So my wife and I got a new dog last night. We had been wanting a big dog, since we already have a maltese/shih tzu mix that just loves to play with big dogs. We had been looking for awhile, and decided the best option was to rescue a dog. Well this past saturday a local rescue society was having an event at this "animall" place, so we went. We saw this cute litter of 9 week old Weimaraner/Lab mix pups, and we sat and played with them for an hour. We fell in love with the biggest boy of the group, who also happened to be the most mellow of the group and quickest learner, being the only one in the litter that already figured out how to go on puppy pads. So we filled out an app, got accepted yesterday and picked him up from his foster home that night.
So here he is, we named him Brody.
Pic
He's a nice pup. Well mannered, only had to be shown once were the puppy pads were and went right for them when he had to go last night. He's quite a little cuddler too. Cute now, but he's going to be 70 pounds, not so nice when a 70 pounder wants to be a lap dog!
Anyway, I know Weimaraners and labs can be a handful, but we did a lot of research so we know what we're up against. He seems to have a good temperament so far though, much more mellow than his littermates.
Update 1/31:
I'm sad to report this little guy isn't doing well. He won't eat, and has diarrhea and vomiting. The vet says he has some kind of virus that needs to work out of his system. He's also passed the virus to our Maltese who now won't eat and is vomiting, but the vet says he isn't worried about her since she is healthy and old enough to be fine until the virus works out of her system. He is very concerned about little Brody because he's so young. He's losing weight, getting dehydrated and could have issues with his blood sugar because of lack of food. 🙁 The vet gave him an IV yesterday to get some fluids in him, as well as a vitamin B12 shot. He also gave us special food and this gooey high calorie stuff we are supposed to put in his mouth every two hours. Yesterday about an hour after I got home from the vet I gave him the special food and he ate an entire plate of it, but he wouldn't eat any the rest of the day and wouldn't eat this morning, luckily he has starting drinking a lot of water which he wasn't the day before
Today we took the maltese to the vet and he gave her some pills and some liquid stuff to help her until she begins eating again. He also said to give the liquid stuff to the puppy, but that we must get him to eat something to keep his strength up to get him through this. If he doesn't begin eating soon he will need to stay the vets and be put on an IV to keep his strength up until his body can fight off the virus.
Update again:
So things took a turn for the worse. I came home from work and he was extremely lethargic. He didn't want to play or move, and just laid in my wife's arms and moaned. We ended up having to take him to the emergency vet tonight, which luckily happened to be his normal vet who is on call tonight. The vet said he is still extremely dehydrated, although he's been drinking water, it's coming out the other end too fast. He took blood to check his white blood cell count, and other measurements. He said he was encouraged by the results, he expected his blood work to be very bad, but it was normal except for being slightly anemic. He expected he to be extremely anemic, so just being slightly was encouraging. He thinks he feels so terrible because of how horribly dehydrated he is. So they are keeping him and putting him on an IV to get fluids into his body. We asked the vet his chances, and he was reluctant to say but said until he sees him with fluid in his body it's 60/40. If his body takes the fluid and he perks up like he did yesterday, he thinks he will be OK. He said they won't allow us to take him home until he is eating fine and not losing water, which could be until Saturday. He said the bug he has is minor, and normally he could fight it but he has the double whammy of a virus and worms, so his little body is having a hard time fighting it.
Update Feb 2nd
So we took him home this morning. The first hour and half of him being home was not good. He threw up twice in the car home and twice at home. He was just laying on the floor whimpering and crying. Would not eat, would not drink. We called the doctor and they thought he just got car sick. My mother-in-law just happened to be there when we called, so the vet sent her back to us with this doggy pepto. She also said to give him half a pepcid AC. So we gave him the pepto and he was still feeling bad. But then 30 minutes later we needed to give him the pepcid tablet and he refused no matter what to swallow it. So we decided to stick in in some chicken, and he went nuts for it. Swallowed that piece and wanted more. So I made him a small bit of chicken and broth which he scarfed down quickly. Then he followed me around the house wanting more. So now we're just going to give him a little bit chicken and broth every hour or so he has a chance to digest it. A lot of small meals is the key I think.
