Diarrhea, some vomiting and nothing showing on tests

[Itims]

Hi,

Tuesday

My 5 month puppy (shes 34 pounds) swallowed a small hair elastic on Tuesday afternoon. It was the typical Goody brand without any metal and no big fabric around it. On Tuesday night around midnight, she vomited 6-7 times in 20 mins till there was nothing more coming up and had a soft stool immediately followed by some watery stool. Refused water right after her vomit

Wednesday Morning

She seemed fine on Wednesday morning, active and had a very normal stool so I gave her food (Taste of the Wild - Pacific Stream) but gave her less (1 cup instead of 1.5 cups) and mixed 2 tablespoons of yoghurt, pumpkin and a lot of water. She also drank water after her morning walk. The consistency of her food was like cereal or soup. She ate it and seemed fine.

Wednesday Afternoon

She pooped 2-3 times in about 90 mins all soft and drops of diarrhea. Refused her food so I let her skip it. Drank water and was quiet/ but shes sometimes low energy after walking in the sun. 

Wednesday evening

I boiled eggs and gave her 2 eggs and a slice of wheat bread with some yoghurt. She ate it enthusiastically and was barking for food when we were eating. She is usually a picky eater so that was a good sign. Diarrhea again in the evening and before bed. Just 2-3 big drops each time. 

Thursday morning

When I woke up, she had pooped in our bathroom (shes not crated anymore since shes good about potty training and doesn't really chew anything up). She seemed low energy but I took her for a walk and she had a little watery stool and didn't want to walk. Refused to eat eggs and bread. Seemed to be dropping or spitting out the big pieces of egg white. So I went and bought chicken and gave her about half a chicken breast (0.4 pounds) and rice and yoghurt at 930am. She ate it from my hand but didn't want to expend energy to eat from the bowl. She barked and was running around some technician who came to our house for 2 mins but low energy otherwise. Drank water before I left if I held the bowl up to her mouth. 

Thursday afternoon

Low energy, refused to eat her food when my husband hand fed her. Didnt want to drink water. I took her to the vet and she was happy to see other dogs, wagging her tail, barking at sounds. They gave her 500 cc fluids, did blood work, xrays. Didn't find anything. Prescribed Metronidazale which I gave her with her dinner. 

Thursday evening

At 7pm she Metronidazale, chicken (1cup) and rice (.1/4 cup). Drank about 1 cup of water. Walked around the house a bit. Became extremely lethargic and low energy at 11pm. I had to carry her out to potty/pee. 2-3 drops of diarrhea again. Vomited her food almost intact at 230am. Very low energy. Didn't even get up to vomit, did it lying on her side. We too her to the hospital and they have kept her. She has no stomach soreness, gums are fine. Stool test for parvo was fine. 

Friday morning

The hospital has put her on IV for fluids and pepcid to settle her stomach. She is breathing heavy and they want to run Xrays to see if there is fluid in her lungs from the vomiting (called aspiration). Still don't know what caused the diarrhea. 

Other information

The hair elastic has not come out in her poop or vomit but its very small. She has no blood anywhere and only a little mucous in her stool. Her urine has been darker over the last week - 10 days. She got the second lepto shot on Saturday, got her heartworm (Advantage multi) on saturday and had a sanitary trim on Sunday. Her symptoms kicked off on Tuesday midnight but only became persistent from Wednesday afternoon. 

She has an umbilical hernia thats reasonably big and the docs don't know for sure if there is any intestine stuck in it. She has no pain or issues with the hernia. It was meant to be taken care of during her spay. 

Could you please help me understand how to help her? Shes gotten shuttled from her vet to the hospital night doc to the hospital day doc. I'm really really stressed out and worried. Thank you for any suggestions and support. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am concerned about the dark urine for over a week. It could be dehydration, liver problems ot something serious. But the vet would have probably seen something in the blood tests. I wish I knew what it could be. I would advise you to leave her at the vets so perhaps they can figure this out.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I'm so sorry your little Biba is so ill.  This is just a wild guess but I have heard of dogs having adverse reactions to the lepto vaccine which include diarrhea and vomiting and that can eventually lead to lethargy and dehydration especially in a puppy.

