vomiting again; pancreatitis and gastritis
 

she was diagnosed with pancreatitis last week and is on rx diet.
she was fine for few days; i took her to the vet yesterday because she didnt want to eat; she examined her and saw nothing wrong; and then fed her there by a syringe; she said she's just doesnt like the food and gave her a b complex shot.
then around 8pm i fed her dinner; RC wet and dry rx food; she liked it and ate it.
then around 5am she vomited bile; then again 1 hr later vomited bile with clots of blood; also her stomach was making lots of gurguling noise.
the vet is closed and i cant afford ER right now; at least 1000 dollars;
so i gave her pepcid, sucrafate and reglan; now she's stable; not vomiting anymore and no stomach noise.
i want to know should i hold food for the whole day until i get her to the vet tomorrow;
can i at least give her water so she doesnt get dehydrated or hold that too; i dont want her to start vomiting again.
thanks and happy thanksgiving.

My dog just had a recent bout as well, I did give her pepcid and pedialyte by syringe, my vet told me to keep her on boiled chicken and rice for 10 days , Im going to do it for 2 weeks instead... I was told it takes a couple of weeks for thier pancrias to recover. Perhaps the new food is causing an episode. I would not feed it to her and go back to just boiled chicken with a tiny bit of rice. I slowly added green beans to it...
I plan on calling Susan Davis after the holidays to get a better diet for home cooking for her. I would not make her eat as he tummy is probally sore again.

so i shouldnt give her food at all today; what if she gets dehydrated or hypoglycemic; i am scared she will get worst without any water or food; what to do; i cant even call the vet they are closed today. please anyone; any advice. should i give chicken and rice; or white fish and sweet potato

I would send a PM to Dwerten ( Debbie) she is sooo knowlegeable when it comes to this stuff and has experince with it.

My vet told me I could give her pedialyte and offer her boiled chix with a little rice if she would eat it. Make sure its boiled and do fat or skin on the chix. Just offer a little at a time.

i did pm her; thanks again

If it's a recurrence of pancreatitis, she shouldn't be fed at all. Water is always very questionable. She will most likely need an IV if she is throwing up blood. Your regular vet won't come in in an emergency? I'm sorry. there is just no advice I can give you. :( She has to see the vet.

I meant NO fat or skin on the chix , sorry about that!

here is my response to pm :)

let her rest she is a big yorkie she can go without eating for 5-7 days so do not feed her let her tummy rest - sounds like could be pancreatitis - ulcer is when they throw up coffee grounds looking stuff in the vomit and this is blood. See how she does for next 8 hrs and let her rest NO FOOD. Offer her water off your fingers or take an ice cube and let her lick it - she does not need honey she is not going to go hypoglycemic at that size so do not do that. Just make sure she has some fresh water but she can go 12 hrs with no water as well.




how much does she weigh? I would withold food for 12 hrs let her tummy rest and let her drink water if she gulps water and vomits i would hold water up and give to her in small amounts holding bowl but do not let her gulp and vomit then gulp and vomit you need to stop the vomitting which it sounds like you did. AFter 12 hrs giver her tiny amounts of food at a time every couple hours if she will eat if she will not eat then let her be do not syringe food as she will eat when her tummy feels better - sorry she is sick

ok now i just read your post :)

sounds like she relapsed like my dog :( the problem when they relapse it is more severe the second time. It is extremely painful. Is your dog tossing and turning unable to get comfortable ?

what food are you feeding send me a link? also what fat content as my dog with pancreatitis eats 8% fat purina ha food.

My concern is the pain. Call the er and I want you to ask them this. How much would it be for sub Q for her to keep hydrated without and iv and let them know you cannot afford a huge vet bill right now.

I am a little upset with your vet right now as this dog had pancreatitis a week ago and then your dog is not eating and she syringes food and gives vitamin B what the heck - my dog never got a vitamin B shot with pancreatitis. It is obvious your dog was not eating because she did not feel well not because she did not like the food. I personally think the food could have triggered relapse and make sure NO HILLS I/D my dog relapsed on that too.

Hill's ultra z/d wet slowly brought him back so you may want to try that one as it is a hydrolizedy diet which is a broken down protein. It made my dog itchy but it helped get him out of the cycle with pancreatitis. He relapsed after a week on hill's i/d and then he was very severe.

