Bentley is sick again
 

He had diarrhea a couple days ago which after some propectalin seemed to clear up. I switched him to boiled chicken and rice after that. Then today he started throwing up. Three times before 11am and then again at about 3pm and again at 4pm. I gave a quarter tab of pepcid and a half tab of cerenia to help his tummy and vomitting and haven't fed him yet. He is drinking ok. not too much and not too little. he's fairly active but then falls asleep sitting up. he sometimes wakes up from a nap shaking a little which has me very concerned. i plan to feed him chicken and rice again tonight for supper and watch him close. prob. going to the vet tomorrow if he's not better by then. he's resting now. any advise? should i give a little karo syrup since he's shaking sometimes? thanks

added he does whine under his breath sometimes and he also has been licking/chewing at his butt. last night he was walking across the room and acted like his butt bothered him. do you think anal glands could be backed up and causing him pain/sickness?

I hope he gets to feeling better soon and I would definitely carry him to the vet tomorrow.

The diahrea has most likely irritated his bottom

I don't know what to say but want to offer well wishes and hope he gets better soon.

I would take him in to the vet tomorrow to make sure he is alright. Let us know how he is doing, ok? Dyan

I'm sorry he's sick again. A little karo wouldn't hurt anything. Might help. Have you looked at his rear end to see if it is red and irritated? It wouldn't hurt to put a bit of vaseline on it if he can't get to it. If he's shaking some, he is possibly either feverish or hurting. Perhaps after he has something to eat tonight he'll feel better. I can always see when Kacee empties her anal glands. Do you have to have his emptied or does he empty them himself? I hope your lil guy gets well soon.

Rachel - it's time for a specialist with your dogs. How many times are they going to go through this? You get them a little better...then back to more symptoms... I think you need to find a plan that works for them. Guessing and giving chicken and rice and cerenia and pepcid OR ANY DRUG when you don't have a proper diagnosis IMO is a recipe for disaster.

Falling asleep sitting up? You can bet your life that if this was my dog, we'd already be at an emergency clinic.

Keep us posted.

this shaking thing is really bothering me. time to call the vet. he doesn't have a fever but still shaking. could he be cold or need suger? it's not like a seisure shake just a little muscle tick type of shake. like he's weak or feverish. but temp was 100.1

I have to agree with Cathy here....I would take him to the emergency clinic right away. They can check him out and see what is giving him the shakes. Keep up posted...hope the little guy feels better soon.

I agree with Cathy. Having tummy issues with food is one thing but what you are now describing is something different. He needs to see a specialist; not a troubleshooting vet. I bet seeing a specialist will save you a lot of money and heartache on the long run. The guessing game is no fun and may be disastrous.

And maybe he need the emergency vet tonight. Can you at least call for an opinion?

he's resting and hasn't thrown up for quite awhile. i bundled him up in a warm blanket and sweater and he stopped shivering and fell asleep. sadie shivers when she's really cold so maybe he is just cold. i don't understand the specialist thing. sorry i'm not trying to say i don't want to find one, but what for? they've had no illness issues at all for several months on the acana grasslands diet. i'm not giving them anything weird other than both got a few tiny nibbles of turkey and sweet potato raw on thanksgiving i guess Bentley could be ultra sensitive to that maybe but that was last Sunday and his diarrhea didn't start until Thursday. we had a pretty wild party last night so there's always the off chance he ate something bad someone dropped, but that doesn't explain the diarrhea back on Thur either. i don't really think it's diet so much as he caught something like a flu bug. but i do want to know what you both are meaning by getting a specalist. dietician or something or what?

I am the last person you would want to talk to about diet. But, what I can say is that when I read the title of your thread my heart sank and I said to myself "OMG not again". Which means that I've seen this similar thread quite a few times. I was honestly scared.

I was thinking some kind of dietician/nutrition expert. The falling asleep while sitting up and shaking scares me. I myself am a fairly paranoid mom so I take my dogs in for every little thing, and to be honest with you most of the time I never even needed to. But I don't want to miss the one time I should have. I bet Cathy can offer you much better advice than me.

I hope Bentley feels better soon!

The shaking thing makes me nervous too. Does he typically shake when cold? If not, I'd be a little concerned. Jackson will shake when we get into the car sometimes because he's nervous AND cold (it's been like 35 degrees and windy the last few days) but he never randomly shakes indoors.... so if he was shaking indoors, I'd be concerned if it's not a normal occurrence.

