This is Pippa. She is 8 months old and has been with us since just one week after she was born. Her mother is a Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix and her father is also a very small dog. Pippa was one of a litter of 6 very tiny puppies, 5 of which grew to be small, beautiful, wonderful pets. Pippa was no smaller than the rest of the puppies but at around 4 months of age she ceased to grow and develop. She is just 10 inches tall, with long spindly legs and she weighs next to nothing.
Now she is fading…..fast. Our vet can find nothing wrong with her, she is just not thriving. Day by day she grows weaker. This time last week she could run up and down the stairs and would run to greet us when we came home. Today she can barely walk to the food and water bowls. She is so frail. She is not sick or in pain. Euthanasia is not an option here right now except for animals that are truly suffering due to controlled drug related issues.
This little dog holds a very special place in our hearts and we will be devastated by her passing. It is so hard to watch her weaken and be powerless to help.
We would be grateful for any advice, ideas or suggestions.
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Could she have ingested something that could be causing her distress? Is she pooping and peeing? I know she’s not eating so maybe not going to the bathroom. She’s not dehydrated or anything?
Can your vet test for Lupus or Lyme Disease? Not sure if you guys have Lyme down there yet. (Tick borne illness). Has this pup been tested for Ehrlychiosis?
yeah i was going to say same thing about if she ingested something then she will not want to eat or drink. Can’t they have her on intravenous for fluids at least? i’m so sad for her.
She has become so much weaker since she was last at the vet 2 days ago, that we need to insist this time that something more positive is done to help her. Back to the vet tomorrow morning.
Poor Pippa.. I have no advice to give but to say that I’m praying for her. I hope a miracle happens soon!
Thank you Emily.
Hello,
we also rescued a puppy from the street in a very bad shape. We took care of her and after 1 month, she almost recovered and turned into a healthy, playful puppy…gained weight & ate a lot. Suddenly, at that seems like Pippa, she got very weak, from one day to another she stopped playing, stayed in her bad and after that she didn’t want to stand up anymore.
The doctor first said, she had a blood infection because of the many parasites she carried around before. After antbiotic treatment she got better. 3 weeks later, the same story happened, LOLA couldn`t get up anymore.
Now we figured out it could be ERLICHIOSIS or DISTEMPER. To figure out the vet. has to do a ELISA TEST & a IMUNOFLOURESENCIA (=in spanish) for the DISTEMPER.
The vet told me this illnes is not very common, but treatable. It’s a 21day treatment with antibiotics and steroids.
I hope, this information can help somehow, I really wish al the best for little PIPPA,
saludos Sandra.
Our first thought was Erlichiosis as it’s so common here, but the vet says no and apparently there are no internal parasites. She is having more blood tests in the morning, so we will wait and see what the results are. Frankly even bad news would be better than feeling like we are waiting for her to die and feeling helpless.
Please let us know what the vet says after all of the additional tests. Little Pippa is getting lots of prayers.
Prayers for Pippa and you….