# Dog is very sick... won't eat anything, will drink water



## twm

I have a 4 year old lab. He ate something that was disfavorable to him on Sunday... started vomitting on Sunday morning after his walk very acutely. There were no symptoms of anything before that..since then he has stopped eating. he will still drink water and is not dehydrated.

he is vomitting what appears to be and smell like bile.. hes had a shot for anti-nauseau which helped on monday, but it wore off tuesday morning and he won't eat again. i've tried hills i/d intestinal food and boiled chicken and rice. he doesnt even give the chicken and rice a second look

suggestions? i was thinking if he would be willing to eat some food, he might stop yacking up bile and then he would just feel bad rather than feeling bad and vomitting.. so i'm thinking about getting him another anti-nausea shot


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## pugmom

Go back to the vet ASAP.....or get a 2nd opinion ASAP


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## twm

he went to the pet ER room here monday morning. they tested for a couple of things

1. they gave the shot for anti-nausea
2. also took abdomen xrays which implied nothing -- paid for a 2nd consult from a radiologist who said it was normal with no obstruction
3. blood work to test for common poisons... nothing


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## pugmom

Maybe wet dog food?....keep offering him different things...how long did the vet say to let him go w/out food before coming back?


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## MyRescueCrew

Hmmm... so far you've done everything right from the sound of it. Glad to hear the bloodwork and x-rays came out good.

I will say that my beagle Bo had this happened once before. Went on for several days, nausea, vomiting, no appetite. SEVERAL vet visits, medications, anti-nausea shots, and plenty of tests later, we never found out the cause. The vet "assumed" that he may have eaten a small portion of a non-deadly mushroom or weed, but he never knew for sure.

However, there is usually a cause behind this, so I really really recommend that you go to yet another vet, bring all your stuff with you (blood tests, x-rays, ect) and get another opinion. Something is causing this and it really needs to be found before your guy dehydrates.


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## the mama

Is he pooping? Is he passing gas? Is he active at all? Does he have a fever? Is his abdomen tender? Does he have bowel tones? Are you willing to take him back to the vet?

There are Puppy Pedialyte-type formulas. That would at least give him some electrolytes that he might be losing through vomiting. Ask your vet if that would be appropriate.

I'm worried about your pooch.


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## twm

didnt specify how long.. I think they assumed he'd start eating normally again after the shot he received. im guess i'm going to call tomorrow morning and quiz my usual vet for more ideas.. at least he's drinking water. unfortunately i dont have unlimited money to continue to pay these increasingly expensive vet bills either 


edit:

he has not pooped since monday morning which looked completely normal, no blood. he peeds a fairly small amount this afternoon and that is it. he occasionally emits a foul smell.. i cant tell if its a fart or awful burp. given that hes yacking bile, it could easily be both..

however, today he yacked all over his bed and there were strands of grass in the vomit, he hasnt eaten grass since Sunday on that walk. i think there was some bad pesticide on some of the grass he ate and it has run shop on him..



> Does he have a fever? Is his abdomen tender? Does he have bowel tones? Are you willing to take him back to the vet?


he doesnt have a fever, his abdomen feels fine, hes unresponsive but slightly happier when i rub his stomach... as for bowel tones, i can hear his stomach grumbling because hes hungry but hes not eating


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## MyRescueCrew

I won't hound you, cause I understand what it's like to be low on cash and still trying to do what you can. Vet bills add up quickly, so trust me, I know the feeling!

I will say this, if you can afford it, the first thing I would do is push for another x-ray. I swear, it honestly sounds like a twisted intestine/stomach. Hacking bile, odd/awful smell, and not pooping since Monday are some major signs of this problem. 

I wouldn't call in the morning, I'd take him back to either your vet, or try a different vet, and request at least another x-ray. Let them know about the bile, the smell, and the fact that he hasn't pooped since Monday.


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## twm

attached the xray pics..


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## MyRescueCrew

Hmmm... looks normal to me, definitely doesn't appear to be bloat from those x-rays. 

I'm really sorry. 

Honestly, I think about the only thing we can do here is tell you to get a second opinion from a totally different vet. Bring your x-rays and blood test results and see if he/she can come up with a different explanation. Sometimes a whole new set of eyes can pick up something the other vets didn't.

Good luck, definitely keep us updated.


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## twm

today, he got another shot of cerenia for the nausea. he still did not want the hills id or chicken and rice.. get this:

he was willing to eat dry dog food. which is "natural" branded iams small chunks... so i gave him a bit of that and we'll see how it goes.

hes going to get blood work and tissue profile from a diff vet tomorrow afternoon.


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## the mama

twm said:


> today, he got another shot of cerenia for the nausea. he still did not want the hills id or chicken and rice.. get this:
> 
> he was willing to eat dry dog food. which is "natural" branded iams small chunks... so i gave him a bit of that and we'll see how it goes.
> 
> hes going to get blood work and tissue profile from a diff vet tomorrow afternoon.


I'm glad you posted again... I checked several times today to see if you updated.

I'm curious how the food goes. And, the tests.


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## Elana55

Please keep us updated. Your money is our educacation. I am sorry you are going thru this.

I have had to nurse many many MANY animals back to health (and sometimes not.. ). It is neither inexpensive or exact in its science. 

