New member , new pup help

Question:
 Hello,
I've just joined the board and have been browsing and reading this forum for several days. There's some great information here and I wanted some help/ hand holding for my new choc pup "Velvet".
Velvet is 10 weeks old and we got her from a breeder at 7.5 weeks. She's a beautiful happy puppy. But I'm a bit concerned after our 2nd vet visit.
She has yeast in both her ears and she has coccidia. We got a whole bunch of stuff to take home and feel a little sorry for our little girl. I'm worried it might be too much for her little body.
1. Drontal (which we gave yesterday)
2.Interceptor puppy table ( monthly maintainence)
3. Frontline Plus( montly maintainence)
4. Malaseb Flush and Mometamax for 14 days for her ears
5. Albon tablet for 9 days( for cocidia).
6. She got her DA2PPCV vaccine too.
She was on Albon when we got her from the breeder. But the vet wanted to do a follow up fecal test and now wants us to do an other round to get rid of what's left. She dosn't have any clinical symptoms, firm poop and eating well.
We currently feed her Eukanuba large breed puppy( 3/4 cup - 2 times) to continue what the breeder fed and will change to better food when things settle down.
Is ther anything we can do to help her immunity when she's on the antibiotics? Does any of the above seem not right, should we get a second opinion?
Thanks for any feedback.

Answer:
 Welcome to the board. We must have pics of your baby :smile
Drontal which I believe is also called Droncid is used for tape worm. At least in my case.
You can add apple cider viniger to her food with water added to help ward off yeast - while you are doing the cleaning and medicating of the ears as vet instructed.
I just found out last night at my Lab club meeting that you can by ACV in pill form. Wonderful for dogs who don't like the taste. I give 1 tbsp of liquid daily so you would have to figure the dosage if you want to use pills.
Go to a health food store and get live organism probiotics that need to be refrigerated (not pill form) to give her daily while on the meds (give 2-3 hours after giving meds) and continue for a few to 3 weeks after meds are finished to put good bacteria back into her system. I would give a 10 week old 1/8 to 1/4 tspn daily. Others may chime in on a different dossage. This will help build her immune system back up.
If you don't have a big flea issue by you talk with the vet about giving the Frontline every 45 days rather than monthly. Less poison going into the system. Not sure if fleas are even around in the winter months - never had a problem with them and don't use Frontline or the like. If not, I would not give this in the winter.
DA2PPCV - this is Distemper, Adeno virus, Parainfluenza, Parvo virus, Corona and V - I believe that stands for "virus" in Corona virus.
See this link pertaining to Corona. I will not be giving this to my future pups as I did with first vaccination on last litter - will be discussing this with my vet at an appointment today.
http://www.newvaccinationprotocols.c...mendations.htm
scroll almost to the bottom of the page to see the Corona info.
For future vaccinations ask your vet about breaking up the series and separating them and not giving them all in the same day. Less stress on the system - especially with all the other meds Velvet is on and the effect it can have on her immune system. This can help prevent reaction to vaccinations.
Good luck and please keep us posted on how Velvet is doing.

Answer:
 Patty,
Thank you so much. I have been following your posts (including the one about crate training) and it's been very helpful. You should think of writing a book, you really have great information and the experience to back it up.
I wish I had found this site before we got Velvet, but she’s here now and we‘ll do the best we can for her. I’ve been giving her a tsp of organic plain yogurt daily, she loves it and I’ll add the probiotics to it.
I’ll talk to the vet about the vaccines at her 12 week visit. The frontline is for ticks, we have deer and woods in our backyard and I’ve found 2-3 ticks that I had to remove. I check her every time she plays outside for now.
I’ll get some pictures of her online soon; she’s a sweet girl with a slight underbite (which looks cute for now)

Answer:
 Take a deep breath. Her issues are not all that big a deal compared to some pups. I know thats easy for me to say but you will get her thru this.
You say you are going back to the vet for 12 week visit. Is this for another series of vaccinations? Please wait 4 weeks between series. 2 weeks is overload for her system. If your vet is recommending every 2 weeks I would seriously consider finding another vet. One that is more up on the current protocol. (See Dr. Dodds link below)
(edited to add - I may be jumping the gun on the above as you may be going back for a fecal and ear check only).
Look at the entire site I sent you the link to in previous post. Its very informative. Hint - use the forward button at the bottom of each page to get thru the links. I find clicking on the direct link won't work.
While the info on that link is dated a few years ago it is still good. Here is Dr. Jean Dodds vaccination protocol which is more current info of 2007.
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/DODD...-PROTOCOLS.HTM
Thank you so much for your compliments. If only I had the time to write a book - but there are many on the market now written by much more knowledgeable people.
I do however, write a blog you may be interested in checking out
www.heartpet.com/blog Go to the breeder-canine section.
I understand about the Frontline if you are finding ticks on Velvet. Some vets will recommend if you live in a tick area but don't find them on the dog in regular checks to give every 45 days instead. Only reason I mentioned it.

