As a nurturing pet owner, it is very hard to think about or mentally picture your adorable pup whining in pain because he is sick from an illness. Don’t push the panic button yet, it is very common to puppies and even adult dogs to acquire illnesses due to repeated exposures to various bacteria, parasites, and virus infections. Since puppies have immature immune system they are more prone to obtain illnesses than adult dogs.
To help you handle the situation when these unpleasant illnesses hit your precious pooches, familiarize yourself with the simple and most common pup illnesses enumerated below.
Vomiting. You may find your puppy vomiting at one time or another. Usually your pet vomits when he has eaten something disagreeable, have been eating too fast or too much. Exercising right after eating and stress may also cause vomiting. Although, these are not serious causes, vomiting should not be too frequent or recurring. When your puppy vomits, try to monitor the duration and frequency of his vomiting.
If he vomits only once or twice and continues to eat normally, has a normal bowel movement, and does not look exhausted or weary, then it may not be serious. Provide plenty of clean drinking water to avoid dehydration due to vomiting. Otherwise, if your pup shows signs of pain during vomiting, immediately bring him to the vet. He could have eaten something poisonous, or be suffering from indigestion. Food allergies and worm infestation may also result in chronic vomiting.
Coughing. Basically, coughing is a common protective reflex that clears secretions or foreign matter from the throat, voice box, windpipe or airways, and protects the lungs against aspiration. But when you hear your pup pouring out his lungs in a dry, hacking cough, he may have contracted kennel cough.
Kennel cough is brought about by either viral or bacterial infection that usually last from one to two weeks and can be treated by natural remedies such as herbs. Although kennel cough is not a very serious illness, be aware of other causes of your puppy’s coughing; allergies to some irritants may cause some serious coughing for your pup. If your pup’s cough does not recede in a week or so, you should bring him to the veterinarian.
Diarrhea. Diarrhea is one of the most common puppy illnesses; it is a result of excessive fecal water content and is the most important indication of intestinal disease in the dog. If your puppy is suffering from diarrhea and is not getting better in a couple of days or so, take him to the vet immediately. He may be suffering from acute diarrhea which is manifested by sudden onset and short duration (three weeks or less) of watery or watery-mucoid diarrhea that may be overtly bloody in severe cases.
Parvo. Parvo is a highly contagious viral disease which spreads quickly to dogs that are not immune from the disease. The virus affects mainly puppies and younger dogs that are between weaning and up to six months of age. It invades and destroys rapidly the growing cells in the intestine, bone marrow and lymphoid tissue.
The disease is manifested by fever, vomiting, loss of appetite and severe hemorrhagic diarrhea. If not treated immediately, it can vary from mild to fatal. There are two forms of parvo, the intestinal, which is more common, and the cardiac parvo, which is less common but more deadly.
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