Inflammatory bowel disease and vomitting

[loyolacub68]

My dog has never had problems with vomitting or ever really getting sick even after getting into things. She gets advantage every month along with heart guard One weekend we went to a birthday party and noticed that after we returned home that she started throwing up. At first it was a slight annoyance and thought maybe she had just eaten too much junk. It then turned into this thing where she would throw up after each meal, and sometimes in between meals, either her breakfast / dinner or yellowish bile. She began to lose her appetite and so we decided to bring her to the vet.  Since money was an issue, we took things a step at a time. First a full blood panel was done with no abnormalities found. Then X-rays were done to see if there was some type of blockage but nothing was found. She was put on Regulan to help move anything that might be in there along. Once put on the Regulan she started to have a little more appetite but still, the vomitting continued. The vet thought maybe she had IBD at this point. A double contrast study was done to determine if there was a blockage that could be seen on an X-ray but there was nothing found. At this point, Wallie was put on a regimen of regulan, flagyl, pednisone, and prilosec to try and control the IBD. She was slowly weened off regulan first, then prilosec, then flagyl, and finally the pred.  Once these drugs were administered to her, the vomitting stopped. She did not vomit at all as she was weened off these drugs. She was also put on a special diet. Wallie was weened off all drugs and I think for about a 2 month period she did not vomit at all. After this 2 month period, we began finding small puddles of vomit. At this time we put her back on prednisone, which stopped the vomitting for a little bit, but now its back at full force.  I have read that flagyl could potentially keep her from vomitting, but we are worried about the potential carcinogenic effects of this treatment. Any help is greatly appreciated!

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

It might be best to keep your dog on a non-allergic diet, with pepcid (or prilosec), reglan (anti-nausea), Regulan, a good probiotic,  and a low dose of prednisone long term at the smallest effective dose possible.  Tylan powder, which is safer than metronidazole can be used in low doses long term.

The Chinese herbal formula: Wei Chang He (Happy Earth) is excellent for vomiting.  It is available online.

A endoscopy with biopsy may be necessary if nothing is effective long term.