Answer:
 Patty,
Her last vet visit was at 9 weeks, and she wanted us to come back at 12 weeks. Maybe I need to postpone it by another week just to be safe.
The vaccinations is an whole aother issue, I've been reading the other thread about puppy vaccinations with great interest. Thanks for the links, I'll get myself more educated before I let them jab all kinds of stuff into her.
So far she has had Intervet Progard Pv ( 4 weeks by breeder)
Intervet Progard 5 ( 6 weeks by breeder)
DA2PPCV ( 9 weeks by my vet)
Ok... that's all for now, breath .. breath... :)

Answer:
 Good to inform yourself before the vet visit.
FYI. I give 8, 12, 16 week vaccinations of DAPP and then do rabies at 20 weeks.
I would suggest the 4 week wait on the shots to the vet - in light of everything else she has going on and the meds she is on and see what the vet says. They just might agree with you.
It is being said on another thread that shots given at 6 weeks or ealier are not effective long term. Just given to protect pup from disease till they get their 8 week check up and start on effective shots. This is also mentioned in the first link I gave you and notice Dr. Dodd recommends 9-10 weeks for first series.
Here is the thread
Something I will be discussing with my vet today for his opinion.
Its hard to take this all in and retain it but so worth it for the long term health of our pups. :smile

Answer:
 You can add apple cider vinigar to her food with water added to help ward off yeast Yes but Patty, would ACV in fact NOT be good to give, if a dog has yeasty ears? Isn't ACV fermented also containing sugar, which turns alkaline? Doesn't yeast grow in an alkaline environment? Just a thought:) I do believe that ACV is a GREAT source to many different aliments though..:thumb4:
To the OP, I don't think anything you are giving, is out of the norm, for what your pups has:) These are not things that your pup will continue on forever. Well with the exception of course of flea & heart worm precautions. With the yeasty ears this could be diet, so I would after things settled, perhaps think about another food..
Congrats on your puppy and welcome!
Jen

Answer:
 ACV in the diet helps ward off yeast. I use an ear cleaning solution of water, white viniger and witch hazel (1/3 of each) that works great to prevent issues. I clean every 7-12 days. I scope first and if no cleaning needed I leave it alone.
See my thread in Firehydrant "Info on Apple Cider Viniger" where a link is given and the mention of Dr. Pitcairn's book.

Answer:
 ACV in the diet helps ward off yeast. I use an ear cleaning solution of water, white viniger and witch hazel (1/3 of each) that works great to prevent issues. I clean every 7-12 days. I scope first and if no cleaning needed I leave it alone.
See my thread in Firehydrant "Info on Apple Cider Viniger" where a link is given and the mention of Dr. Pitcairn's book.
Actually I've been giving ACV for for at least 12 years now, off and on for various reasons, however not on a daily basis, just when need be. I have just always read, that if a dog "has" (which would be in this case) a yeasty problems, it should not be given during that time..Just what I have read anyway:)
Jen

Answer:
 Sorry Patty I was thinking in terms of "internal" yeast problems, not "external" yeast problems. In which case for internal (which is NOT this case) it is not advised:)
Jen

Answer:
 Used externally, vinegar can be very useful for malasezzia yeast control :tup2: But the Malaseb flush is very good as well.
Here's a link to the AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) vaccine recommendations. It's 28 pages long :eek:, but really, really good information!
http://www.aahanet.org/resources/guidelines_canine.aspx
For vaccination recommendations, keep in mind that they will be different for different areas of the US or the world. Dr. Dodds in particular has been widely misquoted (bless her heart) - but she wisely advocates tailoring the vaccine schedule to the geographical and lifestyle needs of a particular dog - she mentions, in particular, lyme disease and leptospirosis. For instance, in one of the links above, Dr. Bob Rogers says there are only 12 documented cases of leptospirosis in dogs in the entire state of Texas in any given year. In other parts of the country, the clash between suburbia and nature have made it a growing problem, and clinics may see several cases a month. Vaccine recommendations are never "one size fits all" so there is no substitute for qualified veterinary advice :)
bgratlva, one option open to you is to titer test two weeks after a puppy vaccine. A protective titer at this time proves immunity, and no further vaccines would be needed (other than rabies, as required by law). I have done this after the second vaccine, but I have friends who gave a single vaccine at 8 weeks which proved to be all that was necessary. This requires a willing vet and a bit of a gambling spirit, since titers are more expensive than vaccines, but the payoff in terms of early socialization and fewer vaccines make it worthwhile for me.

Answer:
 Coccidia and worms are common in puppies. Yeasty ear infections are common if breeds that have floppy ears. The vet wouldn't prescribe medication to that extreme if he body wasn't going to be able to handle it. As long as she it eating drinking going to the bathroon etc as she normally does, I wouldn't worry so much about it. But if anything changes then that would throw up a red flag. As for doing a second round of medication for the coccidia, test another sample. Coccidia can be tricky to get rid of but I've only seen a couple of dogs that ended up having to be treated numerous times. All should be ok as long as your puppy is acting normal. :)

Answer:
 Thanks for all the support. I'm trying to get to 6 posts so I can post her picture.