Oliver (my 3.5 year old male Weimeraner) had been having some odd and troubling symptoms for about a month. It started
in with a roaring, gurgling, loud sound from his abdomen at
night while we were sleeping. Sometimes, he would sleep right through
it, other times, he would vomit a little yellowish (bile?) liquid.
Never vomited his food, only on an empty stomach. We took him to the
vet and she said that she wasn't real worried because he wasn't
losing weight and to switch from 2 to 3 meals per day with a Pepcid AC
before bed. She also did a fecal test and that came back negative. Seemed to work for the last two weeks. He only got sick once and that was when a dogsitter was spending the night, and he is a super nervous dog so we chalked that up to bad nerves.
However, his appetite started to decrease (it was never terrific
anyway) and we were having to put some people food on his Nutro Natural Lamb and Rice to get him to eat. Very oddly, he has had 3 episodes of shivering, as if he was cold, but when he is indoors and the room is warm. He was having occassional blood in his loose stools, nothing mayor though.
Well, things with Oliver deteriorated yesterday. He had the rumbling starting at 7. I got up with him and he went outside and urinated. When he came inside, I gave him a bland milkbone, thinking that the stomach acid was bothering his empty stomach. He didn't want the bone, nor his breakfast. By 9, I had him out in the yard and he had lots of diahrea. By 10, he vomited a small amount of dark blood, then went out into the yard and blood literally shot from his rear end, like someone was standing by him and emptying an entire bottle of red wine. I flipped-out. Not helpful, but it's my nature. Anyway, we rushed 45 mintues to the Reisterstown 24 hour Vet Center, an ER where we used to take our other dog Kacy and where the owner vet has a really good reputation. Well, the doc we knew was in surgery, but the woman we saw also seemed good. She did Xrays and bloodwork. Because he is so large, and because of his very deep chest, she could only get side Xrays not the lying on the back type. The side Xrays didn't indicate any obvious obstructions. The bloodwork
indicated moderate dehydration, slightly elevated white blood cells,
but most importantly, a high level of some intestinal enzyme. This
enzyme could indicate pancreatitis, either as the primary problem or as
a result from other GI stress. Unfortunately, she couldn't do a
sonogram, since she didn't have the machine. So, her diagnosis was
bleeding ulcers in the stomach and perhaps further in his GI tract. She
was on the fence about hospitalizing him and we felt strongly that he
would not do well there as he is a very nervous dog with lots of
separation anxiety and the place had too much noise plus he was already
terrified. So we brought him home and need to keep him hydrated. He is
keeping water down, which is critical and also has eaten some of the canned prescription sensitive diet food. He seems really hungry, but I'm only giving him small amounts. He is on an ulcer medication called Carafate and Flagyl. The vet a couple weeks ago said the stool sample was negative, but that wasn't a culture.
The vet recommend a sonogram if he didn't improve in 4 -5 days. However, we are just going to go ahead and set that up after we speak to our primary vet today. She can refer him to a nearby PetER which has a specialty group for GI problems. I would rather go ahead and figure this out, than worry about the money. This really scares me! Anybody have any insite??
New here, looking for GI experts. Msg.
Re: New here, looking for GI experts. Msg.
no idea with out more info but being a large dog, you could end up with gastric torsion...if he starts at anytime to try to vomit and nothing is coming up, the back becomwes arched and the stomach enlarges like a basket ball, don,t wait..rush to the ER or anyplace...
I agree with Davet, my first thought was torsion (bloat)....just to rule this out, when you said people-food, what exactly did you give him, and were any other foods given before the events, other than kibble? (i.e., bones, raw meat, did your dog have access to anything unusual in the yard, garbage, etc?)
As for the bloody V/D, could be nearly anything, with the accompanying symptoms, I would guess a GI bacterial, you might opt for another fecal and/or culture to help rule in/out some of the various bacterials that cannot be detected upon a fecal alone. Another x-ray to try to detect any changes might be useful, especially if obstruction was not noticed the first time....(just an example, film doesn't always show everything, a bone fragment or other obstruction could have been hidden with the first film).... I would opt for these two at least before an ultrasound, but it's your call and that of your vet, depending on any signs of improvement vs no improvement within 24-48 hours.
On the same note concerning torsion and/or pancreatitis, people-food can lead to pancreatitis (high fat content), as well as bloat especially if the dog in question gulps his food, or gulps unusual amounts of water and then goes to exercise. (I know Davet, you don't always agree with my pancreatitis theory/assessment)
Also, probably not significant, but is your dog current on vaccinations, particularly parvo?
As for the bloody V/D, could be nearly anything, with the accompanying symptoms, I would guess a GI bacterial, you might opt for another fecal and/or culture to help rule in/out some of the various bacterials that cannot be detected upon a fecal alone. Another x-ray to try to detect any changes might be useful, especially if obstruction was not noticed the first time....(just an example, film doesn't always show everything, a bone fragment or other obstruction could have been hidden with the first film).... I would opt for these two at least before an ultrasound, but it's your call and that of your vet, depending on any signs of improvement vs no improvement within 24-48 hours.
On the same note concerning torsion and/or pancreatitis, people-food can lead to pancreatitis (high fat content), as well as bloat especially if the dog in question gulps his food, or gulps unusual amounts of water and then goes to exercise. (I know Davet, you don't always agree with my pancreatitis theory/assessment)
Also, probably not significant, but is your dog current on vaccinations, particularly parvo?
..........Traci
Re: New here, looking for GI experts. Msg.
He is definitely current on all his vax. As far as people food goes, he only gets a little roast beef or some grated cheese on his food to encourage eating, but that will/has obviously ceased! He is watched all the time and I'm positive that he didn't get into any weird stuff like trash etc. I thought the bacterial thought was interesting, I think I want a fecal culture... Couldn't hurt, other than the wallet. Believe it or not, the GI specialist wants an $850 deposit to even start talking about my boy. He is responding SO well to the carafate and flagyl plus the sensitive diet, that it's killing me to starve him this morning, which I'm doing in case they want to use some anesthesia for xrays, sonogram or scoping at 11 this morning. I really want to keep up what's working and he seems so hungry, but I guess I'm doing what is best. I will freak out if they don't do any tests today and just want to use the appointment as a consultation! He is definitely not bloated or torsed, I know to watch for that and the ER vet said it definitely wasn't the case. So, pull up the Brinks truck, to the specialist we will go!