Hopefully the vets will get a diagnosis or at least get her stabilized soon. Please let us know how she is doing and I will keep her in my prayers in the meantime.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I hope she gets better asap.  I do think you should leave her at the vet for a spell. Did they do the xray that shows fluids in her?  I forget what they call it but it would show if she has a blockage of some sort.  a dye xray??

[Ginny Nightingale]

With the hernia, the vet should be able to push the whole thing back inside if there is NO intestine caught on the outside--and I am guessing they checked that--one thing I see is that you changed her food several times during the week trying to get something to help her--which could be part of the issue--but can they Xray to see if that hair tie has gotten caught up someplace? I am thinking that it could still be in the stomach and wreaking havoc in there. You might also want to do the spay a bit early once she is settled down to take care of the hernia issue.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I agree wwith Ginny.  Peri was spayed right around 5 months...You obviously need to get her well first though :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

The hair tie is likely to cause trouble further down if it does.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

no advice but I hope she starts to feel better soon.  Keep us posted.

[Itims]

Thank you all... She is such a good puppy - extra friendly to all humans and dogs, no chewing/destruction (or very little), no nipping, potty trained since her 4 month mark and lets us sleep till 7-730 that I suppose we owed her some extra extra TLC. I hope that we can bring our Biba baby home soon to give her that. 

I saw her this afternoon and she walked a little outside with me, peed a lot and totally clear pee, barked a little asking to go to another dog and went up to greet each of the 4-5 other people waiting at the hospital. She was not frantically happy to see me (more moderate like after a short separation) and walked back with the nurse without hesitation so I feel like they must be treating her well. Right? We are still waiting and don't know what specifically caused her issues. but here are updates on her new xray and other things. 

Other updates:

- She had a stomach/abdomen xray at our usual vet (yesterday) and lung x-ray at the hospital (today). The stomach xray didn't have anything in it and both usual vet and hospital vet looked at it. They took the lung xray because she had some loud breathing and a light fever (103.5 - 1 degree higher than dog normal which is 102.5). That showed a "fuzzy spot" and the hospital thinks that some fluid from her vomit last night (when she did it lying sideways) might have passed into her lungs and is causing the fever and breathing. 

- The hospital will give Biba antibiotics for the fever/lung fluid and then feed her to see if she holds the food and does better with the diarrhea. I hope that we can bring her home tonight but I feel that its not enough time for them to assess the vomiting. She has vomited late at night the 2 times that she did during this whole episode. The hospital vet seemed less concerned about the hair tie and will try an ultrasound if the diarrhea situation is not getting better. 

- Lepto shot: she had the first one on April 27 and a follow up on Saturday. Her symptoms didn't start till Tuesday midnight so the vet doesn't think that this is a reaction to the vaccination. I don't know.. she has been drinking less water of late and is always picky about food (wants a treat crumbled in it or 1/2 tsp of peanut butter mixed in) so maybe they were masked till they became really bad? 

- I'm going to keep a better lookout on her water consumption. I put 1/4 to 1/2 cup water in her food (3 meals) to increase her water consumption and she usually drinks water after her walks (3 walks). We don't crate her anymore so she always has access to the water bowl but I'm going to try to make sure she drinks and keep count of how much. 

- Hernia: our regular vet never could push it back in but since Biba wasn't in pain over it, they decided to wait till the spay which was scheduled for next Thursday before Memorial Day but now we will have to see.. 

It really helps to have more (and less stressed) heads on this. Thank you again for your support and keeping Biba in your prayers and thoughts. I will write again about her once we know more. Thanks!!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'll be waiting to hear how her night went....sending lots of positive thoughts your way.  Please let us know how she's doing.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Thinking about you and little Biba this morning. Hope she is improving. Please post an update when you have a chance.

[Wendy and Myla]

It's so scary when our doodles are sick!!!  I hope they figure everything out and I am definitely thinking of you all!!!  Hugs!!!

[Gail and Bailey]

I hope sweet little Biba is feeling better soon!  So sorry you are having to go through this!  Doodle hugs for Biba!!