i'm taking mia in at 2 (that's when the vets come back from lunch), but wanted to get some opinions here while i'm waiting.

mia is an 8 year old border collie w/ hip dysplasia & corn/flea/seasonal allergies. for a couple of days she has not been herself & is much more off & lethargic today. when i got up this morning she immediately ran to the backdoor (not typical), ran out and starting eating grass. i gave her 5-10 minutes then opened the door to let her & suki back in. suki came running but mia didn't. mia wanted to keep eating grass. suki came in & ate breakfast, then i tried to let mia in again. she came in after i told her she had to. like yesterday, she very reluctantly eat her food.

she doesn't typically get into things she's not supposed to, doesn't tear up random stuff, & i haven't found anything torn up except for a plastic cup that had pepsi in it at one point. i haven't used any fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. she hasn't thrown up or even heaved. suki is perfectly fine & they do everything together. poops seem fine.

i know this is all really vague, but any ideas? she seems to be getting more & more miserable.

3/28/2011 12:59:43 PM

eating grass generally indicates a stomach/digestive issue, but thats a broad generalization. Ive met dogs that are perfectly healthy but still eat grass, maybe because they like it or out of boredom. Its too difficult to pin it down to one issue without the vet performing various diagnostics.

Has she pooped or vomited very recently?

[Edited on March 28, 2011 at 1:33 PM. Reason : a]

3/28/2011 1:30:49 PM

she doesn't gnaw on grass typically. my mom's dogs do, and anything else they find in the yard, so that's normal for them. she ran out there like it was an emergency & started eating grass this morning. she hasn't vomited at all. i haven't watched her poop, but i pick it up out of the yard regularly & haven't noticed anything off. my backyard is really big & partially wooded basically so it can be hard to see her when she's pooping.

her breath has smelled pretty dang bad for the past several weeks. no clue if that has anything to do with it. it's not sweet or urine smelling. it's like rotten shrimp. she had her teeth cleaned last october & they still look pretty nice.

we're leaving in a few minutes for the vet.

3/28/2011 1:37:48 PM

My dog Pacey does that all the time when she has an upset stomach. Boxers have very finicky stomachs so when she eats something in the yard a lot of times she gets sick. It's usually followed by some barfing, but she usually feels better by the next day.

We took her to the vet the first time she did it and they just told us to give her some stomach stuff like Maalox. It's over the counter, for people, I just can't remember what it's called.

[Edited on March 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM. Reason : *]

3/28/2011 1:41:10 PM

I've give my dog Pepto before when his stomach is upset.

3/28/2011 1:59:55 PM

i've done pepto also. i didn't want to give her anything before seeing the dog so it didn't mask the problem.

vet's not really sure what it is, not surprised. she said a couple of kidney values were at the upper end of normal when they did blood work in nov for her teeth cleaning & the fact that i mentioned that her breath was horrible kinda almost threw up a tiny little flag, but the vet said she really didn't think it was a concern. she gave me the option of a anti-nausea shot + penicillin (possible gastro thing going on maybe), or that + blood work & urinalysis. i opted for the shots & if she's not better in 24-48 hours we'll go for the blood work.

her blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level was 27, where the normal range is 7-27.
the creatinine (CREAT) was 1.7, where normal is something - 1.8.
the vet said the levels could have been elevated because she hadn't drank anything for 12 or so hours beforehand.

3/28/2011 3:15:11 PM

she blew up out of both ends yesterday while i was at work. fun stuff. i spend my evening cleaning.

she seemed to be better last night & this morning. not 100%, but better. while i was at home at lunch i noticed she just paces constantly. lays down a few seconds, then gets up to walk around again. obviously very uncomfortable. she tripped over a shoe, plant, & first step on the deck also. i don't know what's going on. i made an appointment for 530 tonight at the vet for bloodwork & urinalysis. i don't know what's going on. i have no idea.

i'm scared

3/29/2011 1:28:15 PM

Poor pup. Did you save some of the feces and vomit for the vet to run tests on?

3/29/2011 1:36:03 PM

i've got it but it's probably contaminated with pinesol. there might be a couple of pieces they could use. i'll have to tear the bag open. it sat outside overnight in the cold though. i'm retarded for not saving it. i'm actually not positive who it came out of.

3/29/2011 1:54:57 PM

To be fair, very few people think to do that. Only reason I do is I used to work in an animal lab.

3/29/2011 2:02:07 PM

She'll be ok. Pacey's had it shoot out of both ends too and the next day she's back to normal. Yeah we had her checked out the first time too and it's not a bad idea, but most likely she'll be just fine.

