Angel's sick - spent 2 hours at the Emergency Vet

[k9Karen]

I posted over on "The Kennel" that I was watching her because of some vomiting and diarrhea. Well, about an hour after than post, she began to throw up = clear mucus that was blood-tinged. That got my attention. I called the emergency vet and after talking to them, I decided 'better safe than sorry'. I got there after midnight and the vet checked Angel over. Her temp was normal, but from the feces on the thermometer, it was obvious that there was also blood in her stool. She checked out her abdomen, which seemed normal and drew some blood. Her amylase and lipase were both elevated, but not to the extreme.

Amylase: 1980 (Ref range 500 - 1500)
Lipase: 2146 (Ref range 200 - 1800)
Fecal - negative

It's been a while since I worked in the chemistry department, but if I remember correctly, elevated lipase and amylase means acute-phase inflammation of the pancreas, whereas elevated lipase only means chronic pancreatitis. All you vets and vet-techs out there - is that right? All other chems were completely normal. No indication on any liver or kidney problem.

Diagnosis - gastroenteritis with pancreatitis. She was given subQ fluids, a shot of Reglan, and Flagyl 250 mg X 8 days. The vet told me to give her the first tablet when I got home, and she did not throw it up. I'm to give the next one around 10 am and the rest once day in the mornings.

I am a bit concerned about her WBC. Her CBC looked good, and the total WBC was 9.4 - mid-range normal, but her differenential showed 94% granuloctyes and only 6% lymphs/monos (apparently their instrument only does a 2-part diff). Human blood pictures don't usually look that severe. Again for all the vet-professionals - Would this be normal in a situation like this or is it something I should be concerned about?

She is acting a bit lethargic, but not severely so. It's hard to tell - she is not an active dog to start with. She drank too much water this morning and threw it up. I let her drink it, hoping it would be OK. That was about 5 am - I probably shouldn't have let her have it. I've geen giving her ice chips about every 15 minutes. She's on her 3rd 'set' and has held it all down. The emergency vet told me to see if she could keep water down. If so, then try some fat-free chicken broth. If that was OK, to later try a bland diet - boiled rice with the chicken broth or rice with boiled chicken. If she keeps throwing up, I'm to take her to my vet. This really came on quick. She acted completely fine yesterday morning when I fed her before I went to work. This started sometime before I got home around 9:30 pm, but didn't get severe 'til late night. My husband said she seemed a bit lethargic, but he didn't notice anything dramatic. He did find evidence that one of them had thrown up twice, but he didn't know which one.

ANGEL UPDATE:
She's doing much better. I called my vet and he wanted to see her to be sure it wasn't pancreatitis. He repeated the amylase and lipase, and both are back within the normal range. She is keeping water and chicken broth down, and she's had a couple of small bowls of food - first white rice in chicken broth. The vet gave me some cans of Eukaneuba Low Residue, and she's had a couple of tablespoons of that mixed with the rice and chicken broth. So far, so good - it's all staying down. The liquid, bloody diarrhea is still there, and the vet says it should be gone in 2 - 3 days. Unless she has a bad night tonight, he says it should be safe to leave her alone tomorrow so I can go back to work.

[momPaws]

Hi Karen...hope medicine and food works...maybe a quiet day tomorrow where she can sleep a lot and hopefully she will be back up to speed.