The American Beagler Forum

The other day a buddy called me and said his beagle was sick, not eating, walking like it was drunk,blood in it's stool, and just mostly laying around and ask me what i might think it was.

I told him to start the dog on penicillin asap,and either take him to the vet first thing or atleast take a stool sample. So he gave him 2 shots a day and called me and said he was coming back around but still not the ol hound he use to be so he was taking him to the vet in the morning.

Well when he got back he said the vet could not find out anything was wrong in his stool sample and all other test showed the dog was clean as a pen? but the vet ask him if he had changed his dog food lately and he said yes cause the place he buy's from ran out.

The vet said he had some type of gastri?????? (don't know the name) problem from changing his food that dogs get sometime and put him on some pills and with in 2 days he was back to normal.

Has anyone else ever heard of such??????
Also i read something the other day that all penicillin shots from now on was to be given in the neck only. I have always gave it as a muscle shot either in the hip or in the shoulder.
Has any one heard this?

Thanks

Gastritis? In other words, an upset stomach. I have no reason to doubt the Vet and, if the dog got "okay" that fast, his diagnosis seems all the more reasonable. All dogs are prone to eat and chew on things that are not too healthy. Beagles gain access to all sorts of things when hunting so the owner was fortunate that it was not something more serious like poisoning (anti-freeze, coyote bait, etc.) or a bacterial infection like HGE. As far as the blood in the stool, was it red? If so, it was undigested blood and probably from near the rectum rather than stomach or small intestine. Light, red bleeding can be caused by something as simple as mild constipation. True internal bleeding is generally more serious and would show up as a tar black stool. When I first started keeping Beagles on my own, I was fooled by my dogs expelling their anal glands and thinking that it was "stool" which caused me concern that they were "ill". In regard to penicillin G, the "old kind" was administer Intra-Muscular (IM) but I have seen a "new kind" in the feed stores the last few years that can be given S.Q. or Subcataneous (just under the skin - above the muscle). The "new kind" would be easier to administer and less painful to the animal but I still use the tried and true IM form. I have had good results with the IM and only give it when there is a deep wound or a puncture (such as a snakebite) or a bacterial infection of the skin that topicals will not clear up. Best wishes to you in the upcoming year!

Chuck that some good advise. I just have never ran into this problem and my buddy Tony plew me away after he had taken his beagle to the vet with the problem. Just never heard of such.
His dog is doing a lot better now on the medication he gave him.

Also I agree with the traditional penicillin G IM I know some guys who give the under the skin but I have better results with the IM.

Thanks a lot
Donnie