Vomiting & Refusing Food

[GreyhoundGuru87]

Good evening,

 

I am seeking advice regarding an issue I am having with my Grey (Keeper). About a week ago, Keeper did not want to eat his breakfast and I could hear his stomach gurgling. After reading some posts, I gave him a Pepcid Tablet and within 1 hour - he ate normally. My vet also recommended that I try to feed him a "snack" before bed as this may help with the stomach acid buildup overnight. My husband and I started that this last week and have had no problems since then (yay!). When Keeper does refuse to eat, it is usually accompanied by some loose stool; however, once he eats he gets back to normal very quickly. This brings us to last night. My husband and I were out for dinner and came home to find he had vomited in his crate, when we let him out he continued to vomit (approximately 5 more times), with the last few episodes consisting of mostly bile. Tonight, he doesn't want to eat his dinner.

 

We plan to do the following and are open to suggestions/thoughts of what this may be and / or potential treatments:

1. We will be bringing a stool sample into the vet tomorrow morning.
2. Continue to give him a snack before bed (unless recommended differently from our vet)

 

Please note the following:

• Keeper is drinking normally (without issue) and does not appear to be dehydrated (skin and gums in good color and responsive)
• He has seemingly normal energy overall and did play with his toys a bit today
• He has not had any blood in either his stool or his vomit - even when its been on the looser side
• There has been no new foods added to his diet and he has been eating the same food for over 5+ months without issues
• He has yogurt (plain, greek) and pumpkin added to his diet regularly

 

Thank you for any thoughts/advice. I will keep you all posted on what the stool sample reads tomorrow as well.

Edited February 19, 2018 by GreyhoundGuru87

[KF_in_Georgia]

Did he by any chance get a special treat as you were going out last night?

I had a boy who was lactose intolerant--and I didn't know it. He'd have a nibble of cheese or a bit of yogurt with other food and be fine. But we had a training session on an empty stomach using string cheese rewards, and the vomiting didn't stop until he had a shot of cerenia at the vet's the next morning. The vomiting was accompanied by diarrhea.

 

I'd suggest a little caution on the dairy--not a lot at one time and not on an empty stomach--and see if that helps.

[GreyhoundGuru87]

Did he by any chance get a special treat as you were going out last night?

 

I had a boy who was lactose intolerant--and I didn't know it. He'd have a nibble of cheese or a bit of yogurt with other food and be fine. But we had a training session on an empty stomach using string cheese rewards, and the vomiting didn't stop until he had a shot of cerenia at the vet's the next morning. The vomiting was accompanied by diarrhea.

 

I'd suggest a little caution on the dairy--not a lot at one time and not on an empty stomach--and see if that helps.

 

 

He did not get anything out of the ordinary for treats. Just his usual biscuit before we left. He has not vomited since this morning but does not want to eat tonight, we figure best not too push him to eat if he doesn't feel well.

Edited February 19, 2018 by GreyhoundGuru87

[XTRAWLD]

I would get him on a bland diet for a few days. Rice and broth, and then add some cooked chicken. It is not normal for a dog to throw up that violently (5 times) unless he got something into his system. His refusal to eat means that his system isnt't happy or that he is nauseous. It's good to give him Pepcid but it really is a bandaid for what seems like something more than just some excess acid.

 

If you are able, I'd recommend getting some collodial silver and giving that orally for a day and some slippery elm with his meals to make his irritated system happy again. Protocol for CS is a a tablespoon or so every half hour, then every hour, then every three hours until you see his vomiting and D subside.

 

Snacks before bed are wonderful things. Helps keep the tummy happy overnight, but usually that will alleviate bile in the morning, and it's routine, you'd be seeing bile every morning more regularly if it really was acid issue (trust me i'd know with pukey over here). How old is Keeper?

Edited February 19, 2018 by XTRAWLD

[GreyhoundGuru87]

I would get him on a bland diet for a few days. Rice and broth, and then add some cooked chicken. It is not normal for a dog to throw up that violently (5 times) unless he got something into his system. His refusal to eat means that his system isnt't happy or that he is nauseous. It's good to give him Pepcid but it really is a bandaid for what seems like something more than just some excess acid.

 

If you are able, I'd recommend getting some collodial silver and giving that orally for a day and some slippery elm with his meals to make his irritated system happy again. Protocol for CS is a a tablespoon or so every half hour, then every hour, then every three hours until you see his vomiting and D subside.

 

Snacks before bed are wonderful things. Helps keep the tummy happy overnight, but usually that will alleviate bile in the morning, and it's routine, you'd be seeing bile every morning more regularly if it really was acid issue (trust me i'd know with pukey over here). How old is Keeper?

 

 

Hi There, Keeper is about to be 4 years old this coming March. Overnight, he was visibly uncomfortable so we made a vet appointment this morning and brought in a stool sample. They called back and he is positive for hookworm... he had it initially when we adopted him off of the race track and tested clear after one round of treatment; however, it appears it is back. We will start treatment today (we have another f/u vet appointment at 1:30 PM).

