Any idea what is wrong?

[Blackrose]

History:
Ever since Chloe was a puppy she had these "spells" of loose poop and vomiting. I used to joke and said that she got sick every three months. If it was serious enough (nine times out of ten it was) I'd take her into the vet. They'd give her some meds, had no idea what the cause was, and sent her home. She recovered each time.
As she got older, not only was she having these "spells", she also started to refuse to eat her food. Wasn't that big of a deal, she'd go a day without eating, and then scarf her food down the next day. I thought she was just being picky, as with a change of scenery and/or exercise befor eating, she'd eat her food. Although, come to think of it, every time she wasn't feeling good she would refuse to eat. Crap.
Along with refusing to eat, she started to poop. A lot. I'm talking five+ times a day. Once in the morning, once late morning, once in the afternoon, about three times on walks, and then once or twice in the evening. These poos varied in solidness, but generally started out solid and by the time evening came on were very loose.

Recent History:
Her "spells" have been getting more and more frequent. This past month she has gone days at a time without eating and when she does eat it is normally only about a cup of food (she should be eating two cups of food a day at least). Her pooping schedule was really getting on my nerves. So, I thought, okay, we'll switch her food to a single protien source and see if that helps. Just this past week I switched her from Chicken Soup to California Natural Lamb and Rice. Her pooping went down to about three times a day and it was much more firm and dark. Thought that would help.

Present:
She's still not eating, even when I mix in some tasty tidbits (Cheerios was what I tried yesterday, as she loves them). She's lost weight and is what I would consider Boxer or GSD puppy skinny. If at all possible, she seems even more disinterested in her new food than her old food. I know she has to be hungry, but if I show her her food bowl she does the classic turn of head and averting of eyes. She does NOT want it. Even out in her kennel or after a jog, she won't eat reliabley.
I still wasn't too worried...again, I thought it was her being picky. But this morning Chloe woke me up twice to go outside and each time she had massive dierreah. First time it was just loose...second time it was liquid. She didn't throw up along with it, like she did about a week and a half ago.

I am hoping to schedule an appointment for her for tomorrow for her vaccs, and I'm going to tell them about what's been happening with her.

Any thoughts or ideas on what could be wrong? Worms is the first thing that comes to mind, but I really don't know how she could have gotten them. She's been treated before, she's on heartworm meds, she doesn't get into anything she shouldn't, there aren't any worms in her poop, and her belly isn't distended. The last time she had worms was when our cat had worms and Chloe wasn't on any prevenative.

I want to say hopefully nothing is wrong, but if this is normal for her I'm going to go crazy. So let's just say hopefully nothing major is wrong and it will be inexpensive to treat. I was going to be doing good to just pay for her vaccs and filling up for gas in the same week that I need to buy more dogfood and things for the Guinea Pig (just out of highschool going into college budget). If I have to have her tested for anything, I'm going to be broke. And then if she is going to need treatment for something more serious than worms...I'm really going to be broke. But I suppose that is what living with your parents and working at the vet clinic itself is for.

[Catty1]

Is this the same vet? See what they say.

If it's the same answer, see another vet and get a second opinion, pronto.

Good luck to you and Chloe.:love:

[Glacier]

Ever had her lipase levels checked for pancreatitis? I have a dog with chronic pancreatitis and her symptoms are almost identical to what you describe.

I'd wait til she's eating and feeling better to do her vaccinations...well, personally, I wouldn't do them at all, but that's a whole other issue. My vet wouldn't vaccinate an already ill dog in any case.

Good luck. I hope you find an answer and Chloe feels better soon.

[Blackrose]

Ever had her lipase levels checked for pancreatitis? I have a dog with chronic pancreatitis and her symptoms are almost identical to what you describe.

I'd wait til she's eating and feeling better to do her vaccinations...well, personally, I wouldn't do them at all, but that's a whole other issue. My vet wouldn't vaccinate an already ill dog in any case.

Good luck. I hope you find an answer and Chloe feels better soon.
No, she hasn't been checked for anything. Even just thinking that it could be pancreatitis makes me want to crawl into my bed and cry because that is why we had to put our cat of 15 years to sleep. :(

She's only a year old, so the vaccs she'll be getting at her last booster set, so to speak. One being her rabies, which she really does need. After this set, though, I agree with you - I'm going to have her titer tested when its time for her next round.

[Glacier]

No, she hasn't been checked for anything. Even just thinking that it could be pancreatitis makes me want to crawl into my bed and cry because that is why we had to put our cat of 15 years to sleep. :(

She's only a year old, so the vaccs she'll be getting at her last booster set, so to speak. One being her rabies, which she really does need. After this set, though, I agree with you - I'm going to have her titer tested when its time for her next round.

