[Brittanymom]

My one-year old Brittany has been through the intestinal blockage route and survived, barely. Three months later he is vomiting stomach bile with a bit of grass and refusing food. Normally he will eat your arm if you don't put the food down quickly enough, so this is significant. I found that he had vomited in his crate last night, but I did not hear him cry to go out. He did not eat his morning food and after drinking water this afternoon vomited twice within a couple of minutes. He is now lying on the couch looking pretty sick, but not deathly ill as when I rushed him to the emergency room last time. He is not shaking and I don't think he is nearly as sick as before, but I am watching to see what develops. His eyes look sick, but not glazed over as before. (It is Sunday and vet is closed until morning, but there is an emergency animal hospital which is where he went last time). I have read that if it is simple stomach upset but not serious, you can help them out with Pepto, a teaspoon per 20 lbs. He won't touch this and turns his head away to keep me from giving it to him. Remember, this is a dog that will eat literally anything with great gusto. He wouldn't even lick it off his mouth when I rubbed it there. Is it the minty smell he doesn't like, or does he "know" he is too sick for this? Any advice or ideas on how to treat this assuming he doesn't clearly have to be rushed to emergency hospital later on? I don't know if he ate something that he is unable to pass or just something that irritated his stomach. If the former, he will probably become very ill in the next few hours and will go to emergency. If not, how can I treat him? Thank you!

[labman]

I have usually just waited for it to clear up. You could try getting some of the Pepto Bismo on your finger and sticking it in his mouth. He can't spit it all out and should give up and swallow some of it. Maybe you could get enough down to help a little. Why do they always have to get sick on the weekend?

I know what you mean about the eating. Many Labs are that way.

[Brittanymom]

Thanks. He is better today, eating small amounts and holding it down. He also has a tick bite that seems to be infected. We pulled the tick yesterday and the bite was red and swollen, more so today. I cleaned the area with alcohol and bandaged with Neosporin. Of course, he pulled the bandage off after about 10 minutes, but it did get cleaned at least. I wondered if it was possible the bite is infected and this is why he is sick? Thanks for your response!

[labman]

Glad to hear he is doing better. I would tend to blame something he ate instead of the tick bite for the upset stomach. They manage to find stuff. Keep an eye on the bite.

[Brittanymom]

Considering his history with eating anything, I agree. Both dogs were let out by my babysitter Friday night by mistake. They took off and we got a call the next morning to go get them. They were a few miles away in another neighborhood, so they could have gotten into anything. The other dog is not sick though.

The latest is that he is again looking bad, not eating or drinking, refusing everything, turning his head away. I think I rehydrated him pretty well today. He drank a couple of times, ate a lot of ice cubes and ate small amounts of food made with a lot of water several times with no vomiting. But since about 5 pm he looks bad and won't eat or drink. His nose feels dry. However, he still goes out and he peed again too. He is mostly lethargic, but will get up for something interesting like to go out or if the doorbell rings. I'm worried about a bowel obstruction, like last time, because I haven't seen him have a BM. But I'm not sure -- I had to leave for 25 minutes today and he had access to outside. Don't you think that if this was an obstruction he would be a lot sicker? It has now been close to 48 hours since he got sick and about 60 hours since his night out. He would not have been able to keep the food down today, right? Also, the bite looks really bad to me. It is the size of a nickel, raised, red and looks infected. He shakes some too. I've noticed this before and am wondering about some kind of neurological issue, but this seems more related to his being sick. It is not a seizure -- he shakes as he exhales and not violently, but he doesn't seem to be able to stop for several minutes. Sorry to be a pest, but any thoughts?

[labman]

Time to call the vet in the morning unless he is a lot better. Dogs seem to vomit once in a while for no good reason. If they have eaten something wrong, usually they get better quickly. If not, trouble. Don't like that bite either.

My 5 month old Sheba threw up today at my luncheon meeting. Seemed OK, took her to my evening meeting with no problem.