Stomach bug for dogs going around town

[Maximo]

If you have an annual check up for your dog coming up, you may want to reschedule. Last week my dog had his annual appt. $200 later he got a clean bill of health. 2 nights ago he started throwing up a lot of liquid. He threw up 9 times that night and wasn't interested in eating, drinking, or even playing. We were going to take him to the emergency vet, but he stopped vomiting and seemed to be in better spirits. Overnight, he had diarrhea..that was 2 nights ago and it's been constant ever since. This morning he started to have blood in his stool. We took him to the vet and they said 90% of dogs that are coming in right now have the same thing..it's going around Jacksonville. They have 2 hospitalized right now. My dog lost 5 pounds in 5 days. They advised us to not feed him his food and stick to a diet of rice and lean chicken with plenty of fluids until his stool returns to normal. He got 3 shots at the vet and is now on 3 different prescriptions. $200 bill.

It would have been really considerate of the vet to give us a break on the bill since my dog obviously caught this virus at their facility last week. I know it's still a business, but they really should be calling people who have appts coming up to reschedule their visits for the safety of their pets. It's an airborne virus and they really should be doing more to control it. If you have an appt coming up, I'd advise you to call your vet beforehand to see if they've been having the same issue.

[The Compound]

Wow that sucks, what vet was that?

[kramer2k]

Thanks for the heads up!

Our pooch was scheduled to go in October, but I had been procrastinating.  I was going to take him in the week of Dec 20, but now I think I'll hold off until the new year.

[KenFSU]

Thanks so much for the heads up.

Was going to take my dog in later this week.

He actually had a similar bug earlier this year.

Same symptoms as you described, with the vomiting and then diarrhea.

Between the doctor's visits and medications, it ran me close to $700.

[Maximo]

Our vet is Julington Creek Animal Hospital. I really do like going there and my dog loves the park next door. Obviously, you may want to avoid going there for the next couple of weeks and I wouldn't go to the park either right now.