Intravenous Therapy

when a dog is dehydrated due to vomitting and diarrhea, how long would they have to be on iv therapy?

other therapy use for dehydration, other than iv therapy in dogs?

Public Comments

1. 2 days
2. As long as your vet sees fit...don't rush it!
3. If you are willing to do it at home, the vets will often send home a bag of fluids, and you can fill a 'pouch'under his skin..But a vet will need to show you how...IV rehydration is better though
4. Well, Saline IV's are essentially instant hydration. Depending on how fast the drip goes, the more dehydrated you are, in case anyone was really interested. Now the "therapy" length would mostly depend on how long it took to stabalize the dog, and treat the main symptoms that are causing the dehydration. If it was treatable fairly quickly via normal medication, you could probably have your pet fixed up within a couple of days...maybe one day of IV.
5. Depends on how sick, dehydrated, and what eles is going on. There are different levels of being dehydrated. Fluids are the only way I know of to rehydrate a sick dog, or cat. And IV fluids are much better than SQ (under the skin) fluids. They may also be adding medications to the fluids, but again depends on what they are treating him for...kidneys, liver, heat exhaustion, diahrrea, parvo...the list is endless...Good luck my dear, but there should be a REASON your dog is vomiting, and having diahrrea. A healthy dog does not do this. If you are not happy with your current vet, get your records and transfer to some one you are more comfortable with...
6. IV is the main was to hydrate them. My vet will normal put them on IV over night or once the vomitting stops and they will eat on there own agian then they will tell me my dog can come home.
7. The dog should stay on iv fluids until the symptoms clear up. If you remove the animal too soon and it is continually vomiting and still has diarrhea the fluid therapy was a waste of time. If the symptoms clear up but the animal refuses to eat or drink therapy will continue until the animal shows signs of eating/drinking.
8. That depends entirely on just *how* dehydrated the dog is, and how quickly they can get the symptoms (vomiting & diarrhea) under control. The sooner they stop the vomiting & diarrhea, the quicker the recovery. The real problem, however, is what caused this in the first place. For example, bad food, or the dog got into something toxic. Normally the IV shouldn't last too long; hopefully your vet is taking care of everything - sounds like it! :-)
9. IV is the best way. SQ fluids if its low grade dehydration. How long on fluids depends on the animal and if there is continued fluid loss, then there needs to be continued fluids. It may take one day or several, your veterinarian has 8 years of education to learn that and be able to properly evaluate. -a veterinarian
10. I recently had this same situation with my Pekingese. I took her to the Vet where the Doctor inserted a needle (that was attached to a bag of IV fluids) under the skin on her back near her shoulders the Vet then squeezed the bag until empty. My Peke then looked like some kind of weird 'camel dog'. The Vet said we could now go home and my dogs body would absorb the fluids over a period of several hours.
11. It would depend on the cause. Once the cause has been found and a cure given then appx. 24-48 hours. If no cause is found then it is best that iv fluids remain till the animal is stable at least. Depending on age dehydration is a matter of life of death. Young puppies can die within 12-48 hours from this. If it was cause by an infectious disease, iv can be administered for many days even as much as a couple of weeks. Just like in humans, if we are sick and require fluids, we have to stay on them as long as needed to see us well. I hope your dog is doing ok and a cause has been found. Here's praying for a speedy recovery.
12. That would definitely be up to your VET. Gatorade/Powerade works well. You treat them just like you would a real baby. Taking them off solid foods Liquids only. Ask your VET. not worth taking a chance.
13. my dog had a vertebrae in his back dislocated and he couldnt move, i was at work when it happenned so i dont know if he got hurt 1 hour or 12 hours before i got home, he was really hurting bad and i took him to the emergency at the vets office. the back problem wouldnt even let him open his mouth to pant so he got way overheated. they gave him 3 ivs in his back right away just to rehydrate him and cool him down, he had humps so big he looked like a camel. poor dog is dead now. he was only 3 when he died. i loved him so much. he had even survived a serious shotgun wound about a year earlier. a neighbor must have shot him but i have never found out who it was. the back problems he had was because of my sisters kids jumping on his back when i wasnt home. he was a big dog so they tried to ride him like a horse. i told them never to do that ever but they are spoiled brats and dont behave.
14. MY PAST EXP. AT LEAST 24 HRS
15. If the dog is still vomitting and has diarrhea then they will have to be on IV therapy longer. If the vomitting and diarrhea go away, you can probably put it on a wet food diet with lots of water being forced into them. Generally IV therapy is the most reliable, but slightly expensive. Good luck!
16. take it from some one who has seen many dogs through parvo IV only makes them worse. you need to use the same stuff you uses for babies, feed it chicken broth do this every 30 or 40 minutes