Pancreatitis is much easier to treat in dogs than it is in cats...still serious, but generally not something you'd have to consider putting her down over. I've had several dogs with pancreatitis both acute and chronic. None of them have died because of it. Paxil has had chronic problems for years. She's 14 now and still doing very well. She was still my main lead dog this past winter. (she's retired now, but I haven't broke that news to her yet!) I have to monitor her diet very closely and occasionally give her sub-q fluids. At one point we added enzemyes to her food, but she doesn't seem to need that anymore.

I'd ask for a general health panel(bloodwork). It should show if anything isn't working right in her major organs and at least give you a starting point.

I didn't realize Chloe was so young! I do vaccines for two years(one when they first arrive if I don't know their history and a booster a year later). I do rabies every three years because I have to keep my kennel permit(there hasn't been a case of rabies here for 50 odd years).

[Jessika]

Honestly... the only advice I can give is to have her checked out by a vet. I really hope you find out what's wrong, though. Have you talked with your vet about a payment plan if you can't pay for it all up-front, or post-dating checks?

[Blackrose]

Honestly... the only advice I can give is to have her checked out by a vet. I really hope you find out what's wrong, though. Have you talked with your vet about a payment plan if you can't pay for it all up-front, or post-dating checks?

I have an appointment scheduled for 1:30 tomorrow. The head vet, Dr. Griese, is going to be looking at her.

The perk of working at this particular vet clinic is that I don't have to pay up front for any medical care that my dogs recieve. Their stand is that if I fail to pay in a timely manner, they can always deduct the payment from my check.


Pancreatitis is much easier to treat in dogs than it is in cats...still serious, but generally not something you'd have to consider putting her down over. I've had several dogs with pancreatitis both acute and chronic. None of them have died because of it. Paxil has had chronic problems for years. She's 14 now and still doing very well. She was still my main lead dog this past winter. (she's retired now, but I haven't broke that news to her yet!) I have to monitor her diet very closely and occasionally give her sub-q fluids. At one point we added enzemyes to her food, but she doesn't seem to need that anymore.

I'd ask for a general health panel(bloodwork). It should show if anything isn't working right in her major organs and at least give you a starting point.
You have no idea how comforting that is to hear.

If her fecal comes back negative for any type of parasite, I'm going to request for a blood panel to be done.

I just want her to get better and be healthy.

[Spiritwind]

(there hasn't been a case of rabies here for 50 odd years).

That would be so nice if it was like that here!! I just heard on the news lastnight that in the county (Guilford) just north of me, there has been 13 confirmed rabies cases so far this year!... just in that county! Foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, cats...etc... I know last year was really bad as well!...

[Twisterdog]

That would be so nice if it was like that here!! I just heard on the news lastnight that in the county (Guilford) just north of me, there has been 13 confirmed rabies cases so far this year!... just in that county! Foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, cats...etc... I know last year was really bad as well!...


Here, too. A few years ago we had a BULL with rabies. Now THAT would be scary! :eek:

[bckrazy]

I was going to suggest the same thing as Glacier... get her checked! My friend's dog was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. Apparently, a dog will either have it from birth (which sounds like Chloe probably has) or will get it following an intestinal infection. You'll have to give her enzymes, but it's highly treatable! It's weird, but I have met several dogs with Pancreatitis in the past few months. I used to know nothing about it, and thought it was super rare... but my friend's dog was just diagnosed, a dog at the park had it, and a dog in rescue was diagnosed with it, and they are all healthy with treatment.

Since the episodes are sporadic, it doesn't sound like Chloe has a severe case... but I've read that a dog with Pancreatitis will slowly starve to death, so it's SUPER important to get her checked out! Unless they're absolutely positively necessary, I would skip the vaccinations, until Chloe is better. Good luck, and keep us updated!

[critters]

Could she have Giardia? The SNAP is better at finding it than a poop test, in our experience; poops can have plenty of false negs.

[Blackrose]

Just got back from the vet visit. I didn't get the results for her fecal, but her heartworm blood test came back negative for everything. She is physically in great shape. I got some meds for her that she will be on for the next week to clean out her system. With just what I was telling him, he said it could really be anything, especially since there isn't anything abnormal about her stool and vomit (no blood, mucus, or anything like that). The meds will treat her for all of the intestinal problems that it could be, and if she's still having problems, Dr. Griese said to bring her back and they'd do further tests.

I did finally break down and buy her some canned food to mix in with her dry and she is downstairs happily chowing down. *shakes head* We'll see how long that lasts though. Let me tell you, trying to find a good canned food that wasn't expensive was hard. I bought this Natural Life Adult Lamaderm (Lamb and Rice formula) for a buck twenty per 13 oz can. The ingredients are Lamb broth, Lamb, Lamb liver, Brown Rice, Rice Flour, Peas, Carrots, Flaxseed Meal, etc., etc.

