My golden retriever was hiding under our dining room table this morning when I got up instead of on her bed in our bedroom. Last night she was fine. She did her business in the yard, but refused breakfast. I made her some boiled chicken, which she ate. I decided to take her to the vet, who told me she has a low grade fever (103. 1) and ran a blood panel on her and found nothing out of the ordinary. She is still panting and lethargic this afternoon. Anything I can do to help her? Does this sound like a virus? The only thing different is that I opened a new bag of dog food 2 days ago. Otherwise, nothing... She normally goes on 2 walks a day. Thank you in advance!!
Hey Jane!
How's the weather in your neck of the woods?
I ask because if its been rainy lately, its entirely possible your girl has picked up giardia- simply by stepping into her own back yard. Giardia can be present and NOT show up in a stool sample. This would cause tummy pain, vomiting and loose stools.
How old is your girl? The very young and very old can be quite susceptible to giardia.
For sure try the Rescue Remedy to start. If this were my dog I would try tempting her to eat a tablespoon or two of canned tuna and in that tuna have mixed:
2 raw baby carrots [avoid Bunny Luv Brand] grated and shredded
1 table spoon sunflower seeds [raw or cooked]
1 teaspoon C&H Brown sugar
Get the 3 ingredients of a consistency and texture so they integrate well into the tuna. If she takes the tuna, monitor the results. Either you will see her noticably perk up - which for me would indicate giardia is the culprit, or she won't - which means its probably not giardia giving her the tummy upset. If she perks up and the appetite improves, continue with the tuna - up to 1 can 2x day for 2 days. Make up the carrot/sunflower/brown sugar for each meal so its fresh each feeding. If she seems like her old self again after 2 days on loaded tuna, you can then switch back to her old diet and include the carrot/sunflower/brown sugar in the old diet for a total of 8 days.
Low Grade Fever Remedies
Hey Jane!
Unless your dog is very old, very young or very skinny, no need to boil chicken - you are OK to let your dog fast if she feels the need. Just keep fresh water available to her.
Monitor her temp; normal temp is 101 and temps of 105 and over = emergency in my book.
Panting can be an indication of pain. But your vet checked her out, so I will assume no clenched belly/impaction/bloat.
You might try Rescue Remedy for now - it is helpful in many situations and is easy to administer for pets who aren't feeling like taking any food.
Please report back!
Low Grade Fever Remedies
Hi Theresa, thank you so much for your advise. I will do that today. She was interested in breakfast this morning and a half hour later threw it up so you are right, she really needs to fast on just water today. I am going to buy an anal digital thermometer at the pharmacy to keep an eye on her temperature. Do you think she could have picked up a virus on one of our walks? Wish I knew what was going on with her! Thanks again.
Low Grade Fever Remedies
Hi Theresa,
Thank you for your advice! I did have all the ingredients you listed (except used regular organic carrots intead of baby carrots) and fed it to my goldie about an hour ago. So far so good. She's lying on her bed sleeping right now. She's 8, by the way. We've had rain on and off for the past week but people certainly have been planting grass seeds and spraying fertilizers in the neighborhoods lately too. She does like to put her nose in the grass a lot on our walks. I will let you know how she is doing. Many thanks again!
