Persistent Vomiting: Need Suggestions

[XTRAWLD]

I actually audibly shrieked when I read that and covered my mouth. Holy. You are not alone in your feelings. Please keep us posted. Did she hold her dinner down that you were going to experiment with? While you did give several tylenol 4s she hasn't been on it long so....hopefully she'll rebound just fine!

Edited February 2, 2017 by XTRAWLD

[KF_in_Georgia]

She had a cup of kibble about 6pm. I just gave her another cup and a half a few minutes ago. (She's been safe with a cup and a half, lately, and two cups was enough to make her vomit. This will be two and a half cups in a short time.) We'll see if it stays down overnight. Some of her vomiting was 10 hours or more after mealtime.

 

Depending on how reasonable and sane I can manage to be tomorrow afternoon, I might suggest that current vet owes us a free set of lab work with liver values. (On the other hand, I may be "shaking the dust of the place off my shoes.") And I need to call around and find another vet. There's SEGA's regular vet, but he's hard to get in to see (he runs two clinics) and he's about an hour away. I might start with him short-term until I find someone closer. Among other things, I want to know if there are supplements or something I can give her by way of apologizing to her poor, abused liver, and Dr Carmichael would be reliable about that info. And I just thought of someone else I can call for a referral.

 

Meanwhile, Jane's acting a little offended. She's not being spoiled with sympathy by me keeping the boy from bothering her (she had to share a pillow with him this afternoon) and me being all sympathy-voiced when I talk to her. "Q! Leave your sister alone! She doesn't feel good." (Of course she doesn't feel good. She ate a friggin' sock!) You don't want to know what a rosy pinky-red sock looks like, coming back up after a month in her gut. It seriously looked like a chunk of angry, outraged animal tissue being barfed up, only girls don't have tissue that shape and that length. And then I realized what it was and started swearing at the vet. And Jane wanted to eat the sock again. Tomorrow I strip everything out of the crates of both dogs, do laundry, and put only safe things back inside. (Tonight, the dogs are safe. They won't leave my side.)

 

This morning, I gave Q his Interceptor tablet, and I cold-bloodedly did not give Jane one on the grounds that she wouldn't be around long enough to need it. This afternoon, as soon as I got off the phone with the current vet's office, setting up an appointment for an ultrasound, I gave Jane her Interceptor. Keeping my head on straight...

[Batmom]

Hopefully that's what it was and her liver is fine (it should be). Fingers crossed.

[macoduck]

Yes, at the least they should run a blood panel at no charge!

 

And maybe some Denamarin for her liver.

Edited February 2, 2017 by macoduck

[KF_in_Georgia]

Hopefully that's what it was and her liver is fine (it should be). Fingers crossed.

 

 

Thanks for that. I've worried because all I know about acetaminophen is that "you don't ever give it to dogs because it's bad for their liver." I have no idea how much it takes to be "bad."

 

I'm also relieved that I've only been giving her half what the vet authorized. I gave her a whole pill the first night, but she's only had one pill a day--half at each meal--since then.

[XTRAWLD]

Well take consolation also that any pain she might have been in were gone with all those pills You're a good mom, but don't forget to keep spoiling her

[KF_in_Georgia]

The boy is curled up on the Slumberball she's slept on for the last month. And she's on the 2nd-favorite bed. I didn't have anything to do with that. Q just eats faster, so after they had their last meal of the day, he got to the bed first. On other nights, I've distracted him, but tonight I wasn't paying attention.

I'm happy to leave her on the 2nd-favorite bed, though. If I hear her start to vomit, I don't have to dodge as fast because she won't be as close to me.

[Vampiric_Conure]

Just started following this thread. OMG@ a sock! I'd have had kittens, too, if I was originally told it was cancer and the vomiting was a &^%$ing SOCK.

[3greytjoys]

Oh thank goodness she was able to vomit the sock!! What a HUGE relief that you decided previously to cancel her euthanasia appointment!!

 

I knew a Greyhound that died from ingesting a ladies sock.

[KF_in_Georgia]

She vomited a tiny bit of mostly digested kibble about 6:30 this morning. Less vomit than before, and much better digested.

 

But how many socks did she eat?

 

We're just now getting up for the day, and there's 8 hours until her appointment. I've got some smooshy canned food, and I'll let her have that for breakfast and hope it's out of the way for the ultrasound this evening. (She was fasted 12 hours before the other ultrasound, and that doesn't seem to have helped them get good results.)

