Dying Daschund! Help please!

jhulse

Hello. Here's the story of my gf's 6 year old female dachshund, named Caliopi. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Caliopi has been sick for a little over a month now. The symptoms started out with diarrhea and then also vomiting. Then she stopped eating, and became lethargic. After about 3 or 4 days we took her to a vet. She's always been a small doxin. Weighing about 9 lbs. At the first vet's office they did blood work and took a couple xrays and didn't know what to do with her, so they referred her to a specialist emergency vet clinic right away.

There they kept her over night on iv fluids, and did a ultrasound on her. They said there was a possibility that she has intussusception. Which occurs when one portion of the bowel slides into the next. She also had Coccidiosis.
They wanted to do surgery on her right away. That would cost $3500. Which we can not afford at all. Also they were very eager to do the surgery and we didn't like there attitude and lack of compassion, so we went for a second opinion.

When we took her home after the iv fluids, she was acting more like her self and had significantly put on weight from the fluids. Oh at the vet she weighed about 7 lbs, down from her usual 9.

So then we brought her to another emergency vet clinic in Manhattan. They told us on the phone if she needed the surgery it would only cost about $1000. We took her there and they again took xrays and blood work. They wanted to keep her over night again, but we couldn't afford the another $1000 for that. So took her home, and they gave us antibiotics and albon for the coccidiosis (which the first place didn't for some reason). We were told to bring her back in a few days when the ultrasound specialist would be there. So we did. They did another ultrasound, and they said they couldn't see anything wrong and does not need surgery. And even if she did need the surgery it would cost the same $3500 the first place quoted us, not the $1000 we were quoted on the phone. They apologized for having incompetent front desk people.

So we were going to take her home and try to treat her symptomatically. So we took her home and she slept, had diarrhea and vomited so hard she fell over if we didn't hold her up for about a week. We also were giving her a dewormer even though they didn't find any worms, and a medicine (I forget the name) for the nausea. We were feeding her with a dropper. She was still drinkiing water.
After about a week, she actually started to eat food and stopped vomiting. Though she was still having diarrhea constantly.

We then brought her back to see the internal medicine specialist, who did new blood work on her, and gave us some new medicine. She now weighed 5.5 lbs, she looks like a street dog, all bones. A couple days before this appointment is when she started eating. Because it was a sign of improvement they sent her home again to see if she will get better. They also tested her for Addisons disease. That came out negative.

They still don't know what is wrong. They say this big problem could not have been caused by the coccidious, since she is too old for that, and she has not gotten better, with the albon.

So we took her home, and she eats and acts kinda normal for her, but still constant diarrhea. Over 2 weeks since the last vet visit. We have tried Pedigree, Beneful, Mighty Dog, Purina, and Ceasar. I forget which was given to us by the vet. W've tried steak, chicken, and ground turkey with rice. Sometimes she'll eat, sometimes she won't. She gained a tiny bit of weight, 1/2 lb to a lb. but still tiny.

The next step according to the vet is to do an intestinal biopsy, which will cost another $1000. And that's just try and determine the cause, if they find something it could be just for another surgery we cannot afford. We already spent $2500, and using care credit and they don't know anything.
She's still has constant diarrhea and my gf doesn't know what to do.

She starting to look into sick animal rescue places to take Caliopi,. We can not afford a big surgery and she doesn't want to just let caliopi continue to be sick until she dies.

The only thing I've seen on these message boards, which I don't believe we'd tried is giving yogurt to get back good intestinal flora. So we're going to start that right away.

Anyone have any ideas? Or a good sick animal rescue? My gf is been going through a tough time lately and this is going to break her heart even more, but she wants to do what's right for Caliopi.

I'm sorry this is so long. I doubt anyone read the whole thing. But here's hoping. Thank you.

- Jarett

lovemygreys

If you've been to that many specialists and no one has any idea...it's going to be really hard for us to "diagnose" anything over the internet. At this point, pick a vet you like and trust. Tell them you have X amount to spend on diagnosis and treatment. See what plan they come up with. One thing I'd insist on, if it hasn't been done, is testing for tick disease. Lethargy, weight loss, anorexia, vomiting, diarhhea are all symptoms. If you are in the city and don't have a large tick population then it may not be something that is in the forefront of a vet's mind. But, tick disease can lay dormant for years before making a dog sick. It can also pass from mother to her babies in the womb, so even if you've never found a tick on your dog it can still be sick. TBD Info.

I've seen some dogs get "vet sick"...meaning they see so many different vets and get so many different medications that no one can be sure if what they are seeing is a symptom or a side effect.

I can't imagine any of those were prescribed by a vet. I usually see Hill's or Royal Canaan in vet offices. None of which I prefer. If she's not eating at all, I would try giving her boiled chicken and rice or noodles. Be careful with yogurt. Many dogs are lactose intolerant and yogurt can cause some major intestinal upset, which I imagine you want to avoid with this little girl.

Good luck with your pup

Lightwingcreations

Coccidia can affect animals of any age, it doesn't only affect pups. Have they done a test for Coccidia (fecal float)? There are sulfa drugs that can also knock out coccidia, which are given for a longer period of time.
Unfortunately coccidia is pretty hardy and can survive in almost any environment, so it might be that your dog is reinfecting herself. You really have to pick up the feces out of the yard, as well as make sure you use proper hygene, like washing hands after yard pickup.
I really wish we could help you figure this out, but unfortunately the vets are the ones to diagnose.

adidas5676

Sorry to hear about your girlfriend's sick dog. If your vet is any good they will let you do a payment plan for an expensive surgery like the one they recommended for the benefit of the animal in need. Ask them if there is anything like that they can do, as most vets do have payment plans available for extenuating circumstances like this.

If your girlfriend really does not want to pursue further treatment/diagnostics, look online or ask the vet if they know of any rescue groups that would be willing to take her. I'll be honest, it's going to be difficult to find one that will be able to shell out that kind of money to find out what's wrong with her to only get a minimal adoption fee in return.

Good luck, as this is a tough situation that is going to require a lot of thinking.

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