Rook's refusing to eat her TOTW

[Heather]

A couple of weeks ago, my 7 month old mini goldendoodle refused to eat her TOTW High Prairie puppy for about a day. She was her normal, playful self and still ate treats when offered, and went back to eating her food the next day, so I chalked it up to being a fluke. Yesterday and so far this morning, thouh, she's refusing it again. I make sure to wash her bowl every night, and she also gets food out of a Buster Cube sometimes and she won't take TOTW from that now either. In May she had blood work and x-rays done for some vomiting, but they didn't find anything wrong. We give her Pepcid now to keep her stomach calm, but she doesn't seem nauseated because she will gladly take treats. Does she just not care for TOTW anymore? Or could this be a sign of an underlying problem?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The Himalayan Chew could definitely be to blame, as many dogs cannot tolerate dairy products, and there is lime juice (very acidic) in them as well. The bully stick could also have contributed. She may have had them before, but perhaps not within the same week as a Himalayan Chew, on top of a change to a new food that is higher in protein and fat than her previous diet, and bully sticks are very high in fat.

So she got hit with a lot of extra fat plus dairy products all at the same time.

Fiber works both ways to help regulate the stool. It can help firm up stool that is too loose, and can also help with constipation by adding bulk. So yes, pumpkin is given for both diarrhea and constipation.

At this point, I would go to a bland diet for the weekend, plus pumpkin and yogurt, and don't give any treats or chew objects at all. Hopefully she'll firm up by Monday.

[Heather]

Thanks so m

[Heather]

(Also, my husband wants me to clarify that she's still going her normal amount of times per day, it's just that when she does, it's of a pretty liquid consistency - it's not like uncontrollable diarrhea, though.)

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

IS SHE DRINKING WATER?  That's more of a concern, especially during the heat of the summer.  Watch for that.

[Heather]

Yep, she's drinking just fine. In general I tend to worry that she's not drinking enough, but yeah, she's drinking normally.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

She could also be slowing in her growth and not needing as much food... Cooper told us this  by not eating for a day or so, on and off for a while. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

But now she suddenly has diarrhea. See most recent post on previous page. :(

[Heather]

Her stools got much better for a few days, but now the diarrhea is back. Last night the poor thing woke me up 3 times to go out and go - finally around 4 in the morning I found some Pepto Bismol and that seemed to calm things down.  She was kind of lethargic in the morning, but by the afternoon she was her normal perky self.  Around 3 PM I gave her a little bit of boiled chicken and brown rice, which she seemed to tolerate, but as the day went on I noticed she wasn't drinking much water, so around 6 PM I added a small amount of chicken broth to her water bowl which motivated her to drink. And then at 7:15 she threw up a yellow mixture. (Not just liquid - still had pieces of chicken in it.)  I had previously gotten some Carafate pills from the vet to give her after a bout of vomiting, so I gave her one of those, but I'm at a loss as to what to do for this poor girl! All the vets we've been to say "nothing's wrong", but clearly there is - otherwise this wouldn't be happening all the time. Any suggestions?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is starting to sound a lot like something that I hope it isn't...Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Is there an Internal Medicine specialist you could see? And do you have insurance?

[Heather]

I just did a search on acvim.org website and it seems there are a few specialists about 40 minutes from here, so I'll call in the morning. We do have insurance (Petplan), however I'm not sure if this would be considered a pre-existing condition or not. She had been treated for vomiting/diarrhea before we got the insurance, but obviously never got a diagnosis. 

Thanks for the suggestion... I'll have to do some reading on Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Don't read much about it, Heather. It will scare you, and I don't want to do that. But your vet is not helping, and there are some things that don't make sense. Carafate is not prescribed routinely, and certainly not for minor things. It's used for GI ulcers. http://www.vetinfo.com/carafate-for-dogs.html

I went through some of this (including the Carafate) before JD reached crisis level and was diagnosed with IBD following endoscopy and colonoscopy by an IMS. She felt he had IBD as soon as she heard the story. My regular vet also kept saying there was nothing wrong for three weeks while Jack lost 12% of his body weight and developed a B12 deficiency.

Some internists will only see you with a referral from your general practice vet.

This doesn't sound like a pre-existing condition to me, and Petplan is a good company. Hopefully, you'll see an IMS who will tell you that further testing isn't warranted, and will know what it is and how to treat it, but at this point, I'd look for someone with more knowledge of GI diseases.

 

[Heather]

Thanks so much, Karen. The specialists that I found are referral-only, so I put in a call to my regular vet to see if they'd refer me.  I'm waiting for a call back and hopefully they say yes.