[Roo]

She vomited a tiny bit of mostly digested kibble about 6:30 this morning. Less vomit than before, and much better digested.

 

But how many socks did she eat?

 

We're just now getting up for the day, and there's 8 hours until her appointment. I've got some smooshy canned food, and I'll let her have that for breakfast and hope it's out of the way for the ultrasound this evening. (She was fasted 12 hours before the other ultrasound, and that doesn't seem to have helped them get good results.)

 

I assume her tummy would still be a little unsettled from the sock that had been harbored in there for so long, so perhaps that's the cause of today's small vomit? But I'm not a vet or vet tech and I basically know nothing, so take my ideas with a grain of salt My jaw literally dropped and I squealed "WHAT!?" when I read that she threw up a sock. My goodness. I know mistakes happen and reading ultrasounds must not be super easy, but how can you misinterpret "sock in the gut" for "terminal cancer"? I hope today's ultrasound yields better and more clear and definitive results.

[GreytTerp]

I can't imagine how mad you are with the vet after all of this. I would be furious! I am so happy and relieved to hear that it was a sock!

 

We can pay witness to a foreign object (or in our case, objects) in the stomach for an extended period of time causing vomiting in the same time frame that you are talking about after eating. Marvin ate one squeaker from a toy that we were aware of, but at the same time, he at least two others, plus a random additional one from who knows when. Nothing ever showed up on xray or in blood work when we took him into the vet because he was vomiting on a regular schedule after eating. He never had any problematic symptoms to raise any flags to suggest anything serious was going on (so no scary terminal illnesses were ever suggested), but the anti-inflammatories he was given did make it worse. It got to the point of us having to give him small amounts of food every 2 hours around the clock to prevent vomiting. About 3 months after the initial ingestion of what would turn out to be several plastic squeakers, Marvin vomited up one squeaker, then two more, and then proceeded to poop out a 4th one later that same day. Marv would have re-eaten every last one if we let him. We did have maybe one or two more vomiting episodes from his stomach being irritated for so long, but he's been back to normal ever since. In our case, nothing was ever stuck in the entrance or exit to the stomach, just would periodically block the exit by settling in a certain position, so nothing besides 'some interesting gas' ever showed up on scans.

 

I hope she is back to full health soon! For you and her's sakes!

[carronstar]

Just read through this whole thread. Holding good thoughts and prayers.

[ramonaghan]

Just checking in for an update. Thinking of you both.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Just home from the vet. Jane's vet wasn't there today (we saw him yesterday), but the ultrasound expert they call in when they need him was there. But I ran into a situation where the consultant wants to deal with the original vet rather than the pet owner--it's not unusual, but it's a nuisance.

 

1. Dr Fernandez (ultrasound man) said nothing about cancer.

2. Dr Fernandez told another vet at the practice that Jane's pancreas is inflamed. Apparently, toting around a sock for a month can do that to you.

3. Jane has something inside that shouldn't be there, so she could have done more illicit snacking. We're going to continue the Pepcid, add in sucralfate,

4. I'm going to feed her normally this weekend. If she vomits, we may do a barium study next week.

 

I'm not going to declare "no cancer" until I talk to her vet, but I'm thinking we're in the clear for that.

 

I've climbed down from my desire to kill Jane's vet. As other people have posted, it's hard to find things internally. He was wrong to say it was cancer when he wasn't sure (and that has rattled him), but I also was a fool not to go for a second opinion. And he's been good with my dogs, they adore him, and if I go to another vet I have no assurance that that vet would be better. Vets are human. So, new house rules for us:

• Never, ever get an ultrasound from the in-house person. From now on, save time and start with Dr Fernandez.
  
• If you take in a sick dog--get a second opinion. If the vet tells you something bad, if the vet tells you something good--get a second opinion. Before you operate, euthanize, give chemo, medicate, or assume everything is great--get a second opinion. If I'd gotten that kind of diagnosis for myself, I'd have gone for a second opinion. I owe as much to the dogs.

We sent out lab work, so we should have baseline numbers for Jane's liver values that we can consult going forward. And I should get an official call from Jane's vet tomorrow or Monday to discuss the ultrasound and the lab work. Meanwhile, Jane feels well enough to bark at everyone who went through the waiting room while we were there. She's an ex-kennel diva who never got the "greyhounds don't bark" memo; she's certain she's supposed to supervise everyone coming and going.

