My 9wk old puppy, golden retriever, was vomiting, had diarrahea, and was very larthagic. I brought him to the vet and the vet said he had hookworms. He gave my pup medicine and me medicine to give him for the diarahhea. After being home for about 10 hours he was still very very lethargic, even more so then before I brought him to the vet. He was still not eating or drinking, just sleeping... he could barely keep his head up. He was spitting up whatever he had in his stomach (which I think was only his medicine). He looked so bad that I brought him to the emergency clinic and they are keeping him overnite to run tests. Do you think I did the right thing in bringing him in? Or was that normal right after the diagnosis? Because now I know that I will have a huge bill. Anyone have any experience?

Hello tnc923,

In my opinion you undoubtedly did the right thing.

Your vet initially diagnosed Hookworm and began treating your puppy for that condition. Although 10 hours may not have been enough time to see any significant improvement, you were still concerned and took him to the Emergency Clinic.

I get the impression that the clinic was not sure whether your pet did actually have Hookworm and that is why they wanted to perform some tests to make sure.

Yes, it can be costly keeping a pet and the vet bills are often quite high, but I can see you would rather see your pup diagnosed and treated rather than see him suffering.

Most vets are very understanding and although the bill may be high, they will give you the opportunity to pay it off in instalments if you can't manage to pay it all at once. (Most do in the UK anyway).

Once your pup has been treated and is well again it might be an idea to get him insured. That way if he ever needs expensive treatment again, you should be covered.

Good luck and I truly hope your Golden Retriever is soon fit and well again. They are such beautiful dogs.

Hopefully when you read this the tests will have already shown up what the problem is and the treatment already started.

Cy
(Poseidon)

Those symptoms are very similar to parvo. The initial trip to the vet was absolutely right. I am not sure how quickly a dog should respond to hookworm treatment. If it was going to continue another 12 hours, your vet should have given you a better idea of what to expect. If I was going to beat up on anybody, it would be your vet for not giving you a better idea of what to expect. You had a very sick little puppy that wasn't responding to its treatment. Maybe rushing it to the clinic was a mistake and will be a big bill you can't afford. At least your heart is safe.

I have a lot of training and experience in caring for healthy puppies and keeping them that way. Much of it I share in stickies at the top of the forum.

Heather is due to check in, and she should be able to give a good answer. Beth may know more about hookworm than I do too.

Absolutely you did the right thing. Labman is correct the symptoms are very similar to Parvo, which is scary. The first diagnosis might be correct, but since your vet did not give you any idea on what to expect you acted as any caring owner would act.

I would definitely contact your vet after you get the results back on your puppy to inform him/her of the current state of the dog. (that is if the emergency is in a different location then your vet)

Poseiden is right, most vets are very good about setting up a payment plan if the bill is high. Any time you have any doubt about your puppy's health the vet should be contacted.

Although I am in NO way a dog expert, and do not profess to be one, I did have a lab that had parvo. These symptoms that you explain are very similar to the ones Kimmie experienced.

Our emergency vet put her on IV fluids and IV antibiotics for a 24 hour period, then she stayed with her regular vet for another 36 hours for IV fluids and observation.

She is a happy playful 3 year old now, and yes, both the emergency vet and the regular vet did put us on payment plans.