please help...rottie...not bloat...any ideas? - Page 1

 the dog i abut 1.5 years old, eats raw, started licking the air excessively, and then tries to throw up repeatedly, sometimes a little liquid comes up, sometimes nothing.  this happened late last night, we went to the emergency animal hospital.  they did x-rays and gave him a shot (pepcid like, forget the name), and said it wasn't bloat.  he had a little bit of a fever, but that went away.  heartworm and tickborn diseases negative.  came home early in the morning and the dog was fine throughout the day.  6:30 pm, the licking started and he tried to throw up a couple times.  second dog (gsd) ate the same thing, and he's fine, so i don't think it has to do with the food.

anyone have any ideas?  suggestions?  things i should look for or ask the vet to check?

thank you in advance.

sure sounds like bloat to me! I would take my dog some where else!

dog should not drink 1 hour before or after meal.

those are signs of bloat.

Have an ultra sound done to check for blockages and such

This does not sound like bloat. Bloat causes copious amounts of white foam vomited up, and the dogs chest and abdomen will expand and become rigid. The dog will rapidly go downhill. The above suggestion for having an ultrasound done is a good one. Something may be upsetting the stomach and it could be a simple virus or bacterial infection or pancreatitis, for example.

It is possible that there could be a blockage in the intestine or a twist in the intestine far enough distal that there are no obvious signs from the upper GI and stomach. I would take the dog back to the vet on Monday morning, if not before, just to check. If the dog is in obvious distress before hand, other than the sort of dry heave like behavior, I might do so as soon as possible. Is the dog eating or drinking? Diarrhea? What is the color of the mucous membranes? Does the dog have a fever? Was any bloodwork done? Lots of possibilities here, but this is not a typical case of torsion.

Good luck.

 thank you 

he's doing fine now, so maybe it is a viral or bacterial infection as you suggested hodie.  he's still eating and drinking, no loss of apitite...and when he stops the licking and throwing up he's back to his normal self, not lethargic or anything.  no diarrhea, no fever, he has no problem peeing, and he just went #2 (a little).  vet said he checked the x-ray for any bunching of the intestines (if he ate something that got caught) but everything looked fine.  

odd.

i guess i'll take him for an ultrasound tomorrow or monday depending on how he's doing.

thanks again, i appreciate your responses 

I am so much in agreement  with hodie, I am glad that you took you dog in to be examined for bloat.  I have an old DS that does this whne she gets an upset stomach. We never really knew what started it. The first time she did it she would glup air,lick the carpet, try to eat grass by the basket load. Rushed her in, and found she was full of fecal material. We put her on a low residue dog food. She has done this a few times, I keep pepcid on hand (oral) and hold her so she did not eat a foreign body until the pepcid kicks in. I feel maybe during these situations she might have had a virus, or maybe too much gas in the intestines. I would do an ultrasound on Monday to see if things are moving along just in case.