My GSD has seen better days - help please - Page 1

 About 5 days ago my 2 year old did not eat at diner. Next morning she did not eat in the morning and seemed tired.
I was worried that she got into fertilzer and/or manure that I had used in the garden. I called the vet and they said to bring her in. Keep in mind that she jumped into the back of my wagon and also jumped out at the vets, so I was not too concerned. Before bringing her I called the # on the fertilzer bag and was told that there is nothing toxic in the stuff. Reports of dogs eating it just had diahrea.
The vet was concerned and wanted me to leave her to run a blood test and give her an exray. About an hour later, we got a callfrom the vet. He said from the film, that it looks like a blockage. He said it looked to him like a sock. He also said she has worsened and wanted to operate. We said OK as we were led to believe it needed to be done asap.
2 hours later we get a call - NO Blockage - just a gas pocket. At the end of the day we went to pick her up and she was not well.
She did not come around after the anesthesia wore off. He brought her out on a stretcher and she could not move. He called the emergency hospital for us and we drove her there. They gave her an IV and a heating pad and blanket and took care of her from 5:00 PM until I went back at 10PM to see her. Not much change. She could not even lift her head to look at me. I felt it was too much anesthesia, or she was allergic to it, or the vet let her body temp get too low(it was 85). Of course the ER vet thought different.
I did not think I would see her the next day, but by 12:00 she was lifting her head. We went to see her, and we gave her some baby food and she ate. We picked her up at 5:00 and she actually walked out to the car. We walked out with $2000 less money between the surgery and the ER. But we were as happy as could be that she was alive!
We then nursed her back with baby food, then rice with boiled burger, and slowly mixed in her food. 3 days have passed and she seemed completely back to normal (some diahrea but not always) except for this AM. She threw up alot.
We feel like perhaps we rushed the dog food or gave her too much.

We are not happy with our vet - feel like the he almost killed her. We will need to find a new one. Until then:

What do you think is going on with her now? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Edit - according to the ER her temp was 95 not 85 - sorry

so sorry to hear fertilzer is dangerous, our boy is sick, too. Just remember that vets are human and make mistakes so don't lose hope. Do tons of your own research. Watch the baby food is not the best for dogs stick to a diet of certain vegs & certain meats & certain fruits with vitamins do research. Print out lists. I just found out about Canidea dog food. I diid my orginal research in April of 08 even I now have learned research is a daily and especially when making food changes (even with you had good results in the past). Hope all works out.

 Anybody know if you can put dogs on probiotics (like a powdered acidophilus)? Might this help?

Most definatly. I have my dogs on probiotic powder daily. Vets are a constant dissapointment to me. I do my best to feed and suppliment the best I can to help stay out of their offices.



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too much nitrogen (or is it phosphorus?) can cause lack of oxygen in the blood. this can lead to a very tired and lethargic dog....any change in diet can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

your vet was very much afraid for the dog's life. I've known 3 friends who's dogs died from eating socks.....what are the odds....! 

I use pro-biotic from www.smartpack.com

for my dogs the product has lots of different goodies in it and really seem to work well.

have you changed any cleaners (floor, dishes, etc), or laundry detergents, have had carpets cleaned, or sprayed the yard with anything?

hope all returns to normal very soon.

 We have not changed anything  -- I just keep going back to the fertilizer as a possible spark to this whole thing.

Should I consider switching food at this time? She has been on the Wellness Super 5 Mix  (Whitefish).

your feed may have gone bad, try buying a new small bag of what you've been feeding......if it works then great!

make sure she is eating from the new bag without any issues, then give her a serving of the bag you were feeding........if all goes well then continue.

if she gets sick after a few servings then throw the old bag away.........it has gone bad.............and get another one.

if she has trouble with the new bag of wellnes, then buy some cans of sience diet a/d and slowly start mixing your next type of food into them. start with about 4:1 canned to kibble.

get her off the sience diet canned food within 2 weeks.........its not really that great for them but they seem to tolerate it while emergency feed switching...........

do not buy the sience diet a/d kibble.......makes some dogs really sick......or at least it did mine.

many people on this board will encourage you to go with a raw diet.......it works well for many dogs and not so well for others.......good luck

About the vet: most vets will do a series of Xrays (radiographs) to see if the dog's digestive track is moving at all. As long as the dog isn't bloating, it is usually safe to wait a short time to do another Xray or two to find out if the digestion is moving along. Often this will tell if what the vet sees is a sock or a gas pocket. I don't know if your vet did this. Your vet did over-react, but in the best interest of your dog, or so he thought.  None of us can tell if he made a mistake in the dosage of anesthetic or if your dog just happened to be one that is especially sensitive to the anesthetic or if he allowed your dog to get too cold. I'm sorry this happened to you and your dog. It had to be traumatic.

I like to keep a dog on boiled chicken breast and rice for 5 or 6 days after abdominal surgery. No dog food, canned or kibble or raw. It's too hard to digest. Surgery stops the process of digestion, so you should ease your dog back into eating.

Yes, do give pro-biotics and even digestive enzymes. They are excellent to add to the chicken and rice and later the dog food after you wean your dog back onto dog food. That will take a couple of days. You can order them online or buy them at pet food stores. Bene-bac is one brand you can get almost everywhere, but there are others like dog-zymes. And if you can't find any for dogs, you can always visit a health food store for people and buy some there. Dogs and people need much the same enzymes and pro-biotics for proper digestion.

If you are now uncomfortable with your vet, you should find a new one. It's important to have a good relationship with you vet if at all possible.

I hope your dog is doing better now.

 I am back to hamburger and rice only and in small amounts, and she is keeping it down. I will stay with that for awhile, until I can decide what food to put her on. The Wellness I have is not bad because we have 2 chi's and they all eat the same food. They are fine.

My vet overreacted and rushed us. He did not say he suspected bloat, so I am not sure what the rush was. I found out later he could have ordered an ultrasound as well. I am also upset that he brought her out to us with no blanket on and we took her all the way to the ER with no blanket as he did not suggest we bring one. Later I read the importance of keeping a dog (especially a large breed) warm during and after surgery. He told us that her body temp was low on the phone before we left to get her - so WHY NO BLANKET!

 I should have gone back to see her for myself. She may have just been depressed after my leaving her there - never left her before. Easy to look back now - at the time we put all our trust into one man. Never again.

Now I need to focus on where to go from here and what to do about feeding.

That is horrible.  Ditto what 4pack said.  My dad's dog(beautiful big black dane)  bloated around 9 at night, they took him in, opened him up, no damage to the intestines, thought all would be well,  but vet called next morning said the dog was dead when they got there.  They still charged him 900 bucks even though no one checked on the dog through the night.  Isn't that what the 900 bucks is for?  The care?