Dogs- inside or outside

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Bless her little heart.

What is her name?

[Shoot Em Straight 385]

It depends on the breed of dog, the climate, and the property. We have an almost blind, 11 year-old Chihuahua and she lives in the house and sleeps under the covers. Since she can't see anymore, she doesn't like to be outside at all. If you have a rather large dog and a nice enclosure and it's not brutal hot or horribly cold, I could imagine that such a dog may be happier outside. Do what's best for the dog. Allow him to try it out and give you feedback.

I too have a chihuahua (long hair chocolate) but she is not blind...she would be able to see the birds of prey swooping down to pick her up for a meal if left outside alone!!!

So it does depends on breed & your area...not just weather wise!! Here in San Diego we also share our neighborhoods and preserves with very healthy coyotes.

[Xanax 349]

We were able to bring her home from ICU this evening, poor thing is on 5 different medications, some of them twice a day.

We named her "Cookie", Rebecca!

She isn't out of the woods, but her temp is normal and the vets think we can monitor her from home at nights and visit the vet during the day , hopefully she will make it!

[Caryh 5,206]

Thanks everyone who gave feedback and advice - I thought I would share my story with y'all.

Daniel and I adopted a 7 week old puppy when I got here (here for 3 month holiday). Our puppy is a "retriever X" and we adopted her from the locale humane society. Though she is said to be a retriever X, 3 vets have told us she looks like she is a pit bull X, so we are not really sure.

We had our puppy for only a few days before she got very sick with parvo and then(now) she developed aspiration pneumonia from vomiting with parvo. She has been in critical care units for a week now and is looking like she will get better but it has been very touch and go. They also discovered she is not making neutrophils very quickly and has a low white blood cell count which makes her more susceptible to infection.

Because of her precarious situation we have decided she will be purely an inside dog (apart from walking and play times). She has developed a heart murmur as well and has already got some scarring in her GI track and possibly in her lungs and heart (we will have a heart ultrasound when she is better to determine if there has been any damage from the parvo) so we really do not want to put her at any further risk by spending a lot of time outdoors, especially if she continues to have a low white blood cell count.

- - - -

Well that was therapeutic, typing it all out! We have been so stressed by this whole thing, even if no one reads this or replies it was nice to be able to tell a proverbial someone (apart from Vanessa- btw thanks for everything <3) about our problems!

Wow sorry to hear she's having problems. I just heard of a shelter that shut down and disinfected everything when they got in a surrendered dog with parvo. It was out in Buffalo Minnesota. They're back up and in operation now. Did you inform the Humane Society the dog you got from them came down with parvo? I really hope she heals up good and fast. I'll concur she looks to have some pit in her. Pits can be a great breed though, it just depends on how they're raised. I guess you certainly have your hands full training a puppy now though.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

So how is Cookie doing?

[Xanax 349]

Hi Caryh,

Cookie was rescued from "Golden Valley" in Minnesota. There was more than 1 parvo puppy from that shelter and the shelter knows. I do not know what they did after they found out- I'm actually going to follow it up in the next couple of days.

Rebecca, cookie got pneumonia ( from vomiting) and the parvo attacked her white blood cells, but the parvo symptoms have gone now; so it's just recovering from the pneumonia that she has to do.

Cookie eats normally (like a pig) and apart from the breathing difficulties she is very happy.

We have to take her temp every few hours and she will have regular CBC's to check her white blood cell count to make sure she can fight the infections AND she isn't out of the woods yet but we are very hopeful.

Her spending so much time in the ICU kennels and the vet has made her a bit scared of her kennel, but that's OK.

So all in all, Cookie is doing well. She went from touch and go with a 106+ fever and not.being able to keep food down to happy, recovering and eating like a piggy.

We got her a sweater to make sure she doesn't get cold/ sick when she is outside, but it is too big (she lost weight)! I'll link a pic when I get on the PC

[unlockingsky 94]

i say inside for better treatment.

[Marilyn. 340]

I wish the neighbors would keep their dogs inside. all they do is bark at every little thing they see or hear...

I don't even think they take them for walks. I guess they think letting them run around the back yard is enough. But that is why they bark at every little thing. they are bored out of their minds..

