HELP! My dogs have Erlichia+Kennel Cough or worse

[cookie_cola]

---

I'm hoping someone could help me with my prob... I can no longer afford to have my dogs taken to the vet. I've spent almost 10thou already to have my dogs treated but it seems the problem keeps getting worse coz now my other dogs are getting sick one by one. I'm hoping that if someone is a vet here, he/she could shed light to my prob coz luoy na kau ako dogs and I can't afford to pay for their treatment anymore...especially since nagkalahi2x man ila sakit.

When I noticed my shih tzu coughing, squinting his eyes and overall lethargic, the vet had him tested for erlichia. Turned out he does have it plus a virus that's making him cough... which they assumed might be kennel cough. I'm saying "assumed" because in order for them to really know what virus it is (like distemper) they have to perform another test but I had to say "no" coz nahurot na ako money sa sige test2x. taas au ghatag na receipt ang doc;which is good for the dog, I know but kahilakon na kau ko coz I could not afford to buy all the medicines plus wa jud nako mabaw.an exactly what's making my dog cough. I picked nlng the ones which I felt was important: doxycycline for the erlichia plus RBC, Ascof for the cough and Isoprinosine for antiviral.

On top of all that pa jud, my shih tzu's brother was also diagnosed with erlichia and mild coughing although mas active cya compared sa iya bro. So times two ako gasto for medication. But naulian ako tzus so I was happy.

But then came my pug. My pug's starting to have a hacking and gagging cough, like kennel cough, similar to my tzu before. Hadlok na ko muadto sa vet coz wa na jud ko money for tests and meds; I'm betting that she may have the same illness as my tzus coz the illness is easily spread through air (for the cough) and ticks (for erlichia)

Just when I thought that my tzus were ok, nibalik man noon ang hacking cough sa 1st and 2nd tzu although s 2nd tzu (first shih tzu's bro) mas kusog2x. He's exhibiting the same symptoms as the first tzu before; that is, lethargic, eye squinting, loss of appetite, dry nose... and I don't know unsa nasad ako e tambal niya since what I gave my first tzu nga naulian2x run sa iya ubo (Ascof and Isoprinosine) he's had that also. But it's like a repeat performance only this time ang 2nd tzu ang nagluya while ang 1st ky active even though nag-ubo. What the heck is happening And what am I supposed to do?

Should I give the second tzu another round of Ascof and Isoprinosine? He’s had Ascof for 7 days, pag Saturday ra ni end. Then the Isoprinosine is good for 10 days… he’ll have his last dose tonight.

Is there any other answer aside from “Take them to the vet.” Because I would if I can but I can’t right now, so if anyone out there could help me, my tzus and my pug… we would really appreciate it.

[Baby Wipes]

dili ni VET advice, pero mangutana lang ko ngano halos tanang thread diri sa istorya.net ... EHRLICHIA.
kung naluya ... EHRLICHIA
kung nag-ubo ... EHRLICHIA
kung nagkalibang ... EHRLICHIA
libog ug nagduda ko sa aning sakita da.

lisod na imo kahimtang. finances naman gud ni.
pero bahin anang EHRLICHIA, maybe it's time to get a second or third opinion. basin dili na EHRLICHIA.
basin barato ra ang pag-handle sa sakit sa imo pets.

[bakerboy]

bitaw, basin lain na nga problema. possible man nga carrier lang na imo dog sa ehrlichia or chronic case. mu-positive siya sa test pero it does not mean na mao na ang cause sa coughing.

kung mag research ka about ana na sakit, wa man siguro gi-ingon nga symptom ang coughing.

basin gi-pad lang na ang among bill sa vet para mas dako sya masingil. pogi points pa niya kay positive gud ang test. in-ana sad baya na ang practice sa uban human doctors, labi na kung rich ang patient.

