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Rachel Pittman | 5 years ago
Our 15lb Chihuahua/Maltese Mix Has A Gurgling Belly. You Can Hear The Noise Just Being …

Our 15lb Chihuahua/Maltese mix has a gurgling belly. You can hear the noise just being in the same room as him. He is super uncomfortable, sits down for a moment- you hear a gurgle and he shoots back up and circles then sits down again. It happens about once a month and lasts for about 12-24hrs. We have taken him into our vet a few times for it but by the time we take him in it has subsided. I believe they typically give him a one time dose of an antiemetic. Most of the time we have him leashed & am outside with him so we do not believe he is eating something. No table food, eats science diet. Has regular, formed, bowel movements. Unsure of what to do or how to make him feel better! We can not afford to keep taking him to the vet & not have answers of why this keeps happening.

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Maybe you can talk to your vet about a long term sensitive stomach food to try? Or make sure it doesn’t correlate with any of the preventatives you give. (And if you’re aren’t giving them you should check to make sure it isn’t intestinal worms with a fecal sent to the lab for analysis). Also some dogs benefit from probiotics long term and gi protectants. I can’t tell you what’s going on with your pup but I do think there are lots of low cost options to try to figure out what it might be. Also you should remove all snacks and treats for a month or two to see if this helps. I worry about gi issues and pancreatitis. In some cases there is excessive gas so a diet change might help. Talk to your vet about all of these. Let me know what happens. Good luck.

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Pawbly | 9 years ago
Her Symptoms Were Panting,warm Nose,left Side Abdominal Pain,very Unsettled And Crouching Like She Needs To…

Her symptoms were panting,warm nose,left side abdominal pain,very unsettled and crouching like she needs to poop all the time.
Now shes stopped panting,nose still a bit warm and green vaginal discharge.
She is still eating and drinking as normal.No sickness

4 Responses

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  1. Anonymous

    Is she spayed?  If not, I worry about a very serious health problem, pyometra…

    Either way, I’d get her back to the vet NOW.

  2. Melissa DiGioia

    Did they give her any medication or say she needs surgery? If she’s not in medication, I would take her back to the vet ASAP or at least call them. 

  3. Teresa-Ann McNeillie

    She was spayed when she was 2.

    The vet gave her a jab and said keep her away from tit bits and fatty foods.

    I just feel helpless as i can see shes not feeling well, she is still eating and drinking as normal but looks under the weather.

    I put my trust in my vet but feel let down.I always try to stick to the same vet in the practice (like i do at the doctors for myself).But because i rushed her over i got a different vet from the practice.She said shes a bit over weight (which i know as she is like a dyson hoover) but has lovely teeth and a great condition coat for her age.

    Tbh its the discharge thats confusing me.
    She went to step of the sofa tonight and her bk legs gave way

  4. Anonymous

    The discharge just started today, right? That would have me WORRIED and I’d have rushed her back in to the vet today about it.

    And it’s always good to keep your dog at a proper weight. Please don’t make excuses, saying she’s a hoover. Provided she doesn’t have an issue like Cushing’s or hypothyroid, YOU control her weight – put raw green beans in her food while feeding her less of a good quality food. The green beans help to make her belly full without giving her added calories. Expect them to come out the other end mostly whole.

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Pawbly | 9 years ago
My 13-year-old Beagle Has, Over The Course Of The Past Five Days, Been In Very…

