Haven’t decided on a name yet, I’m sure the whole family will argue that to death this week. He’s a Great Dane.
It's been a traumatic time for Iggy lately as he came down with gastro enteritis a week last Monday. As I took my sons, dad and brothers to the BSB at Oulton on Sunday the 27th, he had to go into day care and I think that's where he contracted it. It really kicked in on Tuesday morning (29th) when he soiled his bedding and after 3 days of continual "accidents", by Thursday morning he was refusing water, even when offered it from my cupped hand, could barely walk and just wanted to sleep. It was also heartbreaking because while he still had the energy to do so, he would go off and hide out of shame because he'd messed inside the house, which then not only meant he transferred mess elsewhere, I would have to drag him out from underneath furniture which obviously was distressing for us both, so he had to be confined to his crate. Unfortunately at the time I was stuck in a high profile, high pressure High Court case between Wed and Fri and the judge wasn't very sympathetic to Iggy's plight, so my son had to bunk off college for 3 days in order to nurse him, even sleeping on the dining room floor next to his downstairs crate. Iggy was so unwell by Thursday and was refusing water that I was worried he might slip away, so I got the boy to take him to the vet. After 2 bastard Uber drivers initially agreed to allow the dog in their cars but then cancelled (one actually turned up but then drove off leaving them at he side of the road), he got him to the vet who put him straight on a saline and antibiotic drip. £630 later, I have a healthy dog again, albeit after having lost 25% of his bodyweight in 4 days..... That’s on the way back from the vet and you can just see the little bandage on his foreleg from where they’d inserted the drip.
Singletons can be a problem because they grow big, I had one that had to be delivered by cesar, that the vet described as a "monster puppy".
The bigger problem is that a singleton often doesn't deliver enough of the hormone that triggers labour. Potential is for it to die unborn, simply because the bitch doesn't register that it's ready for the world. 'C' sections carry their own risk and need to be timed accurately. As it happens, our Meg whelped completely naturally and we now have a tiny 'Gem' in the house
Like Jez said, glad he’s on the mend. Is he insured, we have been on and off with it. Had insurance for our springer and didn’t realise we had to pay the bill then claim it back. Cost is £3k when he ate a punnet of grapes and took months to get it (most of it anyway) back.
They knew he was insured. I asked when I picked him up what they would have done if he hadn’t been insured. The vet said they’d have checked him over and if he was ok, sent us home and told us to keep an eye on him. Apparently it’s quite rare for grapes to affect dogs, but deadly if it does.
Oh no!!!! Omg nothing can happen to Iggy he has a place the heart of my daughter and myself Spaniels can suffer bouts of sickness they have constitutions of cotton wool at times I know from experience having been through similar
I found out recently many bitches eat pups when they think they are still born but actually not. Nature is a wonderful, and horrific, place in equal parts
Not according to any Vet, or Breeder that I know (and that's quite a few). Maybe one to encourage it once labour's started, but not one to start it.
Ahh poor lad, hope he’s on the mend. Dudley had a bout of something similar when he was a puppy, think he picked it up eating some vomit he’d found over the park! Could keep anything down and wouldn’t drink, weekend trip to the emergency vets, X-rays suspected a blockage, monitored and then shaved ready for an op and just as he was being sedated his bowls let go and it all came out, no blockage but suspected gastrointestinal virus. That little trip was nearly a grand, thankfully he was insured and within a year he developed epilepsy which was ongoing for the rest of his short life so the insurance was a blessing. I do think though that it’s a bit of a vicious circle, vet bills are expensive because people have insurance and people have insurance because vet bills are so expensive. It’s usually the first thing the vets ask when you take them in, they probably have 2 price lists? I do think though If I ever won a stupid amount of money on the euro millions I would have a word with Noel Fitzpatrick and become one of his silent donors to pay for animals life changing surgery that their owners couldn’t afford.