[Caryh 5,206]

Hi Caryh,

Cookie was rescued from "Golden Valley" in Minnesota. There was more than 1 parvo puppy from that shelter and the shelter knows. I do not know what they did after they found out- I'm actually going to follow it up in the next couple of days.

Rebecca, cookie got pneumonia ( from vomiting) and the parvo attacked her white blood cells, but the parvo symptoms have gone now; so it's just recovering from the pneumonia that she has to do.

Cookie eats normally (like a pig) and apart from the breathing difficulties she is very happy.

We have to take her temp every few hours and she will have regular CBC's to check her white blood cell count to make sure she can fight the infections AND she isn't out of the woods yet but we are very hopeful.

Her spending so much time in the ICU kennels and the vet has made her a bit scared of her kennel, but that's OK.

So all in all, Cookie is doing well. She went from touch and go with a 106+ fever and not.being able to keep food down to happy, recovering and eating like a piggy.

We got her a sweater to make sure she doesn't get cold/ sick when she is outside, but it is too big (she lost weight)! I'll link a pic when I get on the PC

She came from the Hennepin County Humane Society then. I haven't heard of them going thru a shut down recently to deal with it. The Wright County shelter recently did though. I guess this is the time of the year for it. I hope they isolated the kennel area your puppy was in and made sure everyone was cleared up before letting more people adopt them. I've seen them do that before. Hey if she's eating good, she'll get through this with your care. I've had a couple fosters that had been or were currently sick and needed nursing back to good health. When people are giving up pets for economic reasons, often they animal has not had decent pet care. Just be patient with getting her happy with her kennel, treats to go in, and knowing she need not be forced to go in helps.

[Xanax 349]

Thanks for your kind words

She came from "Golden Valley" It's called Golden Valley.

http://www.animalhumanesociety.org/adoption - Golden Valley

The thing about the kennel is / was all the cages were very close together and the cages with puppies had 1-4 puppies in each, Cookie had her 2 sisters in there with her. I know for a fact that Cookie was not the only puppy sick from that shelter and I also know that all the other puppies were adopted within 1 day of Cookie so I doubt they were quarantined or were even aware that there was a parvo outbreak before the dogs were adopted.

I also believe from what I have heard the policy is to euthanize puppies with parvo at the shelter instead of treat them due to cost and time required for treatment.

----

She is getting better, it's hard to think she is going to be coughing and hacking for another 6 weeks

We spent a lot on her, so I can understand the "economic reasons" From getting her to today we have spent around $4000 on Cookie.

Edited May 10, 2012 by BrittandDan

[Xanax 349]

Here is a pic of her in her "gansta" sweater. Daniel said she looks like a gangster, but we just got it cause the vet suggested it as she has had some much fur shaved off and it is not too warm right now so taking her out with a weak immune system where she could get cold and sick may be risky. So we got her a sweater to keep her warm

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Brit - I mentioned up above that our rescue girl is in a crate that is "too large" for her. (The standard for crating is big enough to turn around in and lie down in and stand up in.)

Winnie is only 9.5 pounds. So we bought her the proper size toy dog crate. As soon as I put her in it, she had her teeth on the bars. As I knew (that while she was abused) she had lost her teeth by chewing on her crate to get out, I knew right away I was not going to crate her if she continued to knaw the bars.

So we took the crate back, and took her with us to the pet store. They let us try her in different sizes. We went two sizes above her "proper" size to find her a crate where she seemed comfortable.

She loves her crate now. Goes right to it and sits there waiting for it to be shut. Lies in it with the door open. Of course her "sister" is right beside her in her crate.

It takes time but with patience I know you can find the right balance.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Rebecca Jo

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Here is a pic of her in her "gansta" sweater. Daniel said she looks like a gangster, but we just got it cause the vet suggested it as she has had some much fur shaved off and it is not too warm right now so taking her out with a weak immune system where she could get cold and sick may be risky. So we got her a sweater to keep her warm

Heheheh every doggie needs a sweata!

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Robbing an old ad: outside, nature has its own cooling/cleaning systems--which the one in your house simply doesn't hold a candle to!

[adiiann 163]

Proud momma of this pretty creature... She's our baby pup. Whimsy....

Edited May 20, 2012 by adiiann