[José]

I noticed José had essentially stopped eating, and he had vomited and seemed out of sorts. He was licking/opening his mouth and drooling. He seemed sick, then I got fooled because he seemed his old self... after about 3 days I took him to the vet on Saturday where xrays showed lots and lots of gas in his intestines. Bloodwork showed a low 2.4 level of some blood protein (where 2.6 is normal). He also had a 104.5 fever, where they told me 102.5 would be normal. The drooling and licking was a sign of nausea which made sense because when he starts that then the foaming starts and then he might vomit.

José got antibiotics, 30 mg Pepcid & some anti-nausea meds. They told me to feed him a bland diet of chicken and rice. His temp was normal yesterday. He still is not right, I've been giving him the pepcid first and after 30-60 minutes I give the other pills. Then after those maybe another 1/2 hour or so I try some food which he only eats a tiny amount and that is it. Luckily he is keeping it down but it appears to be a struggle.

The vet called last night and I now have another med for him as well as this ID Intestinal Diet food. At lunch today my mom came to see him & he ate about 3 bites. We are trying that and supposed to get back in touch with her tomorrow or Thurs.

My cat had this same type thing, turned out to be Infamitory Bowel syndrome and she is on prednisolone every day. I'm aware for dogs they cannot tolerate steroids like cats can. Vet says basically she is hoping it might be bacterial but cant rule out IBS or intestinal or liver problems.

The very essense of José is that his job on this planet is to spread his love! It is so hard to see him pacing around obviously not feeling well, or sleeping so much. His normal nightly parades of bones (see avatar) stopped on Wed. His "Crazy Dog" running back & forth barking at corners also hasnt been seen since then. I am hoping that some medecine works. I leave to go out of the country for work on Sun & return a week later... worried sick about him! If anyone has any experience with dogs illnesses like this I would love any input! Thanks, Lisa.

 

[José]

I am guilty of only ever going to this General Basset Hound Discussion, so I thought I would post a little note here about the other sections. I don't show dogs, know nothing about that or conformation or anything, so I stick with the general discussion. Well poor José isn't feeling well these days. I posted something on the Health & Genetics board to see if anyone might have some ideas or experiences. I am hoping to get his illness figured out soon & get him back to normal! thanks everyone!

 

[Sabian's mom]

Once my Sabian ate some medication and was so sick. Have they ran any toxicology tests? Hope he gets better before your trip. I know you will worry.

 

[Scully]

I'm sorry that Jose hasn't been feeling well, and I'll have Scully sling him some healing drool in the hopes he gets better ASAP!

I don't know that I have anything useful to share with you, but Scully has had a fair share of intestinal problems since the New Year. It started out with a bout of gastroenteritis requiring a 2-day hospital stay for IV fluids/meds. She did get better briefly, but then started having problems again once we started her gradually back on her usual diet; her system couldn't seem to handle it. She had constant diarrhea (some of it with blood/mucus), and would have days where she was just miserable and had no interest in food. Her vet suspected IBD or colitis, and suggested that we change her diet entirely to a fish & potato food to see if it would help, and it has! We saw a huge improvement almost immediately.

You mentioned that the vet says they can't rule out liver problems....have they done tests for that??

I hope Jose is better soon! It's hard to see them feeling sick.

 

[BubbaLeroy]

I feel so bad for Jose'. Hopefully he will get better very soon. Our Bubba, ATB, picked up a very nasty bug once with similiar symptoms. He found some rotted meat at a campground, and swallowed some before we could stop him. He was on antibiotics and diet similiar to Jose's. It took about a week for him to bounce back. Sending lots of healing drool.

 

[murraysmom]

If your vet has run all possible tests and still can't figure this out, would it be possible for her to have him seen by a vet teaching hospital in your area?

I know it must seem that I recommend this alot, but, honestly, based on our experience with the U. of Pennsylvania vet school,it seems that sometimes these places can come up with a diagnosis that is stumping the practicing vet.

I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon.

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

Not that I really think this is Jose's problem right now, but lots of dogs' digestive systems cannot tolerate rawhide, which I see Jose is very fond of. At least until this is cleared up, I would withhold any rawhide. I had to stop giving them to Lightning, they made him so sick.

 

[Betsy Iole]

Are his stools normal? Hope he starts feeling better shortly--keep us posted.

 

[AmyB]

Spencer has had intestinal issues for the past 6 or so years. Usually his is colitis after some event that made him nervous, such as fireworks. This past November, he had a bad case of hemmorhagic gastroenteritis. The vet felt he ate something that did not agree with him. I don't know for the life of me what it was, but it resulted in a trip to the emergency vet & he was one sick puppy for about 5 days & it was about 2 weeks before he was completely back to normal. During such episodes, I feed him boiled chicken & rice which he does well on. He usually sleeps alot & is very lethargic until he gets through it, but he eventually gets back to his old self. We wish Jose a speedy recovery!

 

[José]

José still hasn't seemed any better. He vomited around midnight last night and then 4 am this morning. I was up 1/2 the night with him, trying to get him to settle down and sleep. I brought him back to the vet today. I made sure to tell the vet how restless he is, pacing around, vomiting bile, he did eat a little chicken yesterday but not much. I told her how he started scratching at weird things like the file cabinet and the wall, he sits down facing the corner or the wall. He sneezes so hard sometimes that he hit his head. Also he is almost coughing in a way & then makes a horrible noise like he might vomit but nothing is there. Sat he was 67.6 lbs & this morning he was 64.2. He is drinking still and has had small stools.

The vet is keeping him for at least two days. Just like with Spencer the vet is thinking if he ate something bad, maybe it is gastroenteritis. She wants him to be on IV fluids, IV meds (Pepcid and antibiotics and something else to coat his stomach), follow up xrays. I bravely asked for a cost estimate and it's around $650 assuming it is what they think it might be. I feel he is in good hands there, everyone at the vet loves him. But José is a pampered one, and I know he just wants to be home. Last night I was a mess thinking that this is serious and maybe he will never get better and I will lose him. As I leave Sunday for the Philippines to train employees, this couldn't be worse timing. I told my husband if something happens when I am away just lie to me, I can't take being away from home like this. But trying to remain hopeful that I will have good news to report soon.

Thanks for all the good replies. Murraysmom, the vet teaching hospital is a good idea. Also the fish/potato diet is intersting how Scully responded to that. I hope this vet stay does it but now at least I have some good ideas in case more treatment is needed.

 

[Barbara Winters]

Sorry to hear Jose is feeling so sick. I know two things that I always want to rule out when my dogs have vomiting is pancreatitis and a foreign body obstruction. Sounds like your vet is on top of things so sending good thoughts your way that Jose shows some improvement real soon.

 

[corvuss]

Sorry to hear Jose is so sick.
Healing drool from Dudley & Minnie.