Just got back from the ER
 

Last night Mike and I were shucking corn and Sadie had a little sample of some corn and some silks on the ground. She had a few BMs in the middle of the night that Mike attended to and I was out cold from exhaustion because I lost a retainer that i thought was going to cost about 300 bucks :eek: (didn't find it, but it's only 90 to replace) whew...so this morning Sadie vomited pretty hard. Told Mike it was nothing and to watch her today, she'd prob. have upset stomach and need to rest after eating the corn stuff. Well he called saying she threw up again and had a couple of bouts of diarrhea. I mistook this for having mostly diarrhea with a couple vomitting episodes and I got some pro pectlin for that. Come to read on facebook later she's vomited all day. And there was several piles of it at home when i got off work. if i'd have known i'd have come get her to the vet sooner. so we get to the ER vet tonight. they thought she'd be ok gave subcutaneous fluids, cerenia inj. and buphennorphrine inj. she's resting now and no more throw up or diarrhea since i got home. i hope that it's just stomach upset and not anything like a bowel obstruction or pancreatitis. the vet (Italian btw and super cute) told us we wouldn't know the exact cause without full bloodwork and xrays but that she felt fine around her stomach and it didn't seem to painful for her. if she throws up or has anymore diarrhea we're headed right back to the vet again...

pray that she heals fast and gets well soon. chicken and rice for breakfast and a fasting with water tonight. she won't eat a thing anyways. wish us good thoughts and prayers please.

Thanks,
Rachel

btw she is VERY lethargic. is that normal with the cerenia and buphenorphrine?

You did not get bloodwork done? I would not be at all comfortable with a dog with those symptoms and not doing bloodwork which is the first thing that will indicate what is going on.

I hope she is ok. :(

The Bupranex is a pain medicine, so yes it is normal for her to be groggy. Here is a link with information about it:

Buprenorphine (Buprenex®)


Sounds like he suspects pancreatitis. Not sure why else he would give a pain med if he said she does not appear to have pain?? He must think that it is because it really is a very painful condition.

With pancreatitis, usually they recommend no food the first day. Did he say not to feed her?

here's what he said to me...legally he has to recommend bloodwork and xrays. he felt her abdomen and didn't believe she was in much pain there. he gave the pain med to make her more comfortable after throwing up several times today and to relax her if there was discomfort. he also did the fluids just to be sure she had enough because she was a little bit dehydrated but not enough to do intraveinous.

she hasn't thrown up once or had diarrhea since i got home tonight. i can't say when her last vomit was because from 2pm-6:30pm she was by herself at home. I had no idea she'd been throwing up all day. i was under the impression by DH that it was only once or twice and a little diarrhea. if i'd know it was all day off and on she'd have been at the vets a lot sooner. that's why i took her as soon as i got home.

she's resting now, very lethargic and not able to lift her head but barely looks up at me with her eyes. i will let her rest and if one single vomit or diarrhea happens tonight we'll head back to NVEC. i work for the vet that owns it so i get discounts for some stuff. also it's in my home town and not far from the house.

any other advice for right now?

Oh no!! I hope she is okay. Poor thing :(

Poor baby....hope she is all okay soon!

So sorry your baby isn't feeling well, hope she will be better soon.

I would probably do the bloodwork and xrays. I just would not be able to sleep if I didn't. I hope your baby is ok.

Oh, dear. Poor Sadie. Does she want to eat? If not, I wouldn't force her. If it's pancreatitis she needs to rest her stomach.

I would definitely follow up with your regular vet for bloodwork and xrays tomorrow if she isn't feeling better.

Not sure why he said that about legalities. If he felt it should be done, why not just do it? Confusing to me. Honestly, I always expect them to do labs, especially in a case like this. If she needed fluids, it would be helpful to know what her lab values are.

Yes, if she has any episodes of vomiting and/or diarrhea I would take her in immediately.

Hopefully, this is going to pass. I hope she is better by morning! :)

if she has anymore symptoms i'm going back for the full panel. she's had some tummy issues in the past from eating silly things and since i knew she ate something bad i knew it was most likely from that and she was throwing up the corn silks and pooping them out with the corn kernels. so i guess i knew that made her sick and it wasn't an obstruction or pancreatitis at this point. if it continues even with the meds and rest we'll be back in a hurry. when you work for a vet i guess you know what they would want to do and what the total cost would be with that. i didn't rush into bloodwork because neither I nor the vet himself actually thought we needed it at this point. she needed to stop the vomitting which he did and to rest and let her tummy chill. i would have done blood work should it have been vomitting and not having a clue what she ate or did to cause it. knowing what she ate made me not so worried about getting to the bottom of the cause because we kinda know the cause...corn silk and corn...ewwwwww.....i will prob. take her in tomorrow or Friday if she has no more vomit and diarrhea for a recheck with the reg. vet and maybe do a quick fecal smear to look for bacteria hanging around.

