Something Is Wrong With Turbo

[turbotaina]

This is going to be a bit long, but here we go.

 

Last Thursday night, Turbo began exhibiting strange symptoms. I thought he might be bloating, but it never escalated to that. He would stretch, but didn't seem to be able to fully extend, then he would stand kind of hunched up and stare at his flanks. I stayed up all night with him and he finally got comfortable and slept. He behaved normally the next day, except he got diarrhea (which cleared up in about 2 days). I attributed the behavior to some possible gas pains brought on by an expired hotdog (I didn't know it was expired when I gave it to him ).

 

The exact same thing happend last night/wee hours of this morning and he has had nothing but his standard kibble. I'll copy my email to my vet here:

 

Turbo will be in tomorrow for a re-check of his BP (I think our

appointment is at 9), but he's been exhibiting some behavior that is

really troubling Mitch and me. This has happened twice now, exactly

one week apart. He acts for all the world like a horse that is

colicking. He tries to stretch, cannot fully extend, stands hunched

up and turns to look at his gut. We tried to take some video last

night and I've included links here. In the first video (the one taken

indoors), you'll see that he is not comfortable and he tries to

stretch. Mitch didn't get the odd craning of his neck, unfortunately.

He was lying down, then he'd shovel his head forward and crane his

neck to the side - almost like some sort of involuntary contraction.

 

The second video, which was actually taken just prior to the one

indoors, is us outside. He had been standing hunched in the living

room and fearing that he was going to poop, we took him outside.

You'll see that he is moving very slowly and is very tender along his

gut. I am not applying much pressure to him at all, merely brushing my

fingers along the muscle groups there and he draws up his gut and

tenses noticeably. You'll also see that he is hunched up, but not

nearly as much as he was a few moments before we shot the video.

 

After the second video was taken, I gave him a pepcid and it seemed to

help - or the episode had just passed, I don't know which. At about

1:45 this morning, he got up and came stumbling over to my side of the

bed, hunched up again. He did not want to go outside. He stretched

down into a downward dog for a long time (30 seconds to a minute -

much longer than a greyhound will normally do this), then lowered

himself into a sphinx position. He sat that way for a long time as

well (15-20 minutes?) and I was eventually able to coax him to his

side and we both lay on the floor for an hour or so. I eventually went

back to bed and he slept. He was somewhat better this morning, but

still moving a little slowly.

 

This exact same thing happened last Thursday night/Friday morning. I

attributed it then to an expired hotdog he had eaten. Yesterday,

however, he had only eaten his kibble. Last week, on Friday, he had

diarrhea. This morning, also, diarrhea. So I think he is actually

"colicking" a bit, but I don't know what could be causing it. I'm

also concerned with the repeated bouts of diarrhea. It took about 2

weeks to get him back to normal before, then he had the episode last

week, but was better in two days. And here we go again.

 

Here are the YouTube links for the videos. Let me know if you have

any thoughts on this. Hopefully, I can chat with you quickly tomorrow

as well.

 

 

Has anyone seen this kind of behavior before? I'm really concerned that this is the second time this has happened. We've been having trouble over the last few months keeping his stool firm as well (hence the mention of diarrhea in my email to my vet. Turbo did recently start BP meds (he's on 20mg of benazepril twice daily), but I don't think that's the culprit as he was tolerating the meds fine before the first incident and he hadn't had any problems again until last night. Turbo is 10 years old and in pretty good health aside from the high BP.

 

So I've got the email in to my vet and he's got an appointment there tomorrow anyway, but I'm just curious if anyone has seen this sort of behavior before. I worry about my boy

Edited May 27, 2011 by turbotaina

[robinw]

I remember reading about this happening to another dog. IIRC, it was either his pancreas or bloat, but it was a long time ago. Good luck and keep us posted, ok?

[turbotaina]

Thanks, Robin.

 

Oh, I'll add that we have recent blood work on him which we ran when his diarrhea wasn't trying to clear up about a month ago. Everything came back fine except the BUN and Creatinine were elevated (above what he normally is, but not a huge elevation). His normals are about 30 for BUN and 1.7 to 2.0 for creatinine. He came in at 40 and 3.2, I think. We did a follow-up UA and BP check. The UA came back fine and his BP came back high, which is why he was started on the meds.

