Quote: christy mascari

Thank you all for your input!

It's only happened once since the OP. I have not yet changed her diet. After she eats I give her her "position" command and she sits between my feet and I ask her to "look" while she looks up at me I stroke her throat and she burps. After that, she goes to her place and chills out for at least 15 minutes. So far, so good. I don't know if this is a long term fix, but for now it is getting us by.

Any other ideas would be most welcome

Still OK, Christy?

Threw up dinner last night

Was anything different from the other meals?

I'm not sure if this will help and I hope I don't get into trouble for pasting something I discussed with an online vet (I did pay for the advice)But my male had a similar prob;em and I was o worried but in the end all i took to resolve the issue was some anti acid tablets :

I have a 3yr old male neutered neapolitan mastiff that started coughing and being sick 2 days ago.It appeared that this was due to eating grass at first the I noticed that some of the sick had blood in it he didn't eat the first day he was sick but has since been eating normally tho he does has a cough still and occaisionally has small amounts of blood coughed up,he is bright and allert.One more thing when giving him hide chews this seems to make him worse

Optional Information:
Type of Animal: neapolitan mastiff
Gender: male
Age: 3
Name of Dog: Coz

Already Tried:
starved for one day and madfe sure he drinks regrualarly






Dr Kara :
Hello, I'm sorry to hear about your pup, Coz.
Dr Kara :
I suspect that he ate something, like maybe too large a piece of rawhide, that irritated his esophagus enough to cause some bleeding.
Dr Kara :
Dogs that don't feel well will often eat grass to try and induce vomiting and make themselves feel better.
In his case the stomach acid likely made his esophageal erosions even worse.
It probably hurt to swallow so he didn't want to eat.
Dr Kara :
At this point we need to help his esophagus heal and try and prevent a stricture (due to scarring).
So no more rawhides.
And feed him very soupy canned food only, no dry food at all for at least 2 weeks.
I would also decrease stomach acid with a medication called Prilosec (omeprazole is the generic name) at 1mg per kilogram once daily.
Customer:
would this cause him to c ontinue coughing in the short term ?
Dr Kara :
If the bloody cough persists after a few days even with this therapy then he needs to see his veterinarian.
Dr Kara :
Sure the cough is likely due to acid reflux irritating his esophagus.
Dr Kara :
Once we control the reflux and acid he should cough less.
Dr Kara :
It is possible that he aspirated some of his vomit, but he should feel bad/have a fever and have an increased respiratory rate.
Customer:
I havesome omeprazole and also antibiotics (clinanycin 150mg) and senolux 500mg and metacam should i administer any of these also he is 70kg
Customer:
*clindamycin
Dr Kara :
Use the omeprazole, hold off on the Clindamycin as it's not great for gi problems.
And Metacam can cause gi ulcers too. As he isn't acting super painful I'd hold off for now.
I don't think he needs a laxative so no senolux either.
Customer:
ok thankyou i will follow your advice
Dr Kara :
Wow he's a huge boy. I'd probably only give him 40mg of prilosec. The dose is 0.5mg to 1mg per kilo daily. I dosed high bcz of possible ulcers but I'd give him 40mg not 70mg.
Dr Kara :
That should be plenty.
Dr Kara :
Can I answer anything else?
Customer:
that is fine and think you are right as this cazme on quite suddenly after eating a hide chew thankyou so much
Dr Kara :
You are very welcome. Best of luck with your boy.
Dr Kara :

The O.P.'s dog, if I recall correctly, started a raw diet a few months ago (I think THK with backs).

One of the weapons dogs have against food-borne pathogens is their very caustic stomach acid.

I don't want to modify the stomach acid and continue with raw. That is, if I'm giving an antacid, then I'm suspending the raw diet for the duration.

It's sometimes overlooked, so I'm just putting out this reminder, just in case.

Thanks Andrew, hope your guy is feeling better!

But, yes, we do feed raw. Thanks for the reminder Connie-our vet did mention this at the last visit. We feed THK and backs with some MM, eggs or sardines, (maybe 8 oz a day) thrown in.

She definitely is regurgitating. She lowers her head and it just falls out. Is this considered acid reflux since it occurs immediately after eating?

Since this has been an issue I have tried not to vary her meals very much so we could control the variables. When I think back, the only thing that occurred out of the norm was a course of Flagyl. (for chronic loose stool) Her stools are consistently perfect now. Could the flagyl have caused stomach/esophageal problems? She didn't seem to tolerate it very well.

Yes, it can (pretty rarely) cause regurgitation probs.

Did it start with the Flagyl?

bump

It did seem to start around that time. But, that is a strictly anecdotal observation.

(At my husbands recommendation) I stopped giving her backs this week-Monday I think- only soupy THK, so far NO regurgitating. She continues to burp after each meal. I think the absence of chicken backs are causing her stool to be a little softer than usual, but nothing major.

My brother has a meat grinder that goes on a Kitchenaid stand mixer, I may borrow it and grind up the backs to reintroduce them. Maybe she is swallowing them before they are properly masticated and they are scratching her throat, or she is forcing them down in a big wad. I have been giving the backs to her quartered, that may be too big of a piece for her.

I think, for now, I will just keep her on THK and observe.

Thank you for your help and concern, both are greatly appreciated

How's it going, Christy?