Dog and tummy troubles

[nicolewi]

Timeline below. One year old healthy dog.

Friday, 3/15, went to the vet and got four vaccine boosters. She’s not great at the vet, so she also got some cheese and a lot of liver treats. She was completely fine.

Saturday night, 3/16, around 10 PM or so, started having diarrhea. I was up throughout the night with her. diarrhea every couple hours in little short bursts. So the next day was Sunday, and all the vets were closed, and she continued having some diarrhea and also puking a couple times, but generally seemed to be in good spirits.

First thing Monday I got her in at the vet. She puked another couple times. I was worried she had a blockage. Vet said she expected her to act much sicker, if that were the case, and it’s not unusual for them to just have a short bursts of diarrhea with an upset tummy. sent me home with probiotics, Pepcid AC, special, food, and an antibiotic with instructions to see if it resolved by the next day. Otherwise we were going to have to come in for sedated x-rays.

Tuesday the dog pooped a solid poop. I was very excited! Cancelled the x-rays. Seem to be feeling pretty good Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday she puked a little bit again, but I figured that was because she managed to get a half a bag of goldfish crackers and part of a sweet pepper even though she is supposed to be only on a special diet. Also, I had stopped giving her the Pepcid AC, so I decided to restart that. But she played with dog friends, went on a walk, went to dog school.

Friday and Saturday this weekend, she’s been OK, but just seems not totally herself. Seems to be resting more, although in between she acts fine and runs around and is interested in food and everything. I thought maybe she wasn’t getting enough calories as we’ve been trying to mess with her food with all these meds and the special diet.

Sunday, this morning, I was just going to start mixing her regular food back into the special food, but she puked again outside. This time about a 1“ x 2“ very dense pellet of grass and stuff came out. Do you think this could’ve been part of the problem all along?? It’s not that big and she has been pooping fine??

we’re supposed to drop her off at my parents house tomorrow night and then we’re going to be gone for a week. How long does it typically take dogs to recover from a tummy upset incident? What about the pellet? I really expected everything to be 100% back to normal by now.

If she doesn’t perk up today, I will definitely call the vet tomorrow, but I’m not really sure what they would do next. And, we have a bunch of other appointments lined up in 1 million things to do before we fly out. Argh.

This is my first dog as an adult. Anyone have similar experiences? Or any thoughts or advice to share? Just concerned that she’s not perking up and she puked again. But also, hoping the grass pellet was part of the problem? And maybe she’ll feel better later?

[loira]

For puking, some dogs are just pukier than others. Grass makes my dog puke, and she's also a hunger puker so will puke bile if she thinks too hard about her food when she hasn't eaten for a bit. We split her daily meal in 2 for this reason.

FYI that you have to be judicious with freeze dried liver treats because too many will 💯 cause bad diarrhea in lots of dogs. I'd find a new treat or use her kibble as treats and save the liver for really high value rewards.

[nicolewi]

It was the vet that gave her the liver treats! But yeah, we were wondering if it could’ve been the vaccines, the treats, or something totally unrelated. I just didn’t expect to still be having trouble a week later.

[osulori]

Yeah, the liver treats could have her tummy all jacked up. Or the grass pellet...a couple weeks ago my pit mix decided to keep me up all night with diarrhea out of nowhere then puked up an intact, brand new, never worn pair of my underwear the next morning. He had an appointment that afternoon for a well check anyway and the vet said that his body trying to either puke or poop the underwear out (he's done both before but never with an intact pair) could have absolutely irritated the heck out of his GI tract. Maybe that was the case for your pup with the grass pellet? Thankfully, 5 days of a heavy duty probiotic 2x/day and 5 days or so on the chicken and white rice diet had him on the mend. I hope she feels better soon!

[pinkpeony08]

We have had our dog get Giardia from something outside - we found it by running a stool sample. She had more vomiting than diarrhea. It doesn't look like you've run a stool specimen? That would be something else you could check.

[186momx]

My old dog finds the vet stressful and ends up having diarrhea after each visit, which is monthly for her arthritis shot.

It really could just be the combo of stress, shots, and new style of treats. I would add a probiotic to her diet and watch what she eats.

[RoxMonster]

A couple summers ago, our dog started having diarrhea out of nowhere. She had been playing in her kiddie pool in the backyard and drinking some of the water, but we dumped it every single night and refilled the next day so the vet didn't think that was it. She had said sometimes it just happens. She was on chicken and rice and no treats for a few days, seemed to be totally normal, so we went back to her regular diet. Within a few days she got the diarrhea again.

The vet did run blood work, tested for things like parasites, etc. and everything was normal. She thought it could be we just didn't give her stomach enough of a rest before going back to normal diet. So this time, we kept her on the easy diet and strictly NO treats for longer (like a week I think?) and she finally kicked it.

Also my dog will 100% puke whenever she eats grass.

[nicolewi]

Mar 24, 2024 13:38:03 GMT -5 pinkpeony08 said:

We have had our dog get Giardia from something outside - we found it by running a stool sample. She had more vomiting than diarrhea. It doesn't look like you've run a stool specimen? That would be something else you could check.

I didn't mention this, but we did also do a fecal check.

She does seem a little better today now. Maybe it WAS that she needed to get out whatever got puked out this morning on the driveway! I gave her some regular food tonight mixed with the special food. So far, so good.

[InBetweenDays]

Mar 24, 2024 10:02:35 GMT -5 loira said:

For puking, some dogs are just pukier than others. Grass makes my dog puke, and she's also a hunger puker so will puke bile if she thinks too hard about her food when she hasn't eaten for a bit. We split her daily meal in 2 for this reason.

Bilious Vomiting Syndrome? Our dog has that - although he doesn't vomit he just has a really gurgly stomach some mornings and then he takes a long time before he'll eat breakfast (we usually have to first give him some really high value food to calm his stomach). He eats two meals a day and we've started giving him treats right before bed but some mornings he still has it.