Possible Pancreatitis

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

We just returned from a 3 night beach trip yesterday. While there, Oscar and Lucy went for long beach walks (off leash) 1-2 x per day. Oscar, being the 6 month old puppy he is, put everything in his mouth, and was especially taken with old clam shells, but nothing was exempt from his oral interest and, try as we might, we could not prevent everything he picked up from being swallowed. On the last night there he started having recurring vomiting every 30 minutes. This went on throughout the night into the mid morning hours. Usually an enthusiastic drinker, he totally went off water and refused even small sips.

On the 1-1/2 hr trip home over the coastal range, he slept and never had another bout of vomiting. We fed him breakfast at home, which he kept down for several hours. Then he urped up about 1/4 cup of it. Up until then we thought the worst was over, and our original plan to go to a vet was tabled. I gave Oscar a bland dinner of boiled chicken, rice and sweet potato. Several hours later (around 11pm) the regular vomiting resumed, again into the mid morning hours. At 7am this morning we took him to the vet. X-rays came back clear (no obstructions), but the radiologist said pancreatitis might be a possibility. The vet is running the blood test now. I should hear back any minute. Oscar is only mildly dehydrated, and has only a small amount of tenderness in his abdomen (no fever and no diarrhea).

Throughout all of this Oscar has seemed his regular active self, with a good appetite. The only obvious difference, besides the vomiting of course, is that he is off water. For a dog that would stand and lap up water for 20 seconds at a time, 10x a day, that is a big difference. He has seemed tired though, too, but for a puppy that's been extremely active at the beach for the past few days, being tired is something we'd expect. Throughout the night too, when he's had his intermittent vomiting, he's wanted to be close to us and has laid in a tight ball.

I've scoured DK on pancreatitis info and had no idea how prevalent it is with dogs. In Oscar's case it would most likely have been brought on by ingestion of contaminated water or other organic matter at the beach.

Poor little guy. Oscar's been a hearty, healthy puppy up until now. I'll post the results once I hear back from the vet.

UPDATE:  I'm happy to report we had an uneventful night last night. Oscar had no vomiting at all, and slept through the night. This morning after breakfast, he had a poo, his first since Sunday. He seems to be on the mend. He's still not drinking, but I've started adding a bit of broth from the slow cooked chicken I've made for him into his meals, and he laps it up happily. I think its just a matter of a few short days before he's back to his normal kibble and his normal self. This was Oscar's first real illness, and it was kind of a scary thing. Thank you all for your support and caring. I really appreciate it!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Thanks again, everybody! Today Oscar is back on his regular kibble and doing great. No stomach upset whatsoever. We'll remember this the next time we take the doodles to the beach (the vet telling us there's basically nothing he could do but have us change Oscar's diet cost us $431!! - Luckily we have pet insurance, but still, there's the $200 deductible.) The thing is, there's no way for us to have known how serious Oscar's condition may have been. What if it were life threatening?  We've heard multiple reports from other dog owners that their dogs always return from the beach with some kind of stomach upset. That doesn't help to know, though. I'm just glad Oscar is well and it wasn't something more serious.