Okay, starting off I don’t make a lot of money to begin with, my son who has down syndrome just lost his first dog at the beginning of the month, he doesn’t understand where the dog went or why it’s not coming back so he still calls for him out the windows and door, I try to console him and help him understand but he just doesn’t grasp it, its not his fault, its the down syndrome. 
Now he just turned 10 years old on the 12th so to help him with the loss, I had a doggie rescue help us get him a new doggie, shes wonderful, just over a year or two they estimate. Made me feel great how much the dog loved him so much from the very moment she met him, and him her.
Now, comes the dilemma, his birthday, I made the cake and everything from scratch to save money, the new dog didn’t need shots or anything in the beginning, everything was taken care of by the rescue, soooo, she gets sick right away, I take her to the vet, costed me 0.00, vet said she had some sort of stomach infection and gave me antibiotics, which is fine I try to scrimp and save for things that spring up, my sons birthday just after this, I bought him new clothes instead of toys because he will actually need/use the clothes for a long time to come but the toys they come and go and aren’t worth it if short on money, my car’s serpentine belt goes out, over 0.00 to fix this, now I’m getting nervous, I’m still in the clear money wise but can’t afford another big downfall this month due to all the previous months problems in a row its stacking up, then just tonight, I go to bed at 8pm I’m woken at 9:30pm to my new doggie peeing on my leg in the bed, she normally lets me know she wants to go outside so at first I’m puzzled and I tell her to get down, I don’t smack her or do anything physical to her at all, I notice she already looks terrified, I have no idea what the previous owners did to her, I talk to her and tell her its okay and that momma still loves her and I cuddle with her etc. so then I get to making the bed, take her out to pee if she still needs to go and she does, she has to pee and poo both, after that I come back inside and sit down for a moment to think and realize I forgot to give her the antibiotics at 8pm, so like normal when you miss it by an hour and a half you just give it right away, so I do, I put one half of one of the pills into a doggie treat like I’m supposed to and the other is a whole pill in a treat, so she chomps down on the half pill in the treat and doesn’t like the flavor(can’t blame her) but takes the other like a charm, now I get back into bed and she is laying at my feet, I notice she can’t seem to get comfortable and keeps moving around, then, I realize she has either peed again or something so I check, she’s drooling alllllll over the place, excessively, I check her out make sure she seems okay then I move her to a different spot and ask her if shes okay, shes trembling, I’m thinking shes overly hot or something so I switch her away from the blankets, still drooling excessively, so bad that I begin to panic when I realize there are two spots on the blankets larger than a basketball is round, so I pick her up and check her over, she seems fine other than a bit scared still for some reason which breaks my heart, I check her mouth, so much drool its like water coming out of a faucet. I call my mother who seems that she couldn’t care any less. Yay, whats family for!? Now I’m upset, I have no one to talk to about it or console me or her, so I look online, I see that drooling like hers could be a sign of poisoning, epilepsy, stress and some other things, so I think, there is nothing poisonous that she could of gotten into, so I figure it could be stress and hope that’s all it is, she seems okay to me still at this point so I let her lay down hoping that she will be fine and its just stress, again I reassure her momma still loves her and there is nothing wrong and I’m not mad. I try to keep my mind off of it so I watch CMT which is playing "Driving Miss Daisy" I watch this for 30 minutes or so and I hear a loud thump, I scramble to the bedroom and shes not in bed! I’m freaking out calling for her and find her hiding under my chair, I pick her up and am really starting to panic I think oh my god shes dying or something, and check her over, she seems scared still and is drooling like crazy. I bring her to the living room and sit down with her in my lap and I hold her, shes drooling so bad shes making puddles on my shirt and pants, that’s it, I pack my son and her up and rush her to the animal hospital which costs me over .00 just to begin with, lord save me now I’m broke, we get into the back and the Dr. comes in and looks her over, takes her temp asks about meds and other questions, and says, "she looks fine, there is nothing wrong with her from initial exam" and looks at me like I&#
She has stopped the drooling and seems fine now, thank god. I did some research on one of the antibiotics that she is on (the half pill) the one that seems to have made her sick. Side effects of it are seizure and excessive drooling both.
I can’t believe this medication and that I hadn’t checked on it before giving it to her, now I don’t know what to do other than call the vet in the morning and tell him its not going to work for her.
The medication name is Metronidazole.
Thank you all for the suggestions so far, keep them coming.
