Bandit's Stomach softball size & hard. taken to vet twice w/ no results
 

Hey everyone I am new to registering and posting on this forum but have come here for research in the past. Hoping some of you can help me out. We have a 2 & 1/2 year old 10 lb morkie (malteese & yorkie mix)

This started last Tuesday night. so almost a week ago. We carved pumpkins in he backyard & my wife is convinced he ate some pumpkin seeds which is possible but I think it is more of a timing coincidence. He stomach got firm and was noticeably swollen. I thought it was gas but took him to the vet to be sure this was not serious on Wednesday afternoon. Our vet looked at the dog for about 5 minutes and told us to give him children's Tylenol & gas-x, this was a $60 visit. Did both of those with no avail. still swollen stomach through Friday. Friday night he was in much more noticeable pain & had thrown up 3 times in the 5 or so hours I was at work, his back legs are also very wobbly & unstable. Took him to the vet first thing Saturday morning. They did an X-ray which they say showed he had excess poop in his intestines & she thought that's why his stomach was swollen. He had not pooped yet that morning but did after returning home from the vet. the vet said the back legs being unstable was likely a slipped disc. In all I got pain medicine, laxative, & steroid medicine from the vet to give the dog. The laxative has not helped in my opinion. Although he does seem a little constipated his poop is still normal size, firmer than usual but not dry. The steroid medicine has not done anything in my opinion besides maybe giving him the strength to walk around which he is not doing often or efficiently. The pain medicine is the only thing that has helped as he does not seem as uncomfortable but still he is not his normal self. This morning he threw up once but did his poop & pee afterwards. Stomach is still rock hard and the size of a softball.

Sorry for the long post I wanted to put as much detail as possible. I wanted to get some opinions from you guys, hopefully someone has had a similar symptom and can give me some help. This is my first time with a sick dog, Bandit has been healthy as long as we have had him.

Hi and WELCOME to YT :) -- glad you found us, wish it was under better circumstances. Hmmm...this is a tough one bc it's so hard to say what could be going on here. You didn't switch foods or treats or anything, right? The only different food thing was that pumpkin?

A rock hard and swollen tummy is indeed a concern bc you worry about obstruction, in the worst case scenario. But the xray didn't show that? Did that tummy xray include the intestines, I assume...? Hopefully it did.

If xrays all prove clear, then you do wonder about the "slipped disc" comment - and if it were me, I'd need xray proof of this condition bc you need to know where the disc problem is and how bad it is. If it's causing severe pain - vomiting would not be uncommon, and the tension from the pain could cause both some distension in the tummy as well as bad constipation...but the lax should help there. For disc issues - you have a good regimen - my Wylie has disc issues and when he has a flare, he is given pain meds, steroids, and muscle relaxants....you may want to try adding the relaxant and see if that gets you anywhere. My vet says that this regimen tends to work very, very well on about 85% of dogs - the remaining dogs where it doesn't work may require surgery :(.

Another option is to consider a 2nd opinion. Again, it's tough to say if this could be related to something else entirely here.

Hi and welcome. Sorry your pup isn't feeling well. If I were you I would get a second opinion. And are you absolutely certain the vet told you to give children's Tylenol? I'm not a vet but I do work in a vet clinic and our veterinarians tell clients to never give Tylenol to a dog. It's extremely hard on their liver. I hope you get some answers.

Whenever I have a problem that remains unchanged or gets worse, and I can only get "maybe its this, maybe its that" responses from a vet, I always go for second opinion. You want to be sure your second opinion is an excellent vet, even better, a specialist, or you may spend more money and come away with the same answers. I would recommend a vet school for a second opinion.....they have cutting edge equipment and all the different specialists all under one roof!

I would absolutely get a second opinion! Poor little guy! I imagine when we have an upset tummy how uncomfortable it is for us.......and they r just 10# in your case or 5 or 2 pounds it just must be horrible!!!! I would ask for more xrays and be sure there aren't any growths....is he neutered? I hope you can get some relief soon for your poor guy!#

I would get a second opinion. . .

Please return and keep us updated on your pup.....there are a bunch of concerned people watching and waiting to hear about your baby.

Wanted to update everyone.

Took him to a second vet yesterday afternoon for a second opinion.