My 13-year-old Beagle has, over the course of the past five days, been in very poor health. It started on his birthday when he had an edible rawhide birthday card. He chewed on it all day and I don’t believe he ate dinner that night or if he did it, was a small amount. He did go to the bathroom normally, but the next morning, he wouldn’t eat again and from there the symptoms progressively worsened. He threw up some 24 hours after first eating the rawhide and it was mainly unchewed bits of his regular Science Diet dry food (about a handful). He did not go #2 at all that day and though I initially thought he might be constipated, I realized that’s not really a common thing with dogs so it must mean there’s something more going on. The third day, he refused food again and was still having trouble using the bathroom. Peeing fine, but not drinking enough water (maybe going to his bowl 2x that day). He was reluctant to move and didn’t want to climb the stairs. He normally likes to walk forever and ever as he is a Beagle, but he went to pee, slightly sniffed, and returned home. The fourth day, his breathing appeared quite short and in rapid bursts. He wasn’t wheezing or coughing or anything. It just seemed like he was constantly out of breath. Same symptoms as before. The fifth day, we took him to the vet as he was really beginning to worry us. Symptoms maintained and he was unwilling to walk down the stairs to go outside. The vet said it looked as if there was food or possibly a small bit of rawhide in his stomach. Considering his lack of eating, I assumed it was the latter. She ran a general blood test and said that his blood was thick coming out, but the results were perfectly normal and all of his organs seem to be in good standing. There were no specific tests, only the X-Ray of the abdomen as she was aware of his consuming the rawhide. The fourth and fifth days, his hind legs would cross over as he walked and his hind feet would drag almost like he’s dizzy and was trying to catch his balance, but only in his hind legs. Te vet said she didn’t feel anything obvious in his tummy and whilst performing an overview of his teeth, she found he had pus coming from his upper canine teeth and the gums were pale and swollen. She followed up with anti-diarrhoea meds and recommended anti-nausea meds, but didn’t say they were necessary. Nothing was given for his teeth or any possible stomach pain. He was then given 300mL of fluids before giving the go ahead to take home.
The vet visit was two full days ago, nearly three, and we’ve seen little improvement aside from him eating the wet Science Diet food the vet recommended we put his anti-diarrhoea meds in so he would take them. He is still having trouble getting food down and around 6 hours ago, we began force feeding Pedialyte as he threw up once tonight and we thought the electrolytes might help. I’m concerned he may have Renal Failure or IVDD. These seem to be the two which match up the most with his symptoms and breed type, but I wasn’t aware he may have one of them when I took him to the vet and therefore didn’t mention it. I’m concerned the vet may have also missed something considering she seemed to overlook his hind leg situation and his teeth situation. Please give me advice on what I should do and he obviously needs to go to the vet again, but I think I’ll take him to a different one with records from his visit a few days ago. I dropped all of the money I had on his visit then and can’t afford anything more than the exam fee, so any recommendations on what to tell the vet that way we can bypass anything that isn’t absolutely necessary would be amazing and if he does need surgery (I hope with everything in me he doesn’t as I don’t know if he would make it out of being sedated given his short breathing which is still going on), are there any pet surgery fund donation sites anyone could possibly recommend?? Please, I beg of you, any help at all would be great!!!

4 Responses

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  1. Anonymous

    In your shoes, I would definitely get a second opinion.  Has he passed any stool since this started?

  2. Bria Rachele

    I’ve called about fifteen different vets in and around my city, some of which said it could possibly be IVDD and two said maybe TCC. He has passed stool, yes. He hasn’t within the past 36 hours I would say, but he has done it 2-3 times since it all started. He hasn’t had food within the past 18 hours though and because he was refusing most everything we gave him before, he really can’t afford to involuntarily fast right now. He’s lost quite a bit of nutrients and we’re still doing Pedialyte hoping that will help to at least replace some of them. His hind legs seem to have worsened a bit as well. I saw it could also be a disc within his spine, but it seems none of the symptoms for any of these completely match his, so I feel there a million and one things it could be. I just realized I inadvertently failed to include in the post above that the vet said he seems to have a swollen colitis as well, but she attributed that to his lack of adequate food, dehydration, and vomiting. I’m not sure if that would tie in with everything else to point to a diagnosis, but any symptom shouldn’t be overlooked. Please do ask any more questions you may have if you feel you might have an idea as to what it could be and I’ll answer the second I can! Thank you!

  3. Anonymous

    You’ve done quite a bit. I’m tapped for ideas…hopefully Dr. Magnifico or Ferara will pop in with suggestions for you.

  4. Bria Rachele

    Thank you for your input though and yes, any suggestions from any of the other two doctors would be helpful as well.

