Keva's evening at the vet *Nebo went today too 4-27

[dragondawg]

It seems I have another dog with a sensitive stomach. Her new nickname is Nebo Junior. On Monday my mom called me while I was at work saying that Keva was had thrown up in her crate then threw up again a bit later. I came home and she acted ok, I thought I'd wait and see if it got any worse.

On Tuesday I took her to work with me just in case and she acted fine, she was playing, eating/drinking ok, no vomiting. Well today I came home from work and I had a nice mess waiting for me. She had thrown up a ton in her crate so my mom had moved her to Nebo's crate (Nebo was at work with me) and she'd thrown up again in that one too. I took her upstairs to wash her off in the tub and she threw up a ton again. Then I took her outside and she had diarrhea, she was drinking lots of water as well.

I decided to take her to the vet. $200+ later (there goes the new camera fund ) I really don't know what is/was wrong. They did a blood test (the third one she's had and she's only 6 months old) and her kidneys were fine (I was a bit worried with all the dog food recalls and her symptoms). He said the liver levels were a little high but that it could just be because of all the vomiting. They also did 2 x-rays, one showed a little bit of something in her stomach...the vet said it looked more like grass or something like that then an object that would cause an obstruction, he thought it would pass. The same "stuff" didn't even show up in the other x-ray so I hope that is nothing. Her stomach is inflamed, she got a shot and some pills to help with that. She's been acting fine this evening, so I'm hoping she's ok now. The vet said just to watch for more vomiting in the next 36 hours. So if anyone wants to send some get well wishes Keva's way that would be great, thanks!

As a sidenote, I think I must spend entirely too much time at the vet. When I called it was the vet who answered, I hadn't even finished spelling my last name and he said "Is it Nebo or Keva?" I think I keep them in business with all the money I've spent there, but at least they are good about getting me in at the last minute (this is not the first time I've had to run a dog to the vet after work, usually an hour or less before they are supposed to close).

A little grass goes a long way. As a recent example my Clover (aka cow dawg) seems to have the urge to pig out on grass the past few weekends. Typically she has consumed the grass while on our walks to the pond on the weekend. The net result is that between Sat and Sun the amount builds up in the stomach. Any dog food consumed sort of floats on by the cud of grass. Eventually the grass makes it to the small intestine, where it forms about a 3" long grass plug. Then the fun starts Sunday night, and in the early hours of Monday morning - I have to go out. Every other hr she goes out and successfully makes a puppy boo boo. Most of the times normal, and on rare occaison soft. Usually sometime on Monday, she throws up the grass. At that point everything is back to normal. In essence what is happening is that the grass is forming a partial obstruction in the intestine. The intestines have the urge to purge themselves, thus all the trips out. Eventually she throws up the plug and the intestines are happy again. Presumably if plug had gone in first, the dog food would have come right back up, and the problem would have continued until the grass got shoved through. My strategy for a few weekends will be to give acid blockers, hopefully removing the acid build up in her stomach and the urge to fill up on grass.

The point is that what ever the Xray picked up could be intermittently causing a problem, and will continue until expelled. You need to try to remember back to when the problem started and whether you saw the dog consume grass, bones, stones, etc. Then try to come up with a solution to prevent the offending material from being consumed again. Not aways easy. Your choice of dog food may not have anything to do with the stomach problems. Possibly the number of feedings might. In the case of my cow dawg it might be she needs filler between her meals as a long term solution. Or more in the morning and less in the evening. Or a lower protein/fat formula so that I can increase the volume. But there's no allergy involved.

All you can do is wait for the something to become nothing. If puppy starts vomiting blood, then call your Vet immediately.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Well ... ??

How's Miz *Urrk* & *Gurrk* doing today?

Hope things are "passin through" without any unplanned "reversals"!



Hope you're Feelin Better, Cute Face!