little Enzo
 

My little Enzo is a 6 month old Biewer. When he was 3 months he started to vomit once a day, we took him to the vet and they gave him some shots and he was was okay for about a week. Then, it started up again...the vet suggested he may have tapeworms, so he got some more shots and he was okay for about a month. After my finals Enzo got really bad and started vomiting everything. He couldn't eat or drink anything! From 4 1/2 months to 5 1/2 months he was terrible! We went from vet to vet trying to find an answer. He was on like 5 medications and nothing seemed to be working. There were times that my fiance and I stayed up with him at night to comfort him because he could not sleep and would vomit all night. They ran blood work, x-rays, everything..and all his exams were within normal limits. He was constantly getting IV from the vet because he was so dehydrated. He went from 8.7lbs to 6lbs! My poor baby was skin and bones. Thank god we had insurance for him, but even then we spent thousands and thousands of dollars on him. My fiance and I are both graduate students so we were running out of money quickly...it seemed like he was at the vet everyday and our bills were nothing less than $400 each visit! I was so tired of spending so much money and still my baby was suffering. The worst feeling is to look at him in his eyes and know that there was nothing more I could do. One vet suggested that I went to an internal specialist, but it was too much money! At this point we had already spent so much money and the consultation alone was $150!!! My other option was to do an exploratory surgery that could cost me up to $3k! The problem with the surgery was that if Enzo had some kind of congenital problem, then the doctor would not be able to fix it during the surgery and I would then for sure have to seek an internal specialist. I knew that I had to act fast because Enzo was just losing too much weight and was getting weaker each day. At this point he wasn't able to eat at all! My family and I all prayed for him... we decided to go through with the surgery. After the surgery the vet called me and said that they found absolutely nothing wrong. When I heard this news my stomach dropped, I needed him to find something wrong with Enzo so we could fix it. When we picked him up he was very weak and had a 6 inch incision in his stomach. At this point the doctor broke it down... he either had mega esophagus (his esophagus was to large and his muscles were not strong enough to push his food to his stomach) or pyloric stenosis (a narrowing in the opening between his stomach and intestines) . The doctor wanted me to drop him off the next day for a Barium exam. This means that they would give him a milkshake substance and take many x-rays so they could trace the liquid. I went home that night and prayed A LOT! My poor Enzo was losing weight and Energy :( I didn't know how much more he could take. His long beautiful coat was no longer shinny and healthy, instead his arms were shaved from the IV, his stomach was shaved from the surgery, and he was skin and bones:(. The next day I dropped him off for 8 hours. The vet called me to come pick him up, when I arrived he told me he could not explain what had happened and he needed me to see the x-rays. The x-rays yield one of the doctors diagnosis, it was pyloric stenosis. My stomach dropped, I didnt know how I was going to pay for his next surgery. He started showing me the x-rays and explaining to me what was going on in each one.

X-RAYS
1 hour after giving him the liquid- the liquid had made it to the stomach
2 hours after giving him the liquid- the liquid remained in his stomach
3 hours after giving him the liquid- the liquid still remained in his stomach
4 hours after giving him the liquid-the liquid was still there
5 hours after giving him the liquid- the pyloric opening started opening and becoming less narrow
6 hours after giving him the liquid-the opening continued to grow and become less narrow
7 hours after giving him the liquid-the opening was the size of a normal dog!
8 hours after giving him the liquid- The liquid was all gone from the stomach and had made it into the intestines !

It has been about 2 weeks since surgery and Enzo is no longer throwing up!! He is now up to 7.2lbs! I don't know what happen but it sure seems like a miracle to me. I am writing this to ask everyone to please pray for little Enzo to continue to do better and hopefully soon reach his normal weight.

Thank you to everyone who read this.

Wow what a horror story. Was your breeder of any help to you regarding medical history? I am so glad that Enzo is on the road to recovery -- thank you for sharing your story.

wow thanks for sharing this story as it may help someone else and so sorry you and enzo went through this :(

Thank you everyone! I am just thankful that he is feeling better. He is starting to play with his brother now. Yes the breeder helped out with the history...but none of the parents had anything. The vet said that it could be possible that Enzo was and is going to be the only one.

