Persistent Vomiting: Need Suggestions

[KF_in_Georgia]

I wrestled a sucralfate down her throat this morning at 7. She ate one cup of kibble at 9am. She just threw up (a little before 3pm). We may need a barium study after all.

 

And it's time for the next sucralfate. She's fought me on every one.

[tbhounds]

I wrestled a sucralfate down her throat this morning at 7. She ate one cup of kibble at 9am. She just threw up (a little before 3pm). We may need a barium study after all.

 

And it's time for the next sucralfate. She's fought me on every one.

You can melt the sucralfate in luke warm water and syringe it. The tablets melt very easily.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Vet called back today. He talked to IDEXX. They don't have a set of greyhound numbers yet for the test, but they hope to establish one soon. Meanwhile, they think Jane's kidney values need to be rechecked in a few months. She'll be up for her shots and heartworm test in June, so we'll probably do it then.

 

We've struck out with Cheese Whiz. She insists of biting into anything I give her, and spitting out the solid stuff for investigation. She's always done this with her dog cookies, too.

We may try dissolving the sucralfate in warm water, but I think that'll be so messy. I may keep shoving them down her throat, then maybe reward her with the Cheese Whiz.

It'd be easier if I could just tuck the pill into a sock...

[tbhounds]

Ask your vet for an oral dosing syringe. You melt the tablet while in the syringe (just add 1-2 ml of warm water-shake, melt and squirt ;-)

[KF_in_Georgia]

I have the syringe. I got it from the pharmacy at Publix today. I just don't have any confidence that Jane will cooperate. Next round at 12:30 tonight--about an hour and a half from now.

[Roo]

I absolutely cannot get pills into my terrier (no amount of trickery or attempts to force-pill have succeeded, and she flips out if you try to restrain her) but the metacam syringes we got after surgery were accepted really well. I put her between my legs (we've practiced this position with lots of petting and nothing awful happening to her and she's accepted this as not terrifying), gently scratched under her chin, stuck the syringe in the corner of her mouth, aimed at the throat, and pushed! Just be sure you have the syringe in far enough that the meds don't drool out if she inclines her head downwards after. Not sure if dogs are as prone to this as rats but rats are extremely difficult to syringe meds into (at least, mine is ) and once you get them in, they usually refuse to swallow and it all runs out again

[KF_in_Georgia]

2ml of water wasn't enough. Wound up with a thick paste in the syringe. Added more water and shook it to mix, but the pill didn't want to dissolve. She coughed it all back at me, so I'm wearing a lot of it.

 

We'll just do the pill-down-the-throat next time, and a cheesy cracker by way of apology afterward.

[Tracey]

I tried dissolving sucralfate and syringing it down. It was a big mess and basically pointless. I know you're supposed to give it on an empty stomach, but I don't imagine what I'm going to suggest would be enough to mess things up. Try wrapping it in just enough greasy ground beef to cover it. Then shove it down. I have to give Chase at least 16 pills a day and he is rarely cooperative. So I just started wrapping them in ground beef because they slide down much easier. I also developed a little trick because he frequently tries to chomp on me while I'm trying to get the pills down. I stand on one side of him an slide his lip, for lack of a better term, down so it covers one side of his teeth. Usually it's the skin on the right side of his face that I slide down and over the right side of his mouth/teeth. When I do this he won't bite down as hard because he'll also be biting himself. I still wrestle with him three times a day, but it's a lot easier than it used to be.

[Guest Cilla]

Can't you find sucralfate in powder instead of tablets? It would be easier to give or in the syringe or maybe mixed with some minced meat

[KF_in_Georgia]

Syringing it down in liquid form is not going to be easier. It's kind of a lot of liquid, and she coughs and gags, and I wind up wearing more than she swallows.

 

I'm prepping a small dog cookie with cheese whiz. I leave that ready, on the counter, and call Jane to the kitchen. I push the pill down her throat, and hold her mouth closed while I pick up the cheesy cookie. I hold the cookie in front of her mouth and let her decide whether to (1) cough up the pill, then grab the cookie, hoping the boy dog won't have grabbed the cookie before she gets it, or (2) just swallow the pill and snatch the cookie. So far, in the last two pill sessions, she's gone for the second approach.

 

I actually prep two dog biscuits. The boy dog gets the second biscuit as a reward for sticking close and threatening to claim the first biscuit.

 

But if I mix a powder in meat or in peanut butter (that's been suggested), I have no way to get it in her if she refuses it.

Edited February 8, 2017 by KF_in_Georgia

[MP_the4pack]

What about feeding her chunky peanut butter. No pill. See if she gets used to the chunkiness of it. Then if she decides she likes that peanut butter, try sticking the pill in there.

 

When my Pearl was on 21 pills a day for her heart and BP, I used to rare cook chicken livers. Crispy on the outside, mushy on the inside. It was the only thing she would snarf down. So I could get pills in that.

[XTRAWLD]

I know how hard that stuff can be to jam down the throat. Kasey always sounded like I was killing him every time. You'll get better with the syringe the more you practice but it doesn't make the taste any better for her.

