[spookydee]

Okay, I am in a middle of a crisis with my neighbor and don't know what else to tell her, as I told her that puppy needs VET attention right now. Please know that I did stress that....she is crying and told me she absolutely does not have the money and she doesn't know what else to do.
Puppy is a three month old Sheltie, she also has his littermate as well. He is lethargic, eyes a bit dull, not eating nor drinking and vomiting. He vomited twice when I was there for 10 minutes, vomit is clear and looked like stomach acid. I looked at his gums and they seem a bit pale. I pulled the skin on his back and it did go back very fast, so I don't think he is all that dehyrated, YET. Although I am no vet so I can't say for sure. I asked about shots and she promised he was up to date. She stresses she cannot afford emergency vet but I said I can call my vet tomorrow and maybe they can work something out (as of right now she has no vet....) I can't afford to lend her money as I myself just spent almost 500 dollars on my own vet bill for one of my cats. She mentioned that this just happened today, he was fine yesterday...(although I wonder as she is a wonderful person not very observant about things....)
The other puppy seems fine, gums nice and pink although it may be too late I told her to keep both puppies seperated, and put the sick puppy in his crate. As of now she was letting him in the backyard in his condition, i told her not a bright idea. She said he was trying to eat grass but I said not good if he is vomiting again and again...(most of the grass is weed anyways..)
I would hate to tell her to try and force feed water or pedialyte in case it is something more serious...he cant hold down anything anyways....
I also asked if he could have gotten into anything...she swears no..although she was at work all day today and the puppy was with the kids and babysitter..
any advice would be helpful although I know I may be grasping for straws...without a vet I just don't know what to tell her, she came to me as I know more about dogs than she ever will. I feel bad for the puppy, he looked really bad, her husband says the puppy just has a cold and will be alright... If it were my dogs they would have been at the vet hours ago....Thanks for letting me vent...
argh....
thanks...sorry so long....

 

[LadyD]

You advised her to take the puppy to the vet, that's all you can do. These are hard times for a lot of people.

 

[pugmom]

If she cant afford to take the puppy to the vet....then maybe she can surrender him/her to a no kill shelter/rescue?

 

[zhaor]

I'm not a vet but pale gums would indicate that he's low on red blood cells and is VERY serious for a puppy. First thing that came to mind was hemolytic anemia which needs medical care. I don't think it usually affects puppies but you never know.

The other thing I can think of is hookworms. I'm assuming he doesn't have fleas. hookworms are found in the small intestines and drink blood causing the pale gums and vomiting. If it is hookworms, at this point it must be a pretty severe infestation. Since you don't know that it's worms, I'd be careful about giving him a dewormer as it could make the problem worse if it's not worms.

So it pretty much boils down to needing to see a vet ASAP as any cause for anemia that I can think of will be fatal without care.

Edit: Do you know if the puppies are on heartworm preventatives like HeartGard? If they are then it's less likely to be hookworms. Otherwise I'm leaning heavily towards hookworms. Does he have diarrhea? Ask your vet about it and they may be able to diagnose it based on the symptoms. Hurry!!!!

and please update.

 

[spookydee]

Thanks for the replies, I am going to check up on the pup today, Hookworms as well crossed my mind. My dog as a puppy when I first got him had a big infestiation of them......ew. No, puppies are NOT on any prevenitives, nor will they ever be knowing her. She's nice like I said, but won't spend the needed money on stuff like that, she buys her dog food from the dollar general store, their brand and even that is not the greatest food as we know. (low quality food causing anemia crossed my mind as well....sigh...)
I feel bad for the dogs but they are hers and nothing I can really do...unfortunatly. At least mine are healthy, on prevenitives, shots updated, and they are on a great diet. (still gonna keep mine away from her pups until this thing is figured out in case it is catching...) Any advice I give just falls on deaf ears...(she won't even get them neutered...says she wants to breed the two boys because she loves puppies...thats another story... )

 

[Cracker]

In some areas, not getting an animal needed vet care is reason enough for seizure of the animals. It is her LEGAL and MORAL responsibility to get vet care for the puppy. I understand finances are a difficult thing but there ARE organizations like Carecredit that can help in emergencies like these.
I also wonder how she could afford two purebred puppies but not vet care. I don't have a lot of cash, but I pay for pet insurance to help me cover emergencies with Cracker. She's had these puppies only a couple of weeks I'm assuming and she hasn't been to the vet yet? What if they have parvo?
Okay..now I'm venting. She shouldn't have dogs. Period. And thinking of breeding them? How could she afford that? Geez. If she doesn't get them seen I would report her to. Harsh, yes, but my concern is the pups not her feelings.

 

[RonE]

Once again, an Internet forum is no subsititute for professional vet care. You know that, but yet you asked.

Along with everything else, there is a liability issue here so, as is our policy, I'm closing this thread.