Vomiting Shih Tzu

[pouellen]

My 7 year old Shih Tzu was vomiting for 5 days.  He would eat and drink in the evening after I returned home from work & shortly after, vomit.  The food was undigested & contained clear liquid.  He acted normally--drank water, ate food, ran around playing and did everything he normally does except for the vomiting.  He had had no change in foods, but he is the type of dog that eats nails, paper clips, tacks, necklaces, plastic, and anything he isn't supposed to that he can get his paws on.  Since I have 2 children I never know what they might drop or leave lying around,  and; therefore, I am often pulling things out of my dog's mouth.  I took him to the vet and she did blood tests and x-rayed his stomach to see if he'd ingested something he shouldn't have.   Everything came back as normal.  She saw no foreign objects in his stomach, so she prescribed 8 tablets of Cerenia for nausea (1 a day) and a tube of some kind of paste to re-establish bacterial abnormalities in the stomach.  She also told me to give him Pepcid AC (1-2 tablets a day).  Then she told me that if he resumes vomiting after taking the Cerenia to call her back & my dog would probably have to have an ultrasound to check for ulcers or cancer.  To make a long story short, my dog resumed vomiting 4 days after he took the last Cerenia.  He still is taking the paste & the Pepcid AC.  I am waiting for the vet to return my most recent call.   Has anyone ever had this happen to their dog & found out that it was some chronic disease that can be treated with daily medication?  I am heartsick that something life-threatening could be wrong with my dog.

[pouellen]

Thanks, Ginger.  I appreciate your good advice.  A different vet in the office called and asked a few more questions.  He told me to try changing foods to several brands he recommended, feeding twice a day and then pulling the foods, and (as you mentioned) worming my dog for tapeworms because I told him about all the weird stuff my dog ingests--including the dead rabbit that I caught him eating after our cat drug it up to the house.  He said I could try the ultrasound later if this doesn't help stop the vomiting, but he did warn me that cancer doesn't always show up in an ultrasound.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this course of treatment works.  I've already lost one dog to cancer, and hope we don't have to go through it again.  

[ginger899]

There would be usually some tumor marker in the bloodwork, or even elevated calcium levels, if there was a cancer going on.....but check this with your vet, because I do not know all there is to know, as I am not a vet, and am only running on previous experience with this kind of thing.
Wait for the results. If the vet recommends an ultrasound, have it done, at least so you are sure what you are dealing with here.

I am sure you have talked this through with your vet, but there can be many reasons why a dog vomits. The reasons do not all have to be life threatening. I do hope there IS nothing seriously wrong.

Did you worm him recently? Has he had a course of antibiotics recently? Does he eat grass? Is he snaffling any kind of food behind your back, or does he get any unsuitable treats of any kind? (ie are guests/kids/friends giving him food? Is he snatching things off a bird-table, for example?) What sort of food is he currently eating?
They are questions to think about, just in case there might be any clue there.