she won't eat a thing. he said just let her rest and then in 12 hours or so give water and ice cubes. then start on a bland diet until all symptoms resolve including diarrhea and then slowly back to normal diet. poor baby. i hate seeing her so darn weak. i knew when i walked in the door it was worse than DH led on. she didn't jump up to see me and she barely walked across the kitchen to me. :( right to the vet we went to make sure this wasn't a super emergency and was mostly just upset stomach. the Dr. seemed to agree with me about it being simply an upset stomach more than an emergency case. and for Sadie's little sake i sure hope we're both right!!!

I Found that odd as well. he is 100% Italian from Italy. i've actually known something about him saying another vet was wrong and costing her a client over something. he might just be used to a different way of doing things but i have to trust him as he's the only one there and he's a vet after all. tomorrow i will be off and at my own dr. appts. but i can sure take her to her reg. vets if need be or take her to the office closer to me and see a vet there. we have like 5 vets on reg. hours and two ER vets working for our two clinics and ER. that's a bit nice i must say...;)

gosh i'm so worried, she hasn't been sick in a long time and i feel like a horrible mother for letting her chew on those corn silks.

I know what you mean about costs! I definitely have stock in my animal hospital. Not sure how much it costs by you, but an xray is about $150 here plus blood around $100 for in house blood. So, for $250, I'd do it.

I am also bothered by the vet proclaiming his legal duties to you. It means this to me --
"I advised the client she could do x and y and she declined"

If he didnt think you needed to do the xray and blood, why did he bring it up?

All that aside, it seems like she may be fine and you are comfortable with the course of action to wait till tomorrow morning.

they are 125 for two views radiographs with 32.50 per additional view. bloodwork is 125 or so for a wellness profile plus more for urine and fecals. exam fee is 85 upfront. the bill was 135.00 for as little as he did and that's with hoping as an employee i don't have to pay the $85 exam fee. not to mention those quotes are pre-ER costs. they go up a lot with the ER visit even for employees. i think what he was trying to say is that he cannot legally or professionally diagnose her without bloodwork and/or xrays. so he did not diagnose her, but he treated the symptoms and sent her home to see if she improves or stays the same or worsens. since we literally live within 2 min. of the vets i can very easily run her right in at a moment's notice and they are there all night long and know me well. i guess my thoughts were that i have no idea how long it's been since her last vomitting episode could have stopped on it's own at 2pm or happened last time a minute before i got home. either way she didn't vomit when i got home and hasn't done either since. i feel like she just needs a night off food and let her stomach digest and settle out from that corn and silks. corn isn't greasy or sugary to the point that i'd personally think pancreatitis, and there was nothing larger than a grain of corn for a possible obstruction. the only other thing is coccidia or bacteria. i can have them do a fecal smear and check that at any point should i need it.

i hope you guys don't think i'm crazy. i always hate it when people don't want to spend the money on bloodwork and tests at my office because i feel like they aren't getting to the bottom of what's wrong and money shouldn't matter....BUT when the tables are turned, money is hard to come by right now even for me, and knowing the cause of her stomach troubles and not having to go through all the tests until there's actually a "great" reason to do so, i guess i'd rather wait and see if we need them. at this point i don't think so. like i said though, anything happens and we totally will. i'd rather be on standby and save money up unless it's very needed than spend it for him to say yea she's just eaten something bad and it's upset her stomach. i feel like she is naturally rejecting the corn, and i want her to feel comfortable and not loose fluids in the process of getting over this.

i think he did the right thing, it's what i would have done and he assured me he didn't feel she was in a life threatening situation or that he needed to go further on his examination and findings. have to trust the vet and my instincts here.

love you guys, thanks for worrying with me and talking to me. i know i'm prob. a rambling fool but it's making me feel better to keep talking. she's still resting, breathing normally and no v or d. going to be another long sleepless night of watching her for any changes.

At the end of the day, it's your dog and only you can make the decision. I would do the tests if it were my dog and not wait it out. I would just need the information a test brings, and even if it brought me nothing but reassurance, that is what I would need personally. That is just me, we all have different comfort levels. Whatever you decide, you're in my thoughts and you have my best wishes. :animal-pa

I totally agree.

I really hope Sadie is much better by morning!

thanks so much i appreciate it so much. she's so comfy and peaceful right now. i feel like a mother just being quiet so she can sleep comfortably and get her strength back, i made boiled chicken and rice to have tomorrow for her breakfast and pray to God she eats ok. i'm praying she sleeps tonight with no waking up to the dreaded GULP noises!! i hate that sound when you hear it coming and wake up in time to see it happen...blahh.

and about comfort levels. if it wasn't 2 min away and if it wasn't vets i work for and with i'd be a lot less comfortable right now. it's so easy to run back in there for the "next step" if need be that i'm ok with waiting to see.

