Aspirated Pneumonia

[Nancy (Spuddie' s Mum)]

I'm sure you all may know by now how I worry about my dogs, but this time it payed off. My Chihuahua, Chewie threw up out in the back yard on Wed. and during his wretching he must have gotten dizzy and fell over. Unfortunatley where he fell was on a sloped piece of the yard and it caused him to roll to his back up against the fence. In the 10 seconds it took me to run across the yard to get him, he was all ready on his feet, the bad thing was that he thew up just as he was on his back. He choked and threw up for another few minutes and he really seemed in some distress, but after about 10 minutes he setteled down even though he seemed to be heaving every breath. I watched him closley and after about two hours he started to cough and then he coughed up some blood tinted mucous. I immediately called hubby home from work and we took him to the emergency vet. They did two chest x-rays, a CVC blood test and confirmed aspirated pneumonia. They had the poor little guy on oxygen and gave him a good dose of injected antibiotcs. We brough him home with Clavamox and Baytril which he must take twice a day for the next 14 days. I'm sure if I had not taken him in when I did he probably would have died in the night. The vet said his lung were filling up and he could have "drowned." His first night was a rough one, but yesterday there was slow improvement over the day. Today he is actually sitting up and is going out to potty on his own and his breathing is better. I have him eating boiled Chicken and rice because he could not keep down the soft dog food, but he's taking his pills and starting to have some interest in food, although he has a long way to go. I think tonight I may start adding some soft dog food back into his chicken & rice and see if I can get him back on his regular food soon, but I don't want to rush him.

[Mary Plummer]

Nancy, I'm hoping the best for Chewie! That is so scary, and it happened so quickly! This is something I'll definitely have to watch out for!

[momPaws]

Nancy -good thoughts go out for Chewie- luckily you did everything right!

[Nancy (Spuddie' s Mum)]

Here is a little update about Chewie; It has now been two full days since he got pneumonia, and is he ever better today!! He is starting to eat properly again and he was even playing a bit this morning. His breathing is almost back to normal now, except for the odd cough, but he's just doing amazing in his recovery. Thank goodness!!

[E's]

This is super news! I've been thinking about Chewie ever since you posted. Thursday night `Eowyn had a very unusual "upchucking whole supper" incident, then yesterday a.m. was limping severely, which is also very unusual. `E is from a line of large 'working' GSDs and weighs nearly 100 lbs... when something happens with her, I feel panic because there is no way I can handle serious physical situations by myself. I decided to just wait and observe. Then I read your post and was able to put things in better perspective... Chi or GSD, we all feel the same don't we? I am so glad Chewie is better.

[Turned out Win's problems were flukey coincidence - neither serious: snarfing around looking for treat crumbs, she had swallowed a peanut shell; and yesterday a.m. had damaged a nail on her right front paw while trying to get out a storm door to chase a squirrel! ]