Sick Greyhound

[Tori30]

My 6 year old greyhound had surgery 2 months ago because her stomach had flipped upside down. They surgeons were unable to flip it completely back around because her spleen was so enlarged. She made it through the surgery and seemed to be doing fine other than minor difficulties jumping on the couch and bed.  A month later she was yelping when trying to lay down.  She would just stand and stare at you and turn in circles trying to lay down.  I rushed her back to the doctor and multiple test were run on her and xrays taken, but everything came out normal except her blood work keeps bottoming out as it did before the first surgery.  She lasted another month before we were back to yelping when trying to lay down and constant pacing.  She is now back at the vet and has been there for a week.  Test are being ran and everything is coming back as she is okay (other than her platelets being very low).  We have doctors at medical schools involved but no one seems to have a clue what is wrong with her.  Medical bills keep piling up and I am not sure how much longer I can afford to keep this cycle going.  We all know something is wrong with her, but we have ran test after test and are getting no where.  I am getting frustrated at the time it is taking and the money that is being spent and it seems like we are just spinning in circles.  Any suggestions on what I can do?  Thank you for any suggestions!

[Jaybay]

Scar tissue (adhesions) is a good consideration.  It generally doesn't show up on tests or films either.  I know a fair about about adhesions because I've dealt with them for over 10 years.  If they attach to intestines or other digestive structures, they can really wreak havoc with digestive functioning - and they cause a lot of pain too!  

If scar tissue is the problem, and it's on her small intestines, that would certainly explain the vomiting.  Small intestines aren't tucked into one spot, but rather hang fairly loosely in the abdominal cavity.  If scar tissue attaches to them, it can cause the intestine to twist around it and block it off - sometimes temporarily until the intestines shift again, sometimes permanently and fatally unless surgically corrected.  That twisting action stops waste from passing through, or slows it down enough that anything that goes into the mouth, comes right back up again.

When my dog nearly died this summer from being impaled on a plant stake, she had two major surgeries and a huge abdominal incision.  Her surgeon told us that adhesions tend to not be a big problem in dogs (horses are apparently horrible) but all it takes is one strand of scar tissue in the wrong place to cause some pretty bad problems.  If your surgeon can cut the scar tissue using a laparascope, that would be ideal as compared to another open abdominal incision.  The idea being to keep tissue trauma to an absolute minimum so as to avoid a return of the adhesions.  Not all practices have laparascopic equipment, so clarify any surgical methods with your vet.  Although treating adhesions requires another surgery, I frankly think that is easier to deal with than a functional problem that medication just can't quite fix.  Good luck!

[Tori30]

Thanks!  I will post it on there.  After speaking to my vet yesterday, she said after testing her for everything possible and running film they believe that the pain is coming from scare tissue.  It is only once in awhile when she has this pain.  So, we are going to monitor and try to get her meds when she has an episode.  She lost around 12 pounds in all of this so I have to get her weight back up.  I also felt around on her scares from her stomach surgery and it feels like there is something metal up in her or staples inside of her.  I know she had staples in which they took out.  Would this be something else that I am feeling.  Thanks!  I will post on Ask a Vet Forum.

[Jaybay]

Bloat (twisted stomach) is a problem in large breed dogs.  Generally, if it happens once, it's more likely to happen again.  Really a heartbreaking problem especially when the dog is otherwise healthy.  Did you ever get any answers about why the spleen is enlarged?  I believe the spleen problem likely explains the low platelet count.  

You really need to post this on the Ask a Vet Forum.  MedHelp recently put a question limit on that forum, so you'll just have to keep trying until you get through.  I sure wish they hadn't done that because that board was never all that busy, and Dr. Cheng is great at answering all questions on a timely basis.

You also might try a search engine like Google and use the words "dog" "bloat" and "enlarged spleen" as search criteria.