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Avatar universal

HELP! My dog is in serious trouble.

Last week, I took my female 13 month old hound mix, Brena to the vet to schedule an appointment to get her fixed. She's new to our family as we rescued her less than 5 months ago, and she had not been fixed yet. The vet said she appeared pregnant. Her stomach is swollen and her nipples have dropped tremendously. She suggested I make another appointment to have the pregnancy confirmed. So I did... for this week.

Brena is a very active and playful dog. Never content with lounging around, she is always running about and antagonizing my male dog Murphy. She was her normal self up until 2 days ago when she started vomiting, not eating, and became very restless, not sleeping. Not wanting to wait for her scheduled appointment, I took her to our vet. She received an external exam, Dr looked in her eyes, ears, throat, touched her belly and lower abdomen all over. Then she took a couple xrays and gave her IV fluids. Turns out, Brena was not pregnant at all. I was relieved. However, for all intents and purposes, she does appear pregnant with a swollen belly and nipples. The xrays showed nothing. No obstruction, no inflammation, it looked picture perfect. My vet was admittedly stumped.

On the way home from the vet, Brena vomited what seemed like a gallon of clear fluid everywhere. I believed it was due to the IV fluid the vet gave her. I pulled over and called my vet to inform. Vet said to take her to an emergency vet for 24 hour observation and "running diagnostics."

This vet appointment cost me hundreds of dollars. I am not in a position where I can pay for 24 observation and running diagnostics. I have another dog, who is very healthy, and 4 children to support. I consider myself a responsible pet parent as my dogs always see the vet when they should, and my household income supports that. However, I have already missed 2 days of work to stay home with Brena to observe her, and I cannot miss anymore work, nor can I afford to have her hospitalized.

I called 4 different ER vet hospitals to see if they could work out some sort of payment plan. I begged, pleaded, even cried. They all denied me. I called Care Credit to see if I could get a pet credit card, but due to a nasty divorce a few years ago and the results of that, my credit is yucky. These professionals who are suppose to love animals are not willing to help my distressed Brena unless I have $800 up front.

Brena is a hound mix. Very tall, long-legged, and normally thin, similar to a greyhound's body design. She weighed 65 at her last physical which was 3 months ago, and at the vet's yesterday, she weighed in at 68. Typically a picky eater, she has been eating the same dog food since we first got her. She is not allowed people food. She does sometimes get into the trash, but knowing this, I lock the trash in the kitchen broom closet when we are not home. To my knowledge she did not get into anything poisonous as I have 4 small children and keep everything locked up that could be potentially dangerous. To my knowledge, my truck is not leaking any fluids that she could have lapped up.

For the last 2 days, she has not eaten. I offered her chicken and rice (per my vet's advice) last night, but she didn't touch it. She is drinking ALOT of water, but immediately vomits it in large quantities. She is not sleeping, paces the house all night long. I have not slept in 2 days since I am a lite sleeper and have stayed up with her observing her behavior. She is still peeing fairly regularly so I know that even with her vomiting, her body is retaining some of that fluid, and she had a normal looking bowel movement last night. I was shocked since she has not eaten in 2 days.

Help! She is so loved in our family, and we do not want to lose her, but we do not have the $800 the ER Vet requires upfront before they admit her. Anyone have any ideas?
14 Responses
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675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
I am so glad to hear about Brena. I love a happy ending!
And you....you are a brilliant dog-owner! They all should be like you. (and your husband/dog-Dad of course!)
Happy days Brena. Woofs and hugs.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My husband stopped by our house periodically throughout his work day and reported to me the changes he was noticing with Brena. On his first, she met him at the gate (because we're still keeping her separate from our other dog) and he said her tail was wagging. It had not wagged since Monday. Yay!

On his second visit, he reported that she peed, pooped, and barked at a neighbor. Yay! We hadn't heard her bark all week. What a fantastic sound to hear now!

When I got home from work, around 3pm, I announced to my dogs that "Mommy's home!" Murphy came running out to greet me, excitedly wagging his tail so hard that his bum shook. He ran from me to the room where Brena has been quarantined, back to me, back to her, repeatedly. I called Brena's name and she answered with a bark and a whine. When I saw her, it was as if nothing had ever been wrong. She jumped up on the child gate, tail going 100mph, tongue out, barking with excitement. I loved on her like you wouldn't believe, hugging her while she lapped my face. I took them outside in the yard and did the ultimate test, something Brena loves but hadn't done in the last week... fetch her tennis ball.