3/29/2011 2:05:34 PM

^^i should have. i was an animal science major, almost pre-vet ish. i should have known better. i was just so mad/sad.

3/29/2011 2:21:34 PM

The dog has allergies and is old.
/case

3/29/2011 2:26:43 PM

My 6 year old boxer went through this a few months ago. Not the eating grass part, but the not eating food, then explosive diarrhea, then constipation. They were originally concerned about a blockage but there was no bloating. Had all kinds of tests done, and everything came back good. They gave her some sort of 'good bacteria' powder to place on her food (ended up having to cook chicken and rice to get her to eat). Did that for a week and started her back on her regular food. Everything was great until a week later it all started again. So she went back on the powder and chicken and rice. After a couple days on the chicken and rice it seemed like a switch was flipped and she was back to her old self, happy, jumping around playing with my other dog. Im still assuming it was a partial blockage that she finally passed, and hoping you dog does as well.

I will also say the Vets at Banfield were great. I ended up putting her on their senior dog wellness plan because it was getting pretty expensive. After everything I ended up putting out about $450 out of pocket, plus the monthly fee of $40 for a 12 month contract. The bill had I not been on the plan was right around $1300.

3/29/2011 3:01:57 PM

When my dog had uncontrollable diarrhea I kept in the bathroom so as not to make a horrible mess of the entire house.

Hope Mia feels better!

3/29/2011 4:04:53 PM

still not sure what's up. her stomach was making all sorts of crazy loud noises when we got there. glad they got to hear that. gave her a couple more meds for her stomach, did bloodwork & urinalysis (results tomorrow). her pee was dark & there wasn't a whole lot of it. gums were dry also. soooo she's dehydrated. i made her boiled chicken & rice w/ extra water for dinner. she liked that a lot.

3/29/2011 8:55:46 PM

It sounds like she has the same symptoms my dog, Banjo, had when he was diagnosed with pancreatitis. I hope this isn't the case for Mia. Does she ever eat people food, or anything with really high fat content? He stole a taco from the counter and had to stay two nights at the vet being pumped with fluids and meds. The blood-work results tomorrow will show whether her pancreatic enzymes are elevated. I know you are, but just make sure you're keeping a close eye on her.

Here's a link with some info about it:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2103&aid=335

And, I'm not trying to scare you, just share my similar experience. Hope she feels better soon!!

3/29/2011 9:34:26 PM

she never gets people food. she rarely even gets dog treats or anything. just her same dogfood. thanks for the info. i'll check out that article. what happened w/ banjo?

3/29/2011 9:38:49 PM

Yeah, there are other causes too, but eating bad food is usually the culprit. He had been throwing up a little bit once a day for a few days and it was a yellowish foamy kind of vomit. I thought it was weird, but he seemed fine otherwise so I just thought his stomach was upset. On that Friday night, my boyfriend and I had been out and came back in after midnight. Right before we were going to go to bed Banjo starts to vomit, and this time it's a lot, and it's bloody. I start flipping my shit and call my vet's (Glenwood Animal Hospital) emergency number. I talked to the vet who I had just woken up at home, explained the symptoms, and he told me to keep an eye on Banjo and to bring him in first thing in the morning. I stayed up for a couple of hours, just watching him. He was lethargic and you could tell he was in pain. His stomach was making the loudest noises ever. You could hear it from across the room. I took him in that morning. They took blood and kept him while they were waiting for the blood results. He was really dehydrated, so they started him on fluids. I got a call a few hours later and they told me his enzymes were up and that he'd need to stay for a few days. So I went and visited him every day until he came home Monday. It's weird visiting your sick dog.

That was about 4 years ago. He's never had another issue like that, but I am very careful of what he eats. The bill was just shy of $1000. I was able to pay $200 and they let me pay $40/month until the balance was paid off.

oh, and the vet said that the vomit was bloody most likely because his esophagus was irritated from vomiting the few days before. Not directly because of pancreatitis.

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 10:03 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2011 9:58:36 PM

lab results were all perfectly normal!!!!!! i was so worried bc she peed such a little amount & it was pretty dark. so they settled on random gastroenteritis. continuing with her meds for the next 3 days (famotidine, tramadol, & some anti-nausea med i can't remember the name of). she's grumpy & uncomfortable in the morning, but by mid-day & into the evening she's feeling better. she brought me her squeaky basketball toy a little bit ago.

3/30/2011 8:57:18 PM