Here's a pic of him I took a couple of hours ago when he was in the kitchen wanting more chicken. He's obviously very thin, so he needs all the food he can get to get some meat on his bones. He looks like a little concentration camp survivor. He's eating great though, if I put the entire bowl of chicken and rice on the ground I have no doubt he'd try to down it. Of course he'd throw it up soon after, so we're taking it slow.
Brody
Update 2/6: 🙁
More sad news. Last night he began to get the sniffles and had snot coming out of his nose. During the night it got worse, and by this morning he had a lot of green/yellow snot. We scheduled a vet visit today, not wanting to take chances. The vet is almost 100% certain he has distemper. 🙁 The death rate for distemper is 75%, and since this little guy was so weak already, he's almost certain to die. The vet said that we can fight it, but the cost will be extremely high, and he still will have very low odds of survival and if he does make it will likely have permanent damage to his vision, nervous system and teeth. 🙁 I feel like I've been kicked in the gut. I'm still at work, but the thought of going home and seeing his little face is tearing me up. I can't believe this.
Update 2/11
I'm sorry to say the little guy is gone. 🙁 He started mild neurological symptoms last night, but we just figured it was just puppy stuff. Then this morning he was whimpering, but otherwise acting normal. We figured it was because of the bad cough he had. Once my wife got home he was a different dog. He was doing the "gum chewing," shaking his head, whimpering, crying, missing a step when walking, having a hard time keeping his eyes open. All the classic symptoms of the disease. One of his vets who initially diagnosed said this was the point to put him down. His other vet agreed, but recommended some other stuff we could try like anti-seizure medication and pain pills. We knew it was time to give up, we had tried so hard, done so much and spent so much money. We knew given the odds for this disease we were fighting a lost cause, and anything more was just us being selfish and doing it more for us than thinking of his own suffering. He was happy and well for a few days in there, but ultimately we couldn't beat this deadly disease. We're going to miss him, but this was for the best that we put him down.
My wife was with him when they did it, I simply could not handle it myself. I said my goodbyes to him, and left the room. We'll miss you Brody.
So here he is, we named him Brody.
Pic
He's a nice pup. Well mannered, only had to be shown once were the puppy pads were and went right for them when he had to go last night. He's quite a little cuddler too. Cute now, but he's going to be 70 pounds, not so nice when a 70 pounder wants to be a lap dog!
Anyway, I know Weimaraners and labs can be a handful, but we did a lot of research so we know what we're up against. He seems to have a good temperament so far though, much more mellow than his littermates.
Update 1/31:
I'm sad to report this little guy isn't doing well. He won't eat, and has diarrhea and vomiting. The vet says he has some kind of virus that needs to work out of his system. He's also passed the virus to our Maltese who now won't eat and is vomiting, but the vet says he isn't worried about her since she is healthy and old enough to be fine until the virus works out of her system. He is very concerned about little Brody because he's so young. He's losing weight, getting dehydrated and could have issues with his blood sugar because of lack of food. 🙁 The vet gave him an IV yesterday to get some fluids in him, as well as a vitamin B12 shot. He also gave us special food and this gooey high calorie stuff we are supposed to put in his mouth every two hours. Yesterday about an hour after I got home from the vet I gave him the special food and he ate an entire plate of it, but he wouldn't eat any the rest of the day and wouldn't eat this morning, luckily he has starting drinking a lot of water which he wasn't the day before
Today we took the maltese to the vet and he gave her some pills and some liquid stuff to help her until she begins eating again. He also said to give the liquid stuff to the puppy, but that we must get him to eat something to keep his strength up to get him through this. If he doesn't begin eating soon he will need to stay the vets and be put on an IV to keep his strength up until his body can fight off the virus.