I don't take Jackson into the vet very often but if the shaking was still going on, I'd be rushing him in. I do recall quite a few sick threads from you in the past few months. I think I can only remember Jackson being truly sick like once or twice in the last 2 yrs. Once when he had lymes and once when he had kennel cough. So I think all the vomitting/diarrhea issues lately would be worrisome to me personally if it were happening to Jackson, I'd def. be taking him to the vet. But then again it could be nothing, you just never know.

Rachel, that statement bolded above worries me. Wild parties and yorkies do not mix well. Maybe this recent episode was not caused by something from the party; but, the fact that you are saying that you had something there that you refer to as "bad" that could have harmed them is worrisome. My suggestion is that in the future you keep Sadie and Bentley safely tucked away in a room by themselves when you decide to hold "wild" parties. My son left a half empty glass from a party one night and ended up with a hefty vet bill when one of their pups drank it....it was rum and OJ. They were lucky that the pup survived. Alcohol can kill a small pup. He learned a valuable lesson from it...thankfully they found out Bailey drank it before it was too late. He was quite "drunk" but was ok.

As for what is going on now, no clue. All I know is that it does seem like you have frequent GI problems with your pups. I can see why Cathy suggested a specialist.

that made me a bit nervous too, but i kept my eye on Bentley the entire night and sadie did get put away in another room. most of the night bent. was sleeping in his dog bed next to our table. i don't think they would have given him anything to drink. and nothing was ever on the floor or around the dogs at all. dh says Bent frequently falls asleep while sitting up. dh wore them out good for the party so they were super tired and that is normal for him. the shaking stopped after i gave both the karo syrup on his gums and wrapped him up warm in a blanket. he just ate some rice only, little natural chicken broth and some pedialite unflavored. we'll see if he keeps it down tonight. he seems much better, he's up and around playful and alert. and he's taking a beating because guess what...my sweet sadie is now a humper. she's gone at it on him several times today. like full on humping too...i keep pushing her away and telling her NO! darn dominent brat.

on and Jane that was the LAST party i think we'll be having. it wasn't quite what i expected from my friends, they were very drunk but also sloppy at it. spilled chocolate all over my microwave and beer all over the cargets and broke our toilet and a shot glass in our garbage disposal. NOT happening in my house again.


btw. right now Bentley is whining for food like his usual self LOL

also, since going to a kibble we've had a long time since last illness. i know it seemed like they were both off and on sick all the time and they were, but that was back when on raw and homemade diets. since the kibble they were just fine for a long long time. hopefully this fades quick and it's not a big deal at the vets tomorrow.

It sounds like he'll be ok. Don't ever hesitate to post about them. We'll keep ya in check. Keep is posted.

i will. it's hard because u guys can't see them and know them everyday like we do so it's hard for both me to know when it's super serious and hard for you guys to tell as well but i appreciate all the advise and if he got real bad u can bet no amount of money would stop me from that ER vet. done it before i'll prob. do it again. lol but for now he's going in the morning to the reg. vet. i think he needs his anal glands expressed whether he's still sick or not and just a quick check up to make sure he's ok.

Do you think he possibly got into some of the spilled chocolate? Even just a little bit... since a little bit won't really 'harm' them but it could def. make them ill.

Happy to hear that all is ok. Sometimes pups will get sick and vomit and it just passes and you never really know why they did. One of my fosters vomited all over my bed last night...twice....sat up with him for an hour after than and he seemed fine. He woke up raring to go this morning and ate his food without any issues. I am used to such things happening after having so many and just don't get alarmed unless it continues...then, it is off to the EC or vet depending upon the time of day. Best thing to do is to check for hydration. I have never had to worry about blood sugars on adult yorkies unless they had some other ongoing health issues.

took him to the vet today. both dogs got their anal glands done, his weren't full like i thought. vet said i did everything right on the mark like she would have suggested. she added metronidizol which i had at home and that was that. she doesn't think it's a big deal to worry yet and it might just be a fluke deal that he ate something in the house or yard who knows. he's doing much better now and back to normal. got him some pedialite last night to mix in with the natural broth and rice. we'll try a little chicken again tonight. doing pepcid and cerenia with the antibiotics again. she says at this time we'll just wait and see but if we do notice another sickness soon she'll suggest IBD and other things. because all the other issues were around the raw diets she thinks we're doing great on diet and this is just a fluke deal...hope she's right. and IBD dog is going to be rocky road if we have to go there. we'll just have to wait and see. hope it's just a slip up in our otherwise improved diet and life.

thanks for the thoughts and prayers and Bent. is chasing squirrels and once again keeping mommy safe from those nasty creatures.