[cookie_cola]

@ Baby Wipes
That's true. That's what I thought so at first until nakakita jud ko unsay effect jud sa ehrlichia sa dog. We lost a precious dog because of this coz late na cya na diagnosed with ehrlichia. And sometimes a dog won't show symptoms so if your vet doesn't do lab tests, then you'd never know your dog has it. We thought nothing was wrong with my sister's dog, suddenly one afternoon nikalit ra cya ug nosebleed; the next thing you know napuno na ang bed ug dugo. When we got her to the vet nisuka cya ug daghan au blood...g.emergency jud cya dayon coz she lost so much blood. We never expected that to happen coz the dog looked healthy...as in super healthy jud grabe ka kiat. That's why na trauma ko anang sakita. The vet wanted to give her blood transfusion coz she lost so much blood. Nakahilak jud ako sis coz pag ask namo how much we are looking at paying, the vet said around 10-15thou for the blood transfusion lang; we'd probably be looking at a 20-30thou total. The worse thing pa jud is they said it MIGHT be ehrlichia and unless we agree for further testing, then we'd know exactly what was wrong with our dog.

@bakerboy
You're right that there might be a different cause for the coughing coz your dog can have ehrlichia at the same time another illness sad. So the vet does tests. Unfortunately sa sige test2x mhurot imo money then usa ra ka tubagan "negative man cya ani na test but it's possible naa cya ani na sakit coz coughing is a symptom of many canine diseases..." so test nasad "negative." test nasad "negative" Naabot na 2K ako bill wa pa ko kibaw unsa sakit sa ako dog! They said to test it for heartworm I said NO coz heartworm testing cost 7K++, negative pa lang.

It's hard to get a second or third opinion coz lahi2x man gud ang sulti sa uban vet... wa na noon ko kibaw kinsa ako tuhu-an not to mention the extra cost of having your dog tested na sad.

[Baby Wipes]

Grabeha sa?
Heartworm testing lang ... 7,000+ na.
Blood transfusion ... 10T-15,000+ na.

@cookie_cola, you really need to look for a second or third opinion. Over-charging na na ang imoha.
Daghan mang vet clinic diri cebu. But before you visit one, call first and inquire pila ang charges sa mga tests na imong nabuhat o ipabuhat.

Naa may thread nga vet clinic directory sa istorya.net. I strongly recommend you inquire.
Economically speaking (putting aside emotional attachments), maybe we should be spending at most twice or thrice the tag price of our pets.

[KaLoYsKi]

adto sa animal wellness in hernan cortez. 4167607

[carbrill]

du ang Erlichia kay maka takod na... so kung naa kay dog nga naay sakit nga ana imo isolate sa uban para dili maka takud... kung wa ko nasayop tungod ni cya sa kuto nga naa'y virus den once imo dog naa ani well masakit gyud ni cya...

[cookie_cola]

@baby wipes

yep the heartworm test cost dat much and that's just for the test lang. la pa ny labot sa treatment fee+ doctor's fee+miscellaneous+tra la la la la la dat ur going to end up paying.

I've already been to three doctors. The first one is my most trusted vet. But since he doesn't do tests, he's 99% reliable. Nasipyat cya sa 1% before and that cost me my previous dog's life. So what I did recently was to go to other vets for lab tests. First there's this group of vets known for their lab tests... but sa sobrang lab tests magkalahi2x na noon ang results sa unsa juy sakit sa ako dog. For example, while ako problem at hand was just my dog's cough, maabot na noon mi sa distemper, other virus and I don't know why, ila man jud e promote ang heartworm test. Matinga lang lagi ka ubo ra unta imo e pcheck grabe pila na ka thousands imong mabayran. And ang receipt pa sa tambal... grabe ktaas. F dika sweto ug iro, like my sis, mapugos jud ka palit sa tanan ila e receipt (i.e, Oxyfresh, maski dog food na Royal Canin Recovery na tag 110+ per can, 1 can for 7 days) True maau na sa dog but if you really think about it, halos sa ila tanan greceipt pwede ra bitaw unta dili nlng. Msupplement cya but not really jud the priority medicine you need para ma ayo imo dog.

@Kaloyski
Maau ang Animal Wellness and this is one of my reliable vets also. If your dog has ehrlichia, pinakabest sila mutreat. Ehrlichia, if di pa cya chronic stage can be treated with doxycycline and I would highly recommend Animal Wellness' CANINE RED BLOOD CELL. Grabe ka maau ni na med, maulian jud imo dog ani. And Dr. Gills really knows ehrlichia best. From my experience, Doxycycline is basically all you need (if di pa cya chronic stage ha) and Dr. Gill's RBC is the best supplement especially since ehrlichia causes your dog to become anaemic. I salute Dr. Gills for this.