I picked it up, and her ears perked and she barked. "Are you gonna get the ball?" I asked her. She barked again, tail wagging furiously. I tossed the ball across the yard and she took off like a rocket. She had been moving like an old lady all week. To see her bum to the ground, tail tucked between her legs as she bolted like a racing dog across the yard... I almost cried.

When we went back into the house, I noticed the rice/chicken mix I had left in her bowl was gone. Apparently she noticed to because she was standing infront of her bowl, looking at me, putting her nose in the bowl, then looking at me again as if to say, "Do you notice how empty this is?"

I gave her another small portion of chicken and rice and she gobbled it up, then looked at me expectantly. "That's enough for now," I told her. "You can have more later." (I didn't want to overload her with food.) I'm just so happy she's eating and acting more like herself.

I called the vet to update her. She requested I bring Brena in sometime today to have another xray done, but this time with an ink injection that will light up any foreign object to see if Brena got it all up, or if there might be another small obstruction. So that's what I'm going to do.

Unfortunately, I had to lay into my 4 children kind of harshly. I explained that my "lenience" with their messy bedrooms has come to an end. I almost lost my beloved Brena all because of one small item ingested. I will not allow this to happen again. My husband agreed and we spent hours last night cleaning the kids rooms, trashing small toys they don't play with anymore, and making sure all the smaller used toys are placed up high and in totes with tricky lids. The kids didn't like all the work, but as I explained to them, "Brena almost died this week. We are doing this for her..."

Brena is on the upswing to being herself again. She is remarkably better, playful, eating normally although I am still monitoring her chicken/rice portions so she doesn't over-eat due to starvation this past week. And of course, I am having to share chicken with Murphy so he doesn't feel left out. The dogs are still being kept separate due to Murphy's size and puppy-like behavior. He is so excited to have Brena (his playmate) back, but I don't think she is quite ready to be rough and tumble with him like she used to, so they are separated while in the house. Outside however, Murphy stays tied because he likes to wander the neighborhood, and Brena stays free since she is easily voice controlled. If he gets too rough, Brena just walks away.

This morning when they had their "recess" time outside before I left for work, I saw Brena antagonize Murphy with a nip to his ear, something she used to do all the time when she wanted his attention. Murphy's reaction made me laugh. Normally, he would bark at her and go back to whatever was more interesting to him. But this morning, his ears pricked up, tag wagged crazy, and he pounced her. She pounced him back, then walked away, interested in her tennis ball. I took their behavior as a sign from her to him... "I'm not ready to wrestle yet, but I'm feeling much better."

My husband, tough ironworker, who claims dogs are dogs and detests "pet parents," spent all evening on the floor with Brena, playing with her and talking to her like he was talking to a baby. I just walked by him and said smartly, "Those pet-parents... so annoying, eh?" He tossed Brena's ball at my back as I left the room.

Thank you all for your help and support! It meant so much to me to have some place to turn to where I could get advice during this very unpredictable and scary time. As a dog owner my whole life, I have been blessed to have never lost a dog to anything but old age. =)
Helpful - 0
441382 tn?1452810569
Plastic would not have shown up on any imaging, either.  I am hoping that she doesn't have more of that stuff in there somewhere that is causing a true blockage somewhere.  Can you tell how much of the stuff she may have eaten judging by how much is left?  

At least you now have a good, solid lead as to what her problem is!  That is WONDERFUL!  It's just pure dumb luck that she decided to have a false pregnancy at the same time she decided to ransack your daughters' craft supplies.

I cannot wait to hear your next update!  I am hoping beyond hope for you that this is the beginning of the end of it all for you so that you can finally get down to the business of just loving her and having fun with her again!

Ghilly
Helpful - 0
675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
aheart is absolutely right. This Community is not the place for business advetisement, so I have reported your ad. post as "Spam" and it will be removed. Sorry.
There are many opportunities online for free business advertisement. You should check that out.
Helpful - 0
675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
Well you did have me laughing with your last post! Your poor husband's puke-encounter in the middle of the night!

Let's hope that Brena actually managed to vomit up the thing that was causing her all the problems! It could well be she was trying desperately to get rid of it, thus the constant vomiting. Her body knew it was there, and kept trying to throw it out! And now she has done, things might just start to get better. She certainly did sound as if she improved ever so slightly after puking it out.
You could try her I suppose, with just a little plain boiled white rice to start with. Just a tablespoonful,  and see if she can keep that down. If so, try her with a little chicken in the rice, and see how it goes. No doubt she will still feel a little peculiar, and her throat may also be sore from retching. But some very light solid food might help her get back some strength.

