done so you know what parasites you are dealing with. Tapeworms are not killed by the same dewormer that kills other parasites. Also, do you have your puppy on hw prevention? HW preventative also helps keep away intestinal parasites.

Hope this info helps. Don't freak out ~ none of this is life threatening unless left untreated. Google is my friend when it comes to dog medical questions (if I don't want to bother my vet with the question).

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female18-

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 19, 2007

Thanks very much. I was just so shocked to see such a sight you know? Really freaked out and panicked.

Ive got her on flea and worm treatment from the vets right now.

Yes the grass she runs in is very wet most of the time, and she runs where many others dogs do too.

Ive looked on google images and im pretty sure the worm was a round worm. Im now going to check the vet worm treatment kills round worms too. I will get back to you.

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luv

· #8 · Jun 20, 2007

If you see a worm again put it in a small containter to take to the vet. Let them ID it. This will help ensure that your pup gets the proper treatment. I'll also second getting a stool sample for the vet. Know though that not all parasites can be detected in a stool sample.

I know $ is tight but a dog is a living being that needs proper health care, just like you do.

If your pup has a problem with it's anal glands and you dont know how to express them properly they can become infected. Now THAT is a major cost. Most groomers can also express anal glands for your pup.

A dog that skoots its butt on the ground has a health problem that needs to be fixed. This is not normal behavior. It's not life or death EVet serious. I would however get the dog into the normal vet as soon as possible.

-luv

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female18-

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 20, 2007

Thanks! I think she will be okay now. Shes on a 3 day course of vet worming medicine, which I started yesterday. This morning she only scooted twice for a very short time which is a big improvment already. And I gave her a flea tablet yesterday which is supposed to work in 15 minutes and have killed all fleas on her in 24 hours. I havent seen any in her fur today, but Im not too sure how often to give her a flea tablet. I know they cant keep them away permanently, but would one tablet a week be too often and it may not work anymore because her body got too used to it, so every other week? Or every month? I wouldnt let her go longer than 4 weeks without a tablet for fleas, because they pick them up everywhere outside, we live in a place with lots of dogs around.

And the worm treatment every 3 months unless she starts scooting around again or I see a worm, then give it her again immediately as long as her last dose of it was over 4 weeks ago right?

I have anxiety and because of seeing that worm yesterday I was totally freaked out and almost panicking....so my posts in here were a little over the top, im sorry about that

Thanks for all help.

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k9rider

· #10 · Jun 20, 2007

What kind of flea tablets are you giving her????

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