16. Cavalier King Charles with a productive cough

"She has a productive cough," the lady owner would have some medical knowledge to use this medical/veteranary term. "The liquid coughed out by this runt is yellow, not as bright yellow as the colour on your magazine. A bit darker."

The puppy coughed a few times on the examination table. Nothing was coughed out. I thought this could be kennel cough, listening to the familiar sounds of a hacking sound with nothing coming out. The puppy had 3 vaccinations. No kennel cough vaccination is ever given to pet shop puppies in most cases in Singapore and this puppy had none too.

"Would the colour be that of your daughter's hair?" I asked. The daughter had dark brown/blond hair more towards a colour of yellow mixed with grey.

"No," the mother laughed. It was difficult for her to describe the colour since the puppy no longer had a productive cough. She has a fever of 39.3 deg C. I auscultated her lungs. Musical sounds were heard from the left chest. The right chest was clear of such sounds.

"Your puppy has pneumonia," I said. "Has she been in contact with other dogs? She looks all right today but she may get worse as she is thin and is of small size for her age." The mother had told me that she had purchased the runt of the litter. Definitely she had some veterinary knowledge.

"No," the owner said. "She goes for evening walks for half an hour."

Where's the source of bacteria? Her son coughed too. "Could it be mycoplasma infection?" the lady asked.

"Hard to pin point the source of bacterial or viral infection," I said. On further discussion, the maids in the estate meet together in the evening with their dogs. So, there was a source of infection for this young puppy. The puppy stays in the shower stall on the 3rd floor and would run up and down every day.

Now, she has to be confined and rest.

"How is her toilet training?" I asked.

"The puppy poops in the newspaper for the first 2 weeks, inside the shower stall where she sleeps," the mother said. "Now she goes to the grass in the garden. A lot of poo. Usually 2 times after breakfast at 7 am and dinner at 8 pm, within 20 minutes. But she poops 2 more times in between. She also wees a lot of times."

"Whenever the puppy circles, my children would shout 'Mummy, going to poo,' instead of carrying the puppy out to the grass," Mum laughed.

"The younger generation in Singapore seems incapable of doing domestic work too," I said. "My 18-year-old part-timer has no idea how to use the mop properly to clean the floor. My room smells of urine and dog faeces after she has mopped the floor yesterday. In her apartment, her grandmother and mother do the house cleaning."

The lady's father is a distinguished veterinarian in Australia. It was great talking to her. For now, she has to confine the sick runt to a small area for at least 2-4 weeks. No evening walks. Ensure that the puppy eats puppy premium food and cut down on treats. So she can put on weight.

There is the problem of an abandoned strong muscular Bengali cat coming to the house for food and rest. Would he attack this Cavalier King Charles in the garden? I advised that she get him neutered and adopted as the poor cat must be involved in cat fights. He seems to be the top cat in the neighbourhood but for how long?

"It is best not to buy a runt next time," I said to her. "Sometimes they are not healthy enough and may die before they reach one year of age due to genetic kidney or liver defects. Your poor daughter will be heart broken." As it was, her daughter was quite stressed and sad that the puppy was sick.

15. Yorkies eat his own stools. What to do?

STOOL EATING PUPPIES
Dr Sing Kong Yuen

SUMMARY:
Coprophagia is an exasperating complaint in around 20 out of 500 puppies by new Singapore puppy owners in my 3-year survey of new puppy owners.

Such puppies have well cared for and given premium puppy food. Yet they eat stools. Only one case of the over 500 surveyed drank her own urine.

There are so many advices to stop puppies eating stools. In Singapore, most owners are busy working and therefore has no time to stop this anti-social habit. Once the dog grows up, it seems very difficult to stop him eating stools whenever the owner is not around.

The best method is positive reinforcement training using food treats, praises and play with the new puppy whenever he starts eating stools. A regular feeding schedule, taking away the feed after 15 minutes for most puppies other than those finicky small breeds and no distraction within 30 minutes of eating will ensure that the puppy passes stools in most cases.

Some puppies outgrow this bad habit. A few continues stool eating to adulthood. The best solution is to remove the stools immediately and using positive training methods mentioned below to stop the habit when the puppy is still receptive to training at 2-4 months of age.


E-MAIL FROM A YORKSHIRE TERRIER OWNER

----- Original Message ----
From:
To: judy@toapayohvets.com
Sent: Sunday, 2 March 2008 4:18:07
Subject: Photo of Yorkshire Terrier

Dear Dr Sing,

As requested, a copy of my girl's photo. By the way, she vomited out the deworm tablets on our way back home.

Problem: Had the habit of eating own stools.

Thanks for thinking of a solutions to solve the above problem.

Regards
XX (^_^)




E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING


Today is 5th March 2008. I have not received your e-mail regarding the time table of what your puppy does every day. It is important that you spend time training your puppy not to eat his own stools now. You still need to deworm him as the stools he eats may contain worm eggs.

There are a few ways, not always successful in stopping the puppy eating its own stools. Put pepper, chilli powder in his stools, shoot water spray onto his face or drop of can of pebbles/coins to make a loud noise when he starts eating stools. Buy the anti-stool eating powder from the pet shop. Feed slices of pineapple. Put him inside a crate where the floor grate has holes so that his poo falls through. So many suggestions from various pet lovers and the internet.

This is a most common problem of many puppy lovers all over the world. The best way is to train him when he is young, not to eat stools. Below is my suggestion:

1. Feed at fixed hours inside the crate/confined area.

2. Remove feed within 15 minutes (except for finicky puppies like Chihuahuas, Yorkies).

3. Confine. Do not play with the puppy for first 30 minutes. Monitor him.

4. Once he poops, remove stools.

5. Give food treat, praise a lot before he eats the stools.

6. Reward him by playing with him.


You need to start training him not to eat stools now. When he grows older, it is very difficult to do it as he rebels. Do let me know how long you take to be successful.

Finicky puppies like the Yorkshire Terrriers, Chihuahuas and mini-Malteses --- feeding may need to be given more than 3X per day. Ensure they really eat their amount.

Many don't eat much because they know that their owner will lavish attention to them when they don't eat. They get more variety of food in this way!

Any delay in training the new puppy while he is still young may result in a grown up dog eating his own stools whenever the owner is not around. Also, some eat stools of the other dog and cats too.