Emmett's Been Sick - We Can't Figure Out What's Wrong
A few months ago Emmett came down with a bad case of the runs/vomitting. He passed it on to Bailey and they were both diagnosed with hookworm. They were treated and tested clean. Since that time, He has had several severe bouts of diahrrea and vomitting. I have been living with painters tarps down on all of the floors in the house (I have to have all of the floors covered with carpets because in her old age Bailey is unable to get up off of any type of hard flooring with her hips and hind legs bothering her). Emmett has had the tendancy to be a puker sometimes when he has eaten or drank water to quickly and then run or jumped but this is different. Even when the diahrrea stops, he just can't stop with the puking. Even if there is nothing in his stomach. His stool specimens came up clean for hookworm. We were able to get the diahrrea to stop by switching his food (I usually make their food myself and it took alot for me to give in and give them the vets IAMS for Vets low residue canned food). But, aside from that it's impossible to keep any meds down. Once the diahrrea stopped, he once again got his appetite back and was not lethargic (he became quite lethargic when he had the unstoppable diahrrea and really didn't want to eat/take treat - which, believe me, is NOT a good sign). Now, he just wants to lay with his head on my lap (which, as you can imagine, is quite enjoyable for me becuase he still vomits - even if its just liquid - often). The only time he's not puking is when I finally get him to sleep for a few hours during the night, which he does on my bed. I wake to the send up "burp". The vet is at a loss too. We are now retesting his stool and doing a stool culture, she said she will do bloodwork, she mentioned Addison's disease and also possibly checking his pancreas and doing a radiogram. I think she's trying very hard to be considerate because she knows that I am alone know and trying to handle this all on my own (and struggling financially) but that I will do anything for my babies but that I don't want to just do all the tests that may turn up nothing. Has anyone here had any type of similary experience? There is nothing in the yard that he could possibly be getting into, or in the house either. I would welcome any and all help and/or suggestions because I'm extremely worried - and tired! oh - Emmett turned 11 1/2 in October. Many, many thanks. Betsy |
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| at his age it could be a numbe rof things but i am surprised there was no bloodwork done to determine if it was an organ issue? when Morgan was vomiting for a day he had a large battery of tests and was hospitalized for three days. he was suffering from pancreatitis, |
| I think that she didn't do bloodwork because she thought - and I may have this wrong - that you needed to be doing bloodwork for something specific and we didn't know what do look for since Emmett and Bailey had been passing the hookworm back and forth for a little while. Now, it seems that Emmett has really just been dealing with something in addition to the hookworm.
It's been even harder to determine because he's always been something of a puker, which is why we started him on Pepcid a short time ago. Checking his pancreas is on the top of the list tomorrow when we go. Was Morgan doing heavy vomitting? This is not the type where Emmett is dehydrating himself, it's little blurps - unless of course he just ate. You would think it's more of an acid reflux type burp where something comes all the way up but it happens whether he has or hasn't had anything to eat or drink. The poor guy just doesn't understand what he's doing and he likes to go for car rides still. Unfortunately, he leans his head over my shoulder while I'm driving and - well, you can see where this story is going 
What I do for my pups. Lots of laundry lately. Thanks for the information - I am reading about pancreatitis on-line. Betsy |
| he vomited enough. he was dehydrated as well. his bout was from a reaction to an anesthetic the week before. now the vet gives him some sort of shot with the anesthesia and he hasn't had the same reaction again.
but we ran the Addison's ratio and just about everything else. they did a full blood work up to identify the problem - pancreatitis seems to me to be a - hey look everything else is ok and he is sick to his tummy! diagnosis. (not so for chronic pancreatitis I know) Morg has historical issues with his gut too. and will always eat - so the other day he refused dinner, and vomited once at night. I put him right on metronidazole and he is fine after two days . I hope you find out what is wrong so he feels better. |
| Yeah, sounds like Emmett. I can't get him to keep down the Metro....