If this does get severe enough and not saying it is then my recommendation is a plasma transfusion as it saved my dogs life and it was like $300

this disease is very expensive to treat as once they get it they can get it very easily again. Did you give anything but the vet food to trigger this attack? Dex never vomitted blood and never had diarhea with this so vomitting blood has me concerned but the fact that it stopped that is good and the things you have there the pepcid ac (famotidine) controls the stomach acids, sulcrulfate protects the esophagus and is basically pepto bismal for dogs and reglan which is an anti-vomitting are all things used for pancreatitis

let her rest but if she is tossing and turning and cannot rest peacefully she needs to get something for pain

with pancreatitis they should not really have anything by mouth for 48-72hrs and why they do ivs as anything in the digestive tract including medicine can trigger things but you are doing the best you can do from home. If no tossing and turning in pain i would see how it goes until tomorrow. Does your vet have an emergency number they answer?

she's on royal canin digest low fat; fat content is 2%; not sure if she's relapsing from this. what is a plasma transfusion.
if i take her to er now; they will charge me the vet visit plus sub-q and antiemitc and antiacid meds; which can cost quit a bit; but what if she comes home and starts vomiting again; maybe i should just take her and leave her overnight.

she had to relapse from food if that is all she had and the prob is they cannot keep getting this so you have to get her on a good diet and i recommend purina ha as dex has been fine for 4 years now. He gets nothing else. If they keep getting this they can get diabetes or epi as the pancreas controls the insulin in the body :( It is up to you whether you want to take her in but if she is tossing and turning in pain then yes i would take her in if she is not vomitting and resting i would give it a little more time.

a plasma transfusion is when it is real severe as my dog had it as he was on deaths door :( it flushes the toxins out of the body as the pancreas makes the blood toxic - they have to sedate and do fluids through the jugular so it is very expensive to sedate and do all that but i almost lost him :( 50% of dogs die when they get pancreatitis so it is very serious and nothing to mess with :(

call and ask the er if they have the snap in house cpli test and ask your vet the same as the cpli test takes 3-4 days to come back from lab and the in house is instant so it will confirm pancreatitis but i think it is from what you are describing :(

Im not sure if this is what Debbie is talking about , but my vet did not keep Laci overnight , I begged her to take her home, her counts were very low ( but she was sooo sick) they gave her fluids under her skin on her back , it made a bubble of water. She never got dehydrated but it took 4- 5 days to get better, she DID not eat for like 3 days, I called the ER vet over the weekend and they assured me she would eat once her tummy felt better. She did!! She started slowly with drinks of water which I added a little pedialite to and then nibbled on food, just a tiny bit at a time. It took her a good week to be back to normal!! I hope I NEVER EVER have to go through that again. My vet bills were close to 500.00 and they want to see her again in 3 weeks to run another blood panel, I think that is 125.00. Its an expensive sickness that is for sure!!

tell me about it; i already spend over $6000 between vet and ER within the past 2 years and she's no wear close of being healthy or cured; i am really broke and cant afford another ER stay. she's not dehydrated yet but not sure about later; she also has gastritis;so i am not sure if staying with no food today and tonight that will agrevate her gastritis and stomach. i am so frustrated and dont know what to do anymore

how long can she stay without water before dehydrating; by the time i take her to the vet tomorrow it would have been 36hrs with no food or water; she last ate last night around 8pm. is that ok; she's 9lbs can she last without water

she has not drank anything for 36 hrs ??? food is not as much a concern at her weight as water. Your dog sounds alot like dexter he has ibd and i would guess ibd over gastritis as this breed tends to have ibd and sounds like small intestines like dex since vomitting and not diarhea. What were you feeding? you need to keep on a rx diet as that has saved dex life. I spent 10k over the course of a year on him and finally purina ha and he has been fine for 4 years now on this food only. He did good on ultra z/d but he itched too much. It is a hydrolized diet so the protein is broken down so his intestinal tract does not have to work as hard which i think is what is happening and when it backs up in small intestine it triggers the pancreas. The fat content is low as well and this is what the internal medicine specialist we saw recommended only ultra zd or purina ha for this condition. Alot of dogs do not like the purina ha as it is a hydrolized soy diet but all three of mine like it.

you will know if she is dehydrated if you pull the skin on back of neck up and it sticks together and does not go down fast if it goes down fast she is not dehydrated. The pain is more of my concern as pancreatitis is VERY painful

no by tomorrow morning it would be 36 hrs without water; for now it's only been since 8pm last night; so that's about 16hrs as of now; she's not that dehydrated yet;but maybe will be by tomorrow; she's laying down now and looking sleepy; i think i wont give her any water today or tonight; hoping she makes it till tomorrow morning.
my vet doesnt carry purina ha and not sure if they can order; where can i get it from

she seems a bit hungry but i wont give her food tonight; i have pedialyte freezer pop cherry or orange flavor; can i give her that to avoid dehydration; or dont give her anything at all tonight