What my point really is, di man jud na malikayan imong dog daghan ug tinaguang sakit and as much as you want to address all of them, sometimes di makaya sa imong finances. I would appreciate if as much as possible vets would concentrate on the problem at hand first then maybe we could work something out for the rest. I'm sure that by the look of my dog and the symptoms I've told, you can have an idea what's wrong with my dog so target on that. Though not 100% sure, at least mas dako ang chances that we're focusing on the problem at hand and ma minimize ang tests and costs. Di lang magsige test, test and test.

And another note to all vets, ig receipta sa tambal, please stick to the basics. We know you guys want the best for our dogs but sometimes di man jud mkaya. If you think that's the best thing for us to do, SUGGEST. Please don't make it seem that mao ra jud na amo kailangan para maau among dog. OFFER other OPTIONS particularly when finances na ang sturyaan. What I did for my tzus was take baby wipe's advice. Went to three vets, studied and compared their results and summarized their recommended treatments to get the basic. That's how I knew that for ehrlichia, bottomline, you need doxycycline. And the cough, which was my main concern, had nothing to do with ehrlichia. It was simply kennel cough which can just go away on its own (though the vet from this group of vets conveniently left out hoping I would go for their heartworm test.) And I didn't have to go for the Isoprinosine either. Instead, Vitamin C could do great for my dog's immune system. And in the case of my sis' dog, true, Royal Canin Recovery is the best but not everyone can afford it. And it's definitely not a requirement to cure ehrlichia. For people who don't know that much about dogs, mapugos sila buy ani because mao na greceipta sa ila doctor not knowing that they can mash their dog's dog food into powder, sift it fine, and mix with a little bit of water and cerelac just enough na ma pulp cya and ma force feed nimo sa imo dog if di cya mukaon. I even placed little shreds of meat para treats. And a little Gatorade or MOndex can help your dog from getting dehydrated if mgkalibanga cya. I am no vet but this I learned from my experience through my desperation to save my dog's life coz di jud cya mu eat and I can't afford Royal Canin Recovery. I saved my shih tzu because of this and now he's back on his feet and peeing on my bed again.

And please, we can make do without OxyFresh.

Pinka worse jud nako na experience is when distraught na kau ko sa ako tzu and I had to decline my vet's recommmended medications coz di ko ka afford sa gpang receipta nya. She gave me this look "Bahala ka, if mamatay imo dog, it's gonna be your fault" and made me feel as if I'm this really bad owner who won't spend to save my dog's life.

I am NOT a bad owner and I LOVE my dogs to the point I'd do anything to save them but I am not a fool either. So there.

[bakerboy]

@cookie_cola

Pila??!! kamahal gud ana?

Which vet man na? Please divulge names para makahibaw sad ta kung kinsa nang nagpasagad pud ug charge uy! Kagrabe man pud ana.

Akong vet si Dr. Berdon sa Animal Kingdom. Maayo pud ni siya, UP graduate. naa sad siya iyahang lab pero dili man na siya magpalabi ug tests uy. Murag pinakadako nabayran nako ever was mga 10 thou pero na admit ako iro adto.

Murag 500 ra man gani to ang heartworm test. pero ambot lang ha, dugay dugay naman sad hinuon to. basin increase na karon. pero dili siguro 7 thou preha sa imo vet!!

asa man na nga clinic intawn?

[cookie_cola]

huh? 500 gcharge.an ko ug 7k sa isa k vet sa CVD para heartworm test sa ako tzu. Then ako nbayran para check up sa ubo sa ako dog mga 2k and the worst thing pa jud is wa man gani cya nkasulti nko kung exactly nauunsa na ako dog coz I refused further tests. But ako sis anha ngpa treat sa iya dog. mga 2K rman ta toh sulti sa vet iya mpay coz ni refuse nlng ako sis ug further tests and treatment coz la na cya money. natinga naman cya naabot ug 4K++ iya bill den wpay labot another 4k++ para sa medicines sa iya dog, which pagtan.aw nko sa list, daghan bitaw unnecessary, nindot pero di priority. And my God, grabe cla ka detalye sa ila billing. Maski MISCELLANEOUS bayran. What the heck... miscellaneous As if my sister hasn't paid enough already.