Very sick - diarrhea with blood

[toobad]

I have a male 4 years old and he is very sick. For the past two weeks he has has diarrhea with blood in it. He vomits up his food at times soon after eating. Vomiting is not a common problem only a couple of times. The diarrhea is very slimy like mucus and there is undigested chunks of food in it.
He has been to the vet twice. The first time the vet gave him metronidazole. Now he does not want to eat at all or very little. He is drinking water. We took him back in yesterday with a stool sample and the vet said no parasites in the sample. He did a blood test and today he said it was fine except a little low red cell count but that could be from the bleeding in his stool.
Tuesday I'm taking him for x-rays or ultra sound. The vet tried to feel his abdomen but said it was just too hard because of his size. He is just mopeing around and I feel terrible for him.

Has anyone got any ideas ? Something the vet isn't seeing ? My buddy needs some help and I just don't know what to do. Thanks in advance

[mmilard]

Not an expert here, but have you changed his food at all recently?

[toobad]

He has been eating Nutro for about three years. He eats the ( large breed weight management ). He WILL eat anything put in front of him. At dinner time he gets just a trace of our dinner in his food. He is never fussy. For the past three days he has been getting rice / boiled burger. Tonight he ate some boiled chicken breast.

I will come back every few hours and check this thread. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate the help.

[mmilard]

Originally Posted by toobad

He has been eating Nutro for about three years. He eats the ( large breed weight management ). He WILL eat anything put in front of him. At dinner time he gets just a trace of our dinner in his food. He is never fussy. For the past three days he has been getting rice / boiled burger. Tonight he ate some boiled chicken breast.

I would continue the rice and boiled burger until your vet can pin point the exact problem. But just a little at a time so that his stomach does not get too upset. I had that same problem when I changed food...you know the pudding poop with a little of blood mixed in. Found out that the changing of food caused irratation in the stomach. So now all of mine are on Nutro Large Breed, and have been for some time and no problems at all. I sure hope your vet finds out the problem soon. I know how worried you must be. Keep us informed.

Melissa

[cryjay]

when you say at dinner time her gets just a trace of your food with his what kind of food? Things like onions and grapes are not good for your dog as well as many other foods. Or maybe you eat food with more fibre in it than he needs and you are in return feeding it to your dog not knowing. It is just my thoughts. I hope someone can be of more help.

[moondog]

I'm sorry your dog is so sick. There are many things that can cause symptoms like this - bacteria, virus, parasites, foreign objects. Sometimes tests for parasites will come back negative even when present because the parasite isn't "shedding" into the stool at the time, so it might be a good idea to ask the vet if a second fecal test would be a good idea.

Your dog obviously has severe gastrointestinal distress and his intestinal system needs to rest in order to heal, but he still has to eat. So, what you are doing by feeding him boiled burger and rice is the right thing to do. Don't switch ingredients unless he can't tolerate it - stick to just the two you are using and don't feed anything else. Feed frequent small meals (4-5 a day) instead of fewer and larger meals. The ratio of meat to rice should be about 25% meat, 75% rice, by cooked weight.

Keep fresh water available at all times and check periodically for dehydration by grasping the skin between his shoulder blades in your hand. When you let go, it should pop back flat immediately. If it remains folded or is slow to return to its normal position, he is dehydrated and you should contact the vet immediately.

There are so many things it could be that you need to let the vet continue testing by various means to eliminate or identify the cause.

Please let us know what the xray/ultrasound reveals and post back if you have other concerns in the meantime. It's very disturbing when our dogs get sick like this.

[toobad]

cryjay- he gets left over meat. Burger, steak, chicken breast and fish, and pasta on pasta nights. He never gets a lot but just a little in his bowl with his food. My wife gives him french toast a couple mornings a month.

moondog- He is drinking quite a bit of water. It seems like if he does eat anything , water is next on his list.

[Judi W]

The reason for boiled hamburger for GI upsets is to avoid fat while providing good meat. Proper prep is to boil in water, let cool (or even refrigerate), and then take the hardened fat that is on top off and throw it away.

[JoJo]

Have you given him "cooked" bones to chew on?

JoJo

[toobad]

Originally Posted by JoJo

Have you given him "cooked" bones to chew on?

JoJo

No cooked bones. While on the subject of bones, that is the last strange thing he ate about a week and a half - two weeks ago. He got a bone from the store with raw meat hanging off of it. My other dog got the other half of the bone and has had no problems.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by toobad

I have a male 4 years old and he is very sick. For the past two weeks he has has diarrhea with blood in it. He vomits up his food at times soon after eating. Vomiting is not a common problem only a couple of times. The diarrhea is very slimy like mucus and there is undigested chunks of food in it.
He has been to the vet twice. The first time the vet gave him metronidazole. Now he does not want to eat at all or very little. He is drinking water. We took him back in yesterday with a stool sample and the vet said no parasites in the sample. He did a blood test and today he said it was fine except a little low red cell count but that could be from the bleeding in his stool.
Tuesday I'm taking him for x-rays or ultra sound. The vet tried to feel his abdomen but said it was just too hard because of his size. He is just mopeing around and I feel terrible for him.

Has anyone got any ideas ? Something the vet isn't seeing ? My buddy needs some help and I just don't know what to do. Thanks in advance

Did your vet also give you a round of antibiotics? Sounds like there's bugs in there. What was in the stool sample?

[toobad]

The only thing the vet gave me was the metronidazole. Tuesday just can't get here fast enough.

What I have been noticing is that he makes very funny faces when you try to give him something to eat ( kinda like if you put a lemon in your mouth ) and he spits it out. He is eating pieces of boiled chicken right now but as soon as he eats them he runs to water bowl like he is trying to wash it down.

[Judi W]

This dog has been sick for too long. Ask that a stool sample (take one with you) be sent to path lab for complete analysis including a sensitivity if any infection is found. Big dogs can also still be palpated and an xray is likely in order to look for an obstruction. Don't let your concerns be passed off. If this were a simple GI upset he'd be over it by know.

[toobad]

QUESTION - Should I take him to another vet or emergency vet. Would a emergency vet be smarter because all they do are emergency situations ? My vet has been pretty good with my dogs in the past but I just don't think things are moving fast enough. I'm watching my dog like a hawk to see if anything gets different. I have noticed that when he eats he starts breathing like he just ran the ten mile dash. Sorry to be a pain.

[Judi W]

I don't know. Emergency would only hydrate him and refer to the reg vet for further diagnosis. As long as he is not dehydrating and his color is OK, you should be able to wait. Have you taken his temperature as well as keeping an eye on his color? With your regular vet, you must simply make it clear that you want this persued aggressively as it has lasted long enough to be dangerous and is certainly not going away. He was likely hoping that the meds would take care of it, but they have not.

Good path lab will be able to tell whether there is an infection, whether there are signs of sloughing of the intestine, if there are any parasites........ this will guide treatment. Report will take some time depending upon the lab and a sensitivity test takes longer. If it looks like he has IBD, he will need pred and a careful diet. Don't discount a special vet perscribed diet. They are carefully forumlated and quite effective. Just push for resolution.