sick chiuhuahua 10 months

Question
QUESTION: my long haired chiuhuahua boy is 10 months old and is always sick.im always at the vet with him and nothing seems to help. i always get told the same thing starve him for 24hrs then just give him a little plain grilled chicken and rice. but nothing makes a difference ??? he is sick a yellow and white foam and some times (not often) he screams like you have just stood on his paw before he throws up ?? he is sick now every few days for the last 1half months. he is always very cuddly after and before he is sick like he is scared, his ears lie flat and his hial is between his legs. his normal diet is iams puppy biscuits (for his weight) and pedigree puppy pouches although he dosnt eat the biscuites very ofen. the vet said we may have to start looking in to if he has an ongoing nuasia problem ??

please any help or advice to make him fell better let me know, or any thing i can suggest to my vet ??

please write back soon!!! x x x

ANSWER: First of all. when you say Iams biscuits are you talking about the puppy food or actual biscuits?
Both the foods you are feeding are very hard on the pancreas and the poor little guy has all the symptoms of pancreatitis. Surely your vet has told you this?

You cannot feed a dog with a sensitive digestive system biscuits and treats like you can other dogs. They just cannot tolerate it at all.
His pancreas is a little organ that is attached to the intestines and is below the liver. It produces enzymes to help digest fats and proteins.
If the dog eats too many fats it will cause the pancreas to get inflamed and become swollen and red and extremely painful.

This is why your dog is crying. You do need to fast him but the reason is to let his poor pancreas calm down and heal itself for a few days.

This is what you have to do and you HAVE to follow this very closely Vikki.Pancreatitis can be fatal if left untreated. This is a very serious problem.

You have to not feed him for one full day. No food in the morning until the next morning. Let him have all the water he wants. No food means NO treats, bits of bacon, egg, bread, ANYTHING at all.
The night he is fasting you will cook up some boiled rice and BOILED turkey burger-ground turkey or chicken.NOT GRILLED.Cook it in the rice water if there is some left over. Make sure the rice is very soft.Put this is in the refrigerator overnight.

After the 24 hour day is up, in the morning, Take out about a 1/4 rice and about two tablespoons of the ground turkey. Measure it with a measuring cup for cooking.
Gently warm this up for him either in a microwave or over a burner on low.
When it is warmed throughout (stick your finger in it to test it) give him. Let him eat however much he can from that amount then put the rest up until the evening.
DO NOT under any circumstances give him one single bite of anything else all day long. Let him have water.
You can also give him a little spoonful (one teaspoon) of pepto bismol. That helps coat his tummy and will settle his stomach. It also has some healing properties for his tummy.

Try that for about 4 days VIkki until he looks better. In the meantime, get yourself a bag of Science Diet Puppy Growth in the Small  Bites and when he looks better and feels better start putting a few little kibbles of this food into the rice mixture. I mean about 15 or so of the small bites.
Keep feeding him the rice and ground turkey in the meantime.
If he tolerates the first few kibbles of the dry food well mixed into the rice, then feed him a few more with every rice feeding. The idea here is to wean him SLOWLY away from the rice/turkey mix and into a GOOD diet that is less likely to upset his system. You could also try the Science Diet Adult Sensitive Stomach formula. I don't know where you live but they carry this food at a pet store, a feed store or at the Petsmarts. Call ahead and ask and then buy JUST THAT food and don't let the sales people lure you into buying ANYTHING else ok??

So back to feeding him. Day by day you will be giving him a little more dry food and a little less rice as you run out. That way you can ease him into the new diet without upsetting his little pancreas.
This whole thing should be spread out over about 7 days-one week.

Once he is on the Science Diet you will NOT be feeding him any thing, and I do mean ANYTHING else or you risk him having another flare up with his pancreas.
Just like a diabetic that HAS to have insulin and CANNOT eat sugar, he HAS to stay on ONE food and no treats. The constant diet of one food is soothing for his system and he will do well on that.

If he has something other than pancreatitis, even gastritis, this same plan will work for him.
Please Vikki, be very good about not feeding him treats. He won't miss them. Don't feed him from the table ever and if you follow this routine with him for his lifetime, keeping him on one diet always, he will live a happy and pain free life.
Please check in with me in a week and let me know how he is doing ok?
thanks,
Jana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your advice i have made up a load of very soft boiled rice and boiled turkey last night, i will start doing your plan tommoro morning once his fast is over. i really appreciate all your help as i dont care about paying expensive vet bills just so long as the problem is sorted you know ??

any way i just wanted to ask you your proffeshional opinion on a few little things i am still unsure about ?? i have taken all his treats away from him but what can i give him a) to clean his teeth ?? he normally chews on rawhide treats but should i not give these to him any more ?? also when i walk him off the lead i tempt him back with puppy treats (called coachies) normally what would i be best to replace this with ??

and i finally, every time my little dog drinks water he chokes ?? like when we drink and then cough like its gone down the wronge hole ?? again my vet says this is nothing ??? your advice is very appreciated as i just want him to be healthy and happy.

please write back love vikki x x

p.s i am also putting him in to get nutered(castrated) soon as he only has one ball and it has a little lump on it, and my vet is going to remove a tooth the same time were his baby one has not fallen out and the adult one has grown in over top. my vet says we can do the surgerys together as the tooth is very heathy but how long should i wait to operate after his new diet starts ?? i dont want to put him through more than he can handel, poor thing is only tiny its like worrying bout a new born baby x

Answer
Hi Vikki,
It is common for small dogs like him to not lose his baby teeth before the adult teeth come in.
Your vet should remove it when he is neutered. I would wait until his stomach and diet is sorted out before making the appointment for his neutering.
With one testicle not descended the vet will have to do a smaller surgery into his abdomen to get the other testicle. It has to be removed however or it will cause many problems.
You shouldn't have to coax him back to the leash by now if you have been doing this for a while. You should just keep him on the leash unless he is in your yard anyway for his safety.
He might be able to have rawhide chews later but you have to try slowly after he has been settled on his new diet and be very careful with those chews as they will choke on them. I stopped a chihuahua from choking on one the other day!
Keep him off the coachies and use pieces of his new food as treats when you are training him. The dog doesn't care what the treat is, they only know you are giving them something different then at dinner time.
To them any piece of their own food is a treat!
I have had clients do this for years and they are always surprised that it works.
So make sure you get him the Science Diet Sensitive Stomach and nothing else for at least a month or two. I would wait one month to get him neutered too.
He has been sick enough for now.
And while no one wants to pay high vet bills, like us, many of the problems that our dogs have are brought on by us- not by them! So they deserve the best medical care that we can get them-regardless of cost!
Good work and let me know how he does in a week or so.