Rachel to clarify my statement that I thought you needed a specialist for the dogs -- I meant that at the VERY LEAST you should start with a Board Certified Veterinary Internist.

I recommended that you do that because I thought I'd share with you the benefit of having spent thousands of dollars on these same issues and knowing that in the end, I could have saved thousands had I had been given the same suggestions. When I had sick pups 10 years ago, I knew no other yorkie owners. I had no access to a breeder because I have pet store puppy mill dogs. I had no forum like Yorkie Talk. So I did the best I could, relied on my general vet's opinion, and this cycle went on for years and thousands of dollars.

I still think you should consider a consult - if the dog is ok right now, you can hold off on any urgency but you should have an exam, and abdominal ultrasound, and an opinion about this from someone qualified to render it -- a board certified specialist. Just MY OPINION... Flagyl on and off for symptoms is not getting to the diagnosis or treatment for the condition. Daisy has IBD and you'd never know it. We hardly ever have diarrhea around here. It can be very successfully managed if you are in the right place.

I'm glad your dog is feeling better for now. Keep my suggestion in the back of your head in case you need it again.
Good luck.

thanks so much. i will defin. keep this in my back pocket and probably go ahead and research it for next time. if he doesn't get over this quicker and has it again it's off to find that specialist. it just doesn't make sense that they BOTH get sick at the same time. i mean maybe they are both IBD dogs, but more likely there is something in my yard or home that's causing a viral or bacterial infection. again i could be wrong, but it just doesn't make sense that one is fine until the other is sick and then they always both are. uggg. it's really stressing me out and breaking my heart to see them keep getting sick. i really thought it was the raw food and that we were finally beating the whole thing. since i haven't changed their food in months i'm really leaning towards environmental illness. could it be possible that my dogs are hypersensitive to change such as holidays, stress and guests? does this ever happen to anyone where stress induces sickness? what can i check for in the yard? i just bleached water cleaned their drinking bowl and i hand scrubbed the kitchen floor with lysol. i do feed kibble on the floor so they don't scarf it up...should i stop doing that and get a cookie pan to feed off on that's washed daily? HELP :(

Max empties his food bowl at the speed of light. Instead of putting it on the floor, why not put it in a bowl and put a tennis ball on top of it. It will force them to eat around it and they'll eat slower.

tried that. doesn't help as much as chasing kibbles across the floor. but i will try the cookie sheet method. that way it's cleaner and washed and it's also hard to catch kibbles....also

i researched and found this place:

Kansas City Veterinary Specialty & 24-hour Pet Emergency Center, Overland Park | vet dog cat | Lenexa Olathe | BluePearl

I am tempted to give you all kinds of further advice but Rachel I just see that you reject everything everyone tells you. So you go ahead and keep cleaning their bowls with bleach and spinning your wheels. I think my time is better spent praying for your pups. I'll stop in at the chapel after work and light two candles for them, and one for the deer that died at Connie's.

I'm sorry to hear that your baby is sick. Its always so hard when they get sick and you don't know exactly what the cause is. I hope he feels better soon!!!

i am trying to listen, i guess i just don't understand how both dogs could have IBD or any other gastro disease. if that were the case logically then they would always be sick at different times off and on not sick at the exact same time and fine for months at a time and then sick at the exact same time again. they are "catching" it from each other which doesn't point towards IBD but rather viral and bacterial infections. that's why i'm coming to a conclusion that it's my home/yard at this time. i did however look up VSEC and ask my friend that's a vet who her best reference would be should we go that route soon. they have an internal dept. and several board vets there. it's not that far either. so when my vet thinks it's time to go there i'm ready for it too.

Your vet doesn't know that Sadie is vomiting right? So for now your local vet just things it's a little something or other with Bentley? And yes, it seems that they keep catching something from another.