# Poor Puppy Sinus infection



## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

Our poor little Maggie had a horrid weekend. Some diarrhoea on Thursday morning, which settled down by that evening. But it came back on Friday afternoon after Doggy Day Care, and I was up all night with her comforting, and frankly cleaning up pools of horrid foul smelling 'stuff'. Noticed on Friday night that her nose was running and she was 'snorting/sneezing'. Vets first thing on Saturday morning who prescribed anti biotics, and wasn't too worried about the nasal discharge. 

Diarrhoea settled down by Saturday afternoon and has gone, thankfully....but on Sunday morning came back from a pilates class to see poor Maggie's nasal discharge had increased dramatically and had blood in it, and she was very lethargic. Back to the vets where she got a steroid and anti inflammatory shot. She slept all of Sunday until about 6pm when it was like someone had replaced her batteries and off she went, active, demanding, and having fun. 

Back in to the vets this morning at 07.00 where she was sedated, anaesthetic given and they flushed her sinuses, x-rayed to check if there was a foreign object up there and took swabs. Swabs have gone to the lab, so we're waiting for those results. No foreign object, so it seems it's an infection of some sort, possibly picked up in Doggy Day Care, and poor little sausage has a very inflamed throat from the post nasal drip. 

We've been feeling so sorry for her....poor baby is leaving snot traces everywhere, not allowed to go to daycare, no puppy school tomorrow and not even allowed to go for a walk for at least another 24 hrs. 

But we're hopeful that the lab results will show that she's on the right medication, won't need any additional, and get an answer as to what bug, if any she has had. Amazing difference in how she is between feeling ok, and feeling ill.....we were missing the madness of the running around and the getting into everything. 

In other news, now 15 weeks old, fully house trained, (when not having diarrhoea!), asks to go out to our back garden for toilet, and had been doing really well with training, but I think we're going to leave her alone on that front for a while until she is fully recovered. She can have food again in the next couple of hours, so we'll see how she goes.....


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Sorry to here she's not feeling well, and hoping she's back to her old self in no time. 
I have to say, I've never had to deal with a sinus infection in my dogs. But I've had one, and they can make you feel like crap.
I would probably call her daycare, and see if any of the other dogs have had her same symptoms.


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

poor beautiful babe, this is plenty to deal with. they are like human kids with their immune system, once they start to get exposed to foreign bacteria, they will react here and there. (i.e. other dogs at the daycare). 
just one question: by any chance it could be a belated reaction to her puppy shots? sometimes they can react with each other and symptoms only appear weeks later. unfortunately vets don`t always think about it, and don`t spread them out, plus daycares often demand the full shot before taking them.
and i agree with your training command: never do it when they are not fully well. it can create negative association. plus let them rest and recover.


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

Well she is back to full battery level....bounding around. Little snuffly last night and her sleep was a little disturbed, but some snorting and sneezing this morning and the mucus has lessened, no more blood in it, and it is white instead of green. She is still on her anti biotics for the gut issue, so hopefully it is working for both infections. 

Her shots were 2 weeks apart, so I don't think it was a reaction...more likely that it was an infection picked up. Doggy Day care have had no reports of anything, and having spoken to them, they fog the facility every week to get rid of any airborne 'stuff'. Really not sure where she got it, I'm still convinced it was something stuck up there, or was initially stuck up there, caused a little cut, which then got infected. Having suffered most of my life with sinus disease and infections, I know exactly how she was feeling. But we are back to full on Maggie speed. I'd try to attach a video of her doing her WAIT statue pose, but can't figure out how to do it. 

Will update when I hear from the lab as to what exactly might have been going on....our trainer and doggy day care people have never heard of sinus infection in a dog before.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I was trying to do a little reading on it. As I too have never seen a sinus infection in dogs, without them also having some type of other illness at the same time. As in Kennel cough, distemper, or foreign object. But I'm no vet, and learn something new all the time. 
Here is one that had more info than some of the others.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/dog-...orders-of-dogs/rhinitis-and-sinusitis-in-dogs


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

Thanks for that @texasred....interesting reading. 

She is vaccinated against everything, and has not gotten any worse. (Though kennel cough mutates, just like flu does apparently.) 

We got the stool results back from the lab.....all clear on that front, negative for everything. Hoping to get the sinus swab results tomorrow, and really hoping that she does not have rhinitis/allergies. My gut instinct is that she got something up her nose last Friday. She did a 'coughing' sneezing thing last Friday morning and then settled, and came home from doggy day care with the bloody mucus running out of it later that night. I'm convinced that there was a small cut up there that got infected. Either way, the sinus flushing yesterday seems to have sorted it out. Will for sure update once the lab results come back.


