This past weekend my kids, Danny dog and I went to my mother's house for the long weekend. We take Danny lots of places locally and he travels very well. However, this was an 8 hour drive. He seemed to do well and stayed in good spirits. However, the second night we were there he developed watery diarrhea and vomitted once. He went off his feed a little but never completely stopped eating. I gave him water regularly. He stayed in good puppy spirits although his energy diminished a little. His exposures were numerous. He found a dead toad, a dead bird, drank out of a few water puddles, licked a couple of drops of something on my mom's garage floor, and got into some spoiled raw cat food. By Tuesday (this started Sunday night) he was starting to lose some hair from one of his eyebrows. He kept scratching and scratching. He was still eating and drinking and playing but he was waking me up throughout the night for potty breaks. More pudding to watery diarrhea. Wednesday my husband took him to the vet for me and he came home with metronidazole and a kaolin paste. There is no more diarrhea. He is eating like a pro and has recovered from sleep deprivation much quicker than I have. But now he has sores on his tongue.
I am not sure what the diagnosis was other than my husband told me that she thought he had a bacteria from eating the spoiled cat food.
Is the hair loss from stress or a vitamin deficiency from not eating well? What causes the sores on his tongue? Should I worry? Has anyone had a problem like this with their dog? I will be calling the vet again in the morning but I was just wondering about other people's experiences.

The things I would be most concerned about are the toad and the garage floor drips. Those things can be way more toxic than the other things you mentioned (depending, of course, on what kind of toad it was and exactly what the drips were). Did he eat the toad or pick it up or just sniff it or what?

He wouldn't have a vitamin deficiency from not eating well for a few days. Hair loss can be caused by scratching, an allergy, or a myriad of other things. Yes, stress is one of those things, but it would have to be something really major and ongoing. I have seen stress hair loss but it was on a dog who had extremely bad nerves AND had been through multiple major stressors (high volume kill shelter, surgery (neuter) and boarding at a vet, temp foster home in a tiny house with multiple other dogs, and long distance transport - all in the period of a few weeks).

So yes hair loss can be caused by stress but I don't think that is the case here.

I would be more inclined to think he scratched at it too much (mosquito bite? flea bite? contact allergic reaction to something?)

Hair loss/itchiness caused by systemic reactions (such as a food allergy) tend to NOT be localized to a tiny area like an eyebrow.

My mother swears that the only thing that leaked on her garage floor was motor oil but who knows? Whatever it was in the floor it has been there for probably a year or more, since she got her new car. Danny was licking it like crazy and thoughts of antifreeze jumped into my mind. However, he was fine for at least an hour afterward. I know I had to brush out hundreds of burrs that he got into at a rest stop!
He did not eat the toad. He picked it up and held it in his mouth until I finally coaxed him to trade for a yummy treat.
The vet is thinking that he has just nibbled on some plant that has given him the tongue sores. The itching is most likely allergies and above his eye may well be a flea bite. (Mom lives in a warm wet area- lots of fleas.)
What a great joy to have a retriever puppy. He has a fairly high prey drive and is super mouthy. Luckily, he has been fairly quick to learn the Yuck! command. Even with that it's a challenge. Thanks for the advice.

If you keep your puppy on a leash at all times (ESPECIALLY in a strange environment) you will avoid these problems altogether. Keep your pup safe, use a leash! Even in the house.

The percentage of time he is off leash when not in is crate is maybe about 1/2% (for brushing his neck or bathing). But, listening to myself I see that there are modifications for me to make. A dog at the other end of a 20 foot leash is as good as off leash when the danger is only 5 feet away. I have on order the buddy system to help with problems in the house and when I am working with both hands. I could certainly take instruction on how to handle other situations where I tend to let him walk on a long leash or a dropped leash (hiking in wild areas away from other people.) What if there is rattlesnake or some other danger? How do you teach a dog about these things? Someone must teach search and rescue dogs how to stay safe in the wild.

This is on the order of a general heads up.
I operate a shop and if I have my dog or any other dog in the building, it doesn't matter the age, it doesn't matter if I have them on a lead, I watch them like a hawk. I NEVER take my eyes off them.
A garage or a shop is not someplace to be lax about what a dog is nosing into.

Randy

I saw CM use an E collar to stop his dogs sniffing at a snake behind glass. That's how I would do it.

Luckily in this country we have only one poisonous snake and most dogs bitten survive. That's just a matter of management, not letting dogs run in long grass on a hot day etc.

I saw that episode. That's is when I realized that dogs don't always know what is dangerous unless they are taught. I could see if one of the local snake farms (Texas has plenty!) and do some of that training. The other big danger we have in wild hogs. They even come up on our street when there is a drougth (like right now). When I see them I just walk the other direction. I do not mess with wild hogs.

And Randy your point is well made. I have had two other dogs tromp through that garage and they never found anything in there that they wanted. Clearly that did not mean that it was safe. It boils down to wathing my dog closely when potentially around hazardous materials. I had just driven 8 hours with three little kids and a dog. It was 11 o'clock at night and I was tired and in a hurry. His crate was on the bottom of the luggage pile. He was in a completely new place full of new sounds and smells. My kids were tired and fighting. Why didn't I just put him back in the pet taxi after I let him out to pee?
Basically, it's a bad idea to have my pup out when I am distracted, especially when he is going to be distracted as well. Lesson learned and thankfully learned before creating a tragedy. I read up later on antifreeze poisoning- disturbing.

How's the puppy?

Danny is much better, thank you. The metronidazole seemed to help. No more diarrhea and he is feeding better. His tongue spots are fading. The missing eyebrow will take time to grow back. Darn golden retrievers and their sensitive skin!