Sick Puppy - Page 1

I have a female GSD pup I rescued from a shelter a few days ago. She was healthy when I got her out, but yesterday when I got home from work, I noticed a snotty nose and occassional cough. She seems fine otherwise though. I have watched her closely and she doesn't seem to have gotten worse. I'm assuming it's kennel cough, as I've rescued many pups from the shelter who have come down with kennel cough, but have never had one with a nasty runny nose like this girl has. Sometimes her nose will be clear, other times she will sneeze a lot, and sometimes she has green snot coming out. She also coughs similar to kennel cough, but not frequently. I am calling to get her a vet appointment tomorrow, but wondered if anyone has any idea what it might be?

I would be VERY concerned that this is NOT simply bordetella (kennel cough) ......if you have other dogs, I sure hope they are vaccinated for some of the common problems. It could be another type of infection due to, for example, a foreign body in the nose, but yes, this pup must be seen ASAP. Have you taken the temperature of the dog? 

Green discharge from the nose is very common in KC in shelters. There are over 1000 different strains of KC. The vaccine only covers 5 of those strains.

Yes, my dogs are vaccinated for kennel cough. I've done my best to keep them seperated, as I do with all the dogs I rescue, so hopefully I won't have any others get sick. Several of the dogs in the shelter were coughing, so I'm sure kennel cough is prevelant in the shelter...I just haven't ever seen the green discharge so was more concerned than usual. She does have a slight fever, but nothing out of the ordinary for kennel cough.

It could be bacterial or viral pneumonia

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_pneumonia_management.html

Good thing you are taking the pup to the Vet.  My rule is if anything green is being discharged from an animal it is time for the Vet.

 Take a look at this link and the photo on it. Discharge from the nose, if it is bordetella, is likely a secondary bacterial infection. But it could be something other and that is not good.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/canine_distemper.html

Remember, just keeping this pup away from your dogs may not be enough. You are carrying pathogens on your shoes, clothes, hands etc. This is why, though I do GSD rescue, I will NOT accept a dog from the shelters. It is always a 100% sure that they will arrive ill in our area and I cannot risk my animals or those of my clients, however much I want to help. 

Good luck.

  A discharge from the nose and or the eyes can signal distemper.  I hope you have her isolated from your other dogs and especially from puppies.  She needs to be seen by a vet.  I hope you're just dealing with a simple respiratory infection.

While animal shelters serve an important purpose, they can be hotbeds of infection, and for many dogs and cats, to pass over their thresholds is a death sentence.  Good luck with the pup.

Tips on preventing the spread of infection:

Wash your hands after handling the pup.

Wear a lab coat/shop coat, or some other protective clothing when handling her, then. remove that garment, and leave it in the pup's area before going elsewhere.

Change your footwear before going to another part of the house/kennel, or wear rubber soled boots/shoes and stand in a tray of disinfectant before leaving the area where she's confined. You think that's too much trouble? Even farmers do it, if they care about their stock!

Wash your hands...can't say that one often enough!!  Not washing hands between patients is the commonest ways for infections to spread in hospitals and nursing homes!

AND GREEN SNOT MEANS A BACTERIAL INFECTION IS PRESENT!!  It could be secondary to a virus, or could be the primary illness. Doesn't matter which. She will need to go on antibiotics to help cure it.

Good luck! This sort of thing makes me shudder. I know a breeder who brought home a nasty strain of parvo from a dog show, early in her career, when she didn't know how to recognize the symptoms. She lost nearly all her puppies, and a number of adults as well. The dog that brought the parvo into the kennel was dead within 48 hours.

Unfortunately, the backlash against vaccinations seems to have increased the number of dogs in shelters (and elsewhere) with distemper, so this is a real possibility. Please let us know what the vet has to say.

Yes, I also am very concerned that it may be distemper. The only upside to that is that all my dogs have been vaccinated and I have no puppies, nor any puppies planned any time soon. However, I am very, very concerned for this little girl! I will get her to the vet asap in the morning and hope for the best. I had some antibiotics on hand, so went ahead and started her on those, as she most likely has some sort of infection, and I'm sure they can't hurt. Maybe getting a jump start with them will give her some advantage. I'm sure it's possible she hasn't had any vaccinations. She was vaccinated by my vet on Friday, but of course, that may have been her first shot, and she may have already been infected by then.

After this experience, I am not sure I will be able to rescue from shelters anymore. Thankfully, I don't have puppies now, but if I did, I can't imagine the damage. Not to mention, the extreme measures I may have to go to to make sure whatever this girl has is killed off...don't want it lingering around for my next litter! I do use rubber booties and spray myself with disinfectant. I also wear rubber gloves. She is in a kennel, with concrete floor, so I should be able to disinfect the area well. Hopefully, this problem will be manageable, but it's definetly given me a scare. I hate to leave any dog to die in a shelter, but rescuing one and potentially killing many of my own is not the goal I have in mind.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I will keep you updated.