[Remolacha]

Ugh, hookworms are nasty, persistent little buggers! It can take several rounds of treatment to get rid of them. In the meantime, a bland diet is a good idea, plain boiled chicken or ground beef (strained to get rid of some of the fat) with over cooked (mushy) rice, oatmeal, or pasta. Hope he starts to feel better soon.

[XTRAWLD]

So glad you got that figured out. Now treat those buggers!

So glad you got that figured out. Now treat those buggers!

[GreyhoundGuru87]

Well, we are home from the vet and in addition to the hookworms, his White Blood Cell Count was elevated. Poor guy just can't catch a break. The vet we work with did not feel like the vomiting and cell count necessarily ties to the hookworm; therefore, in addition to the medication for that he gave us an antibiotic and some prescription soft digestive food. We started the first round of antibiotic tonight.... wish us luck!

[greysmom]

My vet always recommends three negative fecals spread out over three months (two weeks after treatment, three weeks after that and then at the end of two months). If your boy came from a track or group in the SE, especially Florida, the hooks are *extremely* difficult to get rid of.

 

There have been several recent threads about what people have been doing to clear them that you can look up. It requires a couple different meds and being very particular about cleaning up your yard from now on. Once hooks get in the soil they are as hard to get rid of there as inside th dog, and the dog just keeps getting reinfected from his environment.

 

Good luck.

[GreyhoundGuru87]

My vet always recommends three negative fecals spread out over three months (two weeks after treatment, three weeks after that and then at the end of two months). If your boy came from a track or group in the SE, especially Florida, the hooks are *extremely* difficult to get rid of.

 

There have been several recent threads about what people have been doing to clear them that you can look up. It requires a couple different meds and being very particular about cleaning up your yard from now on. Once hooks get in the soil they are as hard to get rid of there as inside th dog, and the dog just keeps getting reinfected from his environment.

 

Good luck.

 

Thank you for your post. Yes, my vet recommended the same and Keeper has started on a 4 day treatment that he repeats over several weeks, with stool checks in between and 3 times following a clear test. He did race in both Alabama and Florida. We ALWAYS pick up his feces immediately as we live in a development with other dogs in it and we want to be as safe as possible.

 

Hoping for the best for our big guy! Appreciate the luck

[NeylasMom]

I am guessing you're giving Panacur? Search this forum for my recent thread. It seems the hooks are becoming resistent so there's another med that's being recommended in addition to the Panacur that people seem to be having good success with. Name escapes me at the moment.

[GreyhoundGuru87]

Hey All -

 

Believe it or not, Keeper's vomiting and not wanting to eat had zero to do with the hookworms. Following the visit to the vet on Monday, we started antibiotics as his WBC was notably elevated. Tuesday evening, things turned for the worst and Keeper became extremely ill. His temp skyrocketed to 105.6 and we ended up in the ER where an x-ray showed he had fluid in his abdominal cavity. Keeper underwent emergent exploratory surgery and we found his Gallbladder had ruptured and was he had sepsis in addition to peritonitis. Needless to say, he was very ill and more than likely has had an underlying gallbladder issue since before we adopted him 5 months ago. The surgeon performed a cholycystecomy (gallbladder removal) and to date, Keeper is recovering well. He has a long road ahead of him, but he has achieved all of the landmarks we have wanted throughout recovery thus far. Wish us well, this has not been easy.

[greysmom]

Thank you for the update! Sending all our good thoughts and wishes for you and Keeper! Keep us updated, please!

[Neighsayer]

Wow! Glad he is recovering!

[BatterseaBrindl]

[Batmom]

Holy smokes. Hope he is continuing to recover!

[MP_the4pack]

Oh my!!

 

Please keep us updated.

 

Get well soon, Keeper.

[Remolacha]

Wow, that was scary! I hope he will make a full recovery I presume that like people, dogs can do fine without their gall bladder?

[racindog]

Prayers going up from KY! Get well precious boy!!

[Cricket57]

Oh wow! Glad to hear he's on the road to recovery.

[RaineysMom]

oh my gosh! I'm so glad you caught it in time! Sending prayers for a quick and uneventful recovery! :hope

[JohnF]

Thank goodness you caught that sepsis in time.

Prayers to help him get well.

 

It's like Moms with sick babies... they 'know' something's still wrong and don't give up even if the doctors are ultra-busy.

[GreyhoundGuru87]

Thank you, everyone! To date, Keeper is doing well. He has not had a fever post-procedure which is very important. In addition, his appetite is good and he has had two bowel movements and his urinating normally. He will be spending his days with the clinic in observational care, and with us in the evenings and weekends. Overall, we are cautiously optimistic and so thankful we have made it this far. This has been very traumatic as he declined so quickly, and started with something as simple as vomiting. We are going to take each day at a time and hope that he continues to improve as he has been - Keeper is a fighter and we are lucky to have him.

 

If you would like to follow his story and get updates, he does have an instagram (@Keeper_The_Sleeper) and a Go Fund Me (https://www.gofundme.com/keeperthesleeper) account that was setup on behalf of my family and friends.

 

Thank you again for the kind words and support