Roxy Gets Sick!

Roxy gave me a bit of a scare this weekend. My two have been through this many of times before but never in my life have I seen any of them as bad as this. It isn’t really a nice topic to talk about but I feel I need to share this to make other pet owners aware of this illness and at what point you should consider taking them to the vet.

The breed of Shih Tzu’s have very sensitive stomachs and all Shih Tzu owners have probably realised  this at some point in there life. It is an absolute nightmare no matter what you buy you don’t know if it is going to agree with them or not. I have had many experiences with upset stomachs with trying something different and have now learnt my lesson on sticking to the same things. This time for Roxy she was eating the same things and never tried anything different but still somehow ended up with an upset stomach.

When did it all begin? Well it started on Wednesday night when I came home from work after doing a twelve hour shift and Jamie was out working with his dad. I came in to Pixie looking very guilty and Roxy was so excited to see me. I immediately thought it was Pixie that left us a mess on the floor until I took them to the park and she done two more and rather a good amount. When I came back home and was making my lunch for my next twelve hour shift Pixie had ran into the kitchen and sat at my feet and just stared at me. It was like she was trying to tell me something. When I walked through to the living room there was another mess on the floor and I could tell it was Roxy straight away, she had it all down her legs. After apologising to Pixie, we settled down for the night in my bed and spent some time with them before putting them to bed. When I took Roxy through and sat her on her bed I knew she just didn’t look right. Her whole body was shaking like a leaf. I had to sit with her for a while and didn’t want to leave her alone but at the same time I knew I had to get to bed as I had another two twelve hour shifts ahead of me. I gave her some of our probiotic paste to help with any diarrhoea she may of had overnight. I left her to sleep and wondered what state she would be in the next morning.

Day 2: I woke up really early before my alarm went off because I didn’t know what I would be walking into. Our internet was down so I couldn’t see anything on the camera. When I walked in I was surprised I couldn’t smell anything, what a relief. It wasn’t until I turned round to look at Roxy she had vomited all down the front of the couch and on the floor. Once I cleaned it all up I sat with her for a while until my taxi had arrived. She lay there shaking and looking sorry for herself. I hated the fact I had to go and work a twelve hour shift and leave her behind. When I finally came home I took them out to the park for a walk. Jamie had already taken them out earlier on. I noticed Roxy didn’t really look excited or bothered to go for a walk she was very slow paced and just walked beside me. I turned my head for two seconds and when I looked back she wasn’t even squatting to go she was just walked and it just poured from her and it was a disgusting colour! I had to take her home and give her a full bath it was just so messy. We continued giving her the probiotic paste and some zantac for sickness.  Again we went to bed wondering what we would be waking up to in the morning, I had one twelve hour shift to go.

Day 3: I woke up and rushed through to see how Roxy was worrying of what state the place and herself was going to be in, but there was nothing (thank goodness). I continued going her the medicine we had in our drawer (we always have a supply of this as a stand by just in case). Jamie messaged me when I was at work about dinner time and said that she seemed much better and it wasn’t really diarrhoea anymore. I thought thank goodness we are on the mend. Once finishing my 4th twelve hour shift I took them to the park again for a late night walk. She didn’t even do anything, so I was thinking she was getting better, she even played with some toys when we got home and looked more excited about things and had more life in her. I continued to give her he medicine just incase it wasn’t over yet. I cooked her a supper and went to bed happier she looked better.

Day 4: So we are now on our 4th day and hoping for signs of improvement. I woke up and thought I would look through the camera to see if she was ok before I actually went through. Roxy was lying on the couch and I just seen vomit down the couch and on the floor. When I turned the camera more round I just seen a blob of something on the floor. I just thought here we go again. When I went through the smell just hit me in the face and the more I looked around the floor it wasn’t just one blob of mess I seen but three further blobs of mess and the pile of vomit. Roxy was just lying there looking sorry for herself. When I got down to clean it up I noticed one of them was more blood and mucous than poop. I knew something wasn’t right she had been getting medicine and it was getting worse. I thought we were on the road to recovery last night but she ended up going back the way. I immediately phone the vet for an appointment. The only one I could get was 3:15pm.  We went to the park for a normal walk and she went again and was making little noises like she was in pain and she was shaking! When we got back I gave her some light food but she never ate and it was then I released she wasn’t interested in drinking. It came to 2:30pm and me and Jamie were watching television and Jamie started to smell something, he looked round and just about vomited. She had left yet another mess and couldn’t control holding it. When I looked at it I almost died on the spot. It was just a pool of blood! I did take a picture of it to show the vet but I am not posting it on here its just too disgusting. Once I cleaned it up and cleaned Roxy’s backend we just jumped into the car and took her straight to the vet. I sat in the car holding her and felt like crying. I didn’t know what to think.

The Vet

Although we were early for our appointment we still had to wait 15 minutes we hoped we could of been taken early, but that didn’t happen. When we got seen all of Roxy’s vitals were fine and she had no temperature. She was dehydrated with dry gums but when the vet tested her skin she was fine it went back down instantly. He seemed to think it was something she had eaten, like how we get with food poisoning (even though she had nothing new to eat or different) maybe something was off I don’t know. I still think she picked something up at the park that she shouldn’t of. He said if she didn’t get any better at drinking he would have he back here the next day and have her on a drip but we had a syringe and would syringe water into her, which we were fine with. He gave her an anti sickness injection and an antibiotic injection. We also left with more zantac and two different antibiotics to give. If there was no improvement then he would see her back the next day or before her follow up on Wednesday. We left feeling a little more at ease knowing we had better treatment for her but I was still scared. Its such a horrible feeling when you know there not well and you just wish they would be able to speak to tell you what is wrong with them, I felt so helpless.

She spent the rest of the day sleeping and just keeping herself to herself, I cooked her some light meals and syringed water into her every so often making sure her fluids were up. I went to bed hoping that in the morning things would be better and there would be some improvement.

Day 5: We are now the day after the vet and Roxy was excited to see me this morning, she was full of energy. She still had a runny tummy and ate some of her chicken her medicine was taking with no problems she has spent the day just chilling and sleeping. I am still syringing water into her but we look like we are on the road to recovery slowly but we are taking every day as it comes.

I would now like to take the time to express the importance of this illness in dogs. Blood is not normal in your dogs poop and is an indicator that something is seriously wrong with your pet. It is something that should be dealt with as soon as possible which is why we phoned the vet. If we left it any longer it she could of got worse, that isn’t even worth thinking about. It was when we seen blood it raised alarm bells, and she wast drinking and she was crying out in pain. I could not ignore this no one would be able to. I am glad I got treatment when I did and I am glad we are on a slow road to recovery. We are taking every day as it comes.

Thank goodness for these tushiewipes we got from pets at home they have been a godsend!