Sick dog - ER vet or wait and see?

[mzteris]

Hi all -

my new "grand-dog" is sick!

(History: My daughter adopted a rescue a few months ago. he was in foster care for several months before that, and in a shelter for almost a year before that. The vet gave him a clean bill of health, he has his shots, etc...)


He started with diarrhea and vomiting yesterday afternoon - about 3 x until 11pm when she called the first time. . she just called again and said he'd had incidents all through the night on the dot of every two hours, though now he's it's been 2.5 hours since the last.

It's not bloody or anything. Earlier it was undigested food, but now just throws up "froth".

He was licking ice cubes, but won't now. His gums are light pink but aren't gummy (though they were a bit tacky during the night). He will get up to go out. Will roll over for a belly rub. Wagged his tail when "daddy" walked in. But otherwise seems pretty tired and wants to just lay there.

So - emergency vet visit? Or wait until tomorrow and then regular vet if he's not better? (or even if he is...)

[GoCubsGo]

1. Call the regular vet's answering service.

They can put you in contact with the vet, and he/she can make a recommendation on whether to wait or go to an emergency vet.

[warrior1]

2. Go to the vet

better to be safe that sorry.

[HopeHoops]

3. I'd be tempted to do the ER thing. Tacky gums aren't good. Could be a blockage.

Did he get into anything he shouldn't have? The trash?

[mzteris]

4. she says no...

just his regular food yesterday and day before.

His gums aren't tacky right now, but not "wet" either - they're still pink - though pale.

[woo me with science]

5. Emergency vet visit.

If it was just once, I wouldn't worry, but this sounds more serious. Heard a story like this before, and there was poison in the dog. By the time they took him to the vet, organs were shutting down.

Please go.

[Beaverhausen]

6. He's getting dehydrated. I also say go to the ER vet

editing to add that you never know what he may have eaten. I found out the hard way not to wait in these circumstances.

[nadine_mn]

7. Go to the vet

Usually if it was just one or the other (vomit or diarrhea) I would wait, but since its both and its een since yesteday I would say go. I agree with previous poster that there is a risk of dehydration.

Its pricey to go to an emergency vet but better safe than sorry

[flvegan]

8. You mentioned pale gums...ER vet. Now.

[Maine-ah]

11. curious...as a dog owner

what does that mean in a dog?

[flvegan]

17. A number of things.

Pale gums can be a warning sign of a number of problems from anemia to shock. Learning how to "read" a dogs gums is a good idea for any doggie mom or dad. Also learning how to read the gums' capillary refresh rate can be very important (how quickly color returns after pressing on them).

In any case, a dog with pale gums needs to get to a vet asap. Caveat: a dog may have gums that are more pale after waking or after intense exercise.

[guitar man]

9. To the vet

As fast as you can go, that doesn't sound good at all, especially the tacky gums :(

[Lindsey]

10. I have to agree w/most of the posters here. I think he needs to

go to the ER right away. I'm so sorry that he and you guys are going through this. Please, please let us know what they say and how he's doing.:grouphug:

[mzteris]

12. update...

They had decided to wait and see since when I posted he'd not had any diarrhea for 2.5 hours though would have taken him if he had another episode.

It's now been 6.5 hours! He is urinating and his gums are back to a "salmon color" though still not very wet... He wanted to go for a walk which they did and though he seems a bit tired, he does seem better.

They talked to a friend of theirs there who raises dogs and plan to give him some plain rice shortly and see how he does with that.

I'll keep yall posted.

[trof]

13. Size and breed would be helpful.

Large dogs are susceptible to 'twisted gut', which this sounds like.
Our last German Shepherd had it twice.
Google it.

On edit: It is fatal if not treated.
May require surgery.

[mzteris]

14. smallish medium-sized

if that makes sense - about the size of a border collie. Very mixed breed it's hard to tell what really.

[trof]

15. The symptoms sound a lot like twisted gut.

Vomiting foam, etc.
When some dogs roll, somehow the stomach doesn't roll with them.
Think about twisting the neck of a balloon.
So the stomach is cut off from the intestine.
It's more common in horses, but also happens in large dogs and even some smaller ones.

I'd call the vet.
The 'emergency' vet on call on a Sunday saved the life of our German Shepherd, Nasha.

[Kali]

16. I'll be the asshole who says give it a little more time.

We just had a little "incident" with the new dog last weekend.

Saturday Lupe and I were out in the cold and wind all damn day and towards the end of the day it rained a little bit. She was fine - working cattle and rowdy as hell when it rained. That night, or rather very early in the morning she had a few kind of dry hacking puke episodes - produced a little foam but not really much in the way of vomit.

Sunday all day she was increasingly lethargic and trying to puke - eating grass and making small puddles of greenish foam with a bit of grass. Now this is a Mexican street dog and she finds and eats all kinds of disgusting things - usually with no effect whatsoever. Thought maybe she got something REALLY bad or possible a bone stuck somewhere. The attempted vomiting stopped and she was just sleeping like somebody who didn't feel well. That night we had several globs of mucusy, bloody diarrhea - on the living room floor (oh, JOY!) Figured I would be taking her in to the vet first thing in the morning (no real emergency service out here and I don't have that kind of money) It wasn't a lot of blood, but it was definitely there.

Monday morning a couple more little squirts, but she was feeling way better - tried to play with the other dogs and drank quite a bit of water. Didn't want to eat anything but the squirts and puking were over so I decided to wait another day. Tuesday she ate some rice and turkey broth in the morning and that evening regular food. She was fine.

We think maybe she got a hold of a toad. It was cold and even got down to freezing Saturday and Sunday night, but believe it or not there was a small toad out on the porch after it rained (we are ALL a little desperate for moisture around here)

She was 100% by Tuesday night-Wednesday morning. Don't know what else it could have been.

If the dog will drink and maybe eat a little rice I'd wait to go to the regular. If it goes into shock symptoms or otherwise seems REALLY distressed, then I'd be thinking the emergency clinic.

[applegrove]

18. My cat was throwing up and I waited to bring him to the vet. When I did he ended up having 'chronic'

pancreatitus. I wonder to this day if I had brought him in immediately if it would have only been just a few days long instead of forever. I would go to the vet.

[TorchTheWitch]

19. when in doubt ALWAYS at least call the vet

and describe the symptoms as accurately and detailed as you can. They'll know whether they should go in right away or not.

Don't ever gamble on your pet's health and life.