Got in from a good morning in the woods and my GSP began to act odd.

First started to shake some and then drool real bad.  He has since thrown up 3 times and continues to drool.

Besides the obvious of going to the emergency vet on a sunday any other options right now?  Not that this is out of the question..but $$$$ is a bit tight for a visit to the emergency room with him.

Thanks

Bob

I would take him to the vet immediately as he could have eaten something.  The drooling and shaking can be signs of poisoning. Let us know how he does.

 last fall, Rocky was all day in the woods while the guys worked on their deer stands. Shortly after Rocky began acting droopy, drowly too and thowing up. He could not keep a thing down Saturday, Sunday. Into our Vet monday morning with Rocky. She ran a few blood tests and diagnosed him with pancreatitis. What a scare when our GSPs are sick and we donot know what is wrong. You are in our prayers. Hope you have a good night and are not up too much with your GSP throwing up. Keep us updated on how things go.

I think you did the right thing taking him in. I always try not to jump the gun...throwing up is one thing...shaking and acting strange another. I get so worried that I end up taking them in, the peace of mind is worth the money to me.

I carry a shot with cortisone in it for Belle who reacts to anything that stings her.  She was first stung when she was 6 months and it has been down hill from there.  She also has a knack for finding stinging bugs.  My vet gave me the shot and told me to give it to her under the skin and then 4 benadryl and bring her in.  This gives me time if we are out and about. The good news is the shelf life on the cortisone shot is a year and a half. The scary thing with Belle is she always gets it in the face and her face really swells fast. Hopefully I won't have to use it, but it is nice to have just in case.

Since I live in snake country I do two things with my dogs to help in case of snake bite.

1) All my dogs get the rattlesnake vaccine.  You give it the first time and then a booster a month later, after that it is every 6 months.  It costs me $88 for three dogs.  It isn't a cure, but it buys time to get the dogs to a vet.

2) Snake avoidance training.  Most only do rattlesnake, but I have a trainer that does rattlesnake, copperhead and water mocassin.  Those three snakes are the poisonous snakes in my area of Texas.  I worry most about rattlesnake because of where we hike and secondly about water mocassins as they are in all the waterways in the area, and my gang loves to swim.

I thought if you snake trained a dog they would leave all snakes alone.  Not so, apparently the snakes all smell different.  To prove it to me the trainer trained Belle to avoid rattlesnakes and then put a water mocassin out.  She went right up to the water mocassin.  I also do a refresher with my dogs every year or so, just to reinforce that those snakes are bad.  It works too, Belle can scent a rattlesnake from a good 50 feet of so away and she makes a beeline in the opposite direction.  Halo will get between me and the snake and push me away.  Still need to get Ringo snake trained.

I don't know about where you guys live, but here it is pretty easy to distinguish between a sting and a snakebite.  If I was unsure I wouldn't give the shot, but for a sting it sure does help.

Well Kilian is back up in running order.  When i got him home from the ER he was pretty low key and just slept all night on my lap on the couch.  I took today off from work to monitor him and take him to our normal vet this afternoon.

By mid-noon'ish i was convinced that he was back to himself.  We went out front since it was nice and sunny and warm today and did some fetching for about 30 min.

My vet checked him out and said he seemed fine.  She had a feeling that the pooper he took just before i loaded him to take him to the ER prob passed whatever was bothering him.  He did get dehydrated pretty bad; so the IV was good for him.  He is now 53lbs and in good health though she said he is thin.  Dang dog eats 6 cups of Purina Pro Plan High Perf a day!  I got to looking at him under the lights and did have to agree as his ribs are showing and hips.  Well he got some updated shots and checked over and all is good.  We are gonna add some real chicken to his diet and proceed as normal.

Thanks for all the concern guys (and gals).