Zelda has started stretching and bowing... a lot

[Jennifer & Zelda]

My two year old labradoodle woke up Sunday at 5AM (not unusual).  I let her out and not only did she pee, she vomited (3 times - all bile).  She ate with no problem and when we got back up at 10 AM, that's when I noticed the stretching and bowing/praying.  She would lay down for no more than 20 minutes and then BOLT up and do this little stretching / walking lap around the living room routine.  By about the 5th time, I knew something wasn't right.  I felt her belly - nothing.  She wasn't swollen, tender or solid.  She had no issue with eating or drinking or going to the bathroom and didn't throw up again.  Just the stretching/bowing/lap.  By Sunday night at bed time, it hadn't stopped.  She was restless all night.  So much so that I put her in the kennel at 3AM so that I could possibly get some sleep.  I had my mom go check on her the next day while I was at work (a sleep deprived, emotional, wreck) and her personality was normal, but Mom noticed the behavior too. 

I texted the vet.  She said since I wasn't missing any toys or laundry that it could very well just be reflux... give her pepcid and if no change bring her in ASAP.  Gave her pepcid and she did a 180 degree turn around within an hour.  She was exhausted and slept most of the evening but the stretching/bowing stopped.  Vet said give her pepcid every 12 hours and I did.  Monday evening & Tuesday she was fine. Wednesday at 3AM she's up and stretching/bowing.  Zelda never makes a peep when she's in pain.  You can accidentally step on her and she looks at you like, "sorry, I didn't mean to have my foot under yours," but NEVER yelps or makes any type of noise for pain.  I know this stretching/bowing behavior is indicating that she's got GI pain of some sort and it's killing me.  The vet isn't in on Wednesdays and I'm looking for a back up but, any ideas?  WHAT IS THIS?!

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Jennifer, thanks for the update. I do hope this passes quickly, glad she got into the vet.

[Emily, Bentley, & Maserati]

I hope Zelda feels better quickly! I hope the blood work comes back clean. 

[Julie and Max]

I hope everything turns out okay

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Fingers crossed! 

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

Good luck, I hope she is better.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Jennifer, I would try giving her some Gas X also, it is a different med than Pepcid and won't interfere with anything. She could be having some discomfort from gas. I'm glad the vet didn't find any blockages but  I would keep a very close eye on her and would certainly bring her back to the vet if she seems very uncomfortable. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good advice, Donna. 

[Jennifer & Zelda]

UPDATE: Mom bought 2 cans of I/D gentle diet yesterday at the vet because she felt bad that Zelda hadn't eaten and didn't want to make her wait until I could get home to boil chicken & make rice.  Thank goodness she did, because then I didn't feel so rushed.  She had half of a can at about noon (with Pepcid) and the other half for dinner.

However, she didn't poop the rest of the night.  <Is this TMI, or do y'all want to know this? LOL>  That concerned me a bit.

I opened can #2 this morning and put half in her bowl and she ate.

Then... I took her out before I left for work to do her business and she pooped (HAZAAH!) and what came out first appeared to be A LOT of grass (and I'm hoping that little pebble that's been bothering her), followed by, I'm assuming, the I/D food she's been eating since it was a different color and texture entirely.

I'm sooooo hopeful that this means she's going to be back to normal.  Sassy and sweet!

Thanks for all of the advice... I'm going to stock up on GasX and Pepcid just in case (I really hope not) this becomes a chronic "thing".

Jennifer

[Robin and Libby Louise]

I feel safe in saying there's never TMI when it comes to the health of these babies!  Glad your mom took Zelda and got her some food!  Very interesting about the grass, too.  Hopefully that was what was causing her distress and she is back to normal!

[Jennifer & Zelda]

Just heard from the vet that did the blood test for pancreatitis.

Anything under 200 is normal and anything above 400 is a clear indicator of pancreatitis.  Everything from 200 to 400 is anyone's guess.  Care to guess where Zelda's number fell... 386.  UGH - Really!?!  Not a clear indicator and she exhibits NO OTHER symptoms of pancreatitis (vomiting, lack of appetite, lack of thirst, panting, fatigue).  

Tell me if this sounds reasonable:  I'm going to keep her on a bland diet and pepcid (until I run out of boiled chicken) and as long as she doesn't exhibit any other symptoms (and hopefully the "praying" will go away all together), I'm going to take her to my regular vet in a week or two and have the blood test run again... hoping that the number will be lower. Reasonable?  Also, does anyone know if there's harm in keeping her on the pepcid long-term if it turns out that she has GERD?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

JD is on Zantac for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and has been getting it twice a day for more than 2 years. He's had no ill-effects from that as far as I know.

[Jennifer & Zelda]

UPDATE: So it looks like Zelda ate something (paper product) that has been going back and forth between her stomach and intestinal tract. The good news is that it would appear that it has finally decided to work its way out NO SURGERY NEEDED.  The bad news is that it's cost me $600 to find out what the problem is.  Let's hope this is the end of it, she's on the mend, and back to being her happy go lucky puppy-self any day now.  Thanks for all of your sweet thoughts about her.  She would like to kiss you all!  No, really... she would!