My border collie mix has been sick since Thursday evening and it is now Sunday morning. I took her to the vet Friday afternoon. She is dehydrated, has elevated kidney enzymes, and had signs of tapeworm and whip. She is now on antibiotic, probiotic, and is being treated for the worms. She is dehydrated and will not drink on her own or eat. I am using a syringe to get water and water/gatorade mix in. She tolerates it. There is no vomiting, but has been diarrhea. I did boil a chicken and blended broth and chicken to a mixture I could administer with the syringe. She took some, not much. I have already spent several hundred with the vet and can't afford doggie hospitalization. Any suggestions on what else I can do to help her?

My border collie mix has been sick since Thursday evening and it is now Sunday morning. I took her to the vet Friday afternoon. She is dehydrated, has elevated kidney enzymes, and had signs of tapeworm and whip. She is now on antibiotic, probiotic, and is being treated for the worms. She is dehydrated and will not drink on her own or eat. I am using a syringe to get water and water/gatorade mix in. She tolerates it. There is no vomiting, but has been diarrhea. I did boil a chicken and blended broth and chicken to a mixture I could administer with the syringe. She took some, not much. I have already spent several hundred with the vet and can't afford doggie hospitalization. Any suggestions on what else I can do to help her?

My dogs have ALWAYS licked ice cubes when all else fails - when I tried the syringe, my one dog choked very badly and that frightened me - and her - half to death.

My dogs will also always eat out of my hand, including boiled chicken with rice.

I know what you mean about Vet bills - she has so recently begun treatment that this is probably (hopefully) just part of the healing curve.

Someone else will come along but please keep us informed.

Thanks. She isn't interested in licking unless strongly encouraged with the syringe and the liquid passing over her tongue. I've managed to use this without her choking. I'm afraid she may be turning anemic or toxic. More of the meat mixture maybe? She just changed positions with her head and there may have been tail movement. I just want some sign of improvement. :(

She tries harder when her boy is in the room.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/kontan/BlackieandTchaik.jpg

You need to speak to your vet. See if you can work out a payment plan, your dog really should be at the clinic on IV fluids.
Did they do x-rays or other tests besides bloodwork?

No x-rays. Heart and lungs sounded good, no tenderness in her belly or other masses. Unfortunately, the vet is not available on Sunday.

I would lean towards taking an x-ray on Monday if she is no better - many masses or other issues are nearly impossible to palpate.
In the meantime, I would go to the pharmacy and pick up some Pedialyte and start syringing her that. It should help replenish the electrolytes she is losing with diarrhea.
Stop feeding her for 24 hours, just give her pedialyte. Give her gut a rest from the diarrhea.

Also, unless she rallies and is feeling better, I would take her in on Monday and speak to your vet about further diagnostics/treatments.

My husband will take her tomorrow. I'm just feeling really helpless today. There is no sign of improvement. The diarrhea is not an issue today, but then she really isn't passing anything. The emergency guys won't take her unless I have the $ on hand when I come and they want to do a full series of diagnostics. I just don't have more hundreds available. This is awful.

Make sure you keep up the fluids. Pedialyte works good too.

Good luck and God bless.

When a dog is feeling that sick, she probably won't eat or drink no matter what you do. She needs to be on IV. Please tell your vet about your financial situation. Surely they can work out something with you. I can't imagine they would just let her suffer. I know how scary it is when your pet is sick and you feel helpless. They are beautiful. Please let us know what happens. Good luck.

I agree with saris and JMJ, pedialyte is much better than gatoraide, it's a great option.

What about wet food? Will she eat dry kibble that has been made mushy by warm water? That way she would be getting fluids into her. Is she eating the boiled chicken on her own, or are you hand feeding it to her? If she is eating it on her own, than you could leave some extra water in the food.

I understand what you mean about the money aspect. I just spent $400 at an emerg vet for my dog who picked a fight with a porcupine. A lot of vets will work out a payment plan, so it's worth a shot. Also I believe I still have a sticky up there about lowering the cost of vet bills. It's kind of long, but may be worth a read to see if there are some resources posted there that can help you.

Please keep us posted!

Yes, assuming that you have a relatively decent relationship with your vet, they should work out a payment plan.
While I admit my clinic won't give a payment plan out to someone we have never met before because we have been burned in the past where someone disappears with a 3 thousand dollar bill, but if they are clients of ours who come for regular vet care and are trusted, we will.

And I will add that the emergency Vet clinic where I live will - with the approval of the regular Vet - treat a dog on "credit." I once raced to the clinic without a wallet, had no checks, no money, no ID, no credit card, was a distance from home and the clinic called my Vet who said I was "good" for the payment.