help! my dog is sick - Page 1

My female has been sick since Tuesday night.

She throws up and is almost constantly licking her lips and salivating. I have come to realize that she is somewhat fat intolerant. I have been feeding her Kirkland brand dog food (lamb and rice) and my own mixture of raw food that includes ground beef, fish, rolled oats, carrots, molasses, cod liver oil, and various supplements.

I am stuck and I don't know if what I am feeding her is still too fatty or if this is even what her sickness is being caused from.

I took her to the vet yesterday and was told basically everything I already knew and was told to put her on anti-nauseants. She is no better after taking these drugs and is in fact worse. She doesn't really want to eat, but she does drink water occasionally.

She had a somewhat loose stool yesterday and today, but not diarrhea.

I am not sure if dogs can contract the flu virus from humans, but my husband had the flu a week ago, so I don't know if she merely has a form of the flu.

She is an only dog and has not been around other dogs for a couple weeks.

Any ideas would be most appreciated. If you would rather, please personally e-mail me! Thanks in advance!

Andrea

It is very abnormal for your dog to have been vomiting and salivating since last Tuesday. There is a reason that has yet to be diagnosed. It could be as simple as something stuck in her throat. But an incorrect diet, toxicity from supplements, illness from an infectious agent, intestinal obstruction, pancreatitis, liver or kidney problems all come to mind as possibilities. My advice would be that you take the dog back to a vet, or one you will respect, pay some money and get some blood work done, perhaps some x-rays if warranted, and go from there. 

None of us can help you with such scant information as you post here. You do not even mention the age of the dog. 

No, dogs do NOT get influenza from humans but they can get very ill from salmonella and campylobacter bacteria on raw foods, just as humans do.

Get some help. It sounds like your dog needs it.

The dog at a minimum needs to have an xray and bloodwork done.  She may have pancreatitis or just garbage gut.  Bloodwork will be helpful in diagnosing to see if she does have pancreatitis or something else.  ie:  kidney problems can cause vomiting as well.  The dog may need to be on fluids also.  Two days of vomiting like that is too long.

There's a snap CPL test that is made by Idexx that is very accurate in helping diagnose pancreatitis.  Other levels that should be looked at are Amylase/Lipase/Triglycerides.  You mentioned fat in her food, the triglyceride test is a measure of fat in the blood. 

I dont think I would let it go on for long.  Some vets are better than others.   I would have thought your vet might have had more to say.   If you were spiting up blood would you go online or to an emergency room?

See another vet, or ask your vet more questions.

best help I can offer.

Get Pedialyte and pour it down her ....she is dehydrating and the body wont correct itself without lots of liquids..and will shut down.....force it with a syrnge if have to    put in bowl and take water away    be sure to refrigerate after opening.

Get a second opinion, bloodwork & X-rays a must!! I would get an X-ray before giving any anti-nausea meds. They can make a blockage worse. Better safe than sorry.

Did you recently apply flea control? If they can reach  it and lick it they will salivate, and potentially vomit.

Thanks for all the replys.

My female is a year and a half. She is very healthly and active normally.

I am definitely going to the vet again today as soon as I can get an appointment. She is still throwing up, even though I haven't fed her since noon yesterday. She threw up 4 times during the night, just white/clear stuff.

No I haven't applied flea control recently.

This morning she wanted to go outside and it almost looked to me like her stool was slightly bloody.

I will be taking her to the vet, but if anyone has any ideas on what is wrong with my dog I would still appreciate to hear them.

I think we've all just about covered what could be wrong.  She needs at this point a further workup by your vet.  Bloodwork and Xrays will tell your vet where to take it from there.  There's a lot of different things that it could be, from Pancreatitis, kidney problem, intestinal blockage, or even some tick born stuff.  The xray will be able to tell the vet whether or not she can have anti nausea medication. 

There's a very good anti vomiting injection that recently came out for dogs that works very very well.  It's called Cerenia, but again can only be given if there is not a blockage. 

Could be too many things to list. Definately get her back to the vet asap.  I would think she should be on fluids to rehydrated her also stop allowing her to drink constantly this will only make her vomit again.  I would take up her water for a couple hours at least and give her stomach time to settle.  I would get an Radiograph done on her at your next visit, definately could be a blockage of some type. Does she eat toys or odd things?  Do you have her on a regular dewormer?
Good luck and hope she doing better.

Amy

What everyone said, and I would add a possibility of Colitis.  You are now talking about possible bloody stool as well as vomiting.

Is your dog in any way anxious, hyper, anything that exhibits extreme emotions (even temporarily, but regularly)?

My dog has problems with colitis, and I now have Flagyl on hand in case she starts up again (vomiting and/or very loose bloody diarrhea).

Also, how is your girl presenting?  Is she her normal self besides the obvious, or is she dreary and depressed and sickly acting and lethargic?

Do you have any Emergency Clinics in your area?  If you don't, I would advise maybe taking her to another vet (and of course, making it CLEAR this is an emergency and you need them NOW), because I'm not sure I'd trust that vet if he didn't do much for you.

Of course, maybe you're omitting info, such as bloodwork, radiology offered, drugs offered, changes in habits suggested?