Thanks. |
they did finally give morgan anti nausea shot. if they had given it to him on day one I could have saved hundreds of dollars.  |
| I'm not an expert but it sounds a lot like my experience with chronic pancreatitis. Good luck, I hope you get it sorted out soon. |
| It is a long shot, but will your dog it bread?
One of ours has chronic vomiting. I give him a slice of bread on upset tummy days. He LOVES bread but pills/tums etc. are always a struggle. Best of luck, this issue is a tough one. |
| He will eat bread, he just won't keep it down.
Right now, he's back to eating pretty much normally, although he won't tolerate any more pumpkin - I think he's had enough of that from when he first had hookworm and I was trying to stop the runs! When he gave up on food I did trick him into eating a combination of mashed pumpkin/sweet potato/mashed potato and a little cinnamon (sp?). Typically, he loves bread, I think he's part Italian. In the past week he's come around and is looking for food the way he normally would - he lets me know when dinner/breakfast time are approaching. He just pukes all the time. He's also gotten especially clingy and whenever he goes outside he runs to the gate and barks at nothing. Usually, he would only bark if there was someone or something out there. No he just runs to the same spot and barks as if there is someone there - everytime. He only seems happy/content if he is laying with his head on my lap. I have to put a towel or rug down because he throw up on me the whole time. I'll see what happens tomorrow at the vet. I've been reading on-line a lot this afternoon. His symptoms match several ailments. As the vet said - it could also turn out to be nothing more than sudden, extreme stress/anxiety. Whatever it is, I'd like to know that he is not in any pain and will be feeling better soon. Thanks for the suggestion - I appreciate it an am open to all ideas. Another Betsy. |
| Oh gosh, I hope you get sorted soon, so worrying...hugs to you both xx |
I am so sorry you and your sheepies are going through this. I don't think this is the same, but a couple of years ago, the vets said Winston had Irritable Bowel Disease. He would have horrible vomit episodes---- the last episode was so bad that I had to give Winston some sort of shot every six hours. The vets put Winston on a very strict dietary plan and he has been fine since. I don't think this is what you are dealing with ---but I just wanted to let you know I am sending good thoughts your way. I remember the vomit episodes and how horrible they were on Winston and us - - - - I hope you are able to figure this out.  |
| Thanks to everyone for their best wishes.
I will let you know what happens at the vet tomorrow. Betsy and the pups |
| MO has been going thru problems. We (the vet mostly) has narrowed it down to possible food allergy.
So we've been doing the exclusion diet. Started with just brown rice, then brown rice and a single protein. Slowly we've added new carbs and new protein. The things we are staying away from are wheat, corn, soy and diary. So far, so good. Yes, she craves her doggie cookies, bread, etc but we are not feeding them. All has remained calm. Mo is 11 or 12......I forget now without checking her records. |
| We went to the vet yesterday.
My first mistake, which I hadn't realized that I was making, was that I was using the term "vomit" when, at this point, Emmett was "regurgitating" not vomitting. After numerous tests and x-rays that were looking for problems relating to vomitting, we figured this out and moved on to look for causes for the constant regurgitation - other than just acid reflux. The initial set of x-rays show that he doesn't have megaesophagus, which is great news. We are waiting on other test results (more blood work, stool culture) and will see. He has gotten much better so I will keep my fingers crossed that it stays this way. (Also, he pancreas is fine.) The thing that I found interesting is that while I was in the waiting room it sounded like there were several dogs there with vomitting and diahrrea issues. Also, this past summer there were many cases in this area of dogs with cased similar to Bailey's and Emmett's - the terrible diahrrea that lasted for weeks (or so I was told by the vet and pet store owners) and I had never heard of this before - which makes me wonder what's going on that could be causing this. During the summer I considered that the cause in my area might have been that the county/state flew over the area and sprayed for those gypsy moths which would affect all the areas the dogs walked and played on. Anyway, too much early morning coffee and I'm rambling - thanks for the help and I'll let everyone know what the final diagnosis is and how Emmett is doing. Right now, he's resting with his head on the laptop in bed while I type this, so I'm hoping he's regurgitation-free for a few minutes - at least  .