Ava is at the ER
 

sadly she vomitted 8 more times pure blood and had to rush her to hospital; vet said she needs to be at least 3 to 4 days on iv and meds in hospital; which will cost 3000; unfortunately i dont have that kind of money and i was crying there and told them i cant pay; the vet was so nice and was crying with me and told me that i could sign her to the hospital and they will take her of her and someone that works there will adopt her; i had no choice but to do that; i dont want to be selfish ; she's suffering and i cant provide the type of care she needs; when i was leaving i found out that the vet herself will adopt her which made me feel a bit better; but i am a mess right now; it;s the hardest decision i ever had to make; i feel horrible. thanks for ur help again :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

oh my god I am soooo sorry you must be heart broken, I cant even imagine how hard this must be for you!!! Im in tears reading this, again I am very sorry!

hardest decison i had to make
 

i havent stopped cyring yet; but i was praying today that if i have to give her up that it would someone that works at the vet office or hospital; and i am thankful that my prayers were answered adn that we had a good hearted vet tonight; i couldnt believe she was crying with me adn i knew that she will be the best for Ava; at least she can provide her 100% care that she deserves; i had to be strong for her sake not mine; i didnt want her to suffer any longer and possibly die from this chronic disease; this was her 4th relapse this year adn this can cause damage to her pancreas adn other organs that she might not be able to recover later on.
what's so weird ; is ava had tears in her eyes today when i took her to er; like she knew that will be the last time i see her; i felt it this morning too for some reason. i knew i can no longer take care of her
my heart is breaking; i will always miss her; all i want to do right now is hold her shirt adn smell it; i cant even look at her bed , clothes, toys............ it's breaking my heart; i hope this will get easier. i love her so much
:cry::cry:

I am so sorry. That has to be the hardest decision to make but I can see you were doing the best thing for Ava. Hugs

I am so sorry as i pm you :( you did the right thing as she needed to be seen - sorry i was not here as i went to my moms for thanksgiving. It is very difficult to care for sick ones and extremely expensive which angers me too. Pancreatitis is very expensive to treat once they get it then it can keep recurring. I feel so sad for you but had i been in your situation i would have done the same given no other financial options. I have spent over 20k in vet bills and it is crazy so i know how expensive it can be when they get sick. My heart is breaking for you right now but you do have something to be thankful for and that is a wonderful vet who will care for her and there was a reason she was working tonight and i feel we all cross paths for a reason. Take care and do not beat yourself up as it took a strong love and a caring person to do what you did tonight for her.

You are such a caring person to put your feelings on the backburner and do whats right for your Ava. I applaud you!!!!

it\'s been so hard
 

thanks all for your kind words; it\'s really been so hard; i can\'t bear it anymore; all i do is hold her shirt and cry. i had to hold her shirt last night so i can sleep.
i wanted to go there and give them her favorite toy and bed; but i called twice and they put me on hold adn never came back. i guess i have no more rights.
until finally i called again and told them that i would like to give them her vaccine history, so she doesnt get over vaccinated; they told me to fax it; i told them i dont have a fax, so they said to drop it off tomorrow. then i asked that i would like to know how she\'s doing, she said the vomiting had stopped but there was some bloody diarrhea. i guess i got her to the ER just in time; is that a sign of pancreatitis too? i wonder if she has something else. tomorrow i will speak to the doctor that took her yesterday.
so now i am breaking down again; all i keep thinking is i want to see her and hold her; but i think it\'s best for her that she doesnt see me; because that will make it only harder. i want to bring her stuff but maybe she will keep thinking that i am coming back; maybe it\'s best for her to start a new fresh life.
it\'s so hard you guys; you have no idea :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

My heart is breaking for you.:( I am so sorry you are having to go through this with your baby.

i went today to the hospital and gave them her favorite toy, bed, clothes.........
i wanted to see her but the vet said it\'s best for her not to see me; which i understand.
she told me i can apply for carecredit which is a credit card with interest; however i told her if i pay 4000 plus interest and this happens again then i start with square one
she said yes unfortunately this looks like a genetic disease that can\'t be avoided; she will have these episodes throughout her life; and she told me that i am making the right decison and doing something good for the dog; since she needs medical care all her life; and that someone from the hospital will adopt her and take care of her whenever she\'s sick for free. so that made me feel a bit better and i think i got close tonight;
it\'s still hard and i miss her but this is best for her
thanks again for ur support

take care

elly

I am so very sorry for you. You acted completely selfless. My heart is breaking for you.

i have 1/2 box about 2lbs of the honest kitchen food left; her play pen, nail trimmer... i would hate to throw them out; would anyone here like to pick them up.
if not i woulld probably take them to an animal shelter, but not sure if they will accept them.
i am just glad they let me take her favorite toy, bed, harness, bowls, and clothes
that way she won\'t feel 100% like a stranger; i hope they will use them not throw them out.

Elly - I am so so sorry you had to go through this. It is heartbreaking and I have no words that will help make you feel better other than you did what was best for your baby. Sending my hugs to you.......