GSD with ulcer or hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (poo pic in post) - Page 1

I am looking for some input on my dogs symptoms. Firstly I want to say we have been to the vet for this issue.

In July 2016 my GSD got sick with vomiting and diarrhea. He had bile vomit with brown specks in it and purple diarrhea. We took him to the vet and he had xrays, bloodwork, fluids under the skin, and an anti vomit shot. He was sent home with Flagyll, Carafate, and Omeprazole. The vet did not see an obstruction and thought it was possibly an ulcer. His colon was enlarged and gassy. His bloodwork was normal. She said if it kept happening we could take him to a specialist for an endoscopy. The vet said if it is an ulcer we can treat with regular meds and a bland diet if this becomes a regular thing. He got better after a couple of days.

In October 2016 the vomiting with brown specks started again. We called the vet and got a refill of the Carafate and Omeprazole. I gave water with a turkey baster, bland diet of boiled chicken and rice, and the meds. After 2-3 days he recovered.

Now Sunday night/Monday morning, the vomiting is happening again, along with a dark smelly diarrhea. At one time the vomit was pink and foamy, but today he vomited and it was yellow bile. He was fasted for 24 hours and then I put him on a bland diet and gave him the carafate and omeprazole. He hasnt gone poo in 24 hours so no diarrhea so to speak. He is drinking water on his own. I gave him a Purina busy bone last week and noticed he his stomach seemed grumbly afterwards. In July I had given him Beniful dental chews. I took the beneful to the vets but she didn't think that they had caused his sickness. I am wondering if this is in line with an ulcer, or possible hemmoraghic gastroenterisis, based on his symptoms. Does anyone has a similar experience they can share? I plan on taking him in tomorrow if he has not improved over night. Hes in good spirits and wanting to play.

If this is more like HGE, is what hes going through another bout of it? Or is HGE not a continued illness and this may be an ulcer or just gastroenteritis?

Pic from July(vets saw pic):

 

I'm not a veterinarian and I don't think I can aid in much help. However, you NEED to stop giving horrible treats and/or food. A simple look at Dog Food Advisor or google those two products will tell you how horrible they are especially knowing your dog has had severe issues, you need to be very cautious of what he's fed.
My 1st recommendation is switch to a raw, balanced diet. Most vets know very little about nutrition i.e. raw and most will tell you it's bad. However, it is the most natural diet for your carnivore and it's also very easily digestible.

I would not reccomend raw diets. Edit GSDHeritage Admin  A good quality kibble is far healthier for a dog than most of the half assed excuses for RAW diets.

A good raw diet takes a fair bit of commitment for the owner, a good premium kibble is the better solution for the majority.

And I just realized why I haven't posted in over two years. Every time someone comes on here with an actual issue, people decide to attack the smallest things in a post without actually helping.

Yes, I fed crappy treats twice recently. Once in July, which were a gift, and I thought hell we will try them. Once this past week, which was a stupid decision due to a exhaustion from a rough pregnancy and a crappy weather. No, I don't feed raw and don't intend to but I have always researched my dogs food and both are always on at least a 4 star on dog food advisor. We have jumped around quite a bit due to my GSDs digestive issues. Yes, I do supplement some "treats" as raw bones and turkey necks. We have tried several grain free options which seemed to make his poo mush. 

Edit by GSDHeritage Admin

 

On a positive note, he did not vomit overnight and had a solid poo this morning so I am hoping we are out of the woods.

 

My apologies I was making a generic statement. To be honest that pic looks like a serious medical issue. I have seen anything like it.

I doubt many want or should give advice.

 

I hope your dog recovers, it must be stressful.

Thank you, and sorry if I misinterpreted. It is stressful and worrisome since it seems to be recurring. We will most likely have an endoscopy sometime in the upcoming year and see if that helps pinpointing. I understand if people don't want to give medical advice. I was hoping there may be some out there who have had similar experiences that have had a better diagnosis then "possibly an ulcer" and their outcomes.

I have seen this before, and more than once.

If a dog has a one-time episode of poop like this, most likely it's just garbage gut--dog sucks up some ghastly trash somewhere and pays the price.

Repeated episodes are huge trouble. The longer HGE or any inflammatory GI disease goes on without being diagnosed and treated, the more likely it is to kill the dog. Yes--kill the dog. This is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease and nothing to screw around with. The longer it goes untreated, the more entrenched it becomes and the less likely it is to respond when treatment is eventually given. It does not go away on its own but it may appear to--until the next flare-up hits.

Your dog needs an endoscopy with a biopsy now. Not sometime this year.

He also needs to be tested for pancreatic insufficiency.

A raw diet will not fix this.

And yeah, it's a real good idea to avoid trashy treats but you already know this. And avoiding trashy treats won't fix this either.

I have had a dog with similar problems that I considered to be episodic colitis. I'm guessing the dog was allergic to certain foods and eventually tried Exceed Salmon and Pea kibble from Sam's. It practically cured the problem. I think some dogs become allergic to common ingredients in kibble such as chicken. Exceed is not considered a top shelf kibble, but it worked very well for my dog. You might want to stay away from common ingredients, stay away from the treats and gradually introduce some roughage in the form of canned greens or other fresh vegetables.

I would echo what has been said by other posters ^. There are certainly bloodlines in GSD which have something of a predisposition to serious gastric upsets. Ongoing UK research (Royal Vet College) centres on Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I have personally only seen poop looking much like that pictured on a very few occasions, in my lifetime, even when with a population of 30 or so dogs on hand, and fortunately it has only been on a one-off basis each time. Different methods have been used to tackle it but each treatment was successful, with no recurrance in that individual dog. However, I do know of others who have had dogs which had repeated intermittent bouts of such bloody diorhea; and it does seem to me that there is often an auto-immunity malfunction with such dogs. It is galling that if you have a GSD with such sensitivity, you can never afford to give them the odd processed dog-treat ! Especially when: A) loads of other GSDs can eat these chews etc and NOT have problems; and B) even the ones with 'difficult' stomachs can sometimes eat absolute crap they scavenge for themselves, with no problems; but then react badly to something carefully researched that you, the owner, feeds them ! All part of the ongoing fun crap-shoot that is dog ownership, I guess.

I would have him tested for EPI; EVEN if it shows up neg. I would put him on a single protein kibble or ground meat and quinoa diet for a fairly long while until whatever keeps flaring up goes completely away. At least a month or so and also add digestive enzymes and Probiotics in his food every day; twice a day in smaller amounts would be better. Feed twice a day smaller amounts; make sure food is going through. Reason I say quinoa is it has much more nutrients than rice and rice can bind instead of pass through like it should. I hope this helps, my boy could not take raw diet so I started cooking ground turkey and added some to kibble.

PS: Most Purina products are trouble for any dog. As said above some dogs can eat pure crap and never have a problem where others have nothing but trouble. So sounds like your boy has a sensitive gut; now your job is to find out what DOES work for him. Let the gut heal itself with above mentioned digestive enzymes and probiotics. It is good to find out different information on this forum; some people have great helpful solutions to many problems. Digestion is a tough one, also be aware of proteins and ingredients he may have allergies to. That's why I feel cut everything out of his diet for a while except for meat/quinoa/rice and find out if there is a particular meat he's been eating that he gets sick when he eats it. Good luck NAn