Tell me my pup is ok--- updated in replies! He's ok :)

[slcjess]

Ok please don't flame me if this is obvious. I've never had a dog before, so I don't know what I'm looking at here. 
I just got home from work, and my little dog is acting weird. He didn't eat all of his dinner, which he usually wolfs down. He keeps having coughs that sound like throwing up, but when I look at him there's nothing on the floor. He sneezes a lot, but this sounds different somehow. The scariest thing is that he's like... Shivering, kinda, and not as peppy as he usually is after being home alone all day. Is this like, get him to a vet stat urgency, or make an appt for sometime this week? Or am I overthinking? 


Eta, I just took him on a walk. He didn't go potty like he normally does, but did do a couple circles like he was going to and then just sat down. I have never seen him do that. Also, I had to force him out of the house to go out, which again, has never happened. He did keep up though? I wanted to take him out to see if he would poop, that's why I made him go. 

[mcmel]

Shivering is a huge red flag. I would take him to the emergency vet now.

Eta- I take my animals to the vet for everything so maybe I'm not the best person to ask.

[elleblue]

Is he drinking water? Going to the bathroom? If not, I'd for sure visit a vet tonight if possible. 

[whitemerlot]

Shivering can be a sign of pain. I would take him to the vet ASAP tonight.

[justmeandmydog]

I'd head to the e-vet. As pp said, shivering is a sign of pain.

[kittyb]

Call the e-vet but I would take him in.

[jess]

Hmmm, is his belly tight? Can you hear bowel sounds/gurgling if you put your ear against his belly?

Kinda sounds like bloat. I'd get my dog to the e-vet but I'm kinda crazy.

[rachers]

I would take him in but is he walking funny? Moose does this rarely and it's an inner ear thing that causes him to shiver and generally act weird.

Definitely get him checked! Hope everything is okay!!

[FastHands]

Lack of appetite plus coughing plus shakes would make me worry about something he got into, either something no good for dogs or just a physical blockage. I'd go to the evet, probably.

What kind of dog? If it's a short-nosed breed, google "reverse sneeze" to see if that's what you're seeing.

[Eagles]

My vet has told me that shivering in the absence of cold = bring him in immediately. It's a pain signifier, both internal and external.

[slcjess]

Walking ok, seemed fine this morning. I don't see anything out that shouldn't be that he could have gotten into, and the only human food he gets is a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin in his food because otherwise he's a mushy poop machine all over my house all day. Calling the vet now, thanks guys

[zoidberg]

Take him in.

[rachers]

Sending good thoughts! I wish they could tell you what's wrong

[slcjess]

Jan 27, 2015 21:17:38 GMT -5 FastHands said:

Lack of appetite plus coughing plus shakes would make me worry about something he got into, either something no good for dogs or just a physical blockage. I'd go to the evet, probably.

What kind of dog? If it's a short-nosed breed, google "reverse sneeze" to see if that's what you're seeing.

He's a shih tzu mix. We are at the vet now.   
I'm so scared. What if it's something horrible we can't afford?? 

Thanks for for all your replies. I hate that he could have been hurting all day and was alone. my poor baby. 

[christy082]

Glad you took him in. I hope he's ok!

[curtains]

Check into Care Credit if you are worried about money. They usually have short term interest free credit for these types of situations.

I hope your puppy is ok

Eta. mobile.carecredit.com/

[slcjess]

$480 for diagnostic tests since the vet didn't see anything obviously wrong. I feel like that means it's probably pretty bad. Thanks for the good thoughts, I'll update when I hear.

[lime]

I'm glad you took him in. Positive vibes for you guys.

[slcjess]

Jan 27, 2015 22:16:37 GMT -5 curtains said:

Check into Care Credit if you are worried about money. They usually have short term interest free credit for these types of situations.

I hope your puppy is ok

Eta. mobile.carecredit.com/

Thank you, turns out my h does have this and they accept it, so that's what we are using for the diagnostic tests. 

[laterz]

Hope your pup is ok!

[Birdie]

Poor baby. I hope you get good news.

[ZoeHart]

Poor pup, I hope you get good news, soon!

[slcjess]

He was literally full of shit. So backed up. He poops every day. He gets at least 2 walks a day, plus we play ball with him in the house so he runs around. I'm pretty sure the vet thinks I keep him cooped up, lol. He had so much poop in his little colon. I'm going to follow up with a regular get to talk about changing his food, he eats science diet small breed with a little pumpkin mixed in now, which is what his foster was feeding him. Any suggestions?? I seriously have no idea how this happened. I feel awful. Poor pup. But, he's alive and was immediately back to his happy, insane self.

Thank you so much to everyone who responded, and for the good vibes! They helped us!

[ZoeHart]

It could be the pumpkin. If he is a little dog, you only want to give him a little bit of pumpkin. It's great because if they have loose stools it can firm everything up it it can also do the opposite and back them up.

[lime]

Your dog needs Colon Blow!

[slcjess]

Oh man. I didn't know either of these things. I feel like the worst dog mom ever. He was eating science diet with iams canned wet food mixed in before, so I thought the pumpkin would for sure be better than that.
Should I just give him dry science diet tomorrow til we can talk to a vet about a new plan??

[slcjess]

Jan 27, 2015 23:15:14 GMT -5 lime said:

Your dog needs Colon Blow!

Lol yes, yes he does. We are going to go on a loooooonnnnggg walk per dr orders. Hopefully he will take another giant poo. I think it's still kinda hurting him to walk but she said we have to to get stuff moving. 

[verycontrary247]

Jan 27, 2015 22:58:32 GMT -5 slcjess said:

He was literally full of shit. So backed up. He poops every day. He gets at least 2 walks a day, plus we play ball with him in the house so he runs around. I'm pretty sure the vet thinks I keep him cooped up, lol. He had so much poop in his little colon. I'm going to follow up with a regular get to talk about changing his food, he eats science diet small breed with a little pumpkin mixed in now, which is what his foster was feeding him. Any suggestions?? I seriously have no idea how this happened. I feel awful. Poor pup. But, he's alive and was immediately back to his happy, insane self.

Thank you so much to everyone who responded, and for the good vibes! They helped us!

I had this happen to an elderly cat of mine. They had to give him 3 enemas to clear him out. 3! I was baffled. They had me add the flavorless benefiber powder to his wet food moving forward.

[mrsjrd23]

It's fine to feed him that until you can get him switched to something better. You will have to do a gradual switch to a different kibble anyways. It's not good to just switch cold turkey. You will want to ease the new kibble in gradually. But yeah, science diet is not good. Basically any food you can buy in a grocery store is crap, full of fillers and unneccesary ingredients.

Feeding a higher quality food will cost more for the bag but you actually end up feeding less per serving so it isn't too bad. You want to find a dog food that has a meat source listed as the first several ingredients. Good brands to look into: Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Canidae, Taste of the Wild, Nature's Domain (Costco brand),Acana, Nature's Variety

[cbwm1]

I'm so glad he's okay!!

I would consider looking into a higher quality food. Fromms, Call of the Wild, Blue Buffalo, etc. Vets and rescues push Science Diet on people and it's not the best.

If you feed him a higher quality dry food, you won't need wet food (especially Iams, which is shit) or pumpkin.