Haemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) in greyhound/saluki lurcher

[scorpio88]

Hello,

I've been lurking on these forums for a while now but this is my first post!

My beautiful 7-year-old greyhound/saluki lurcher (we think - we rescued her from the RSPCA last September) is currently in dog hospital very poorly with haemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE). Following bouts of bloody vomit and diarrhoea, we took her to our regular vet, who referred her to dog hospital for inpatient treatment. Over the last few days she's been on a drip for fluids, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, anti-sickness drugs and and painkillers (I think). They've managed to hydrate her, but she's still not eating. They did an x-ray and ultrasound of her stomach, and they can see that it's full with 'bad stuff' which is making her not want to eat. Apparently she's not in pain, but is probably a bit uncomfortable.

The vets think this HGE was brought on by metacam, which was prescribed after her recent laparoscopic spay. She was taking it for five days with no problems, and then on the sixth day the vomiting and diarrhoea started.

Yesterday we were warned there was a 'slim chance' she'd pull through, and obviously we were all heartbroken. We went to visit her, and she managed to have a couple of big drinks of water, which apparently is a good sign, but we're still far from out of the woods. We're waiting to hear from the vets again this morning after her third night in hospital - apparently the next step is to try syringe feeding her or inserting a nasal feed, but as someone with no veterinary knowledge I'm still super worried about all the 'stuff' in her stomach.

Obviously we're all terrified - we're not sleeping or eating and I burst into tears every five minutes with worry. She's my best friend and I will do anything to make sure she recovers.

Has anyone been through severe HGE? Is there anything we need to be asking the vets about? I'm so deeply frightened of losing her, and money is no object if it means we get her back safe and sound.

[marion]

Hello,

I'm sorry, that you have to go through this. My Greyhound had this problem for 2 years. She got haemorrhagic gastroenteritis every 14 days. She started with some tummy noise

one day before the outbreak. The next 2 days, she didn't eat and had several bloody stools. After 2 days, she was fine again. I took her to several vets. They put her on all kinds of meds like flagyl, panacur etc. and wanted to do an endoscopy.  The meds made all even worse. The final diagnosis was IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease) The vets here wanted to put my 3 year old dog on Cortisone for the rest of her life. So I contacted a Greyhound breeder, wo was a vet in Austria and explained my problem. She recommended me, to take all the

meds off, to never vaccinate the dog again and to start a raw diet. I did all, what she recommended, and after a very short time, my Greyhound never ever got bloody stools again.

The dog was very sensitive and his organism reacted in this way to get off all the toxins of the vaccinations.

I hope, this has helped you a little bit...have luck!

Edited May 15, 2021 by marion

[greysmom]

HGE takes some time to work through and recover from, so three days, while concerning, isn't unusual.  The bleeding is caused by an ulcer that developes in the stomach following using nsaids (like metacam) for pain after surgery or for strains/sprains.  It's particularly important with nsaids to give them only after a full meal so the stomach has enough in it to protect the lining from damage.  This happens in humans too.

The dog won't eat until the ulcer has healed, and that may be what you are seeing in her stomach.  I'm not sure what other "bad stuff" you could be seeing there since it should be pretty cleaned out by now.  Make sure you understand from the vets taking care of her what they feel this is.

If she has a favorite food - something she LOVES at home - whether it's canned food or McDonald's cheeseburgers or peanut butter sandwiches, bring it along when you go to see her next and see if she will eat a few bites for you.  Tiny meals will give her stomach time to start working again.

She may do better once she's home, even if she is still having blood in her stools.  It will take time to move that all through her system.  They should send you home with some sulcrafate (a stomach protector).  You'll need to monitor her hydration too, to make she she doesn't get dehydrated from blood loss.

And I would not give your dog metacam again - they can become sensitized to individual drugs.  There are many nsaids that can be used if she really needs one in the future.  One of mine had a horrible HGE reaction to rimadyl, but she uses meloxicam just fine.

It's super scary dealing with HGE, but you can deal with it, and your dog can be fine going forward.  Good luck!