[kelseysmom]

Oh, no! I'm so sorry that you're all going through this, Meredith.

 

This does look a little how Kelsey would move around sometimes and she had both bouts of pancreatitis as well as LS. I hope you have some answers soon and that it's something very minor and treatable.

 

(my emoticons aren't working or I'd be adding blue congernails)

Edited May 27, 2011 by kelseysmom

[turbotaina]

I love my vet. She already responded.

 

Robin/Chris, sounds like you were on it with the pancreas:

 

He likely has a painful gastritis - possibly even affecting his pancreas. The downward dog position is consistent with pancreatic pain. Skip meals today, water is OK. Give him 20 mg pepcid. More later, gotta run to work.

 

...(my emoticons aren't working or I'd be adding blue congernails)

 

Thanks, Chris

Edited May 27, 2011 by turbotaina

[kelseysmom]

Thanks, Robin.

 

Oh, I'll add that we have recent blood work on him which we ran when his diarrhea wasn't trying to clear up about a month ago. Everything came back fine except the BUN and Creatinine were elevated (above what he normally is, but not a huge elevation). His normals are about 30 for BUN and 1.7 to 2.0 for creatinine. He came in at 40 and 3.2, I think. We did a follow-up UA and BP check. The UA came back fine and his BP came back high, which is why he was started on the meds.

 

I seem to recall that Kelsey's BUN and Crea were slightly elevated with the pancreatitis.

[ZoomDoggy]

Sounds like an xray is in order first. Did he have any treats besides the kibble? Anything fatty at all?

 

Poor Turbo.

[turbotaina]

Aimee, nope, just his kibble (Evo). So I don't know what could be causing it. That'll be the next thing to work out...

[Guest SoulsMom]

Soul moved like that quite often in the months leading up to his HGE episode that landed him in ICU. Since getting those issues under control he hasn't done it hardly at all. But that movement became a tell-tale sign for me that his tummy was upset. Once he even just stood there in a corner, all hunched up like that Edited May 27, 2011 by SoulsMom

[kelseysmom]

Meredith, we had Kelsey on Pepcid for many years and she did well. It's cheaper to buy the store brand though. But each time we took her off of it she would have diarrhea again.

 

I'm so glad that your vet responded so quickly!

[Batmom]

I'd want an x-ray, today if you can get it.

 

Best luck to your exceptionally handsome boy.

[turbotaina]

My vet totally rocks

 

It's funny because I stocked up on diarrhea supplies last week thinking we were going to go long-term again, so I happened to have some of the CVS brand "Pepcid" on hand.

 

I'd want an x-ray, today if you can get it.

 

Best luck to your exceptionally handsome boy.

 

 

Thanks, Jey.

 

Soul moved like that quite often in the months leading up to his HGE episode that landed him in ICU. Since getting those issues under control he hasn't done it hardly at all. But that movement became a tell-tale sign for me that his tummy was upset. Once he even just stood there in a corner, all hunched up like that

 

Ugh. I hope we're not in for the same ride you went on

[kamsmom]

Just wanted to stop in and say that I will be thinking good thoughts for Turbo today

[turbotaina]

Thanks, Beth

[krissn333]

My first thoughts were pancreatitis or HGE. Ace had some weird behavior like that a while back...gas pain, etc. In addition to giving her the Pepcid, I also gave her some Gas-X and that seemed to help a bit. I put her on a bland diet ( for us that means macaroni or mashed potatoes instead of rice as the rice just seems to make her stomach upset).

 

Hopefully Turbo will feel better after fasting a little and then having a bland diet. Might want to consider adding digestive enzymes to his food, both now and when he goes back on the Evo. If he's having a pancreas issue, it might need the extra help to digest that stuff (high protein, meat, and the composition of kibble require some work from the pancreas to produce the enzymes needed to break that stuff down).