 

It sometimes would take me up to 5 mins to get all of it safely in the mouth and not anywhere else. Open jaw, squirt a bit, let her swallow and gag, and repeat.

 

Regarding pills, I really had to just throw them down Kasey's throat. Ryder mercifully takes it wrapped in cheese as he is like an alligator clamping his mouth shut and won't let me pill him. Cheese slices work good here, but raw ground beef you can mold around the pill works better!

 

I'm happy to read tho that for the most part she's feeling better. You're doing great.

Edited February 8, 2017 by XTRAWLD

[KF_in_Georgia]

She'll bite into everything: a glob of peanut butter, a ball of meat. Anything and everything. And apparently, every time. She bit into a tiny dog biscuit ("small dog size") with cheese whiz on top. (The boy gulped his down whole.) She's one of those dogs that chews her kibble instead of inhaling it. She hasn't noticed Pepcid in turkey lunch meat because it's small enough to go unnoticed. The Famotidine is 20mg; the sucralfate is 1 gram--considerably larger and impossible to hide.

 

Shoving pills down her throat is working. I only have to hold her mouth closed afterward long enough to stick the cheesy biscuit under her nose, and she'll take it from there. In the long term, I think I want her to realize pills will happen, but there can be a nice treat after. If she wants the treat, she needs to accept the pill. She's getting the idea, I think. I call her to the kitchen and she comes. She's not making me chase her. Just today, Thursday, and part of Friday to go.

[FiveRoooooers]

I know how big the sucralfate tabs are, but, could you try cutting them down into ~Pepcid-sized pieces and try the lunch meat approach with those? That's all I've got, I remember this challenge with some campers.

[palmettobug]

I tap my cat's nose or stroke his throat to get him to swallow his pills (he isn't fooled by Pill Pockets!), does that work on Jane?

[KF_in_Georgia]

Tried stroking her throat. Got a big gulp from her. Let her go and she laid down on the bed, chin flat on the bed in a massive sulk.

 

About 30 seconds later, she spat out half the pill.

 

Really, it's easier to shove the thing down her throat and give her a cookie so she'll swallow the pill quickly to get to the cookie.

 

I gave both dogs a spoonful of cottage cheese this morning. Q gulped his down in one bite. Jane licked the curds to death.

[XTRAWLD]

Follow up with a cookie is a must! I find it will almost always catch a pill that might be stuck within the throat or in a cheek or something.... Good job!

[palmettobug]

Was worth a try! Cats will often "pocket" the pill in their cheek, then slink off and spit it out.

[Guest jpreston409]

I've been lucky with my boy who is on metro and the sucralfate, he will gobble them up in a glob of coconut oil on a spoon. He's obsessed with coconut oil, though. He's a strange dude.

[Remolacha]

Val is a chewer, so most hiding techniques don't work. When she had to take antibiotics in capsules, I tried a pill popper, which worked great at first. After a few days, she started struggling more, so it was harder to be sure it was going far enough in, so I have switched to the old reliable "Pill in fingers, shove down throat". I haven't been giving a cookie after, should start that!

 

Conner usually will take a pill pocket, but if he doesn't and I have to shove it down, he doesn't get his Velveeta cheese chaser

Edited February 9, 2017 by Remolacha

[KF_in_Georgia]

I believe in miracles.

 

I got two dog biscuits prepped with cheese whiz. I picked up a sucralfate and called Jane over. She came over, sniffed the pill, then took it in her mouth.

 

She bit into it and dropped all the pieces on the floor. She picked up the pieces one at a time and ate all but one fairly large piece. I watched in amazement until she decided she was through. I picked up the last piece, pushed it into the cheese whiz on one biscuit and gave it to her.

 

She ate the whole thing.

[Remolacha]

:confetti

[EllenEveBaz]

Good girl, Jane!

 

It'd be easier if I could just tuck the pill into a sock

Idea for budding entrepreneurs: Sock Pockets. Could come in wool, cotton, gym, and argyle flavors.

 

I gather she hasn't thrown up for a few days????

[KF_in_Georgia]

She finished the sucralfate last night, threw up today (at a meet and greet--way to impress, Jane!). She'd only had one cup of kibble at breakfast (about 3 hours earlier). She did throw up at least once on the sucralfate, too.

 

We'll see how it goes this weekend, with a regular food schedule, and call her vet on Monday.

[KF_in_Georgia]

For the love of dog, she just threw up another sock!

 

I have no idea when she ate this one. It might have been a January 1 meal, too. (It's not a mate to the first one. This one's purple.)

 

Since I work from home, there's really little opportunity for her to get into something without my knowing it. She just sleeps next to me all day, all night. The only time she's not being watched is when she's crated (typically, when I'm not home). (At night, she's next to me, but she wakes me up if she gets up.) And I cleaned out the crate to make sure she didn't have more socks stashed there.

 

Anyway, the vet's office closed at 1 today. I'll call them Monday morning and let the vet know. He might want another round of sucralfate. (That will be fun. But I'll remember to use GoodRx.)