My boy getting Endoscopy after bloody vomits

[CocoaBuddy]

Hello to everyone. I am so thankful to have found this forum where I most of the time find answers for all my questions related to my boy Cocoa.

He is in Emergency right now and this is his 4th visit in last 2 months. It is killing us not knowing what is the main reason he has been falling sick. Please if someone can help me with any advice it would be great. And please please pray for him to get better like before and be our sweet cuddly baby forever.

Cocoa first had the bouts of vomiting bile with some few bits of blood on April 18th 2015 and he had 3-4 vomits in a matter of couple hours. Me, my wife and our baby daughter (8 months then) called Emergency Vet and rushed him there. The doctors took X-ray, did blood work and coagulation tests and found nothing that was abnormal and kept him overnight with IV. The other morning they fed him and kept him under observation for 4 hours and discharged him saying he had GE and prescribed Pepcid and Sucralfate for a week and suggest bland diet of Gerber baby chicken and boiled rice. We followed it and made sure Cocoa was always under tight surveillance in and out of the house so as to avoid him from eating what he's not supposed to.

After good couple weeks he again started vomiting and this time he had some blood in it and also had some what bloody diarrhea so we rushed him again to the same Emergency Vet Clinic. He had the same drill and they kept him overnigth, this time they prescribed him with some anti-biotic and the diagnosis was HGE. They also prescribed him Hills Priscription ID diet and we have been feeding him solely on it and he loves it.

He was doing well for couple of weeks but then since last two weeks has been vomiting once a week but only bile and that too once in a while so we used to take his food away for 4-6 hours and let his stomach rest and then again feed him with PID and he was doing ok.

But today he started throwing up bile and then later on bloody vomit couple of times so we took him to the same vet. We are waiting for his blood work and we insisted they do Endoscopy on him as we are too much worried and want to know what is causing our little baby so much trouble. They agreed and said will schedule Endoscopy in couple days and until then they will keep him under observation at their clinic.

Me and my wife are so distressed and frustrated because we want to know what is happening. Can anyone relate to this story and guide us what should we expect and what should we do.

[Wylie's Mom]

Hi and welcome to YT. I'm so very sorry your little one is sick! It sounds just awful and very tough to watch . Poor little thing.

Has IBD/IBS been discussed?

[Russpilot]

Please do keep us advised on how he is doing. Prayers and best wishes for you and Cocoa!

[CocoaBuddy]

Just heard from the Vet that Cocoa is doing good. And has scheduled an Ultrasound for tomorrow morning as they wanted to go non-invasive first to determine whether they can find something that way. Really hoping that they find some definitive answer with ultrasound but also hoping that my baby is not suffering from something horrible. I have heard that IBD/IBS could be one of the reasons for his frequent vomiting and the only way to diagnose that is via Endoscopy and biopsy of the GI track. Please pray for my baby! Will keep you all updated.

[Russpilot]

So far, so good! Always a relief to hear a bit of good news from the vet. Hope you get it all pinned down and get Cocoa back to full health!

[CocoaBuddy]

Cocoa is home and seems healthy and happy to be back. The Emergency vets prescribed him with Pepcid, Cerenia and Sucralfate. And the diagnosis was HGE once again as they are uncertain. We took Cocoa to see a specialist vet who performed Ultrasound and asked us detail questions which many other previous vets missed to ask. Thankfully they found nothing of significance in the Ultrasound but the sad news is if he has the episode again then they will have to do Endoscopy and take biopsy of his GI track which is very invasive in my opinion adding more pain to my baby. The doctor has prescribed Cocoa with Metoclopramide which is kind of anti-nausea and helps with digestion. Her prognosis was that Cocoa's GI system has difficulty when he is left without any food in his system during night time which is more than 6 hours. We usually feed him at 11 before sleep and then around 7 in the morning which is maybe too much a gap for him. So we will try feeding him at 12 at night and 6 in the morning and see how he takes that. Crossing our fingers that we have finally nailed the cause and our baby will have no such episodes ever in his life. Will keep you guys updated. Thanks for your support.

[margaritaville]

Welcome to YT. Glad to hear Cocoa is home. Bubba had an episode of HGE several years ago and was hospitalized. He is fine now and it has never reoccurred. We never found out the cause.

I'm glad you are on top of it and having the vet follow up.

[CocoaBuddy]

After the vet could not find anything on the ultrasound she recommended to keep giving Cocoa the metoclopramide and keep him on the PID diet. In last 10 days as I write he had an episode of bloody stool and vomitted some undigested food the same night. But thankfully he did not have episode of bloody vomit. We had his fecal test done and it was negative for all the tests, which kind of we were hoping would give us some answers as he is just 2 years old and too young to have IBD as per his Vet.

So now his vet has recommended him Royal Canin hypoallergenic diet which she plans to start from tomorrow. Hoping this is the answer to his trouble.

Anyone with any experience with Royal Canin hypoallergenic diet?

[dottiesyrky]

Poor baby, he has had a bad time. I feel for him and you too!
Probably a silly question but has he been tested for pancreatitis? This can give these kind of symptoms.
Hope the new diet and meds give him some relief and that he gets well soon.

[CocoaBuddy]

Hi Dottiesyrky,

Thank you! Yes Cocoa has been tested negative for pancreatitis. Crossing our fingers that the hypo-allergenic diet is the answer to his troubles.