September 18, 2023 – Poor sick dog
Elsie is vomiting and miserable. She is the sweetest dog and I feel so bad that I cant help her to feel better!
She is now 8 years old and over the past few months, she has had some tummy issues. 3-4 months ago she had diarrhea that would not quit. Even with bland diet, she was having issues. Went to the vet and they gave her some anti-diarrheal meds and after a couple days she started to feel better. Weaned her off the bland diet and back on to her normal food and it started again, so obviously I blame it on the food. Vet said it definitely could be! Switched to a different flavor of the same food (Purina Pro Plan which has been excellent for my dogs for years!!!). Went from chicken to lamb. Still having diarrhea. Went back on bland diet, back on meds and after a couple weeks she was good.
Decided to try a totally different food without any chicken or lamb in it. Choose Diamond Naturals because of the listed ingredients. Weaned her onto to that and she was fine! Its been over a month of being just fine. No issues at all. Solid poop, happy dog! Henry likes it too!
Fast forward to last night, Sunday night. She had a normal dinner. No issues. Little eve snack, no issues. Then about a half hour later she vomited, but just a tiny bit. The dogs had been rough housing, so I didnt think much of it. We went outside before bed, she went poop and everything seemed normal.
1am – she got off the bed and vomited on the floor. It was noisy enough that it woke me up! (anyone with a dog knows that sound and it can wake you from a deep sleep!!!) I jumped up and kept her from eating it. Ushered her downstairs and outside. She didnt seem to need to vomit any more, or go to the bathroom. She laid on the floor and fell asleep. I went up and cleaned up the vomit, then came downstairs to be with her.
3am – more vomit. Contained food and a light brown watery liquid. She was so sad.. kept looking at me to help her! I didnt know what to do to help her, actually. I just cleaned it up, and laid their with her.
4am – two more instances. Same thing. Now she is whining a bit and seems very uncomfortable.
7am – vet’s office opens. I called a few times before they actually answered. They gave me a ‘drop off’ appointment because the normal appts were booked! I was fine with it, she had not vomited since 4am and is acting pretty normal. But it was not normal for her to be so sick, so I wanted her seen. We have a vet that we love and I wanted him to see what was going on.
Fast forward to Monday about 2:00. Vet said she definitely seems uncomfortable, and when he tried to examine her she is acting nauseous and there is something going on. He suggested xrays to make sure there is no blockage, bloat, or a growth. And he said we could also do labs to check for other things. He is giving her anti-nausea meds, some pain meds (he felt like she was in pain), and some fluids. I approved it all, I want to know what’s wrong..
About 4:00 they called me back – xray was normal, so we would stay on the anti-nausea meds, bland diet and wait for labs. If she gets worse, or things change I should let them know..
So that was the plan and thats what we did…