Prayers for Enzo's continued recovery. Love the name Enzo. Your boys are gorgeous!

Wow, I have a rescued cat that just had this same surgery Dec 7th and it's just wonderfull . No more throwing up. It is my understanding this happens more often in cats then dogs. I'm so happy you finally got this resolved as I know how frustrating it was for me and not to mention costly with all the tests and x-rays and diff meds for the past 2 yrs. And my poor kitty, she's been through so much, but she's as good as new now. I hope your baby is diong as good as my kitty.

Oh my goodness I am so happy she is recovered! That gives me hope for Enzo!

Poor little Enzo... Sending lots and lots of PRAYERS to you!!!! I hope he continues to do well!!!! HUGS!

Thank you chandracz

I was told that it just happens and it's more of a stricture caused be the surrounding muscle going into a spasm. And is not something that is passed on. The Raglan and Pepcid worked on and off but not well enough to keep her from surgery.

Oh my goodness poor little Enzo!! I am so sorry that you had to go through this. You are such a wonderful mommy for not giving up on your baby. I am so glad that he is doing better. Keep us updated.

Wow.... poor Enzo. So glad the surgery worked out and he is on the mend!!
Keeping him in our prayers for continued recovery:)

my goodness...i just read this thread and if i'm interpreting your description of the xrays correctly, it sounds like a miracle to me, too!

i am so happy for you and enzo! :)

I am so happy to hear that Enzo is on his way to a full recovery!

Thank you everyone! Enzo is doing great today! He is running around with his brother and sister!!! Hurray!:D

My little timmy has been throwing up white goo, mixed with food sometimes for A YEAR NOW! weve done all the test too and i am POOR now..just did the endoscopy and found out that most likely it is a stricture right before the stomach and possibly another one by the heart. unfortunately that means i have to take him to purdue to try to get it fixed, which will be thousands more dollars after all the rest ive spent:( Ive been controlling it for a while now with blended food-NO hard food allowed. it works well, but anytime he gets ahold of something outside its back to puking!
so glad theres a possible end in sight, but ive felt like that for a while and i always get let down!
did yours throw up white goo?

I hope your little one gets better soon. I just want to tell you that the original poster hasn't been on yt since June 6th of last year. I know you are waiting for answers...maybe you should start a new thread and post your questions.
My prayers go out to Timmy and family.

Thanks..i have my own thread about timmys problem i started a long time ago lol its called vomiting yorkie... please help if you wanna look at it, but now that i know what timmys problem is (strictures) i feel a lot better about it, i just need to save up and get the problem fixed and hope for the best! I just happened to search for strictures now that the vet suggested it, and i came upon little enzos thread and was hopin for some direct info on someone elses experience with them.

thanks again for letting me know the poster is probably not coming back lol

July 2018 pyloric stenosis "Wolfie"
 

Just read about Enzo.
We have an 8 month old Yorkie, "The Wolfman" that has been vomiting up quite a bit. But anything and everything goes in his mouth...since we got him from a supposedly good breeder near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in January.
Last Friday night it started all over again. Our vet was out of the office Saturday morning, but saw her partner. $400.00 and multiple x-rays,shots, medications, etc.. said he would be fine.
By Saturday night, after they closed, it started again. Again all day Sunday.
Monday morning took him to our regular vet and she did more x-rays. It looked like he had swallowed metal objects she thought. She did surgery this morning (Tuesday) and called us to say there were no objects found, she thought it was Pyloric Stenosis. She said she would do another surgery on him.
Of course, we had no idea what this was, I'm 70 and my husband is 74. We have had 5 Yorkie Terriers since 1984. Four have been perfectly healthy. We thought Wolfie was as well. Now we are terrified of losing him.
Everything we have looked at on the internet said it was common in bull dogs, and other short snouted dogs.
Yorkie Talk has been the ONLY one.
Have others besides Enzo had the same problem? Wolfie is a purebred Yorkie.