Update again:
So things took a turn for the worse. I came home from work and he was extremely lethargic. He didn't want to play or move, and just laid in my wife's arms and moaned. We ended up having to take him to the emergency vet tonight, which luckily happened to be his normal vet who is on call tonight. The vet said he is still extremely dehydrated, although he's been drinking water, it's coming out the other end too fast. He took blood to check his white blood cell count, and other measurements. He said he was encouraged by the results, he expected his blood work to be very bad, but it was normal except for being slightly anemic. He expected he to be extremely anemic, so just being slightly was encouraging. He thinks he feels so terrible because of how horribly dehydrated he is. So they are keeping him and putting him on an IV to get fluids into his body. We asked the vet his chances, and he was reluctant to say but said until he sees him with fluid in his body it's 60/40. If his body takes the fluid and he perks up like he did yesterday, he thinks he will be OK. He said they won't allow us to take him home until he is eating fine and not losing water, which could be until Saturday. He said the bug he has is minor, and normally he could fight it but he has the double whammy of a virus and worms, so his little body is having a hard time fighting it.
Update Feb 2nd
So we took him home this morning. The first hour and half of him being home was not good. He threw up twice in the car home and twice at home. He was just laying on the floor whimpering and crying. Would not eat, would not drink. We called the doctor and they thought he just got car sick. My mother-in-law just happened to be there when we called, so the vet sent her back to us with this doggy pepto. She also said to give him half a pepcid AC. So we gave him the pepto and he was still feeling bad. But then 30 minutes later we needed to give him the pepcid tablet and he refused no matter what to swallow it. So we decided to stick in in some chicken, and he went nuts for it. Swallowed that piece and wanted more. So I made him a small bit of chicken and broth which he scarfed down quickly. Then he followed me around the house wanting more. So now we're just going to give him a little bit chicken and broth every hour or so he has a chance to digest it. A lot of small meals is the key I think.
Here's a pic of him I took a couple of hours ago when he was in the kitchen wanting more chicken. He's obviously very thin, so he needs all the food he can get to get some meat on his bones. He looks like a little concentration camp survivor. He's eating great though, if I put the entire bowl of chicken and rice on the ground I have no doubt he'd try to down it. Of course he'd throw it up soon after, so we're taking it slow.
Brody
Update 2/6: 🙁
More sad news. Last night he began to get the sniffles and had snot coming out of his nose. During the night it got worse, and by this morning he had a lot of green/yellow snot. We scheduled a vet visit today, not wanting to take chances. The vet is almost 100% certain he has distemper. 🙁 The death rate for distemper is 75%, and since this little guy was so weak already, he's almost certain to die. The vet said that we can fight it, but the cost will be extremely high, and he still will have very low odds of survival and if he does make it will likely have permanent damage to his vision, nervous system and teeth. 🙁 I feel like I've been kicked in the gut. I'm still at work, but the thought of going home and seeing his little face is tearing me up. I can't believe this.
Update 2/11
I'm sorry to say the little guy is gone. 🙁 He started mild neurological symptoms last night, but we just figured it was just puppy stuff. Then this morning he was whimpering, but otherwise acting normal. We figured it was because of the bad cough he had. Once my wife got home he was a different dog. He was doing the "gum chewing," shaking his head, whimpering, crying, missing a step when walking, having a hard time keeping his eyes open. All the classic symptoms of the disease. One of his vets who initially diagnosed said this was the point to put him down. His other vet agreed, but recommended some other stuff we could try like anti-seizure medication and pain pills. We knew it was time to give up, we had tried so hard, done so much and spent so much money. We knew given the odds for this disease we were fighting a lost cause, and anything more was just us being selfish and doing it more for us than thinking of his own suffering. He was happy and well for a few days in there, but ultimately we couldn't beat this deadly disease. We're going to miss him, but this was for the best that we put him down.
My wife was with him when they did it, I simply could not handle it myself. I said my goodbyes to him, and left the room. We'll miss you Brody.
