2 year old new adopted dachshund

Question

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi,
We just adopted a 2 year old female dachshund.  The rescue gave her shots for DHPP, rabies, bordetella, did a deworming just to be safe, heartworm check was good, but since we have had her home, all of two days bad diarrhea, they knew about it and gave us pills for it.  Said possible from the change in dogfood.  It is like a yellow, gold color.  Also she is having like wheezing attacks, probably about 6-7 in the last two days that last about a minute or so.  One of our other dachshunds that we had did this when she got older.  Any suggestions as to what either of these  might be caused from?
-----Answer-----
I would have a stool check done for internal parasites, even though she was wormed. They might not have wormed for the primary problem. What was in the pills? If they knew about the diarrhea, they should NOT have released the bitch yet! Yes, it could have been from a change in dog food (why was there a change???) or stress, or maybe the dog has worms or coccidiosis.

As to the wheezing attacks, I have no idea what that would be... unless it is something like those reverse sneezes which really aren't anything. Could your house be too dry? I would try to tape her doing this and then take that tape and her into your vet for an examination.

Karen

Karen,

Thanks, we have a vet appointment on Friday.  The pills are: Metronidazole for diarreha.  She was brought into rescue as a stray, and they feed sience diet formula and said might be from the food.

What is a reverse sneeze???  When she has these its like trouble breathing.

Thanks,
Linda  

Answer
Metronidazole is usually given for giardia, a bacterial infection that can be picked up from stagnant water or bird droppings (or a combination of the two). Some people routinely treat any diarrhea with these pills rather than having the stools checked to see exactly what the cause might be. You should maybe inquire if a veterinarian prescribed this for a specific condition or if the rescue just gave it to her because of the diarrhea. At any rate, take a stool specimen in for your vet to examine when you go on Friday.

I suggest when the dog is feeling better that you gradually switch her over to a better food. I suggest one of the Eagle products, Canidae, or Wellness. There are a few other foods out there that also are quite excellent. I myself feed Eagle.

Eagle also has two products... one is Holistic Solution, a natural aid for diarrhea, and the other is Holistic Transition, an aid for transitioning from one dog food to another without upsetting the digestive tract. These products contain enzymes and probiotics (good intestinal bacteria) to aid in digestion.
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_DigestiveAids.html

Reverse sneezing... well, how to describe it. Think of a person trying to clear his nasal passages by snorting/sucking air inwards through his nose (you know... the thing that mothers hollar at kids for doing in public*G*). Now think of a dog doing this a similar fashion in repetitive bursts, sort of "honking", and unable to catch his breath. We used to have a dog that did it fairly frequently, and he always quit when I would cup my hand and "pound" him over the shoulders, like one might do when a person was choking. Here are a couple sites that describe reverse sneezing:

http://www.beaglebuddies.com/misc/reverse.html
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/drevsnz.html

Karen