[scorpio88]

2 hours ago, marion said:

Hello,

I'm sorry, that you have to go through this. My Greyhound had this problem for 2 years. She got haemorrhagic gastroenteritis every 14 days. She started with some tummy noise

one day before the outbreak. The next 2 days, she didn't eat and had several bloody stools. After 2 days, she was fine again. I took her to several vets. They put her on all kinds of meds like flagyl, panacur etc. and wanted to do an endoscopy.  The meds made all even worse. The final diagnosis was IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease) The vets here wanted to put my 3 year old dog on Cortisone for the rest of her life. So I contacted a Greyhound breeder, wo was a vet in Austria and explained my problem. She recommended me, to take all the

meds off, to never vaccinate the dog again and to start a raw diet. I did all, what she recommended, and after a very short time, my Greyhound never ever got bloody stools again.

The dog was very sensitive and his organism reacted in this way to get off all the toxins of the vaccinations.

I hope, this has helped you a little bit...have luck!

Hi Marion,

Thanks so much for your reply! We've just been to see her in hospital again and she's a little bit brighter than yesterday, but still very poorly. She is now being syringe-fed every few hours, and vomited once when we were there. She is also leaking what looks like older (brown) blood from her back end, which is scary to see.

How long did it take your dog to recover from each bout of HGE? Mine is on day 4 now, and they say they expect her to stay in hospital for a few more days until she starts eating by herself (I'm keeping everything crossed here... I just want her home!)

[scorpio88]

2 minutes ago, greysmom said:

HGE takes some time to work through and recover from, so three days, while concerning, isn't unusual.  The bleeding is caused by an ulcer that developes in the stomach following using nsaids (like metacam) for pain after surgery or for strains/sprains.  It's particularly important with nsaids to give them only after a full meal so the stomach has enough in it to protect the lining from damage.  This happens in humans too.

The dog won't eat until the ulcer has healed, and that may be what you are seeing in her stomach.  I'm not sure what other "bad stuff" you could be seeing there since it should be pretty cleaned out by now.  Make sure you understand from the vets taking care of her what they feel this is.

If she has a favorite food - something she LOVES at home - whether it's canned food or McDonald's cheeseburgers or peanut butter sandwiches, bring it along when you go to see her next and see if she will eat a few bites for you.  Tiny meals will give her stomach time to start working again.

She may do better once she's home, even if she is still having blood in her stools.  It will take time to move that all through her system.  They should send you home with some sulcrafate (a stomach protector).  You'll need to monitor her hydration too, to make she she doesn't get dehydrated from blood loss.

And I would not give your dog metacam again - they can become sensitized to individual drugs.  There are many nsaids that can be used if she really needs one in the future.  One of mine had a horrible HGE reaction to rimadyl, but she uses meloxicam just fine.

It's super scary dealing with HGE, but you can deal with it, and your dog can be fine going forward.  Good luck!

Hi greysmom,

We've just got back from visiting her in hospital, and she's a little bit brighter than yesterday. She's now being syringe-fed and is apparently keeping that down for the most part, but she's leaking a lot of old blood from her back end (it's brown rather than bright red). She also vomited once while we were there, but that might be because they took her off her anti-nausea drip while we were visiting or because she drank a lot of water - again, it was a rusty brown colour rather than bright red fresh blood.

They said they'll continue to syringe feed her today and probably tomorrow, and when she starts eating by herself again she can come home. We took her favourite snacks today, and she sniffed them but didn't eat, but we'll try again when we visit tomorrow.

We'll definitely make sure she never has metacam again! It's so awful knowing that something that was supposed to make her better has caused all this. 

At what point do you know if your dog is out of the scary part of HGE? I'm a first-time dog owner, so this has terrified me and I can't stop thinking the worst, even though she's receiving 24-hour care at the vet hospital.

[marion]

5 hours ago, scorpio88 said:

Hi Marion,

Thanks so much for your reply! We've just been to see her in hospital again and she's a little bit brighter than yesterday, but still very poorly. She is now being syringe-fed every few hours, and vomited once when we were there. She is also leaking what looks like older (brown) blood from her back end, which is scary to see.

How long did it take your dog to recover from each bout of HGE? Mine is on day 4 now, and they say they expect her to stay in hospital for a few more days until she starts eating by herself (I'm keeping everything crossed here... I just want her home!)

My Greyhound's haemorrhagic stools were always self-limiting after 2 or 3 days...I hope very much, that your hound will recover soon...when she starts eating by herself

again, I would try to skip as many meds as you can, so that her organism can reorganize itself.  I wish you luck!