Even when she isn't feeling well (she had a bacterial infection along with a case of worms when she was spayed) she would eat her food when I mixed canned in with it, so at the very least this will keep her from starving.

She weighs 42 pounds, which is what she weighed a couple of months ago when I had her in for a bath. So while she hasn't lost any weight, she hasn't gained any either, which she should have done as she's matured a bit.

[Catty1]

The good canned food can be a bit more expensive - but if it turns out to save you a few trips to the vet, it might wind up paying for itself.

I hope Chloe is ok...and gains some more weight.

[Giselle]

Could she have Giardia? The SNAP is better at finding it than a poop test, in our experience; poops can have plenty of false negs.
I'm confused. At our clinic, we swab the poo with a cotton swab (which then break and mixes with a solution) and then drop a couple droplets into the Snap test window. The poop test IS the snap test. Right..?

[critters]

The Giardia SNAP came out after I quit working for the vets, so I honestly don't know how it works. I know it's physically a little different than, say, the HW SNAP, but that's about all.

The poop tests I was thinking about the SNAP being better for Giardia than were floats and smears.

[IRescue452]

Good luck. To be honest, if they just did a heartworm test and a fecal, they aren't doing enough. I really wouldn't trust the opinion of a vet who gives me a generic medicine "to clear up all intestinal problems" while I wait. I think with this vet you are going to be running in circles of treatment-recovery-recurrence until something major happens. You don't test for pancreatitis with a fecal test, you don't test for megacolon with a fecal test, you just don't get much from a fecal test besides parasites.

[Blackrose]

Good luck. To be honest, if they just did a heartworm test and a fecal, they aren't doing enough. I really wouldn't trust the opinion of a vet who gives me a generic medicine "to clear up all intestinal problems" while I wait. I think with this vet you are going to be running in circles of treatment-recovery-recurrence until something major happens. You don't test for pancreatitis with a fecal test, you don't test for megacolon with a fecal test, you just don't get much from a fecal test besides parasites.

I suppose he didn't feel worried enough to think a blood panel was neccessary at the time. He wanted to rule out anything basic before we did the blood test. Perhaps we should have done that the other way around, but too late now, and I couldn't have afforded the blood panel in the same vet visit. They COULD have taken the cost out of my next paycheck, but I'd really like for that option to be for a worst case scenario.

And now that I think about it I still get a shot of dread form my head to my toes when I think of going through with Chloe what we went through with Rush. The way I'm feeling now, five days won't hurt her one way or another and it will give me time to wrap my head around the fact that something is/could be wrong. I thought I was "over" Rush's passing, but coming to find out that Chloe could also have an on going medical problem just brought everything back up and it's hard. It's psycological and stupid, but its still how I feel.

She's had loose poo again this morning and it was firm all day yesterday...*sigh* I don't know if it was because of the vaccs she got, or what. On the bright side, she is eating now. :)

Speaking of eating, my mom accidentally purchased the wrong food for her...it is still Lamb and Rice with the same ingredients, but it is a low fat version (more rice than lamb). Same protien content, just half the fat. (Not exactly what the doctor ordered, but I think Chloe'll live.)
I'm feeding her a cup more than what she used to get (three cups a day + a little bit of canned) per the guide on the back of the bag, but should I be worried about anything else?

[Karen]

I would just keep track of everything she ingests, to rule out food allergies. So no treats unless you know what is in them, and keep a list of what she eats when, to see if there's any pattern.

As a person with food allergies, I can also tell you that after a bad reaction (vomiting and "loose stool") I do NOT want to eat, and am honestly not even feeling hungry for a couple days. Thankfully I haven't had any change in my allergies lately!

[Blackrose]

I would just keep track of everything she ingests, to rule out food allergies. So no treats unless you know what is in them, and keep a list of what she eats when, to see if there's any pattern.

As a person with food allergies, I can also tell you that after a bad reaction (vomiting and "loose stool") I do NOT want to eat, and am honestly not even feeling hungry for a couple days. Thankfully I haven't had any change in my allergies lately!
I've thought about allergies before, so I've been trying to keep an eye on what she eats treat wise. Regular milk bones don't seem to cause any problems, nor does the begg'n strips she eats which are both pretty generic has-everything-in-them kind of treats.
However, this lamb and rice food really seem to be helping with her normal poo, so she may have a mild case of some type of allergy. Maybe chicken is the problem, but the Chicken Soup food had everything from Chicken, to turkey, to herring, so who knows.