Now, in hindsight, it does seem that the false pregnancy is co-incidental to the irritated gut from eating that blue string. Two separate things going on, poor Brena!
I do hope she is feeling much better soon.
Do keep us posted.
Helpful - 0
2092689 tn?1333628608
I do hope that Brena is on the road to recovery!
I had an Irish Setter who once presented with a false pregnancy but never again. She went on to have one litter of puppies before I had her spayed and never had a false pregnancy after that,
I hope that the plastic thingy didn't cause any scratches or cuts to her insides - but if it had I'm sure that you would have seen some blood in her vomit or in her stools.
Please keep us posted about her proress.
Louise
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Last night, or the wee hours of this morning, (I haven't slept all week, staying up with Brena all night and laying in her dog bed with her) she vomited. At that point, she had been a total of 7 hours without vomiting. A big improvement from the previous days when she was vomiting every hour. Her vomit previously looked like clear fluid with hardly any odor to it. But her vomit last night was a yellow/green and smelled rancid. Inside the puddle of vomit was a blue plastic string-looking thing. I put my hands into sandwich baggies and pulled the blue plastic thing apart. It looks remarkably like craft material my two daughters use to make jewelry from their craft kit. I went into their room, where Brena sometimes hangs out, and pulled out their craft kit. Sure enough, the materials matched perfectly.

Excited, I woke up my husband and shoved the vomit mess under his nose. "What does this look like to you?" I nearly shouted. Groggy, he said, "Smells like puke. Looks like puke. I think it's puke." I held up the clean craft material from our girls' bedroom and then the pukey one and showed him. "She must have ingested this last week when the girls were making necklaces in their room!"

First thing this morning, I called my vet and told her the news. Vet said this little bit of plastic material COULD be causing all these problems. She believes Brena is still having a false pregnancy, but that ingesting this material has created the vomiting, lack of eating, and lethargic behavior. I'm hopeful.

When I left for work this morning, (my friend sitting with Brena for observation) I spent some time laying across Brena's dog bed talking to her. Her tail wagged a bit when I scratched her favorite spot and kissed her nose. Her tail hasn't wagged at all since Monday. This gave me even more hope. We're still limiting her water intake so she doesn't over-hydrate herself, and she has a small portion of chicken and rice in her food dish. Still keeping our big Murphy apart from her because all he wants to do is play - she's his best buddy - and I want her to rest.  

I hope the obstruction did not do any serious damage to her intestines going down or coming back up. But she hasn't vomited again since last night and her tail wagged! Pray for her please that she pulls through. She is a huge part of our family, so charismatic, and my oldest's best friend.
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Avatar universal
Vet suggested I give her children's pepto or pepcid ac to calm her stomach. Problem is, Brena is a very finicky eater and I have not been able to get her to eat the medicine. Vet put her on a chicken/rice bland diet until she is 100% again, which should have made Brena very happy as she is typically not allowed "people food," and she loves chicken. But she hasn't touched anything. I've kept her in seclusion in my living room with her food/water dishes so I can better monitor her intake since my other dog Murphy (great dane/lab mix) will think nothing of stealing her food. Brena hasn't eaten a bite since Monday. Although she is still drinking. I tried hiding the medicine in chicken and a small piece of bread. But with no success.
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Avatar universal
Per the rescue, Brena had experienced only 1 heat before I rescued her, and she had not had any puppies. My friend got a puppy about 1 month ago. This puppy spends a lot of time at my house since we babysit each other's dogs when the other is working. Vet supposed that Brena was having a "bad" false pregnancy due to her heat colliding with the presence of this new puppy.
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Avatar universal
I told my vet everything about Brena's condition. Didn't hold any information back. I too questioned the IV since she was/is still drinking plenty of water. I live only a couple miles from my vet, and before we got home, after the IV treatment, Brena vomited unbelievable amounts in my truck. I knew that was going to happen, but the vet insisted upon the IV.

Vet said everything looked "perfect" in the xray. All her organs were appropriately sized and where they should be. She did an internal exam and said she felt nothing abnormal. Same with the external probing of her abdomen. No fever. Obviously tired, but that's to be expected after a few days of vomiting, no eating, no sleeping.

I had to work yesterday, so my friend came to my house to watch Brena. She said she went 5 hours without vomiting, and right before I got home from work, she vomited, but only a very small amount. She's been peeing quite normally, which leads me to believe that her body is appropriately retaining the water she is drinking.

