Need help!!

[bosshog]

My 4.5 year old female,Ellie, has always had a sensitive stomach. A couple of months ago we switched over from Royal Canin Hypo to Blue Buffalo Basics. At first it really cut down on her regurgitation. But for the last 6 weeks she throws up at least once a day. The vet didn't know what to do. We tried boiled hamburger and cottage cheese. That helped and then two weeks later it started up again. The Blue Buffalo has done a better job with their coats than the Royal Canin. But, we are trying to sell our house and I don't want my carpet ruined and I want my baby to feel good. Any suggestions?

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Wow..I am certainly not an expert..but how about a prescription food to settle her tummy down. They aren't the best as far as ratings..but they have a place and your baby needs something. I know they are used with success to try and transition to a better food. Someone here will have info for you. Sorry I have no other thoughts.

 

[TessaAndSamson]

Since you mentioned boiled hamburger and cottage cheese I would assume you have tried a bland diet which is what I would recommend doing for a few days, up to a week. The bland diet I use has rice though, one part boiled hamburger or chicken breast to one part white rice with a couple spoon fulls of cottage cheese. I would also suggest trying a different food but when you do so make a VERY slow transition. We had another bully on here that had issues with throwing their food up, they switched to Fromm (which is a really good food) and the vomitting stopped.

 

[laurendoodler]

Hmm..Delilah can get like this, too.

She's not able to keep the bland diet down all the time? Have you perhaps had her checked for megaesophagus? It's a fairly common problem in smushy breeds. It's where the esophagus doesn't stay tight like it's supposed to in order to have the food go down..instead, it's really loose and floppy and food stays in there, so they throw it up instead of it going into their stomachs. It's very easy to see on an x-ray.

 

[bullmama]

Good advice Lauren. My words would mirror tessa's exactly. I don't know why but many complain about blue causing tummy issues and diarrhea. The other member had success with Fromm stopping their problem, perhaps it would help yours too?

 

[bosshog]

Thanks for the advice. We have switched to Nature's Variety Duck and Turkey(I think that is what my wife bought). We have a 15 month old son who loves to feed his bulldogs. We are really trying to separate the dogs when we feed him . They have been on Nature's Variety for a about two weeks now and we have seen some change. We are reallty trying to get this resolved but our vet-Banfield @Petsmart- seems to just want to find ways to drain our wallet.Hopefully we can get her belly settled!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

[MENTION=1957]bosshog[/MENTION]..maybe a new vet too??

 

[kazzy220]

[MENTION=1957]bosshog[/MENTION] What was Ellie throwing up .. .was it almost like a brownish phlegm or sometimes a clear phlegm.

Maggie used to throw up a lot too, until we tried her on Fromm. We also have two miniature schnauzers who used to periodically throw up too for no apparent reason. Because we were focusing so much on Maggie and her diet, at the same time we changed her to Fromm we stopped buying all the treats from the grocery store. We started to give ALL the dogs, baby carrots, frozen green beans, frozen broccoli, frozen blueberries, cucumber chunks and banana slices. All the stuff that was recommended on here. Miraculously both schnauzers stopped throwing up too despite being on the food that they had all been on.

Hope that helps!

 

[bosshog]

The majority of the times she has thrown up it has been regurgitation of her food. Today it was literally 2 minutes after she ate her food. We feed our bullies twice a day. Otis is 70 pounds and Ellie is 60 pounds-they both get 1 cup 2x a day. In the past she would hock up white foam but now it is almost always her food. After reading about mega-esophagus, I am convinced that is her problem. She had pneumonia as a puppy and I am unsure if she had this issue then. We adopted her when she was about 2 years old. But with the mega-esophagus, her breath is awful; she always is clearing her throat; she will "lick" the air or the carpet for an hour straight unless you stop her. We know she has always had a sensitive stomach but now it has really become a major issue. I am thinking about the liquid diet- any recipes?

 

[LisaMarie]

Poor Baby Glad you switched her from the BF.Many English Bulldogs suffer from allergies and some foods are just not agreeable to their tummies. I am wondering how often and the amount of food you give Her?? Also, does she drink enough water?? I would also suggest that she rest for 45 minutes before she starts to run and play after she eats. I hope I was able to help

 

[bullmama]

Has she been playing right before she eats? If so maybe try making her wait until she is relaxed?

 

[Bella'sMom]

The majority of the times she has thrown up it has been regurgitation of her food. Today it was literally 2 minutes after she ate her food. We feed our bullies twice a day. Otis is 70 pounds and Ellie is 60 pounds-they both get 1 cup 2x a day. In the past she would hock up white foam but now it is almost always her food. After reading about mega-esophagus, I am convinced that is her problem. She had pneumonia as a puppy and I am unsure if she had this issue then. We adopted her when she was about 2 years old. But with the mega-esophagus, her breath is awful; she always is clearing her throat; she will "lick" the air or the carpet for an hour straight unless you stop her. We know she has always had a sensitive stomach but now it has really become a major issue. I am thinking about the liquid diet- any recipes?

1st, please find a vet who has Bulldog experience. I had so many problems with going to Banfield, Change.

2nd, you asked about a liquid diet. I am not sure if there are any out there, however I know you can grind up kibble and mix it with water or broth, like a runny oatmeal. They can lick it up. Bella has a medical condition and this works well with EPI dogs for digestion. However some dogs have a hard time with accepting it, dogs are designed to chew on hard crunchy things.

3rd, maybe there is some kind of medication you can give her daily that cuts down on acid reflux. Equivalent to human Nexium or previcid. good luck I hope you can get her doing better soon.

 

[mamamia]

We had the same kind of situation with our Westy. App. 2 months ago we sat down and decided that we might have to make a hard decision regarding our 13 year old Westy.
He smelled awful, had balled spots, he was getting deaf, he would throw up all the time, he was soooo unhappy and would snap at our kids and was super grumpy!. I took him to the vet, she did all the tests that she could do and $400.- later they could not find anything in blood, urine and general exam except that he got diagnosed with black skin decease. She gave him antibiotics just to see if that would make a difference and I got some special shampoo.
Just at the same time we got our bulldog pup and we decided to put all of them on a high quality all stages food. The funny part is that we never thought about changing his food and that this might change things for him. After one week we said that we were amazed that the pup had actually cheered him up, since he hated everything alive in the past year (like dogs and cats). Then we noticed that we could scratch his head and he would not yelp in pain. One evening I realized that I never noticed that he didn't stink anymore. There was no more throw-up to clean up, no more accidents in the house..... he tolerated that other animals much better.

I cry every time when I stop and think about it..... the day I took him to the vet, I kind of assumed that I would leave the office without him. It was soooo hard to call and make the appointment, go there and wait for all the test results ...... then I went home thinking that he must have a brain tumor or something crazy in his head for being to angry (he was never angry before).

We JUST changed the FOOD!!! and he might have many more years!!

 

[LariP]

We started giving Gracie a tums after meals. It really has helped decrease the "air licking" dramatically. She also eats Fromm and it's done a lot to help her with allergies.

 

[bosshog]

We have given her some generic OTC prevacid in the past. It seemed like it was working really well -then all this started. I will keep everyone posted pn her status. If anyone knows a good bulldog vet in Northern Kentucky/ Cincinnati area, let me know.