PLEASE let us know any updates. We can learn and we are here to support you in any way we can.


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## georgygirl

Did they do a barium study to check for a blockage? That's what they did with my boston when he stopped eating and continued to vomit up bile. We figured out that he swallowed a toy and it was stuck in his stomach.

Hope you get it figured out and he feels better soon!


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## mom24/7

Our dog Max got sick and it sounded so much like this. He is awful about eating things he finds in the yard. I try to keep a really close eye on him but he is really sneaky! He was so sick for about 2 weeks and we never could determine the exact cause and then just all the sudden one day he started eating and after a few days felt back to normal.
The vet (and we saw 3) finally guessed that he had poss. eaten a scorpion (sp?) (where I live we have little ones) and that was what was making him so sick.

Good luck to you and your pup. Hope he recovers quickly!


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## twm

he had a 60mg cerenia today and is very perky. however he had diarhea all over my apartment probably immediately after i came home to walk him today. it got hard on the surface and was awful to clean up....needless to say it doesnt smell good in here ugh 

walked him again after cleaning up the mess and he promptly had more diarhea.. so i tried some more chicken and rice with some hills id mixed in. he ate it promptly and is looking pretty pleased with himself now.. so i think the anti-nausea treatment was really essential to preventing the bile puke so that he could regain the confidence to eat..

total treatment cost for ultrasound, xrays, hospitalization, and various vets opinions/bills: $2130 and change. the worst was by far cleaning up the dried diarhea though.


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## the mama

Any new diagnostics? I really hope your pooch is on the mend, now. 

I TOTALLY understand and sympathize about the poop clean-up. Holly had Clostridium about a month ago, and had the worst diarrhea. All over. In the crate, on the carpet, in the yard. She'd get it all over her, too. It stunk SO BAD. 

This was a week after I shampoo'd the carpets. I had shampoo'd the carpets because our other girl, Lucy, developed spay incontinence, and was leaking urine all over the place.

I shampoo'd carpets twice in two weeks due to doggy excretions!


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## Elana55

Yeah.. you will probab ly have to get the carpets cleaned and use some sort of Enzymatic solution (Natures Miracle) on the spots where he had his accidents. 

I had this happen once years ago. Now it is in the crate during any time I am not right in the same room as the dog. I don't EVER want to go thru THAT again! LOL

Glad he is feeling better.


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## twm

no new diagnostics. I spoke to my regular vet -- whom i feel is very good but was unavailable through most of this. he feels that if randolph is on the up and coming, has an urge to eat, and has regular bowel movements further testing and diagnostics is unnecessary, which I agree with... both in tems of time and money.

he has had five bowel movements since starting to eat again, all diarhea, 3 have been inside. last night i woke up and sniffed, "hmm still smells like dog poop in here, more cleaning tomorrow." I come to find that he lit up my master bathroom and the area rug in there with some nice brown diarhea. he was sitting right there looking at it & being dramatic. he was upset because he couldnt hold it and i was sleeping.. he probably couldnt have chose a more expensive spot in my condo to have an accident.. couldnt help but laugh and be disgusted. i gave him a tablet of immodium ad, fed him some chicken and rice... he ate around the rice (lol) and wagged his tail for more chicken, naturally. i walked him where he had another diarhea.. so i gave him another half tab of immodium (per vet/box instructions).. except for his sensitive stomach, he seems to be totally back to his 80lbs of terror-normal self


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## geointhesky

I know this is an old one but We have basicly the same thing going on. Been to the vet over and over. They did surgery and found nothing. Her protein level was very low then we got that back up. She has ate chicken and rice once and won't touch it anymore. The vet said next step is testing for addisons disease which they are going to do tomorrow.


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## Pawzk9

twm said:


> I have a 4 year old lab. He ate something that was disfavorable to him on Sunday... started vomitting on Sunday morning after his walk very acutely. There were no symptoms of anything before that..since then he has stopped eating. he will still drink water and is not dehydrated.
> 
> he is vomitting what appears to be and smell like bile.. hes had a shot for anti-nauseau which helped on monday, but it wore off tuesday morning and he won't eat again. i've tried hills i/d intestinal food and boiled chicken and rice. he doesnt even give the chicken and rice a second look
> 
> suggestions? i was thinking if he would be willing to eat some food, he might stop yacking up bile and then he would just feel bad rather than feeling bad and vomitting.. so i'm thinking about getting him another anti-nausea shot


What diagnostics has your vet done and what does s/he think might be wrong? One thing I would be asking about is pancreatitis. I had a dog who had it but his symptoms were so "off" that it took a referral to the internist who was able to DX it in about 10 minutes.


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## twm

Pawzk9 said:


> What diagnostics has your vet done and what does s/he think might be wrong? One thing I would be asking about is pancreatitis. I had a dog who had it but his symptoms were so "off" that it took a referral to the internist who was able to DX it in about 10 minutes.


3.5ish years later and my dog is going strong

he was poisoned by grass that had been treated by pesticide. he never learned either, i still have to yank his leash back when he lunges for a mouthful of grass.


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## cshellenberger

Thanks for the update and glad that the dog is doing well. 

To the person that restarted the thread, please post yoru own thread on the Health forum so we can try to help you.


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