# Zoey's Health History (warning....LONG!)



## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

I thought this would be interesting to share.....it is quite lengthy someone on one of the groups I have been on since Zoey was a puppy has been saving my emails concerning Zoey, but it basically tells Zoey's story and how far I have come with her: (Keep in mind that she is off of ALL of her medications except for Prilosec for Hydrocephalus.)

In a message dated 5/14/2007 10:08:33 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, writes:
Basically in a nut shell, I was on a breeding group with Chelle and a few other people whom I 'thought' were my friends.* Anyways I fell in love with little Zoey the day she was born through her pictures the breeder sent to the group.* I never really wanted a Chi....always thought they were nasty little, yappy SHITS to put it bluntly....swore up and down I would NEVER own one....but as the pictures came I knew something about this little girl was meant for me......so I begged, pleaded and loved my husband, and for our first christmas together we sacrificed EVERYTHING so we could drive from Utah to Illinois as Zoey's breeder wouldn't ship.* Everything seemed legit, and she seemed on the up and up.....until we started to have problems...she had to have CASH in hand not a money order but $1125.00 in CASH!* We met at a restaurant in Iowa and not in her house, so I never got to meet her parents....I know BIG HUGE RED FLAGS......but it was too late...I was hooked and was going to come home with this cute little pup....so on the way home, my hubby was driving so I could FAWN all over Zoey and he noticed that something was off on her face....her mouth looked weird....so opened her mouth and YIKES she has an overbite of about 1/8-1/4"......being my first Chi, and not very experienced in the breed, I thought maybe because she was so small she might develop at a later stage.....didn't have a clue, so just left it at that....so she had her first vet exam, and he told me that wasn't gonna happen that more than likely she will have to have her bottom front teeth pulled as they were already jamming into her top jaw causing an indentation...Zoey was 7.5 weeks old!* I bought her from Chelle with a **MAYBE possibility of showing her and maybe breeding her if she was in size...which she didn't turn out to be.* I bought her with the 'promise' of AKC Papers...well I got home and emailed Chelle about her problems and she at first offered me a refund of at least 1/2....but Zoey is now 18 months old and I have yet to see ANYTHING from her....her emails have all been changed so I can't email her....but it was a huge...to do on the lists I was on with her...found out thorough DIGGING through all the archives that Zoey's grandpa was a RESCUE!* How the HELL she got an INTACT rescue I have NO IDEA, nor how she thought she would be able to get papers for him....Anyways she made all these claims which I contacted the AKC and she NEVER registered him....so Zoey has no papers...either....after I studied the breed little more I realized that Zoey was nothing more than a VERY EXPENSIVE GLORIFIED PET with no papers.....(She has a fiddle front, bad rear, roach back, and her bite....) Don't take me wrong...Zoey is my special little baby girl and I love her to pieces.....then Zoey's problems all started....the Color Dilution Alopecia etc......that was one of the last emails that went through to her breeder.......I thought I was getting a puppy from a friend whom I could tr
ust...and many on another group helped me research and helped me talk to Chelle....many whom I thought were friends...when I started questioning whether or not they should be breeding their dogs whom to me from spending hours researching the breed standard, had disqualifications and were pets......they basically kicked me off their group.....but I notice now that all their 'pets' are no longer breeding....hmmmmm.....maybe I made a difference some where.....
But REGARDLESS of all of Zoey's health issues, she is my sweet baby girl, and I wouldn't trade her for the world....as I said to Zoey's breeder it breaks my heart in two EVERY time she has something else come up...and I feel like I'm pulling a 'Woe is me Marge' (Rob's Mom who complains and lets the world know of all her problems).....but I just want others out there to be aware of 'shotty' breeders and also I know many people out there 'love' Zoey to pieces so I try to keep everyone informed about her....sorry if it's tiring......I actually broke down at work today and bawled my eyes out.....It's so hard watching one of your babies go through all this.* 

May 14, 2007

I dunno if you will get this or not. But I wanted to let you know of some of the health problems I have had with little miss Zoey. She is such a sweetheart, and it breaks my heart EVERY single time something goes wrong with her...which happens quite a bit. She has little or no immune system, collapsing trachea, now is having seizures due to hydrocephalus...if you are still breeding her parents or 
ANY of her relatives....PLEASE reconsider. She did have to have her teeth pulled due to the overbite. It is a REALLY good thing she went to someone who has a vet in the family…otherwise I don’t think she would still be with us, cause no one else would be able to afford her medical expenses…..