[ramonaghan]

Good update (yay for diva behavior!), and solid advice for all of us. Hope you can have a relaxing weekend after this ordeal.

[FiveRoooooers]

What she said.

[Remolacha]

for Jane feeling better! I can understand your feelings, both how mad you were originally and now. I went through something similar with Sallie a few years ago. I hope in the end it is just bad snacking decisions on her part, and no permanent damage!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Took the dogs out for a potty walk. Came in and Jane ran straight to her crate to wait for food.

 

Jane, poor girl, has not read the instructions (in blue here) for sucralfate.

 

1 pill every 8 hours, say, 11pm, 7am, 3pm.

 

Take on an empty stomach.

 

Do not take antacids 30 minutes before or after taking this drug.

 

Try to space other drugs from this one by 2 hours. This drug stops many drugs from getting into the body.

 

The vet wants her to continue taking Pepcid, ideally, 30 minutes before a meal.

 

That leaves mealtimes as 1:30am, 9:30am, and 5:30pm--or later for any meal. Or conceivably earlier, as long as the Pepcid is at least 30 minutes after the sucralfate.

 

I'm sick with allergies right now, so I'm trying to match my med-times with Jane's meds (or food). Sleep is what fits in around the food/drug schedule. I'm a freelance proofreader/editor who has worked only 3.5 hours in the first 4 days of this week. I need money for vet bills (hooray for Care Credit--and I think we're about to hit the annual deductible on Jane's insurance, and we're only 35 days into the year), and work has finally come in (4 jobs arrived today), so in between food/drugs and sleep this weekend, there'll be work. There's a greyhound meet and greet Saturday that I planned to take Q to. (He's one confused boy, trying to figure out what happened to his food and snack schedule.) And there's an important football game on Sunday evening. ~grin~ The only way I'll keep track of any of this stuff is if I set alarms on my laptop and cellphone.

 

And there goes the 11pm pill alarm...

[palmettobug]

You can do it! Glad Jane is feeling better!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Talked to Jane's vet (finally!) about the lab work and the new ultrasound.

 

Kidney values on lab work are off a tiny bit, but apparently there's a newish test, so he wants to call the lab on Monday and see if there are different numbers for greyhounds on this test. Liver numbers are pretty good. Pancreas inflamation is possibly just something backed-up from the sock she had in her gut. He's not recommending any special meds or food for that. He thinks it'll clear up on its own.

 

But the ultrasound expert definitely saw nothing he'd define as "a mass".

 

 

I got the sucralfate script filled at Walmart. They've been so cheap and reasonable on the other scripts, and I didn't even think to check GoodRx.com. But I should have. Walmart charged more than $60 for 21 pills. GoodRx probably would have been less than $20 for the meds. Another lesson learned.

[tbhounds]

Great news! The test your vet is referring too is a test that index runs-smda. I wouldn't hang my hat on the results. See #20

https://www.idexx.com/files/small-animal-health/solutions/articles/sdma-faqs.pdf

[Vampiric_Conure]

Yaaaay for more good news

[EllenEveBaz]

Just reading this now :yikes Hugs to all of you

 

I understand the new house rules you posted in #90. \hijack - I so wish I'd gotten a 2nd opinion sooner when poor Baz's bone cancer was misdiagnosed (in the opposite way from Jane's). end hijack/ But I am nosily curious about how the conversation went between you and the first person you talked to at the practice after the sock.

[KF_in_Georgia]

But I am nosily curious about how the conversation went between you and the first person you talked to at the practice after the sock.

 

Poor receptionist. I identified myself, then snapped, "I need an appointment to see Dr. X and get an ultrasound tomorrow. Jane just threw up a sock, and now we need to find out whether she really has cancer or not." Receptionist just said, "Yes, ma'am. He has an opening tomorrow at 5pm." By the time I got there on Thursday, everyone knew I was not a happy camper. But I got there early and was civil with the reception staff, and by the time I saw the vet we were pretty much to the "nobody's perfect" stage. I had calmed down a lot.

 

When thinking of finding another vet, I looked on Yelp. There are lots of horror stories on other vet practices--can't get appointments, too expensive, bad diagnoses, dogs handled too roughly for x-rays, etc.--and the practice I go to gets uniformly favorable comments, especially for the two senior vets (one of whom is my guy). And my guy has always been open to things I read here on Greytalk--suggestions for meds and stuff--and has been known to call SEGA's vet to consult.