They did a much more thorough diagnosis, he has pancreatis & the stomach inflammation is due to gas. The x-ray also showed that he has an issue with his 12th & 13th vertebra being that they are too narrow. Vet gave us meds for the pancreatis & some stuff to give him to strengthen his bones due to the vertebra. Also told us to keep giving him the pain meds, gas meds, & steroid meds. I feel like this is a lot for the dog to be taking at one time but he said it would be ok. He is going to recheck him out on Wednesday before we leave to go out of the country. My mom will be watching him while we are gone so hopefully he does not have any major issues during the time she was watching him.

Yes please, and after one week I would be going to a specialist. I do not like hard stomach and swollen/distended. Nor the back pain.......

hope he is better soon

How are things going with your furry dude?

Coming back to check in, he got over these symptoms in a couple of weeks last year.

Now almost the same time of the year he is having the exact same issues. This time he most certainly did not eat anything unordinary as we have been VERY strict on not giving him any kind of different foods. His stomach is swollen large and firm and he has no energy and definitely not feeling himself, not excited to see us after work etc. We still have pain & gas meds from his last visit & going to call in the pancreatic meds from the vet. Do the same treatment, I will check back in and update.

Back to Dr...
 

Hope all goes well.... hate it when we're unable to make it better for our lil ones!!

Sorry to hear that your boy is going through these issues again. I would not assume that it is the same thing without having him back in for testing. I have found that sometimes what I thought was the same issue was very different issue with Buster. Pancreatitus is a painful and dangerous illness. I hope all goes well for your boy and he is feeling better soon.

It was absolutely the same thing. We ended up fasting him (no water or food) for 24 hrs. which helped then started him back slowly on low fat wet dog food (royal canin) his stomach would swell a little but not nearly what it did before . after about a week later we started getting him back into the dry dog food he is used to and his stomach would swell in the afternoon feeding and he would become clearly uncomfortable. Ended up taking him back to the vet. Same issue, Pancreatis so the vet gave us some more meds to give him which has stopped the swelling and pain. I asked the vet if there was anything more long term to give him as obviously this is a recurring issue. he said we could keep him on this permanently and just keep refilling it, so we are likely going to try that.

Glad it's working out thus far.

Unfortunately, my little girl is at Vet with diarrhea and vomiting.... they ran x-ray and now have her on nausea and pain med... pancreas testing was also done... not sure what's going on.. Feel so helpless that she's going through this....

I am glad he is feeling better.

I haven't been online to update status of our Bandit but unfortunately we had to put him to sleep about 3 weeks ago. It was the hardest thing me and my wife have ever had to do :(

Two days after my last post and after our last vet visit his stomach became rock hard and swollen again, I rushed him to the vet after work and he did X-rays & blood work. After lots of consideration by the vet he noticed bandit had an issue with a disc in his back and gave us some steroid medicine to try and cure it (This was Thursday afternoon). Friday we were both at work so he stayed in his pin during the day, by that evening his stomach was still large but a bigger issue began, he started loosing mobility of his back legs but could still walk. Saturday morning when we woke up he was paralyzed from the mid section down, he had no control of his back legs and would just drag them. He also had no bowel control. We rushed him to the vet who came in on his off day and gave us the bad news that the only options were a very expensive surgery at UGA (little guarantee) or to put him to sleep. We took bandit home and told him we would make up our minds by Monday. We cancelled all our plans over the weekend and took off work Monday. We spent all of our of time with him day and night through the weekend and did a ton of research on our own and ultimately decided putting him down was best for him and for us. it has the hardest decision we have ever had to make and our house has been terribly empty for the past 3 weeks so we have been trying to stay away and occupied. He will always be missed and never forgotten, he was our best friend and our only baby, we only had 3 short years with him but we did everything with him and took him everywhere.

Condolences
 

Sorry to hear the saddening news...

So sorry to hear about your puppy :(

Bandit
 

So sorry for the very sad update. Poor Bandit went through a lot, as did you, and it is so very sad that he did not make it. I feel for you, you must be devastated.
He is at peace now and one day you will meet again. Bandit, you were so loved.
Deepest condolences. Love and peace, Dot.

I am so sorry to come back and read about Bandit passing on. I am sorry you had to do the hardest thing that a pet guardian ever has to do and make that hard decision. You did what was best for Bandit. My deepest condolences to you on your loss. God Bless the new Yorkie Angel Bandit.