bloated and constipated

why is it all of a sudden her stomache gets hard and swollen. took her to the vet and he gave her a laxative, that didn't help. the only thing that helped was changing over to canned food and adding pumpkin puree to the food. she got better for a couple of days and now she's sick again, not as ba as before but i can tell she's  not right. what could it be?

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Since your dog is ten years old and has only recently developed this problem it would be best to have additional diagnostics performed.  A minimum data base should include a senior blood profile with urinalysis and X-Rays of the abdomen.  If the X-Rays, blood work, and urinalysis results are all normal, than an abdominal ultrasound should be performed.  Palpation is not definitive, that is why ultrasound and X-Rays are so important.

[beenewt3]

hello just browsing and noticed you had a shih tzu also...i have the same problem with my dog too!!.she has had blood work xrays and is on meds to help with digestion as they think its a intestional/bowel problem..they are going to do a biopsy of her intestine she wants to eat now but only eats a little and sometimes throws up yellow mucus..as well she regurgitates(like a wet burp)often...she has had blood in her stools as well...im so worried about her..shes my baby...her stomach feels hard and round (bloated) and i know shes not comfortable sometimes alot of grunting when i rub her belly...i hope this info helps and you find out whats wrong i know how much they mean to us...b