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Shiria | 9 years ago
Hello,

I’m From Germany And I Have A Queastion Regarding My Ca. 25 Year Old Cat…

Hello,

I’m from Germany and I have a queastion regarding my ca. 25 year old cat. Her true age is unknown as we got her from a shelter. She was in good health and my vet couldn’t believe her age.
She was diagnosed with pancratic cancer in October 2014. It was a random find, as she didn’t show any symtoms.
It was already around 5x4cm in size and I decided for surgery with the option of putting her down if it looked to bad.

The tumor was a solid mass in the pancreas. Small nodules were found in the surrounding tissue, but alls the other organs looked fine. The tumor was removed, which was easy duw to not being connected too much to the surrounding tissue.
My vet told me that the prognosis was still poor, with most patiens not surviving more than 6 months after diagnosis.

Whisky woke up normally and had no problems with eating/digesting afterwards. She was totally fine until after 10 months – in July 2015 – a new small tumour was found, around the size of a cherry.
We decided to wait how fast it will grow, as she still showd no signs or symptoms.
Las Friday on August the 8 I could feel that the tumour had grown fast – now back to old size. I drove to the vet and he confirmed that.
I knew if it grew so fats she would only have around one month more if it would start to cause her pain, so I decided for surgery again. She still was fine, always wanting no live and don’t show signs of old age.

This time it looked bad. Upon opening her up she already hat blood in her abdomen. The tumour was necrotic, starting with „tyrosis“ and half of the pancras was infected. The tumor started to fall apart when he touched it. Addiotionally not only th surrounding tissue had metastases, also the peritoneum now had some nodules. The other organs still looked fine. My vet said it looked very bad, normally he would put her down now, as the progmosis now was more than poor.

I still wanted to try it, and he did his best. Sadly she died during the wake up phase. Most likely it started bleeding again and she died of blood loss.

My vet told me that she would have died during the next days either way due to blood loss and infection during the next days. I now ask myself if she would still life if I didn’t have decided for surgery.
Or is what my vet said right and she would have died the next days either way, with that thing falling apart inside her. I trust my vet, but I have the feeling that I’m resposible for her death, that I have killed her somehow.

If needed I can provide pictures of the masses.

Thanks a lot for reading this wall of text!

Shiria

2 Responses

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  1. Kelly Furgason

    HI Shiria,
    First, very sorry to hear your cat died. My thoughts and sympathies are with you.

    When a pet dies like this, it is normal for us to think it was our fault, or something we could have prevented. It sounds like you went above and beyond with vet care and did everything you could have done for your cat. Surgery is always risky, but so is choosing to not do it and see what happens.

    I’d take comfort in knowing that you gave this kitty a longer life by helping her the best you could.
    I’m sure that your cat would have wanted to have every option at living and it sounds like that is what you gave her. It sounds like from what your vet found inside of her, that she was very very sick. Like you said, she seemed fine and didn’t show any signs of old age. But animals are not like people, they hide illness very well till the bitter end. She sounds like she was a wonderful kitty.
    I’m sorry things didn’t work out and sorry for your loss,
    ~kelly

  2. Shiria Post author

    Thanks a lot for your answer! It helps me a bit… In my head I know that most vets would have put her down after that finding inside of her… and that alone from what it looked like it had to be painful.

    But still, there is that voice that tells me “you should have taken her home and made her the best days she ever had”. She would still be here,,, I could still cuddle her, hear her voice, feel her next to me. Yes maybe she would have died the next time either way, but I would have time to say good bye. While this maybe is true, how would she have died? Alone and in pain while I’m at work? That is not what I would want for her…
    And than there is that tiny voice that tells me, that maybe her body would have found a way to build down that tumor and stop the bleeding, that maybe she would have weeks or months…

    My head knows that the possibility for this is near zero… Maybe making her some good last days would have been the most logic decision… maybe I would have felt better… Or maybe I would ask myself then, that she maybe would have survived surgery if I had just tried it.

    I guess no matter what my decision would have been, I would have felt guilty… I just want to know if my decision was right. And there is no definitive way of telling that…

    Thanks so much for reading my long text… It somehow helps me to talk to people that udnerstand the pain…