It's not the corn kernels, but the corn silk that can cause an obstruction. That would be my biggest concern.

do you think with her throwing it up and passing it in diarrhea that it would still be stuck somewhere? i may be wrong but since it's coming out both ends i wouldn't think it was caught in there?? :confused::confused::confused:

Vomiting is a classic symptom of an obstruction. Obstructions can occur in the stomach, lower and upper intestines. I am no vet, but I assume any fecal matter below the obstruction would pass without problems. Are you seeing the corn kernels and silks in her diarrhea or just her vomit? Or maybe you couldn't tell which was which when you got home.

If Sadie seems to get worse or be in pain, I would take her back to the ER tonight. If not, I would follow up with your vet tomorrow for bloodwork and xrays if she's not 100% in the morning.

Mike says vomit #1 at 6:30 am was mostly corn and yellow few silks
#2 yellow vomit with corn

Diarrhea was brown very runny.

#3 and 4 gagging with white stomach bile and clear liquid

the ones I saw after i got home were all clear watery liquid, some white bile in a couple of them.

Mike cannot verify he saw silks in anything. i finally just now broke down with him and basically said...you have to be 100% specific. i didn't know she was throwing up all day long. you only said gagging a little and threw up once... liquid and bile is STILL puke. she should have NEVER been left at home alone from 2-6 pm throwing up like that. i'm upset with him for not being more specific and letting me know. i would have brought her to work with me....he's not great about the monitoring of dog health. he's very bad a relaying information accuractely. i need to pry into his info a bit more from now on because i can't trust him to get it all correct...that's very upsetting.

anyways i think i made my point to him, she could have been lying there dead when i got home...i didn't even know she was that sick, he should have known and said something more about it.

URGHHH MEN!!! :mad::mad::mad:

if i'd have known all the details when i got home and when i went to the ER vet with her, i prob. would have been set up better for deciding on bloodwork or x rays. still getting both if she gets sick one more time tonight...hasn't yet.

i didn't know all the details from DH and i'm furious that he didn't tell me everything when he had called before lunch time...i would have done something then and not waited hours later. and i'd have known more about what to do while in the ER with her.....she's ok for now, i'm not going to worry and i'm just going to wait, but still that makes me so mad.

How is Sadie this morning?

Sadie made it through the night without throwing up or having anymore diarrhea. She drank a lot of water last night at about midnight and spit up a little of it. We went to bed and she slept all night. This morning we gave a little water at a time to let it settle and she hasn't thrown it up at all. She finally urinated about 11am. she has been perky and playful, not back to normal, but showing improvements. she still rejects food at this time. i did call our regular vet this morning and she said just keep checking that she's drinking fluids. we are trying out some chicken broth and some chicken and rice and yogurt. she won't take them but i keep offering it.

i'll let you know as they day goes by if we get anything in her stomach. i know she just needs to rest and get well and to drink fluids she's got a little fat on her that not eating isn't our biggest worry right now. hopefully she will eat tonight.

we'll keep you posted.

Hope this resolves quickly for you... keeping Sadie in our Prayers...

You definitely aren't crazy for not spending the money. I mean, esp. since the vet didn't say it was necessary and you know the likely cause. But then, with it being corn silk, I would have probably personally done the xray. Then again, it could sitll pass if she had just eaten it. Maybe now would be a good time for one? Could do a Spec cPL, but if the corn caused it, then it probably sin't her pancreas.

Since she has stomach problems in general, has she had bloodwork since the start of it? If not, then I'd say she definitely needs it.

Everyone does have their own comfort levels though.

I agree. I'd probably go ahead and get an xray and bloodwork with my regular vet since she still won't eat rather than risking another ER visit tonight.

i'm in close contact with the vets and just waiting it out. i talked to her this morning and she said to just keep the fluids in her and see about getting her to eat today and tonight. i'm about ready to call back that she's still not eating at all. i know her tummy will have to settle before she'll eat, but i wonder if there's something i should be doing to help her now.

we've pretty much ruled out pancreatitis and an obstruction and decided it's mostly just an upset stomach. Sadie's gotten bad diarrhea over the most minute bite of bacon once before and she threw up a lot from trying to eat a daddy long legs once. she's just a sensitive little girl, she's more playful and alert today so i know she's getting there. calling the vet back about her not eating to see if she's concerned about that at this point....ALSO. FOUND MY RETAINER TODAY!! YAY.