 

I think I would also grab an xray just to be sure there's nothing nefarious lurking. What you'll likely see is a bunch of gas though

 

Also wanted to add probiotics too...will help with the diarrhea, hopefully.

[Guest Wpgkeith]

Nothing of note to add other than for both you and Turbo.

 

K

[galgrey]

My bridge boy, Keno, did this when he had a severe pancreatitis attack not too long after I adopted him. It started before bedtime one night, but having no experience with it I didn't realize what it meant. Then the diarrhea started sometime during the night and I rushed him to the vet as soon as they opened at 8:00am. He was already dehydrated by then and had to spend the night on IV's. He was in a lot of pain and gravely ill and I almost lost him. I felt horrible when I realized that the pig's ear I'd given him had caused it, but I had no idea he had problems with his pancreas. I was totally fanatical about his diet after that. He only had one other incident and that was when a sitter gave him some chicken with the fatty skin on it I was out of town overnight. Fortunately, when I got home I recognized the early symptoms right (that stretching posture) and got him to the vet before the inflammation got bad.

 

Sending Turbo good thoughts.

[cmc333]

I had a little dog that did that and it ended up being rocks stuck in her gut. She had to have emergency surgery and they took out 10" of intestine. After that time, any time she had a tummy ache, she would stretch like that. Back arching is classic symptom of something stuck inside.

 

Good luck to you and Turbo.

[turbotaina]

Thanks. I don't think this is pancreatitis (yet), because he's not getting really "sick". He just seems very uncomfortable, then has some diarrhea the following day. He's able to hold his bowels fine, but when he goes, it's diarrhea. But from what everyone is saying here, it does sound like he's heading down the road towards pancreatitis. I'll discuss this at length with my vet. Turbo rarely gets anything fatty, and when he does, it's in small amounts. Even the hotdogs we have are chicken and "lean" and he gets low-fat cream cheese to top his kongs.

 

I had a little dog that did that and it ended up being rocks stuck in her gut. She had to have emergency surgery and they took out 10" of intestine. After that time, any time she had a tummy ache, she would stretch like that. Back arching is classic symptom of something stuck inside.

 

Good luck to you and Turbo.

 

YIkes! Fortunately, Turbo only eats food items

Edited May 27, 2011 by turbotaina

[winnie]

Nothing to add, but sending to you and Turbo.

[carronstar]

Nothing to add, just sending good thoughts for handsome Turbo.

[tbhounds]

I saw you had posted earlier that you feed EVO--if I remember correctly that contains a pretty high fat content??

Just to give you an example--a low fat food (one which is pancreas friendly) would be about 9% fat.

[PrairieProf]

If he is "heading towards pancreatitis" he should NOT be on Evo. That is very high fat and very high protein and that's the opposite of how a dog with pancreas issues should be eating. Something in the 20% protein/10% fat range would be much safer.

 

Beth was knocking on the door of pancreatitis (confirmed by TLI blood test) and now is doing great on Prescription I/D -- no more diarrhea since we've been on that (and gone through a six-week course of Flagyl for its anti-inflammatory properties).

Edited May 27, 2011 by PrairieProf

[turbotaina]

I saw you had posted earlier that you feed EVO--if I remember correctly that contains a pretty high fat content??

Just to give you an example--a low fat food (one which is pancreas friendly) would be about 9% fat.

 

You know - I didn't realize it was so high, but it is. That being said, wouldn't he be having a constant problem and not intermittant problems? Or are we just building up to constant problems?

 

At any rate, I'll be discussing all this with my vet.

Edited May 27, 2011 by turbotaina

[PrairieProf]

I dunno -- Beth had intermittent problems (not signs of pain like Turbo is having, but poo issues), and then the problem got worse. So yes, I do think you can "build up" to a problem. My vet said that sometimes dogs can tolerate something for a while, and then they can't. At any rate I think it would be much safer to get onto something lower fat. (And FWIW according to my vet no more than moderate protein -- protein doesn't put as much of a strain on the pancreas as fat does, but it does some, more than carbs. Beth is on 22%/9% with all treats being low fat too.)

Edited May 27, 2011 by PrairieProf