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Skylar is my six month old female purebred Border Collie, and is also my potential service dog prospect. I got her at almost eight weeks old and she weighed 4.2 lbs and was half the size of her siblings! The vet also discovered that she had coccidia. he put her on 2cc of albon suspension for 20 days. When we went back 20 days later, the coccidia was still there so he put her on 2cc of albon for another 20 days. then we went back and the coccidia was gone, but she now had giardia, so he put her on metronydazole for two weeks. then we went back and giardia was gone, but the coccidia was back, so he put her on albon 2cc for another 20 days. All this time, he never once mentioned that a probiotic supplement to protect her gut would benefit her a lot. I was talking with her breeder one day, and asked about all the other pups. She said that they were all fine and healthy now, and that there was no reason why Skye should still be sick! I decided to get a second opinion with a holistic vet, who discovered that Skye's gut wall had been severely damaged and the other vet overdosed her on meds. He put her on a diet of hamburger and rice only, two probiotics, one other all-natural supplement. That was two months ago. Skye is still severely ill, and could be washed out as a sd at any moment due to health issues. Has anyone else experienced anything like this before? Skye has now been parasite free for two months when i took her to the holistic vet he said she had no parasites at all that showed in a fecal exam. Her gut wall is healed, but she can not tolerate eating any type of kibble dog food or she gets liquid stool.

Edited by BethGeorge95
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Yes. Dog recovered and went on to a great working career. I took him to see an internal medicine specialist who dealt mostly with GI problems. She worked out a treatment plan that helped him recover.

 

A pup can't live on hamburger and rice only long term. There are many easy to digest diets out there and some are balanced for a pup. Ask your vet about them.

 

Given your pup was so tiny I would be worried about an inherited condition (example of an inherited condition). Again, I would recommend seeing a specialist. Is there a vet school or larger referral hospital anywhere nearby?

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I know others, with more experience, will chime in, but here is my 2 cents:

 

Have resistance tests been done on these parasites/bacteria? It does sound like Skye may have been overdosed. [When my foster dog had giardia, we treated her for 5 days with metronidazole (I forget the specific dose), and then retested her 2 weeks later to determine if the giardia had been eliminated.]

 

Unfortunately, a lot of vets are not clued in to the benefits of probiotics. This is where we have to educate ourselves for the benefit of our dogs.

 

I agree with a bland diet and supportive treatment for gut issues, but I would want to know that I was knocking out any remaining coccidian or giardia. I can not tell from your post if she is coccidia- and giardia-free at this point, or if those are still an issue. Because she now has a 'delicate' intestine (until it hopefully can heal itself), I might consider continuing to monitor fecal samples since she is probably more susceptible to re-infection.

 

I look forward to hearing the advice from others.

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We can't say if your pup was dosed correctly because we don't have all the information.

 

I see that you edited your original post to say she is now parasite free. Often, young dogs who had parasites for so long have damage that takes a long time to reverse. Some examples of treatment for pups like yours include:

 

Vit B12 injections

 

long term antibiotics (ex: metronidazole, tylosin) to normalize gut bacteria

 

probiotics

 

easy to digest but balanced diet

 

Find a vet who has experience with cases like yours.

 

PS, why did you take a pup that was half the size of the littermates as a service dog prospect?

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