Betsy |
| I'm so glad his pancreas it OK. It was a chronic thing with mine and really got had to manage as he got older. In the end all it took was a little extra food or a well meaning guest to offer a treat and it would set him off.
How strange that there's such a gastro problem in your area. Did the vet have any theories?? |
| glad to hear its not the pancreas.
One thing to think about when you ponder what was causing so many cases of sick dogs last sumer was if the land was old farm land - some things live forever - like tetnus, but also parasites. |
| I have no idea if this is helpful at all, but Portage went through a summer of horrible digestive problems. We did the bland diet thing, and could always bring him back, but he'd last a few days and then be sick again.
Our vet gave him a strong antibiotic, something that was designed to knock out just about anything. It really did the trick. I may have missed it in your earlier posts, but has your dog been treated for something in the upset tummy/infection family? We just took Portage back earlier this week. No problems with poops, no vomit, but lots of gas and bad breath. He smelled like horse manure when he breathed. Our vet gave him metronizadiole (sp?) and two days later he was much better. I'm sure you're doing everything you possible can for your baby. Paws and fingers are crossed for you both here, for a quick and positive outcome. |
| Tracie,
That must have been awful to have horse manure breathe 
Emmett had been on the Metronidazole but this time we had to stop it because he has just not been able to keep anything down, each time he "regurgitates" (now that I am using the correct verbage) it comes up. He just finished another round of Panacur Granules - just in case the hookworm parasite wasn't showing up - just to be on the safe side, and we treated both dogs. I have been making their food for the past 8+ years so they are always on a bland diet. It is only in the past week that I have finally agreed to put them on the vets Iams food and she would like me to give him some digestive enzymes/probiotics along with the food, which is what he got with his home cooked food too. Kerry, Definitely not farmland - we are in the heart of Milwaukee, right by the lake. The funny thing is that they were rarely anywhere where they could pick something up - we had stopped taking them to the doggie parks because Bailey was having trouble walking so if we went anywhere, it was in the neighborhood and she was in her stroller and wasn't out eating grass or picking up on other doggie droppings. I was wondering if they got something from some other small animal dropping in our yard (rabbit, chipmunk or mouse). I thought all was clear but Emmett is back to spitting up again today - I think maybe he senses how I feel about Sundays! Betsy |
| Sorry that he's not feeling well. I was going to say check for megaesophagus and I see that he's clear for that. OES do have sensitive digestive tracts and it might have something to do with his age too with how his insides are holding up. I hope it's just some kind of parasite and after he's done with the med he'll feel better soon.
If he's still not feeling better either ask your vet if you can go see some kind of specialist or go and get a second opinion on your own. I learned a valuable lesson with vet care once. I loved this vet, but it was really for how nice he was to me & our pets. He really goofed on a diagnosis once and it really opened up my eyes. |
| We're so sorry to hear that Emmett is under the weather. Oscar is also "digestively challenged" and has issues that present in a variety of ways.
When Oscar came to us at ten weeks old, he already had constant diarrhea and would vomit up water and bits of food frequently. We limited his water intake, did tons of tests (fecal, blood, upper GI) and changed his food about a dozen times before doing an endoscopy. Turns out he has Inflammatory Bowel Disease (plasmacytic/lymphocytic) and his small intestine was severely inflamed. Oscar started taking prednisone and the inflammation came down very quickly. During his bouts of IBD, he has a voracious appetite, and can't get enough food, ever. Unfortunately, the only way to diagnose this type of IBD is with an endoscopy. (There is another type, eosinophilic, that can be diagnosed through blood work.) Now it seems that we may be dealing with chronic pancreatitis. Oscar has had it twice in six weeks, which is not good. At any rate, it does show up in the blood work (high amylase and lipase levels). The main difference in symptoms between IBD and pancreatitis that Oscar doesn't want to eat at all with pancreatitis. He vomits up bile and his stool usually has blood and mucous in it. Not sure if any of this info is helpful, but wanted to let you know our experiences. Hope Emmet is feeling better. Laurie and Oscar |
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