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
Oh my, the worst things always seem to happen at the worst times, I can’t really give you very much advice but if you need somebody to talk to you can email me if you want.
katiechapman25@yahoo
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
From what you’ve described, it sounds like she was having mild seizures. I’m not sure what else she has experienced recently, but is this the first time you’ve noticed this since you got her? And have you noticed anything else wrong with her?
When she was trembling and drooling, you said she looked terrified, by this you mean her eyes were wide and buggin out of her head a bit? Also, did you notice if she had any difficulty controlling her balance, parts of her body, or walking? Depending on how serious her seizure was, she would have experienced some of this as well. Typically they do drool buckets, and sometimes it can cause them to loose control of their bladder. I have a 9 year old cocker mix who has mild epilepsy. She had seizures once in a while; I’m not sure what causes them, but she seems to recover more quickly if I sit with her and hold her and talk to her while she’s going through it.
Likely your vet didn’t notice anything wrong because they appear completely normal and healthy when they’re not seizing… and really, it’s a genetics thing, so there’s nothing that can be done. If the seizures are bad enough and really frequent, there is medication you can get for it… but it get’s pricey.
I would pay attention to her and see if she has another episode like that, keep track of how often it happens and how bad they are. If she’s just having episodes where she’s trembling and drooling then it’s not too serious, but if she looses control of her body completely and starts thrashing around (Like a human going through a grand maul) and it begins happening often, you should probably consider the medication. My vet told me that if Casey, my pooch, starts having them a couple times a week, then it’s time to consider getting something to control it.
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
did some brief research and found was that nausea can cause this probably the meds making her sick to her stomach try some Pepto Bismol if you have some on hand. dose for dogs is one tsp per 40 lbs.
not sure from the length of you post what your biggest concern is, but if you’re wanting some ideas on how to make up some of your financial loss, church groups will help out with food so you can use what money you do have for other things sometimes they will donate cash, or pay a utility bill. since you have a computer and internet, start doing research on this for local charities. you might try contacting some rescues for advice on your dog
sorry you’re in such a bind from trying to be a good mother and compassionate towards animals
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
Something similar to that happened to my dog about 4 months ago. We took him to the emergency room (vet) come to find out he had gastrointestinal issues from something he ate. The vet gave us an antibiotic and some antacid. The only thing that scares me about what you said was… she is already on antibiotics… and you gave it to her and then she started drooling. She may be having an allergic reaction to the meds she is on. I would call your vet in the morning and ask them about it. Explain your situation to them they might be able to change meds over the phone and not charge an office visit, or be able to work out some kind of payment plan. I hope she will be ok.
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
There are plenty of different antibiotics, call to get a new one. I’m not sure but when I had to keep switching antibiotics for my dog and was low on money they told me that they could buy back the pills I didn’t use. Tell the vets that you are broke and ask if they can buy back the pills and maybe have a payment plan. I needed to do this, I told them I could pay the bill two weeks later.
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
Wow, that took ages to read! I’m sorry for the unfortunate situation you are in. Metronidazole is notorious for causing drooling and frothing at the mouth. The trick around this is to shove it right to the back of the animals tongue, don’t let it come in contact with saliva. She would have chewed it up most likely in the first treat, that’s why she drooled. It also sounds as if the dog has some anxiety issues, maybe you could try contacting the rescue place you got her from and asking if they have any advice about that.
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
Ask vet to check the perscribed dosage for her (maybe you got the wrong size or the wrong instructions)consider lower dosage for her. Metronidazole has a wide dosage range and is generally well tolerated. Sounds like she somehow got too much (?)
Depending on your dog’s size, about a 40 lb dog should be about 250 mg twice a day (one small pill twice a day). What’s she getting and how big is she? Sounds like a dosage issue.
May 14th, 2010 - 2:17 pm
My dog was on metron for YEARS with no negative side affects. While this could be the cause of what’s happened here, don’t feel guilty for giving it to your dog. It’s not a bad drug. She just had a bad reaction that unfortunately came on tough financial times. This sort of thing can happen with any drug to any dog, just like a person can react to medications, and there’s really no way to predict. If you get into trouble do not hesitate to go into the vet anyway, they will usually allow you to set up a payment plan if you have to– they don’t want to discourage you from bringing the dog in if it needs help.
The right thing to do is to call the vet and discuss it, and if you are uncomfortable continuing the metron to ask for something else. Hang in there, you are doing the right things. Be extra nice to puppy, sounds like she’s having a hard time, too!