Illness Alert!

I received the following information this evening. If you have dogs, this is something to take seriously and watch your dogs closely. Zephyr is one of the dogs mentioned at the end as having diarrhea in the past 2 weeks and I will be in touch with a vet first thing tomorrow morning. I had spoken with my vet already, but at that time, they did not think it was serious. Zephyr has been having loose stools on and off for the past 2 weeks. Up to this point, Zephyr has been healthy - good appetite, put on about 7 pounds in 3 weeks (normal for a 5 month old), active and playful, clean eyes. The diarrhea was the only sign of anything wrong. Now, this new info means that it is serious.

(Excerpts from a longer message)
Deena [another leaderdog puppy] almost died last night. She was Ok yesterday morning, ate fine and I went to work. I came home for the afternoon, and about 2 she starting vomiting and having explosive diahhria [SIC] (Spelling? you know the stuff). I called the vet around 2:30. I had appropriate medicine at home so he thought it ok for her to start on medication but not come in. 10 minutes later, she was breathing funny and bubbling at the mouth with every breathe. I called back and asked to bring her in. We still thought it was not too serious, and the vet office was down a vet and so was double booked. They sweezed us in at 3:30. When he did the check, Deena was already in shock.
He could not find a pulse in her main arteries in the hind legs. Heart rate was slow and erratic. Temperature was 104. She obviously was lethargic

They started IVs immediately and kept her for several hours. She came home overnight for a few hours so that I could watch her while the office was closed, and then she returned for more IVs this morning. When I picked her up this afternoon, the vet said that with the dogs he has seen over the years, she was far enough gone that he thought he would have to call me to not pick her up last night because she had already died. He REALLY did not expect her to survive and is surprised that she did. She was one sick puppy!

MORAL OF THE STORY: This is 4 of our puppy group (who I know of) that has had the vomiting / diahhrea in the past 2 weeks. The vet says there is a nasty flu thing doing around cats and dogs right now, and it is nothing to mess with. Add the heat to the loss of body fluids, and their bodies can shut down in literally hours. If any of your pups starts acting funny - please do not feel foolish going to the vet asap. My first reaction was to start the medication and
let mom watch Deena while I returned to work. If I had done this - she would be dead this evening. Don't panic, but use some gut reactions and err on the side of caution.