Gigi's ER visit last night

[Jenni23]

Well as soon as I posted good things in her other thread, she had a scary event last night.

We feed her three times a day since she's still young and after her lunch she began acting weird. She started to have some labored breathing and when I took her out she threw up some, not all, of her lunch. The weird breathing continued and we watched her carefully. Mostly for the rest of the afternoon she layed around like she wasn't feeling well. When we got to dinner, she acted like she normally does, like a hungry crazed beast. She ate all of her dinner and I held her for 20 minutes. As soon as I let her down she walked around and then threw up her entire dinner. The breathing wasn't good. So that was it, we headed to the emergency animal clinic.

They took her back and took chest and abdominal X-rays. Luckily there was no obstruction, her stomach however was full of air. The doctor said with it being so large, it could be putting pressure on her diaphragm and making her breathe funny. We are thinking she may have gotten into one of our other dogs' food and it didn't sit well with her, causing a lot of gas.

The chest X-ray still shows pneumonia in her right lung and it doesn't look like it has improved at all to me. The ER Doctor said to keep nebulizing her, but to take her off of the albuterol. She also said that a trachea wash would be good, but in her condition, she might not wake up. She has been on baytril and clavamox the entire time, so instead of just using those all the time, can't we try some other meds? Kind of like a trial and error? Instead of dangerously putting her under? I mean I am just at the end of my rope with vets right now. They just keep handing us the same meds week after week, and every vet contradicts the other vet. It's exhausting.

Oh and another thing the ER vet told us was that she saw NO sign of mega esophagus on her X-rays!

So right now, Gigi is up in her crate being nebulized with distilled water. She has eaten 2 small meals today and kept both down. She has taken her meds today as well. She is a little under the weather, but seems bright and alert.

Let me know what y'all think, Gigi needs all the help and prayers she can get.

 

[2BullyMama]

Poor Gigi... and Momma so sorry she is having such a hard time with her belly... all so frustrating when you feel you are helpless and unable to stop her pain.

I'm sending lots of prayers to you all.

 

[helsonwheels]

Awwwa Gigi . So far so good. She's at home and keeping her little meals down which is great news.

 

[Frith]

Hang in there--lots of prayers from us! So you know Frith has had 4 xrays--2 showed no ME 2 showed ME--but the two that showed ME were within a week of taking Nexguard and getting aspiration pneumonia. My vet now says she has intermittent ME--can't find reference to that online anywhere.

The whole stomach full of air thing is really bad--can you get her to burp like you would a baby after meals?

I brought to the vet the thing I learned here (thank you all) about bulldogs and small trachea--and asked maybe we should bombard this stuff for longer than the average dose and a little stronger, because her trachea is so small it can't get out. He agreed--at 7 months, her trachea is the size of a pencil when it should be the size of a thumb, and it is possible that she just can't cough up the phlegm enough to make the pneumonia go away (basically she keeps re-aspirating the phlegm).

In mega frustration, I also wondered (very jokingly) if hanging her by her hind paws would drain everything out of her lungs--but my husband said no. We can do this.

 

[Paulita89]

Aww sweet girl hope you feel better soon


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[Texas Carol]

So darned frustrating (and expensive too), I feel sad with y'all
and just hate how worried y'all are about Gigi.

Continued prayers that a correct dx is found, asap!

Loving hugs to all.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Sending love hugs and prayers that Gigi feels better soon.

 

[My Otis]

Prayers are coming your way Gigi to make a Full Recovery Sweet Precious Girl.

 

[Christie H]

Prayers going out..

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[Jenni23]

So I've decided to find another vet. I think I may have found a good one about an hour away in Maryland. He specializes in brachialsephalic syndrome and he has English Bulldogs. After I called and made an appointment for this Saturday, he actually personally called me back to talk about Gigi and see how she was, and give me some good advice on how to keep her stable at home until Saturday. We have to keep her on her meds for now, even though he doesn't like the baytril. He wants her to only nebulize with water, not albuterol, and a very bland diet to minimize stomach issues. We also have to feed several small meals a day, to minimize aspiration as much as possible. Fingers crossed that we make some headway with this doctor!

Gigi has definitely been under the weather today, mostly sleepy. Her breathing is ok, not the greatest, but she's not struggling much.

Please keep her in your thoughts, and thank you for all the kindness and prayers

 

[2BullyMama]

So I've decided to find another vet. I think I may have found a good one about an hour away in Maryland. He specializes in brachialsephalic syndrome and he has English Bulldogs. After I called and made an appointment for this Saturday, he actually personally called me back to talk about Gigi and see how she was, and give me some good advice on how to keep her stable at home until Saturday. We have to keep her on her meds for now, even though he doesn't like the baytril. He wants her to only nebulize with water, not albuterol, and a very bland diet to minimize stomach issues. We also have to feed several small meals a day, to minimize aspiration as much as possible. Fingers crossed that we make some headway with this doctor!

Gigi has definitely been under the weather today, mostly sleepy. Her breathing is ok, not the greatest, but she's not struggling much.

Please keep her in your thoughts, and thank you for all the kindness and prayers

Many prayers to you both.... New vet sounds a lot better already!

 

[MFrey2012]

Much love to you and Gigi from me and Ellie, and a Vet you and Gigi LOVE will make ALL the difference!!

GIGI - YOU GOT THIS!!

 

[Davidh]

Sorry you are having trouble with your baby. I would find a good bully vet to look at your baby. I would also get a second opinion from the x-rays from a good bully vet. Sometimes in the lower lungs can look cloudy and some vets will think it is pneumonia and it really isn't. I found that out when Henri got a bad respiratory infection and I took him to an emergency clinic and they wanted to keep him over night because he said he had pneumonia and showed me the x-ray. The thing that threw a red flag to me was, he was not running a fever. If he had pneumonia, he would have had a fever. The next day I took him to our vet and she told me a lot of vets will think the cloudy part in the lower lung is pneumonia, but it's not. So if he is not running a fever, there is a good chance he does not have pneumonia. I hope you can find a good bully vet to check out your boy.

 

[Jenni23]

Sorry you are having trouble with your baby. I would find a good bully vet to look at your baby. I would also get a second opinion from the x-rays from a good bully vet. Sometimes in the lower lungs can look cloudy and some vets will think it is pneumonia and it really isn't. I found that out when Henri got a bad respiratory infection and I took him to an emergency clinic and they wanted to keep him over night because he said he had pneumonia and showed me the x-ray. The thing that threw a red flag to me was, he was not running a fever. If he had pneumonia, he would have had a fever. The next day I took him to our vet and she told me a lot of vets will think the cloudy part in the lower lung is pneumonia, but it's not. So if he is not running a fever, there is a good chance he does not have pneumonia. I hope you can find a good bully vet to check out your boy.

She's never had a fever the entire time she's had pneumonia, but the vet says she hears crackling in her lungs and the X-rays show pneumonia. The vet that we are scheduled to see on Saturday, specializes in Bulldogs and brachialsephalic breeds, so hopefully we will get some real options on how to get her through this. He really sounded promising on the phone, and he comes highly recommended.

 

[Davidh]

[MENTION=15577]Jenni23[/MENTION] I hope this new vet is a good one, and can get your baby straightened out. I still don't think it is pneumonia, but I'm not a vet. Please keep us posted.