How many bags of iv fluids will' a dog need with parvo. My pup got one 20 hours ago and i think will only last for about another 4. He ate a teaspoon full of boiled chicken. Thats all i gave him now. Will wait about an hour to give him some more.
Optional Information: Pet's Sex: Male Pet's Age: <1
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Hello,
This is Dr. Christian. Welcome to JustAnswer.
How much does he weigh? Were the fluids given under the skin and how much was given?
He weighs about 4 pounds. The vet put the iv in his vein
So he is getting the iv fluids at your home?
Yes. I took him home because it is weekend and there isnt 24 hour care at the vet over weekends. Well, I am a mom and no one can take care of my 'kids' like i do
Okay. How big the bag of fluids. It is typically 1000ml, 500ml or 250ml
1000ml
Typically for a dog this size I would give about 8 to 10ml per hour. That means in a 24 hour period he should get about 240ml. One bag of fluids should last 4 days at that rate. The rate of fluids has to be slowed way down. If he gets too much then he can get fluid build up in his lungs that would basically be like drowning him and of course life threatening.
The vet said that this bag should last him 24 hours. He showed me the speed that the fluid must drip. Could it be because of the severity of the dehydration? Must I now slow it down?
I might have the weight wrong. 2kg
It's needs to be slowed down. I would never give 1000ml of fluids to a 4 lb dog in a 24 hour period. That weight is right. In fact I would stop fluids altogether for 12 hours and then start up again at a much, much slower rate.
Would'nt the iv glog with blood if i stop it. The problem with him is he was ran over and his legs are in casts. The dr struggled to get a vein yesterday. I cant take the needle out.
You could run a little bit of fluids in every 1/2 hour or so just to keep the iv from clogging. I don't recommend taking the needle out. To be honest your best option is to get him to a vet to be properly monitored with his fluids and treatment. This is not something that is good to be done at home. Especially for such a small dog. It is much easier to give fluids to a large dog because the amounts are larger and there is less chance of doing things incorrectly.
You know, I might have the weight totally wrong. I am going to try and weigh him. In any case I slowed the IV down to a drip every 20 seconds
That's good.
Yip, I had it wrong. The bathroom scale 3 to 3.5 kg
Still a very high rate for his size though. He should still get about 400ml in a 24 hour period. Slow him down for 12 hours (he's got plenty of fluids in him already) and then shoot for about 400ml in a 24 hour period.
Ok help me here. That should then be a drip every how many seconds?
It depends on your drip line and IV set. Do you have the packaging for the IV line?
no
the line is about 1.5m long and has a blue control valve
For the typical IV set it would be about one drop every 15 seconds. That 15 drops per ml of fluids.
Unfortunately, that won't tell us the drops per ml of the IV set.
The tube where the iv drips into is about 15ml. Does that help?
Nope. The only way to know is to read the label on the IV tubing package.
Ok. Must I then leave it on 20sec for now? I don't know if this is a silly remark, but he did urinate a few times. Would this mabye prevent the fluids from building up in the lungs?
You can leave it on 20 sec for now. If he starts to have difficult breathing or coughing then stop the fluids and call a vet immediately.
Its okay to keep watching urination. As he gets more hydrated he'll pee more.
Thanks doc. will talk later
You are welcome. Good luck.
I slowed the IV down to a drip every 50 sec to 1 min. Can I leave it there?
Sure, that's fine. You can increase it to 1 per 15 or 20 seconds after about 10-12 hours.
The vet gave me clopamon to inject for the nausea. I neglected to ask every how many hours it should be given.The dosage he said must be 1ml.
Experience: 12 years of veterinary experience in canine surgery, medicine and behavior