My late sweetie did not experience Pyloric Stenosis. As was your observation, the articles I read suggest this is common to short-faced dog breeds. Article on PetPlace suggests it can occur in small breed dogs, but those "tend to be middle-aged...." Indeed in the section "What to Watch for" the author includes "Young brachycephalic breed of dog" and then "Older small breed dog.

Did the vet take a biopsy of the pylorus during Tuesdays surgery? The article linked earlier includes a passage, "There are multiple different types of corrective surgery for the thickened pylorus and the type selected can depend on the surgeon’s experience and which layers of the pylorus are affected by the disorder."

I'm not experienced with the condition, but based on what I have read, would be concerned about both the diagnosis and treatment. Might there be a specialist you could consult with about Wolfie's condition?

By chance have you spoken to the Wolfie's breeder about this?

This may or may not be helpful to you. Quite late in the life of my senior sweetie, we made the decision to change to a 24/7 clinic that had emergency and surgical staff; some specialists, too. Initially we changed because her prior vet felt the oxygen machine at the 24/7 clinic had better features than his. As time went by, we found round the clock access to be a real comfort.

Hope others with more experience will comment. In the mean time, sending prayers your way. Bless you for being such loving yorkie parents. --KatysMom

Hopefully we'll find other articles about this condition.

Read the very short article on site of Medical Center of Palm Harbor, "Pyloric Stenosis and Pylorospasm."

That author suggested there is quite a difference in outcomes, depending on whether or not the condition is congenital.

Pyloric stenosis is treated by surgery to enlarge the pylorus. If the condition is congenital, the chances for cure are excellent. If it is due to other causes, chances for complete cure are fair.

Another article on site of Embrace Pet Insurance (which also doesn't list yorkie among the typically affected breeds), talks about diagnosis saying,

Diagnosis of the problem can be difficult if the complete closing down of the pylorus is intermittent, but it usually relies on X-rays after barium administration. These “barium studies” often show a thin line of minimal amounts of this contrast material getting through the pylorus into the intestines, thus strongly suggesting the diagnosis of pyloric stenosis.

Endoscopy (using a fiberoptic device to view the area) will assist the diagnosis by visualizing the thickness of the pylorus and by allowing for tissue sampling of the affected area. Fluoroscopy is another technique used to visualize the motion of material as it passes through the area.

Surgery is sometimes required to establish the definitive diagnosis.

Certain blood test findings will also point to the presence of the disease.

Hoping to learn how The Wolfman is doing?

Keeping you in our thoughts---KatysMom

Wolfman is much better, but WE took over his care....
 

After surgery, the vet replied "I could kick myself in the butt for not doing barium tests earlier". Over $1350.00, and 4 other diagnosis', she decided it was diverticulitis... and started calling other vet. surgeons...
In the meantime, I looked on internet and found: megaesophogus, and MANY other conditions it could be.
Thanks for your reply KatysMom, it seems you were more cautious than the vet.
We finally got him home Friday. We are watching him very closely. We are using a coffee grinder to grind 1 teaspoon of his dry food, and feeding him Hills Science I/D smashed very finely with a fork, then combining the dry ground and 1 T. Of chicken stock. Sometimes we add some smashed rice.
He has only vomited 1 time since Friday. We decided to feed him 4-5 times daily, much smaller portions.
BUT -what helped the most - A RAISED FEEDER.
Ordered a very attractive wooden (bamboo) feeder with 2 stainless steelbowls on amazon. It is 4 inches high. He loves it. I read an article about megaesophogus and that was what was recommended. He is a 4+ pounder, so the small 4 inch is perfect. And less than $30.00.
We are going to be much more cautious with vets. and get 2nd opinion.
Thanks, Katys Mom, for your help. Wolfie thanks you also.

Bless you for the update. So happy to hear he's doing better.

Diagnosing a condition or conditions when these little ones are not doing well isn't easy business.

Raised feeder--what a brilliant idea. Your coffee grinder idea is also very smart.

Wolfie is lucky to have a sharp lovin' pet parent like you. Keeping him (and you) in our thoughts. --KatysMom