Stomach issues - reflux????

Hi,

I have three Pemmies, Hunter, Pippin, and now a rescue, Tanner (Montana).

Pippin has been having stomach issues lately - one day he's fine, the next he won't eat in the morning, is very lethargic and cranky towards my other "boys." He will throw up (mostly bile) and then later in the morning he'll eat and seem fine. Around 2-3 in the afternoon when we take a walk his stools will be firm at the beginning and then become mucous-like and bloody (not bright red, but clearly blood). Within a day he'll be 100%. Then I will see it happen again. Food is high-end and grain-free Viand by PHD Products (probably not an allergy anyway since it happens about ten hours after he was last fed). You can hear a LOT of gut noise and he's clearly uncomfortable. No fever, he's just not "right."

He's definately my "nervous" one - and he's not thrilled with my bringing the older rescue in - although sometimes he will play with him, other times he is upset that Tanner is still here. So there's certainly some stress involved in this.

Yes, we've been to the vet - haven't scoped him yet - I was hoping to avoid anthesthsia since Corgis can be so sensitive to it. Have had him on Previcid - but it still happens.

This morning was particuarly bad - threw up again but this time there was a little blood (pink-ish). Stools had blood like the other times. We're headed back to the vet tomorrow for a referral to a specialist. Any thoughts out there on this? Has anyone else ever seen this?

Thanks for the input - I am beside myself on this...

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on March 14, 2012 at 5:22pm

Bella had the stomach problems but not stool. After about 2 weeks of various tests and nothing getting better the vet said maybe we should switch her protien source, we also feed grain free and she was getting chicken. i took her off all her many meds as I swear they were working against her, switched to salmon and the vomiting went away. we did use pepcid for a bit.

Good luck...I know how frustrating this can be.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on March 14, 2012 at 7:10pm

My doberman has a very weak digestive system and the only thing that works for her is prescription dog food. When she is on I/D no tummy gurgling and diarrhea or gas.

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Permalink Reply by Chris, Kadi & Brodie on March 14, 2012 at 9:34pm

Try a little bit of yogurt with each meal. Sometimes the enzymes in their system get 'off' and it takes something to get them back on track. We feed yogurt to all of our dogs for that reason and it does a good job keeping them balanced.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on March 14, 2012 at 9:56pm

What color is the blood. You said it wasn't bright red, so does it look more blackish? Bright red blood is generally a colon issue and a sign of irritation where dark/blackish blood (melena) is an indication of small intestine or stomach bleeding. This is a more serious issue. Generally stress will cause more bright red blood and ulcers or intestinal bleeding will cause the dark blood. How long has this been going on? Did the vet do any bloodwork? Has he been on any type of stomach coater or intestinal antibiotic? The pink tinged vomit makes me feel like maybe he has some type of bleeding in his stomach perhaps. I think referral to a specialist wouldn't be a bad idea. Corgis don't have any breed specific aversions to anesthetics. They generally do quite well. As long as you do the bloodwork ahead of time anesthesia tends to be relatively safe these days.