This is what she has gone through in her short little life: 
1-10-06 Upper Respiratory Infection 
1-23-06 Sarcoptic Mange Otitis Externa due to Yeast 
1-24-06 Color Dilution Alopecia 3-02-06 Urinary Tract I(nfection 
3-24-06 Protozoan Parasites 
6-15-06 Allergies Seasonal 
7-17-07 Urinary Tact Infection Low Grade E coli Bacterial 
7-25-06 Otitis Media (Middle Ear infection) 
7-25-06 Upper Respiratory Infection 
9-11-06 Patellar Luxation Grade 1 Right Grade 1.5 Left 
10-9-06 Allergic Reaction to Insect Bite/Sting 
11-10-06 Throat Infection 
1-2-07 Throat Infection 
1-16-07 Culture of Throat shows 3 bacteria Coagulase Negative Staph, Pasteurella Multocida Acinetobacter Species 
1-26-07 Allergic Reaction (we thought it was to vitamin injection) 
1-27-07 Allergic Reaction to Zeniquin (antibiotic) 
2-12-07 Urolithiasis Calcium Oxolate Diagnosed on Adult Wellness Profile were not expecting abnormal
2-12-07 Kidney functions elevated
2-22-07 Arthritis Patellas and Base of Tail
4-5-07 Throat infection
4-27-07 Collapsing Trachea Moderate & Throat infection
5-14-07 Seizures
Xrays confirm Hydrocephalus
(I quit keeping track here...but have it complete in her medical records at the vet)

Update 10/19/2009

Zoey is doing fairly well all things considered, especially since I was just about ready to put her to sleep a week ago because I was so sick about her and didn't want her suffering at all.* She hasn't needed oxygen except last Friday and continues to improve each day.* We met with the specialist today Dr. Lisa as she is affectionately known (I was very impressed with her caring bedside manner and demeanor, it was awesome)...immediately fell in love with Zoey.* Zoey was a model patient and very well behaved, and even gave her face licks and kisses.* It was funny she said Zoey was one of the sweetest patients she has ever had.* Dr. Lisa couldn't believe she has everything wrong with her like she did, and she invited the Surgical specialist and the Dermatology Specialists both in for consults (just for the heck of it lol) as it's not too often that they have a patient who needs all the specialists in one shot , the surgery specialist was amazed at Zoey's little 'track' in her head for the Hydro, he said she has made her own drainage with the bump on her head, probably saving her life and keeping her doing as well as she is/has done.* He loved her xrays said they were some of the best he'd ever seen of hydro (showing the drainage etc), and asked if he could make a copy of them for his records, I told him sure.* He said at this point there does not appear to be any need for the surgery to put a drain in (they put a drain from brain to the abdomen to drain excess fluids.* He was tickled that we were giving her the Prilosec to help with the fluids, he said that really does help (it cuts the cerebral spinal fluid back about 26%).* He also said about her knees the (Collateral Lateral Ligament Damage) as long as she can still walk with limited limping he doesn't recommend the surgery as it is a very involved one and with her high risk, she should do just fine without it, she does have some arthritis in her knees but she's had that since she was about 1 year old (she will be 4 on the 25th). The Dermatologist said that Zoey's CDA (Color Dilution Alopecia) was moderate, all things considered, her blue coloring hair is definitely a completely different texture (softer) than the white parts (very coarse).* He wanted me to try giving her some Melatonin, which my dad and I had talked about in the past but haven't done yet.* So we will be adding that to her ever growing list of supplements & medications.* Her allergies concerned him more but with her immunity problems, we can't give her the injections for desensitization as she would have an extremely hard time with it.* We are going to keep her on a more frequent dose of steroids and have a topical steroid spray we are going to use twice a day on her front legs (where she licks the most) to help keep her allergies at bay better.* We do not really want to give her an increased dose of steroids as steroids have a TON of side effects, but we have to do what we have to do.


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Dr. Lisa was very impressed with my dad and I's care/medication/protocol for Zoey and is only going to be changing the frequency/dosing on a couple of things, but keeping everything the same as is for now.* Zoey does have 'crackles' in her lung sounds (the congestion/water soundingness), as well as Bronchial thickening on the xrays and changes on her lungs.* She does agree that Zoey has the Chronic Bronchitis aka COPD, and we are going to be increasing her steroids for the next week to confirm the diagnosis (how well she responds) but since she is already responding to a slight increase and the inhaled steroids, we are pretty sure that's what's going on.** Dr. Lisa was like "Why did you come to the specialist when you guys pretty much have everything under control?"* I told her Zoey is my child and we wanted to make sure that we were giving her the best chance possible.* She did say that Zoey's allergies/collapsing trachea and hydrocephalus can all cause congestion in the lungs so she has a slurry of things adding to her issues/problems.* She said that if she doesn't improve we will need to do a Bronchioscopy, but she doesn't want too do that if she doesn't have to due to her high anesthetic risk.* She thinks it's great that I've trained Zoey to allow for teethcleaning unsedated (she basically stands there for it), but gave me a rinse to use before and after to prevent the bacteria from entering the blood stream once disturbed.* (I use a different rinse usually), but she said this one works better.*** Todays visit was $375.28 with tax and everything....good thing I love her as much as I do *

o for anyone interested here is Zoey's daily current medication regiment:

AM:
Vetprofen (Rimadyl) 25mg (1/4 tablet 6.25mg) 2xday
Aminophylline (bronchial dialator) 100mg (1/4 tablet 25mg) 2xday (we increased this to twice daily instead of just once daily)
Vetalog (Steroid) 5mg (1/4tablet 1.25mg) 2xday (this was increased last week to every day, now increased to twice daily)
Enalapril (blood pressure) 2.5mg (1/4 tablet .625mg) 1xday
Flovent Steroid Inhaler 2 puffs 2xday (this was added by my dad last Friday)
Phycox (glucsamine) 1/4 chew 2xday
Amoxi 50mg (25mg) 1/2 tablet 2xday
Tussin DM Liquid (cough/decongestant) 1cc twice daily
Prilosec 1.25mg in VAL Syrup 1cc per day in am (this is both for her hydrocephalus and counteracts stomach irritation from being on Rimadyl and Steroids at same time)
Benadryl Liquid 1cc twice daily
NZymes Powder 1/8 t twice daily
Missing Link Plus Supplement 1/4t 2x daily
Tylan Powder slight sprinkle twice daily

PM:
Vetprofen (Rimadyl) 25mg (1/4 tablet 6.25mg) 2xday
Aminophylline (bronchial dialator) 100mg (1/4 tablet 25mg) 2xday (we increased this to twice daily instead of just once daily)
Vetalog (Steroid) 5mg (1/4tablet 1.25mg) 2xday (this was increased last week to every day, now increased to twice daily)
Flovent Steroid Inhaler 2 puffs 2xday
Phycox (glucsamine) 1/4 chew 2xday
Amoxi 50mg (25mg) 1/2 tablet 2xday
Tussin DM Liquid (cough/decongestant) 1cc twice daily
Benadryl Liquid 1cc twice daily
NZymes Powder 1/8 t twice daily
Missing Link Plus Supplement 1/4t 2x daily
Tylan Powder slight sprinkle twice daily

Also has an Albuterol (ProAir HFA) inhaler for emergencies and when she gets bad is to have a Nebulizer treatment with the nebulizer machine.

Now I know this seems like and extreme amount of pills/supplements for her to be on at only 4#, but afterall it is what is helping keep her alive and comfortable, and my happy little Zoom Zoom Zoey...but what I do to make it easy is I get her food ready into individual little rubbermaid containers for each meal, then put all supplements/pills in the container with the food, except the liquids.* I do this for all my dogs once a week for a weeks worth at a time, it makes feeding time so much easier.* Then at feeding time I add all of the liquids except for the Tussin DM as she HATES that one, to her food, mix with a little spoonful of canned food, and Zoey pretty much inhales it.* I have to give the Tussin orally (squirt it in her mouth).* Some may ask how her quality of life can be good with being on all those medications, well Zoey is pretty much one of the happiest, sweetest, enthusiastic dogs I know, even among all her problems she has such a GUSTO for life, bounces/zooms just about everywhere she goes.* She literally has a fan club of people who come into my work JUST to check up on her and get Zoe Zoe kisses.* She's my little angel, and until/unless I think she is suffering and no medication can help her, I will keep her going as long as I can.* I know each and every day is a blessing for her, and I love every moment I have/have had with her.

So overall Zoey is improving in how she is doing, and the Dr. McKay thinks that she will continue to do so.* Dogs with COPD have their good days and bad days, but most do well, we will keep her on low dose of antibiotics permanently as COPD patients are more prone to infections (which would also explain why she's had so many URI's), so will be adding yogurt to her daily regiment as well.* Thank-you again for any thoughts/prayers you have sent for/to Zoey, we sure appreciate it.* We have a followup visit in 1 week with the specialist, she said after that she trusts my father with Zoey's continued care as he's done/doing a great job so far with everything Zoey is dealing with.
-- 
Heather

Zoey's problems are mainly due to the fact that her breeder did not know what she was doing, and bred 2 dogs of dilute colors together (Chocolate/tan and a Blue Fawn spotted on white) which is a BIG NO NO in breeding chihuahuas especially where CDA runs in the background (found that out AFTER I got Zoey). Zoey's breeder did absolutely no health testing on the parents other than a physical exam on the parents.* Not all dogs with CDA have weakened immune systems but in talking to the Dermatologist today he said a lot of the ones he sees with it do have other issues they are dealing with weakened immune systems.* So I have and did learn a VERY valuable lesson in purchasing Zoey, although looking back on it, I know it's FATE she is with me as her human grandpa is a veterinarian, I have OCD when it comes to the care of my animals and I she goes to work with me at a Veterinary Hospital 5 days a week.* We do tend to see a lot more health issues in the smaller ones (under 5#) although the majority of the chi's we see at the vet clinic are 10# ++, everyone thinks Zoey is a "teacup" it's like um no she's normal sized (3-6# for the breed standard).*


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