[EllenEveBaz]

No experience here, just wishing you and your girl all the best.  

[greysmom]

The hospital will want her to try and be eating on her own before they discharge her, but none of mine have ever eaten well in hospital.  They usually need home and familiar surroundings before they can relax enough to eat.

You will see bloody stools for a few days to a week, even after she starts eating and feeling better.  It is super scary to see that much blood coming out of your dog, but it has to go somewhere.  As long as she keeps eating/drinking and moving things through, that's what you want to see.

[scorpio88]

8 hours ago, marion said:

My Greyhound's haemorrhagic stools were always self-limiting after 2 or 3 days...I hope very much, that your hound will recover soon...when she starts eating by herself

again, I would try to skip as many meds as you can, so that her organism can reorganize itself.  I wish you luck!

The vet called last night to say they've put her on plasma to account for her blood loss. She's taking her syringe food fine, but there's still a lot of blood seeping out of her back end, which is their main concern now.

I can't sleep or eat or do anything right now - I'm so scared for my beautiful baby girl, and I wish there was anything I could do.

[scorpio88]

7 hours ago, greysmom said:

The hospital will want her to try and be eating on her own before they discharge her, but none of mine have ever eaten well in hospital.  They usually need home and familiar surroundings before they can relax enough to eat.

You will see bloody stools for a few days to a week, even after she starts eating and feeling better.  It is super scary to see that much blood coming out of your dog, but it has to go somewhere.  As long as she keeps eating/drinking and moving things through, that's what you want to see.

I don't think mine will either - she's a fussy eater at the best of times, and she loves being at home, so I think it'll be hard to get her to eat in hospital. She's taking her syringe food fine apparently, but there's still lots seeping out the back end, so they put her on plasma overnight. 

I just feel so sad and worried all the time. She was checked into hospital within hours of seeing the blood, but her poor little body was probably already weak after her spay procedure. Everything I've read suggests she should be a bit better by now, which is scaring me to my core.

Anyone reading this, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

[scorpio88]

8 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:

No experience here, just wishing you and your girl all the best.  

Thank you  I can't even express how badly I want her home so she can sprawl over the sofa while we watch a film together.

[marion]

I had unfortunately very bad experiences with the vets over here in Spain (my father was a great vet in Germany) most ONLY think of making money as much as they can, and your dog's health often doesn't seem to be of their interest in first place. I'm sorry to write this, but it is the truth. What Greysmom said is so true...the dogs don't eat well in hospitals.

They are scared of new painful treatments and injections. Take her home as soon as you can, put her on good food and take all meds off, that can be skipped.

 

[scorpio88]

Just got back from another hospital visit - she finished her plasma transfusion around lunchtime and is still being syringe fed. Apparently she regurgitated a bit first thing this morning, but there's been no vomiting or anything nasty coming out of the back end since her plasma treatment ended. It should take around 12 hours for the plasma to take effect. Her protein levels are dropping, so hopefully she manages to keep more of her high-protein, high-fat syringe food down tonight, and the plasma works its magic. They've also reduced her painkillers a bit, and she's on fluids and glucose to give her some more energy. There doesn't seem to be fresh blood coming out anymore, so hopefully her body is just eliminating the last of the horrible stuff now.

The vets all say how much more relaxed and comfortable she is when we visit her, which is sweet, but I'm desperate for her to be well again. The poor little thing really didn't need this straight after her spay! 

Thanks everyone for your kind words - please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She's a little fighter, but she needs all the help she can get!

[Hubcitypam]

Thoughts and prayers ftrom Texas.  I lost my Rex to GME.  Depo Medrol bought him a short amount of time but not sure I'd go that route again.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Hubcitypam

[EllenEveBaz]

Hoping for a good update.  

[scorpio88]

Very sad news... she improved for a couple of days, and then last night she started regurgitating again. They say this is a very bad sign, and the kindest thing for us to do is to say goodbye. 

I am utterly heartbroken and don't know what I'll do without my beautiful girl. She's my first dog, and I love her more than anything in the world. We're going to the vets shortly to spend some time with her before we have to say goodbye.

[EllenEveBaz]

 

[FiveRoooooers]

 

[greysmom]

I'm so sorry for your loss....

{{{hugs}}}

[BatterseaBrindl]

 

[marion]

I'm so very sorry...