| Subject: |
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Morning Vomitting |
| Name: |
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Sabrina |
| Date Posted: |
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Feb 21, 06 - 2:29 PM |
| Email: |
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yoquierobailar@hotmail.com |
| Message: |
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Hi, I hope that someone out there can shed some light on this for me. Sorry, in advance, that the story is so long.
I purchased 2 Chihuahuas, a year and a half apart, from a family who bred them. Because of their size difference, I doubt that they are the offspring of the same parents. (Maybe the mother or the father was the same, but not both).
Here is the problem. Last April, my 4 pound male, Rico, was admitted to the emergency hospital with what the vets thought was pancreatitis. He was vomiting and had diahrrea all day. When we arrived at the hospital, Rico’s symptoms stopped. The blood work that they performed showed that Rico’s pancreatic enzyme levels were both elevated to numbers that were off of the charts, so high that they couldn’t even read them. The blood work had to be sent to an offsite lab to be read. The vets were baffled. Rico’s clinical signs were perfect – he hadn’t vomited, hadn’t had any diahrrea, he was in good spirits, alert, wasn’t in any pain, and his ultrasound showed no signs of pancreatitis (pancreas was not inflamed). But – his pancreatic enzyme levels continued to go up. After a week of IV fluids, Rico’s values came down enough to be able to come home. The hospital gave us Royal Canin Low Fat wet food for Rico, because he now requires a low-fat diet. I was also told that I could feed it to my other dog, Lola, if I wished – which I did because Lola would be very upset if Rico was the only one allowed to have wet food. She loved it.
Shortly after starting both dogs on the wet food, both Rico and Lola began showing signs of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). They had developed colitis (mucus and sometimes blood in their stool). After numerous trips to the vet and after numerous normal blood tests, all that the vet could suggest was scoping, to see what may be causing the IBD on the inside. I am not a fan of administering anaesthesia to my pets unless absolutely necessary, but I would consider it if all other options were exercised. A number of times I told the vet that I feared that it was the wet food causing this reaction in my dogs, since the onset of the Colitis in both dogs coincided with the introduction of the new food. He assured me that the ingredients in the food were not typically associated with allergic reactions. After several weeks of practically begging the vet to change the food, the vet finally gave in and put the dogs on Hills i/d wet food. But there was no change. The dogs continued to have colitis. I then thought that maybe “wet food” in general was giving them colitis, but the vet did not want to move them over to dry food.
In September, I moved addresses and began to see a new vet on the advice of my insurance company. The new vet was open to the idea of changing their diet to dry food. In addition to prescribing Gastro dry food, she also de-wormed them (just in case) and ran some more blood work. The blood work came back normal and the colitis stopped. But, a few days into their new diet, both dogs began to vomit, always when their stomachs are empty, mostly in the morning when they first get up. They are vomiting yellow bile. This vomiting occurs at least once a week, sometimes everyday. In November and December, both dogs ceased vomiting for about 1 and a half months, and then it started all over again. I read on a website that this vomiting may also be related to IBD. But what gets me is the fact that both dogs are experiencing the same symptoms at the same time. So they must be ingesting something that doesn’t agree with them. I’m not sure whether it is the Gastro dry food that doesn’t agree with them or if it may be the water from the tap. (Since I moved, they have been getting new water – I’m unsure if it is the cause.) Today I switched their water to spring water – we’ll see what happens. It has been almost a year now that they have had these symptoms. And the new vet says that scoping should help understand the cause.
Has anyone else heard of this? If you have any helpful info, I would definitely appreciate it. |
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