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pjd189 · Jul 19, 2009, 08:43 AM

First, a little background. I have 8 cats and 8 dogs. All were someone's 'throw-aways'. Right now I have a female about 5 years old who got a bad gash at the back part of her front shoulder while we were out of town overnight. Normally, there are no problems unless one of the neighbor's 'unleashed, unfenced' dogs comes into the yard and taunts mine from the outside of their fenced yard. Even though the brother of the injured one is fixed, I guess it is still the 'alpha' dog thing since the 'visitor' is not fixed and this generally causes a barking, teeth-show but since they cannot get at one another, no harm. I think in this instance though Tonto (the little girl) may have bumped Pale Face (her bigger brother) and in reaction, his bit the heck out of her.. a nasty gash. By the time I got home and saw the damage and got her to the vet, the outside had begun to close, the vet decided to see if her the healing on its own would work. Unfortunately, the outside healed before the inside and she got a lot of fluid around the injury. Put her on lasix and antibiotics (injection & oral), but she began vomiting her food and especially vomiting (almost projectile) water. We switched to canned foods to entice her to eat and monitored her water intake in hopes of keeping the food down enough for her body to get some nutrition and she was taking 1 Centrine tablet 2x per day. Still the vomiting happened just not a much. Vet had us take her off the Centrine and I give her about 1 tablespoon of Pepto 30 minutes or so before she eats. It has always been either the watery upchuck or her food until this morning. She got her food dish before I gave her the Pepto and seemed to be okay but after about 30 minutes, she chucked and this time although the dry food pieces were still intact, there was a great deal of white foam in it. She does get dry heaves at time and I always know she is going to vomit when I can hear a 'fluidy' cough almost like a post nasal drip on a human and she truly tries to NOT cough. I think she knows it will cause the upchucking. If she does not have this fluidy cough, she does not vomit. My vet is at a loss also.
PLEASE.. IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS OR KNOWS ANYONE THAT MAY HAVE A POSSIBLE THOUGHT ON THIS, PLEASE ANSWER! She is not losing weight, but I can see in her eyes when she is not feeling well. It truly is like a human with a post nasal drip and that darned scratchy cough that you cannot ignore.
Also, I do know that this is a forum and nothing is carved in stone but I really, or rather Tonto really needs your help. Oh, I also got Manuka honey which she hated but swallowed anyway because she is a good little girl and it seemed to help for a very short period. I will be very grateful for any help!
pjd189

Fr_Chuck · Jul 19, 2009, 08:46 AM

If a dog ( or cat ) is seriously ill you take them to a vet. So the Vet made a wrong call the first time. Does not mean you don't go back with them.

pjd189 · Jul 19, 2009, 08:59 AM

Fr_Chuck
We HAVE taken her back to the vet.. my post said that the vet is also puzzled. I am hoping that Shazmataz or Labman may have a suggestion or to about cause, a new food to try or whatever.
But thanks for you response anyway. Oh.. we have had the same vet for 9 years and we see him quite often as other people decide to not 'human-up' the their pets.

shazamataz · Jul 19, 2009, 09:48 AM

That is a hard one, did the vet do any blood tests to determin if the infection had spread?

Put a drain in the wound?

We had a very similar problem not long ago where one of my mums poodles was attacked, his back legs were torn open and the vet had to open the wound up further, insert a drain and then stitch it.

I know it might be a stretch but when he was at the vets he caught kennel cough, it is surpisingly common for a dog to go into the vets with one problem and come out with another.

Is she drinking plenty of fluids?
Is she keeping her food down or is she vomiting that up as well as the fluid?

pjd189 · Jul 19, 2009, 02:39 PM

Thanks, Shaz for responding. The injury was already healed enough inside that a drain was not needed. She did not go in, vet came out to my truck. She has what sounds like a post nasal drip cough (sort of like kennel cough) and she actually tries to not cough. Now there is a white foamy substance coming up with any food that is upheaved. I thought that it is possibly from totally emptying her stomach because she does have dry heaves. She also seems to vomit more when she drinks water. Any thoughts?

AuntSwee · Jul 19, 2009, 03:44 PM

This may sound weird but where I live there is a lot of arsenic in the ground water, so the water has to be treated even wells have to have some king of filtering system. Have your vet test the dog for arsenic, Just a shot in the dark.(peach pits and the like also have arsenic). We had a horse that did that and turned out to be the problem. Well got fixed right away.

bailey1115 · Jul 19, 2009, 07:15 PM

Omg immedietley use a coagulant like rice with chicken stock or a caned blan food like science diet ID hurry so your do can be happy:)

shazamataz · Jul 20, 2009, 03:45 AM

Did your vet give you any antibiotics?
Usually when our dogs go in with those sort of symptoms my vet just gives me a broad spectrum one.

Bailey has a good point, I missed the part about the canned food the first time I read your post.
Try feeding some skinless boiled chicken with rice, its very gentle on their stomachs and she might be able to keep it down better. Just very small portions to start with and see how she reacts to it.

If she is till vomiting then you will need to get her checked out by the vet again and have some more tests done.

I hope she feels better soon :(

pjd189 · Jul 20, 2009, 01:49 PM

AuntSwee, Bailey & Shaz.. Thanks for all the help. I have tried the bland (canned, fresh boiled, skinless chicken, added rice). Went to the vet today (without my girl) and we went over several could be causes. I am disabled and am having an invasive test tomorrow, so we are putting her back on the Lasix (for the 'fluidy' sound in the esophagus and now trying Nexium for the stomach upset/gasses. Main thing now is to try to get her calm and somewhat feeling better until Friday. I will be in bed until then. I am getting more chicken ready as I type. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason. This can clear up in a flash, then she's eating, drinking, etc. then it can come back with a vengeance. The other thing I saw earlier is that the vomit has a white foamy substance in it now (vet thinks it is from so much vomiting.) and her poop is colored right, textured right but has a mucus substance in it. It is the same color as the poop. Almost like my kids had with a stomach virus or flu.
Once again, thanks to all and I will keep you updated. Please pass on any other thoughts or ideas as they are very greatly appreciated!

shazamataz · Jul 20, 2009, 01:57 PM

Unfortunately I am out of ideas sorry.
Sorry to hear about your test as well doesn't sound good, hope everything is OK.

Just keep up with the bland food and plenty of fluids and see if she improves at all until Friday.
Mine sometimes vomit up foam when they are not feeling well, usually yellowy/white in color, that doesn't concern me too much at the moment. (as long as it eases/stops by friday)
Yes please keep us updated if you can.
I will try to get another opinion, if I am stuck on something I turn to my mum for help so I will ask her. (she has been breeding dogs for 20 years)