need a little help, please

[roni]

My fiance and I went out of town last Thursday morning. We had taken our k-9 baby to my mom's and had arranged for our dog sitter to come by and check on the our other 2 k-9 kids. Everything was fine Thursday morning when we left. We had the dog sitter coming 3 times a day for the entire time that we were gone. Early Friday morning we received a phone call from my mom. Our dog sitter had called her in hesterics. When she got to our house she found our indoor k-9 kid had been throwing up blood and blood was also coming out the other end. She went ahead and took him to our vet. We kept calling trying to find out what had happened. We were in Florida and we live in North Carolina. Finally we talked to the vet and he said that this happens a lot of times to "older" dogs (he is 9 yrs. old). He said it was some kind of gastric thing. Can anyone shed a little light on this? Our dog lost alot of blood and he was dehydrated. He had to stay in the hospital for the weekend and we were able to pick him up Monday. He seems fine but he is still on medication. I just don't understand what actually caused it. Any info will be appreciated.

 

[Welsh Doberman]

It could possibly be Gastric Enteritis which is particularly dangerous to Toy and smaller breed dogs. The symptoms are vomiting, lethargy, refusal to eat, and progresses to mucous covered stools, loose stools, severe diarrhea, and bloody diarrhea.

You did the right thing by taking the your dog to the vets .

Any kind of bacterial diarrhea can quickly dehydrate a dog, and the little dogs are at greater risk of dehydration as they have little weight to lose.

Hope your dog is feeling better

 

[Doberluv]

I'd be freaking too. I question what the vet said about lots of older dogs having this. I've never experienced this. Is the dog OK now? I hope so. Otherwise, I'd get another opinion. Best wishes.

 

[roni]

Yes...he seems to be fine now. BUT, like you said, I haven't experienced it either and I have always been around dogs. He is on a special food for one week and antibiotics. He also had worms. Could this have caused it? The vet told me no, but I just don't know. He is only 9 years old. I have had dogs alot older than that with out having anything like this happen. I am just confused. I hope that they aren't overlooking something. Thanks for caring!

 

[Renee750il]

I'd be freaked too! Like the rest of you, I've had several old - even ancient dogs and never experienced this!

I'm not so sure about worms not causing it. A bad infestation can cause bloody stool and vomit.

Hope he continues to improve! Keep us posted.

 

[roni]

Thanks to all. I update his progress. So far - so good!!!