Sick dog and stressed Ally
(yes, this is the same thing that is cross posted on home dec conversations. One of the quirks here is I can't cross post anything, I have to do individual posts on each forum. Sorry folks...)
It's been an awful last 9 or 10 days.... so many twists and turns, so much worry.
The shortest summary I can give is that I have otherwise perfectly healthy 7 year old dog who started regurgitating water and food. He's a bottom feeder and he's fast. I try hard, but he does occasionally get things he shouldn't, so my first fear was an obstruction.
I took him to my local vet. We tried their suggestions/medications. They did xrays and found one tiny "thing" in his stomach which was not obstructing anything, but they agreed further work-ups would be necessary if the meds didn't resolve things. The situation deteriorated, so we ended up at Cornell's Animal Hospital ER, where he was admitted for 2 days. Endoscopy found no obvious structural abnormalities and no obstruction in his stomach, but his esophagus, stomach, and small intestines are inflamed, and they took tissue from all 3 for biopsies. Ultrasound was also normal - no obstructions to be found anywhere.
The list of potential diagnoses seems long at this point. We are in a holding pattern until the biopsies come back. In the meantime, he still is now (only occasionally) regurgitating and burping/chewing down stomach contents (despite several meds/different approaches trying to help). He's on a novel protein in case it's that, he's on meds, and apparently he's presenting with a weird mix of things so they're puzzling it out. After a week of chaos, he is now mostly keeping his food and water down so that's good - but the risk of aspiration pneumonia is a legitimate concern until we can completely stop the regurgitation. I'm following Cornell's advice, and they've been accessible and great in helping to figure out what to do next, etc.
Those of you who know me well know my furry kids mean more to me than anything in the world. I would do anything I can to help them and not knowing what is wrong or how to help is very hard. And yes, I hit Defcon scales of worry whenever it involves my kids, so there's that too.
Anyway, just wanted to explain my sudden absence (in case anyone even noticed, not likely ha ha) - and also to ask for prayers and/or good thoughts sent out into the universe for my sweet boy.
Gratuitous photo of my beloved boy. Isn't he perfect?!
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Ally DeOriginal Author