Hello!
My 8 year old dachshund/terrier mix has recently had a bout of bad vomiting that I wound up bringing him in to my vet for. He has been acting so strange for about a month now. I started him on Royal Canin HP and despite it working so well for his skin I almost instantly noticed him acting super unlike his normal self. He seemed…agitated and his stomach would be audibly grumbling. Well, I switched him off of that and didn’t transition slowly…I wound up putting him on Tuscan Naturals Chicken Meal & Rice recipe…he ate it but wasn’t thrilled so I switched him right away to Zignature’s Catfish recipe…this was the day the vomiting began. I did do something a little unusual when starting this food in that I put the kibble in warm/hot water to soak it in and make it more appealing. Well, He wound up throwing up once earlier in the day and then a second time later on in which a ton of liquid and balled up grass he had been eating in the yard came up. The vomit smelled slightly foul…far more pungent then normal vomit…so I brought him in to the vet. They did an x-ray and said they didn’t see anything. I mentioned that he had also been “wretching” and “gagging” a lot lately so they examined him for Kennel cough but said it seemed super unlikely since he hasn’t been around any dogs and he wasn’t responding when they pressed into his throat. They told me to put him on a bland diet which I have had him on for 2 days now. He hasn’t thrown up again but I have noticed him doing the “gag-cough” thing and he still seems…unhappy. Just so you know, the cough he does looks and sounds just like what I have seen on youtube for kennel cough but my dog truly is never around other dogs so I have no idea where that could come from if it WAS that. Should I be concerned about Heart disease? I remember my Australian shepherd growing up had that and was always coughing when he got excited. My little guy now just seems to randomly hack for no reason. How concerned should I be? Could this just be a case of me being really bad about the transitioning of the foods and making him sick? Should I get blood work done? This vet (she’s not my normal one-my normal vet was out of town) didn’t seem concerned about that being done but I was nervous that maybe it was his pancreas or something else that would cause vomiting that could be seen in bloodwork. Am I going crazy or should I just let him adjust some more to bland food? Is he just sensitive now that he’s a senior dog?
Side note about my dog…he slipped a disc last year and I did at home treatment to get him better. The surgery was far too expensive and I was just not able to come up with the cost of it. Luckily, keeping him bedridden for 2 months worked and he went from fully paralyzed in the back legs to walking within a week and has moved fine since with the help of laser treatments for a couple weeks and keeping him totally confined. But, during this event my vet and I discovered that he is SUPER sensitive to any pain meds and to gabapentin and all those things that he NEEDED during this period. He actually developed CRAZY pica and wound up scarfing down 3 full tube socks when I wasn’t looking. He threw them up whole. I had to leave him there to make sure he was ok for a whole day after that incident. He just gets really sick on those drugs. Had to share that bit of history about his stomach issues.
Sorry this post was so long. I’m rambling. I wanted to fit a lot of his recent medical history in here. I am probably missing something though. Haha
.
