chronically sick choc lab pup

[qtpal2000]

Houston is about 4 mo old and since we have had him he has had coccilia 2x (mild case the second time), pick eye in both eyes and now he's starting to throw up a small amount after eating his food. We are exceptionally clean, such as the house, his bowls etc, & we clean up after each pooping in the backyard. We are at a loss and it's getting expensive. Don't get me wrong, we wouldnt hesistate to pay for treatment, but I am thinking that we got a "broken dog" .........so to speak. This is the first puppy that I have raised, is this normal???

[Whizzy]

I don't think you have a broken dog. Coccidia is a parasite puppies can pick up anywhere. There's a good chance he had them when you got him, and you didn't completely get rid of them the first time, or he picked them up again in your yard. Even if you pick up after him faithfully, some of the organisms could still make their way onto the grass or soil. Or some other animal (Cat, bird, rabbit) could make a deposit in your yard.

Pink eye can be bacterial or viral, and again, they can pick it up a lot of ways. Even from flies.

Before addressing the vomiting issue, you need to be sure he's vomiting, and not regurgitating. There's a difference. Vomiting will always begin with abdominal contractions and heaving. If he's vomiting he'll heave several times, sometimes many times, before bringing anything up. If he's vomiting you need to call your Veterinarian for advice.

Regurgitation is bringing up food/liquid in one big "burp", without the preliminary heaving. If he's regurgitating food after he eats, he's probably eating so fast that all the food doesn't have time to enter his stomach and at the same time he's swallowing a lot of air. When he burps up the air, some of the food comes with it. To solve that problem, feed him smaller meals more often for a few days, or add some raw vegetables like whole baby carrots or whole green beans, that he'll stop gobbling his food long enough to chew. Another thing that I've done with puppies who regurgitate is to feed them half their meal, lift them up and burp them, just like you'd burp a human baby, then feed the rest of the meal.