Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Poor Sierra


My sweet doggie is not feeling so well. We had quite a day yesterday. I came home from Bible study, and there was diarrhea everywhere. Thankfully the majority of it was on the tile floor. Then she threw up twice. Both times on the carpet. Not a fun day for cleaning up stuff :(. Yuck. Collies are super sensitive to heartworm medicine of any kind, and are sensitive to flea meds and vaccinations. We have been on 3 different heartworm medicines, and all have made her sick. A month ago I started her back on a heartworm medicine that worked okay last year. She ended up throwing up and getting diarrhea. Thankfully no diarrhea in the house then, just outside. Once it started to wear off near the end of the month, she started to feel better. Last week I decided to try a natural de-wormer that I found online that was for pets. She started out with some major gas for a week, and then the diarrhea and throwing up yesterday. We have been to several vets who are pretty much clueless about Collies and heartworm medicine problems. I have looked online, and many Colllie owners don't even give their dogs heartworm medicine because they are so sensitive to it. She seems to be feeling a bit better this morning. She has been drinking a lot, and I gave her some chicken broth last night, which she ate (or drank). She was looking for food this morning, and I am going to give her a little food to see how she does. I stopped the natural wormer, so she should start feeling better today. She actually got up and barked at something outside, so that is good. She is laying around a lot, but does seem a lot better compared to yesterday. I am going to look online to see some other options for Collies for de-worming. The vets just want to give her the heartworm drugs even though it makes her sick, and I don't want to do that. That can't be good for her, and many Collie owners say the heartworm meds can kill Collies. I wish the vets were more knowledged about this. I feel like I am having to doctor her myself, which isn't fun. My poor Si Si. I hate when she, or any of my family, isn't feeling well.

4 comments:

April said...

Aw, poor thing. I do hope she feels better and I'm so glad you've done research on heartworm medication and collies! I had no idea that heartworm meds could kill a collie! I wonder how many people have had problems with their dogs and don't even know why. :(

SchnauzerMom said...

I'm sorry that she isn't feeling well. She's an indoor dog isn't she? Maybe she'll be OK without the heartworm meds.

Jules said...

Sorry that your dog isn't feeling well. We don't have to worry about heartworm here which is a relief. How strange that vets aren't knowledgeable about Collies. We're found our vet to be very good with our Border Collie. Hope she's better soon.

Unknown said...

Update...Sierra is doing much better. No more throwing up or diarrhea, and she is eating well. Still not super energetic yet, but that is to be expected since she wasn't feeling well. I'm still researching online to decide what to do. I'm just glad she is feeling better :).