We recently adopted a Chihuahua, and named her Maggie. What we DIDN'T know was that she was sick. VERY sick. Shortly after we got her, she started having problems, so we took her to the vet. The vet said she was all good, but needed to gain some weight. Three days later, at 2 in the morning, we were rushing her to the animal emergency clinic. In the first 30 minutes we were there, her heart stopped beating, and the vet had to perform CPR.
That's right....CPR.....on a Chihuahua.
So little Maggie was diagnosed with Canine Parvovirus. Parvo is an especially nasty virus that pretty much kills dogs dead. She was given a 30% chance of survival and had to be hospitalized for about a week. Unfortunately, the vet isn't open at night, and the emergency clinic isn't open during the day, so we had to pick her up from one and transfer her to the other each morning and evening.
After a week in various clinics, vets offices, hospitals, etc., we finally got to take her home. She was literally nothing but skin and bones. She lacked the strength to stand up on her own and had to be hand fed with a syringe. HAPPY DAYS!
It's been a few days and she's starting to regain her strength, but still has an upset tummy. She's eating on her own again, and is starting to regain some of her weight. We're encouraged by her progress, and hope that we NEVER have to go through anything like that again.
What's really crazy is that she had her Parvo vaccine before we got her. Apparently she didn't get it soon enough.
Here's some pics of Miss Maggie (the gold plated dog) for your viewing pleasure. http://picasaweb.google.com/jcataffo/2008JunMaggie
