General Question Need some opinions on Ellie's recent stomach issues

[spork3127]

Where to start? In July, our family grew with the addition of a son via adoption. Basically, Ellie has been fine around him. She'll get on the couch and sniff him, lick him to death, etc. Well in late July/early August, she stopped eating, throwing up, etc. We took her to the vet, had her on medication, got things back on track. Our vet was even in agreement that it could be stress related from the new addition. In between then and now, there have been a couple of 1-2 day stretches of not eating, but no throwing up and things were back to normal. Well over the past week, the no eating and throwing up has been back. Ellie went to the vet Friday, got medication, they put her on a flavor of Purina food for sensitive stomachs that she scarfed down at the vets office (I know, I know....Purina ), but if she'll eat it, keep it down, and she improves on it, I'll swallow my desire of her to be on a higher quality food for her health. Her blood work did indicate a possible infection of some kind that they thought was the issue. The weekend went by and she had started to eat and then this morning, she threw up again. She's been drinking water with no issues and has not been dehydrated. I took her back in today for x-rays. No blockages, GI looked normal, but there was some "fuzzyness" around her pancreas. They tested for pancreatitis and that came back normal/negative. The vet recommended picking up some Prilosec for acid and cutting the 20mg tablets in half and giving 10mg a day for a week in addition to the other medications that she's on.

Now then...as we eliminate possible causes (blockages, GI, Pancreas, etc), I keep going back to our adoption in July. Could this all be related to Ellie being the baby and now having to take a back seat to the baby and it just being her nerves/stress? The vet seems to think that the next step would be to try her on, I guess the dog equivalent, of Prozac. I feel that we're doing everything that we can by eliminating things 1 by 1 and we obviously want Ellie to be healthy, but has anyone dealt with similar issues? Any opinions on the situation?

 

[AubreysMom]

Has she lost any weight? Aubrey, our bully before Aubie, had problems with eating and throwing up off and on, and it turned out she had an uncommon intestinal problem that went undiagnosed. It didn't show up until the problem itself caused a blockage that showed on an ultrasound. All I can say is try whatever you can to figure out the problem and don't take no for an answer. It could be many things and you just have to narrow it down like you are. If the food works, hey, that's great! Maybe then you can branch out to a somewhat better brand that's for sensitive stomachs.

I wish I could be of more help, but I don't think my experience quite fits yours with Ellie... at least, I really really hope not. It'd be great if our babies could tell us what was wrong, huh?

 

[bullmama]

Bummer I was hoping she was getting better by now .

Your description of Ellie sounds so much like my obstruction with Yuna. All tests cme back negative including X-rays. After 2 weeks or so I finally called the vet and told them to cut her open and find the problem. He insisted she did not have an obstruction.

He felt so bad when he found the rubber doughnut in her, especially because I said obstruction fit her symptoms from the very beginning. He was not seeing her at the time. ( he was not in town) but agreed with the other vets tests. He trusted me enough though to know something was very wrong and I knew she was going to die if he didn't cut her open to look at her for himself. Otherwise I don't think she would have had the surgery.

Now on the other hand. [MENTION=959]kazzy220[/MENTION] had the opposite experience, their vet dived in immediately and found nothing.

Remember cloth does not show up in x rays and neither do lightweight rubber doughnuts . The only way to rule out obstruction completely is to do a barium xray.


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[mer55]

Just reading through this, and the issues I am going through with Bogey right now- did they do a portalsystemic shunt test? It involves drawing blood before eating and then after and they measure the bile salts. The test takes a few days to come back. This is a birth defect where the liver cannot filter the toxins, especially with high protein diets( like all the good food we like here). It may explain why she did better on the Purina because it is more grain than protein. I can't believe it would be connected to the adoption. bullies are such lovers, and I don't think they care how many skin relatives they have! This is just a thought. You can look up the disease and see if anything sounds worth investigating. The test cost me $135. Waiting on results.

 

[ddnene]

Poor Ellie... I'm so sorry, I don't have any experience with this at all. I agree that whatever food she is tolerating is what you should give her at this point... You KNOW her best, and when you feel something is wrong it's like a mother's sixth sense we just know!!! When we introduced our new grandson to our Bella, she was OVERLY protective of him. Every cry, every whimper she was right there... maybe this is a stress thing. I hope you get this solved soon... keep us posted!!!

 

[2BullyMama]

Just sending hugs and prayers that it turns out to be stress, but listen to those with all the experience and get your girl checked more

 

[Jennifer Clark]

Sending hugs and prayers as I have no experience with this and that is all I can do at this point and pray for a positive outcome!

 

[spork3127]

Thanks all. The portalsystemic shunt test is a good idea that I'll have to ask about. They did mention that her liver enzymes were low on her blood work and thought that it was related to her not eating, but it makes a little more sense if the test is the case. We'll see how tonight goes and see if we can get her to eat. I still think it's stress related as before July, she was fine and never had an issue. Then all of a sudden there's a new baby around and these issues pop up. At least, I hope it's only stress related. She still loves on him every chance that we let her, but I can see how going from being the baby to second in line can be stressful.

 

[spork3127]

Well, I think we're turning a corner with Ellie. Last night, she seemed to be a little "perkier" and ate about 1/4 cup of food. This morning, she ate almost 1/2 a cup. Well tonight, she gladly accepted pill pockets with her pills inside and polished off about 3/4 of a cup. And the best part is that she hasn't gotten sick since Monday. We'll see how tomorrow goes, but hopefully pill pockets and her normal full cup at both feedings. I hate that she's eating Purina, but hey...if that's what it takes, then I've just got to bite my tongue and go with it.

 

[2BullyMama]

Well, I think we're turning a corner with Ellie. Last night, she seemed to be a little "perkier" and ate about 1/4 cup of food. This morning, she ate almost 1/2 a cup. Well tonight, she gladly accepted pill pockets with her pills inside and polished off about 3/4 of a cup. And the best part is that she hasn't gotten sick since Monday. We'll see how tomorrow goes, but hopefully pill pockets and her normal full cup at both feedings. I hate that she's eating Purina, but hey...if that's what it takes, then I've just got to bite my tongue and go with it.

baby steps is better than no steps.... good luck, give her hugs and keep us posted