[Marc]

My dog had puppies 11 weeks ago and 2 days ago one of our little guys got very sick. I will go into more details after my main questions.

We went to the vet today and they diagnosed him with coccidiosis. We got a Rx for Albon. Tonight he started showing neurological signs: head dropping to the ground, can't walk straight, falling over.

Questions: Is this Nervous Coccidiosis?
Is this damage/behavior permanent?
Will he recover from this behavior?
From this severity, can anyone give input to how quickly when/if he will recover?

Two days ago my wife brought him in and should me how bad he was. He couldn't stand or lift his head. I tried to keep him comfortable and tried to assess the situation. After a short while, he had a seizure. I ran out and got some pedialyte and an oral syringe. After 10mL/hour for 3 hours, he was doing a little better - walking, lifting his head, more alert, etc. Yesterday he started drinking and eating a little. Today he was worse again so we took him to the vet (after hours). He was diagnosed with coccidiosis and prescribed Albon. The vet said he should look a lot better after a couple of days. Tonight I cut his food (made his crunchy food soggy) with the pedialyte. He was having trouble holding his head up while walking and falling over. I started reading about nervous coccidiosis, so I came here.

[CorkyMax]

Since you have been researching--You may quite possibly already seen these sites, but just in case: Coccidiosis: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention | Beagles Unlimited

Coccidia and Coccidiosis Notice the mention of the d? earth toward bottom of article.

[Marc]

Thanks for the reply - yes I saw that site already and was pleased that it was one of only a few that didn't copy and paste the same information. I read dozens of sites and almost all of them had the same information - word for word.

I'm looking for affirmation that this is what I think it is, and I'm hoping to find someone who has dealt with it so that I can hear (hopefully) that the neurological symptoms are temporary with no permanent effects.

[CorkyMax]

I see you read my post before I got finished, sorry, I got a phone call in the middle! Here is another link you may have seen, but maybe your dog was not diagnosed right and could have another problem--Think I read amongst all the sites that it could be hard to get a diagnosis on this. Maybe has more than one thing making him sick. Also didn't it mention about not just one puppy coming down with this and you haven't had this happen so far. Also thinking that your pup is 11 weeks old ---And wasn't it more apt to happen sooner after being born? (Just food for thought)

Coccidia / Puppy Falling/Shaking

Also see any new addition I put in my above 1st post.

[Marc]

He died just a while ago. I can accept it when they sometimes die at birth, but not at 11 weeks. This was a first and really killed me.

He had coccidiosis, we had confirmation, but nervous coccidiosis cannot be confirmed without harmful, invasive tests or a thorough postmortem and I'm not going to disturb his body.

Most articles I read say that most puppies can handle coccidia without it resulting in coccidiosis through their normal immune systems. My little guy was just too small to fight it off on his own.

And yes, you're absulutely right. It may have been something else entirely for the neurological symptoms since nervous coccidiosis is so rare. Chiweenies are prone to various things anyway such as seizures, heart issues, etc.

[CorkyMax]

OMG! So sorry to hear--I sure wasn't expecting that! I know how you must feel, I lost my Corky just 7 wks ago and it still hurts a lot. Hope the rest of the puppies are going to have no similar problems. Good luck! Hope you stick around this forum too--Good place.

[Rhiannon840]

OMG, i can totally empathise with you. sorry to hear about your loss, and it sounded like an absolute terrible thing to go through-for you And the dog

Going through similar thing at the moment with my American Bulldog...And im already a complete Mess! ;(


All i can say is Thank God for ppl like Max-he has somewhat settled me to know someone in this world understands and connects with me on some level....


All the best....


<3 <3