I am hoping that some one can perhaps offer insight to an odd occurence experienced by a very close friend's GSD.

He is a 5 yr. old black sable. picture of perfect health until Thursday. He was lethargic during the evening and was taken to the vet to check for possible bloat. He was examined ( this is in WPalm Beach, Florida)and released.

Afterwards he was home and during the night he had black diarheah, followed by intense vomiting of black vomit w/ huge blood clots resembling liver! My friends gathered up the clots and took them and the dog to the emeregency vet, where the dog was put on IV fluids and transfered to another facility in intensive care.

He had a cbc w/ diff, reticulocyte index, and some xrays(not sure of what) and an abdominal ultrasound, all of which were negative. He was stabilized and sent home on some meds(vit k,and some others) and she was told to feed himm Science Diet ID....

He was negative for whip worms(apparently his heartgard doesn't protect against them) but she was told that was not conclusive that he doesn't have them(?? is that odd??)She is going to see the vet whom she leases her groomimg business space from tomorrow, but is very concerned by the lack of a diagnosis up to this point of this acute situation! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on with her poor dog?? I was thinking perhaps a rupture in one of the blood vessels lining the GI tract, but only becasue I knew a woman who experienced that recently....As for this dog, I can't imagine what could have caused this.( BTW, they ruled out exposure to rat poison because he had no other organ damage)

I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks!

Black probably indicates blood. Did they see any foreign objects on the films? Plastic chips would be hard to spot, but could really tear a dog up inside. There are a lot of things that could cause this.

I'm not sure if they saw anything, but I doubt it because they released him and didn't indicate to my friend that they saw anything.

I agree that alot of things could cause this, but Douglas is with her ALL of the time,( she owns her own grooming shop) and to her knowledge he didn't ingest anything. He's NOT a chewer, so she doesn't think it's likely to be a foreign body. They did not do a GI series w/ contrast, only plain films, and I'm not sure of what. Black is definately blood, but from where?

He may be scoped today, but she is terrified that he is just going to wind up dying from some unkown cause!

She was concerned that perhaps Whip worms could be responsible? She said she heard that they can be deadly, but I really don't know about them at all.

Thanks for the input Lauren <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well, the dog seems stablized now, and from what I could read about his symptoms and the labs done, they are apparently concerned about his clotting factors.

I'm thinking possibly they are ruling out hemolytic amenia of some type?? He didn't sustain any trauma, so the cause of the bleed is still unknown....

Does anyone think that this sounds like Von Willenbrands? I am told it is a disease that affects clotting factors, but I don't know if this is a possibility for this dog.....

I hope to be able to find out something here that can help my friend with her dog, he is like her child, she loves that dog!!

Thanks all!

Well, the dog seems stablized now, and from what I could read about his symptoms and the labs done, they are apparently concerned about his clotting factors.

I'm thinking possibly they are ruling out hemolytic amenia of some type?? He didn't sustain any trauma, so the cause of the bleed is still unknown....

Does anyone think that this sounds like Von Willenbrands? I am told it is a disease that affects clotting factors, but I don't know if this is a possibility for this dog.....

I hope to be able to find out something here that can help my friend with her dog, he is like her child, she loves that dog!!

Thanks all!