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

So, we got the sinus swabs back. Definitely a sinus infection, that luckily was also covered by the anti-biotics she was already on. No evidence of a foreign body, so the vet is flummoxed as to where and how it started. She finishes the antibiotics tonight, vet wants us to call him in a week to report if there is a return. 

My own theory is that she got something up there last Friday morning and expelled it before the vet saw her....somehow that caused a cut, or graze inside her nostril and she got an infection. She was sneezing and coughing early last Friday morning, but it seemed like she had inhaled something like a piece of fluff or something. 

Purchased some pre and probiotics today and will start her on them tomorrow. She's now back to Doggy DayCare, back to trying to get onto and into our bed, sitting on our heads, cosy'ing up on the couch and generally being a VERY active puppy. Though I am having major success with training her to wait OUTSIDE my wardrobe room, and she won first prize in puppy school for her excellent 'wait', even though she missed a class due to illness. Can't believe I'm boasting about our puppy. (Picture of her first prize trophy is attached....Hope I don't cause offence....😁).


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Glad she's feeling better.

As long as your not preaching politics. I don't see why anyone should be offended. Most of us that own Vizslas, have a sense of humor. 
It's her toy, and she won it.


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

PS Texas Red, how is your V after your drama? Feeling better yet?


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

It must be different over there, but I'm not sure that they would accept a pup at 15 weeks for day care where I live. Aside from the size and age concerns, their immune systems are often not up to it, and "Day care"is like a petri dish for all sorts of infections, not the least of which is kennel cough and flu (and stomach bugs).

It's admirable you don't want to leave her alone all day, but it might eb worht considering the alternative of having someone come over to walk and play with her for part of the time rather than expose her to infections her immune system isn't quite developed for just yet.


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

@gingerling, the issue is that the sitter/walking services are a short 30 minute visit every 2 hrs here, and our Maggie can just about manage to do 4 minutes in her crate by herself with the gate closed....so that home service doesn't work for us. She comes to my office when it's appropriate, but again, that is a long day for a puppy, and if I have clients, (I work in film production), then it isn't appropriate, nor if I am on set. The doggy day care has two areas. 1 for puppies under 6 months, the other for dogs older than that. Doggy day care 2 - 3 days a week works for us as it means I can go to work and my husband can do whatever he needs to do during the day, (semi retired). We do use sitters, but for evening times so that we can do social things. We've changed our lifestyle quite significantly to accommodate Maggie. We rarely go out, inviting people to come to our home while we get her used to the crate and being left in it for an hour here and there. I now work from home Monday, Wednesday mornings. Saturday I go to puppy social classes, and we do two or three days of doggy day care. Monday, Wednesday afternoons my husband is at home and takes her to dog parks, walks etc, anywhere that she can go too. Saturday afternoon while we horse ride, we book a sitter, that we pay over the odds to, to sit for three hours, as opposed to visiting for 30 minutes within that 3 hrs. (When we know she won't freak out, we plan to bring her to the horse riding with us for more stimulation, the yard is full of dogs, snoozing and hanging out.)

Last time we left her in the crate for 40 minutes resulted in a vet visit to clean the cuts on her snout from trying to escape, and a very, very distressed puppy. That was 4 weeks ago, it was the second time we'd left her, we haven't left her since. 

The doggy day care is very organised....we know the owners well, they fog weekly, no more than 12 puppies in day care, they reinforce the training, and have a mobile vet on call. I know it can be a Petri dish....but they are very thorough in checking on vaccinations, and assessing the puppies/dogs before letting them into their care. 

no other dog or puppy has had an infection, either tummy or sinus....so I am hoping that my gut instinct is right. She has proved negative for everything that they would test a puppy for. I also hope that one day we'll be able to leave her in the crate for 1 - 3 hrs while we go to horses/pilates/dinner, and not come home to a pup that needs to be hugged out of her distress, and have her cuts managed for a week. And yes, we've tried the desensitisation, (still are), the Kong with frozen goodies, sitting with her, radio on, short periods..... 

We've managed 4 minutes with the crate door closed. I've also managed 20 minutes with a frozen Kong, but only with the crate door open, the room door open, my pottering around from room to room within earshot, and sometimes eyeline, and then the clever girl brings the Kong to me wherever I am, and I have to remove it and put her back in the crate. She just will not accept the crate door being closed, and if I/we go outside even to the garden, she has a meltdown. Other than that, she is a perfectly socially adapted dog, very independent.....😂.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

MaxB said:


> PS Texas Red, how is your V after your drama? Feeling better yet?


Oh she was/is so bored, and being a busy body.
As rough as she was playing in the house alone, I thought letting her play a little inside with Arya would be okay.
Took no time for her to rip out one of the stitches. So we are back rotating which dog is out of the crate. Few more days, and she should be healed.


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

I hope she feels better soon.


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