Vet is even Puzzled.. Can you help ?? - Page 2

I had a pup like this several litters ago.... if she is not regurgitating after she eats, then its probably not megaesophagus or PRAA....could maybe be another heart condition?? How is her stool, the little girl I had had the strangest stool and no matter what, I couldn't get her to thrive... she was 12 1/2 oz at birth and by 3 weeks was only 13 oz and her littermates were in the 3lb range.... I remember another pup several years ago, whelped a litter for someone and this one acted very similar to your shelter pup. She had a pretty serious liver shunt. She was just smaller and thinner than the others and no one seemed to concerned and so she went to her new home and started seizuring about 12 weeks, they went in to fix her and it was too bad..... Something is definitely going on and your thoughts are probably in the right place.... Good luck with the little one..... One more thought, maybe she is a dwarf?? Not common but it does happen...

Now, on the other hand.. also had a puppy in the last litter with megaesophagus (which I discovered at 3 weeks, while they were still nursing.. have noticed several this way).. she grew as fast as all her littermates and was actually the biggest pup at birth.. She is still right in line with her littermates and was recently spayed without incident.. Had one in our very first litter (totally different pedigrees) who loved to be 11 years old.... Not all mega-e pups are lost causes, the difficult part is finding someone who can handle the condition..

How about Pituitary (sp?)Dwarfism. I have had 2 puppies with this. Removed bitch and male from my breeding program. Vickie Lanig

EchMeadows, There must be something seriously wrong with the little girl - she must have been born this way. You might never find out exactly - could be a defect in her liver, or malformed part of her digestive tract. This is so very kind of you to try to save her, but it seems to me that in this situation nature will take its course sooner or later.

Feed... Here we go, We have tried everything and anything with her. Science diet canned Cat Food a/d she likes it and will eat it. Science diet Cat food kibble, she will nibble at it. reason for the cat food, higher protein and she's taking in so little feed we figured the more we could get in her the better. Vet agrees. She does NOT hurk up food after eating She has excellent stools, nice form, not hard, not soft just Perfect. I actually considered dwarfism too. But have somewhat ruled it out because of her THIN condition. Urine, is fine. Urinates normally, normal amounts, good color, not too watered, not too concentrated. This pup is happy and plays and bites your hands and shoelaces, like any other pup, But when she's done this for say 3 to 5 minutes she's tired and curls up into a ball to sleep Always. RARELY sleeps stretched out. Almost always in a ball. I think that's odd. I forgot to mention this and this may help.... She refuses to wean, She wants mom's teat all the time, would rather nurse or starve, hense the force feedings now and then, although that has pretty much stopped as she is getting a little better about eating the last couple of days. And I have noticed she seems to have gained about a pound over the last couple days. Have some of the Solid Gold tripe, but because she does not hurk, and has good stools have not tried it with her. We have over the past few days upped her intake on the RedCell, and I think this might be helping as I am noticing some color in her gums now. And like I said she has gained about a pound. Hope this helps some more and if you can think of anything else please feel free as we are headed to the vet again on Monday and would like to have a list of possabilities to explore. ThankYou everyone I appreciate your time and effort to help us solve the mystery of this precious baby, Sometimes we get so attatched, I know shame on me and I typically don't intervein much, but now and then I can't help it, and more often than not it turns out well, I'm worried though that with her it may not, Not that I can't accept it, I can and if her quality of life was going to be shit, I would let her go. With the further information I have provided, What have we ruled out so far ?? And what remains possabilities ?? In your opinions. I think Megasophogus may be out as there is not vomiting or diahrhea ? but don't know if I'm correct about that. So will wait for your responses.

Alright--You have a physician, vet, and breeders advising you--all more knowledgeable than me on this subject, but I just thought of something. The dam was brought into the shelter carrying the puppies--Is there any chance the tiny puppy is the result of a later breeding? A week at that age is a big difference-- (wormed a week earlier from age of other pups may be causing problems).That may be why she still wants to nurse and sleep more (she may be younger). Also, could there be different sires---a smaller sire creating a smaller pup?

Have you ruled out Canine Herpes Virus? The sympthons reminded me of the way a friend described the pups in the litter her dog came from that had this problem.

LMH The people who "owned" her,(I won't even go there) said that she was bred with the other dog and they did not notice any others, we thought that too, However, I do think there may be an age issue there. I think your right on that, she may be 5 to 7 days younger than the rest of the litter, that has always been my feeling as well, However at birth there was not a big difference in the pups. Have not ruled out Canine Herpes Virus, I will mention that for sure. How is that transmitted ?? is it generally contageous through contact ? or only by mating ?

Megaesophagus can still be present without noticing the puking. I would still check this. I had a pup that was given to me due to "failing to thrive" He nursed up to 11 weeks as that is all he would take. He came to me, i weaned him to food and then when that is all he got the upchucking started. slowly but still noticeable. Vet said he had giardia, treated for it and cocidia but to no avail he was still sick. FInally after this board told me about MEga did we find the real problem, he died before we could establish him on a good diet and prpoerly mantain him to live. Don't rule out Mega without doing the xray, please. Good luck and please keep us posted.

Ok will keep it on the list. I sure appreciate you all taking the time to post your thoughts and expeiriences here, Please know this to be true from the bottom of my heart. Thank You and keep the ideas coming I am making a list to go to the vet with.