Brena doesn't get treats very often. She is very slender normally and vet said she could gain weight easily, so she rarely receives treats. Vet did mention the possibility of a false pregnancy, but she said vomiting like this doesn't coincide with a false pregnancy....
Helpful - 0
675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
Another thing to consider would be "Juvenile Kidneys" or Juvenile Renal Dysplasia in a dog her age with those symptoms. Juvenile Renal Dysplasia is when the kidneys do not mature as the dog grows to adulthood, but remain the same size they were as a puppy. As a result, they are completely unable to handle the blood-filtering workload given to them by a maturing dog, and fail.

.....But of course, that doesn't address the strange pseudo-pregnancy symptoms. The only cause for that I would guess would be a bad case of "False Pregnancy", or just possibly, a pituitary tumor.(False Pregnancy, in itself is quite harmless, but dogs with a long-standing history of the condition can go on to develop Pyometra later if they are not spayed in the meantime.)
.....Again, this doesn't address the constant vomiting....

I know it's putting a patch on things, and you really do need to get her diagnosed, and to do that would cost money....but could you see if an anti-nausea drug, and something to settle her stomach mght at least help, short-term, so you would be able to get her to keep more water, and hopefully some nutrition down her?  It might just break the cycle of drinking/vomiting, and settle her down. Then see where you go from there? That shouldn't cost too much.

Then I can only suggest finding something to sell, getting the money together to have her blood panel run. At least that would rule out Juvenile Renal Dysplasia. And would see if there is any infection of any kind going on, and may give a lot more clues.
Helpful - 0
441382 tn?1452810569
OK, I just looked again at the original post and noticed that Brena is only 13 months old.  That negates my theory about her having multiple litters, however she still could have had ONE litter that could account for the enlarged nipples.

I am wondering now if it could be metritis?  Metritis causes a swollen belly and vomiting.  It results from something being left behind after whelping a litter of puppies.  Is it possible that there was something, even some small bit, that was left in one of the uterine horns that was hidden behind something in the x-ray that the vet could have missed?  It might not be large enough (a retained placenta, for example) to have made her sick up to the point, but it could be that whatever it is is just enough that her body finally had enough of this tiny bit of foreign body that shouldn't be there and is now showing the signs?  If this is the case, spaying will fix the situation since the uterus will be removed along with the offending piece of tissue (and that's all that it has to be, a small piece of something left over from the whelping).  If you knew for sure that she had had a litter before you rescued her it would make this easier.

Just another thought, however.

Ghilly
Helpful - 0
441382 tn?1452810569
The fact that her nipples are very large could just mean that she has had a few litters of puppies.  You mentioned that she is a rescue.  Before you got her she could have been bred on every heat from a very young age.  This can lead to the nipples becoming permanently enlarged from basically being in the near-constant state of nursing puppies.  With a short-haired breed this is much more readily apparent than it is with a long-haired breed.

The copious amounts of vomit make me suspicious that there is an intussusception at work here, however you said that she had a normal bowel movement, which is not characteristic of an intussusception.  When an intussusception occurs, part of the intestine telescopes back over itself.  It causes swelling and the affected intestine dies.  If it is caught soon enough, it is fairly easily corrected with surgery, however if it isn't diagnosed quickly enough and the intestine dies, it is necessary to resect the bowel in order to save the dog.  

Normally, however, a bowel movement in a dog with an intussusception would not be normally formed, it would be loose and jelly-like and possibly even bloody, so while the other symptoms (vomiting, swelling) sound like it, the perfectly formed stool is anomalous in this condition.

I wish I could offer more suggestions, but this is just very odd.

I feel badly that the hospital is giving you the runaround about the $800.  We are supposed to take care of our pets and do whatever is necessary to keep them healthy, and then the people that we NEED in order to do that make it impossible.  I can understand the reluctance of vets to extend credit to everyone who needs it because unfortunately for us honest ones, there are many more DIShonest ones who will promise the moon on a silver platter when it comes to paying their bill and then never deliver.  However, if you have been taking your pets to this vet since they were puppies (your other pets, that is, I realize that Brena is a new rescue) then they should know you well enough to help you on your word.  I wish there was something I could say or do that would help.

Please keep us updated on Brena's condition.  You are in my thoughts.

Ghilly

  
Helpful - 0
462827 tn?1333168952
Hello & welcome to the forum......Wow!  I'm sorry your having to go through this!

Did either of these Vets do a blood panel or suggest one, on Brena?  Blood work would have been the place to start....Especially, with the excessive drinking.....Did you tell them about the drinking?
I don't understand the use of IV's at this point....Did they think she was dehydrated?
Anyone mention False Pregnancy?
What food do you feed her? How about treats?
Let us know & anything else you can think of would be helpful......Karla
Helpful - 0
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