Bela is sick - any advice until we can get to the vet?
 

HI Everyone!!

We are new to this forum and have a sweet 10 year old Yorkie named Bela. Bela has had diarrhea all day today and now is vomiting a bit and I have been noticing that she is panting on and off as well. We live in Alaska and Bela rarely pants due to the heat here. she stays indors most of the time and it is a comfortable 70 degrees in the house now and she is panting.....this is highly unusual so I am positive it is not due to her being hot.

We feed her Natural Balance Reduced fat kibble with some chicken broth and just a few healthy treats and occasional bits of table scraps but this is VERY limited. Bela is not overweight. Last night I did do something out of the ordinary for both myself and the dogs.....I went to Burger King for a BK Veggie sandwich and got an order of onion rings - when I got home I decided not to eat the onion rings and gave each of our dogs aproximately 2 onion rings before I tossed them.

:confused: Do any of you have experience withh fried food and tummy upset?? We rarely eat fast food ourselves and almost never give greasy food to the dogs either. The onion rings may have nothing to do with Bela's tummy upset at all but thought it was worth a shot in asking you.

It's 8:30pm here and unless Bela takes a turn for the worse I plan to take her in to see our regular vet in the morning instead of taking her to the emergency room tonight. She is a bit lethargic but still seems very alert and has a normal temperature.

I have given Bela a small dose of Kaopectate to help with her diarrhea.

Thank you in advance for any advice or experience you might have to share.

Lisa and sweet Bela

Onions are poisonous for dogs and then being fried I am afraid she probably has pancreatitis. She really needs to be on an I.V. as soon as possible. Time really makes a big difference in treating pancreatitis. I'm really not one to make people rush to the vet, but with her age I really think you probably should, you could transfer her to your regular vet in the morning.

Hi Lisa, It's nice to see someone else from Anchorage!

I'm sorry your Bella is sick. I was going to say the same as Lacy's Mom. I know I have just read recently that onions are poisonus to dogs. I can't remember right off the top of my head what it does to them but I do know it's not good. With them being fried I think that just adds to the upset.

If she has thrown up too many times and with dirrhea I would get her as soon as possible. Dogs as little as Yorkies can surely go down hill quickly.

I do hope she's feeling better soon.

Kim in Peter's Creek

Ahhh, found my book. Here's what it says...short but to the point

Onions: whether cooked or raw contain a substance that can damage red blood cells (which carry oxygen to all parts of the body) in several animals, including dogs. This condition is called Heinz body hemolytic anemia.

I don't know if the symptums include diarrhea and vomiting or not but considering that she had quite a bit for such a little one I would definately think it would be causing problems of some kind.

Please let us know how she's getting on.

Kim

Just reading this - any updates on your precious furbaby?

Yes please keep us posted.. Saying a prayer that she is ok

I think its the onion rings that made her sick. Let us know what the vet has to say

I'm sorry Bella is not feeling well. Sending prayers that she is she is ok.

OMG ! Onions are bad especially fried. Poor baby. Let us know how she's feeling today.

Please update when you can - I've had Bella on my mind and in my prayers since I first saw your post. Hope everything is fine.

This is exactly what I would say! Please please update us.

Wow, yeah i heard that onions are very bad. I hope her baby is ok.

Lisa and Bella,

Have been wondering about you all day. Checked in several times and just can't wait for an update. I really hope Bella is feeling better tonight.

Please let us know

Kim

Now I know there is an emergency vet in Anchorage (I do not live there but Bruce and I were there all summer) somewhere on Northern Lights that is 24 hours, there is also one on Fairbanks and one in Wasilla, and another in Eagle River. I know they are in the phonebook. Bruce got stung while up there and I had to find a place to rush him in the middle of the night. If you are really far out even I know there is an emergency clinic in Big Lake off Parks Highway (Bruce was choking on our way home and I thought he had swallowed something poisonous outside, sure enough it was nothing).

Hi everyone - I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you for all of your comments and concern abvout sweet Bela.

Bela is doing GREAT!! I did decide to wait and take her to our vet early that morning instead of the emergency vet as it was already in the AM by the time I relized that the onions were poisonous for dogs. Eeeeekkk!! I have a list of the bad foods for dogs and for some reason I just didn't remember the onions being on there. I had been taking her temp and it was normal and since my vet opens at 7:30 am I waited. I was up most of the night with her though.

Anyway - the vet was concerned about the pancreatitis as suggested on this thread and so they kept Bela all day and ran a blood panel, stool floatation and gave her fluids. Everything was normal. So the vet has concluded it was just a very upset tummy and we have her on a bland diet for the next few days.

We have had Bela 10 years (since she was a pup) - and she has never been this sick before??? I learned a huge $300 lesson and at poor Bela's tummy's expense so I will NEVER give her anything greasy again!!!

Thank you again - I am so happy that I have found this forum and will enjoy getting to know you all and your sweet yorkies.

Kim - it is GREAT for me to know someone from the Anchorage area as well!! We have sighthounds too (a whippet and 3 italian greyhounds) and in the summer we practice lure coursing at Mirror Lake High School near you. Bela has even chased the lure before and she did quite well - it was fun watching her little legs go so fast!! :D

Bruce's mom Thank you for posting about the emergency vets. We live in Anchorage and there ARE two 24 hour emergency vets here - I just preferred waiting for our own vet in this instance since it was so late and only a few hours til our own vet office opened...............especially since Bela remained alert and wasn't running a temp. Will you be back next summer to visit? I hope you enjoyed the summer here though it was a bit of a wet one -Alaska is BEAUTIFUL!!!