# My Staffy keeps being sick! :-(



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Sorry this is long. My Staffy will be 12 in October, and for the last few months, she has been bringing up bile almost every morning (she's almost always been sick every morning when I get up) sometimes she also does it in the daytime too. She has been fed on the same food for ages, so I know it can't be due to a change of food or anything, she is raw fed every morning, and has Orijen kibble every evening. She has hypothyroidism, and is on soloxine tablets for the rest of her life, but she's been on these for years too without any problems. I've taken her to the vets and explained she keeps being sick, and they tested her T4 level and said her medication was ever so slightly high, but nothing that would cause a problem. They also did another blood test as she's older to check her liver/kidney function etc, which came back all fine, so after spending about 150 pounds, the vets couldn't find anything wrong with her! She seems fine in herself, although she seems to drop bits of kibble on the floor all around her bowl, and takes longer to eat which she never did before, and also sometimes throughout the day she will burp, and a small amount of bile comes out on the floor, so now I'm wondering if dogs can suffer acid reflux or something?! Would this make her sick though?  Big puddles of bile every day is getting me down now, and even if I bath her, she still seems to smell sour and sick-like, and she's stinking my house out!!! I love her to bits, but she really stinks! Does anybody have any ideas??? Many thanks.


----------



## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Sorry, I really dont know what to suggest other than have a chat with your vet re the reflux.
Apologies for the rather fluffy response but I didnt want to read and run 

Hopefully someone will be along soon with a better advice for you


----------



## Dogless (Feb 26, 2010)

No advice apart from go back to discuss with your vet. So sorry - but thought I'd reply to keep the thread bumped up .


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Thank you. She is going for her booster and annual health check soon, so I will have a good chat to the vet about her!


----------



## 912142 (Mar 28, 2011)

If it is acid reflux then changing her to a low fat and protein diet should help her and also giving her smaller meals more often so that her stomach has time to digest the food without being packed. However, I think before you look at changing her diet I would have a word with your vet but I guess he will look at the diet before prescribing medication.


----------



## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

*Amber* said:


> Sorry this is long. My Staffy will be 12 in October, and for the last few months, she has been bringing up bile almost every morning (she's almost always been sick every morning when I get up) sometimes she also does it in the daytime too. She has been fed on the same food for ages, so I know it can't be due to a change of food or anything, she is raw fed every morning, and has Orijen kibble every evening. She has hypothyroidism, and is on soloxine tablets for the rest of her life, but she's been on these for years too without any problems. I've taken her to the vets and explained she keeps being sick, and they tested her T4 level and said her medication was ever so slightly high, but nothing that would cause a problem. They also did another blood test as she's older to check her liver/kidney function etc, which came back all fine, so after spending about 150 pounds, the vets couldn't find anything wrong with her! She seems fine in herself, although she seems to drop bits of kibble on the floor all around her bowl, and takes longer to eat which she never did before, and also sometimes throughout the day she will burp, and a small amount of bile comes out on the floor, so now I'm wondering if dogs can suffer acid reflux or something?! Would this make her sick though?  Big puddles of bile every day is getting me down now, and even if I bath her, she still seems to smell sour and sick-like, and she's stinking my house out!!! I love her to bits, but she really stinks! Does anybody have any ideas??? Many thanks.


Dogs do often vomit yellow bile, if their stomachs are empty for too long and acid builds up, you could perhaps try splitting her meals more say 3 times a day
and evenly spacing them but give her a late supper, that may make a difference.
If she is really bringing up huge amounts though and every day, and the above doesnt make any difference, there can be other causes of vomiting bile.

Has she been wormed regularly and recently? Parasites can cause vomiting of bile, as well as worms there are ptotozoa parasites like giardia and coccidia, so that might be a consideration if not been wormed for awhile.

Kidney,liver aand pancreas problems can cause vomiting yellow bile, did he just do haemotology or biochemistry bloods as well? If he only did haemotology sometimes more shows on biochemistry, with kidney liver and pancreas though you often usually get other symptoms too.

Is she on any non steroid anti inflammatories? like rimadyl or metacam as she is an older dog, these can cause stomach upsets and ulceration especially if given long term and/or an empty stomach. Ulceration of the stomach and inflamation of the gut can cause vomiting yellow bile too.

When he took her blood to check her Thyroid T4 did he take the blood 4/6 hours post pill at maximum soloxine take up? If he did then that would be a true reading of the highest level/peak. Which is when it should be taken, if they took it when the pill was at it lowest level then when she takes the tablet and its at maximum take up it may have periods where her levels are too high.


----------



## momentofmadness (Jul 19, 2008)

My Maizie.. if I don't get food down her early enough in the morning will throw up bile..


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Sled dog hotel said:


> Dogs do often vomit yellow bile, if their stomachs are empty for too long and acid builds up, you could perhaps try splitting her meals more say 3 times a day
> and evenly spacing them but give her a late supper, that may make a difference.
> If she is really bringing up huge amounts though and every day, and the above doesnt make any difference, there can be other causes of vomiting bile.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your reply. I have wondered if she may be hungry, and that's why she's being sick, and she's always had her last meal at 7.30pm. I have tried giving her a handful of kibble just before I go to bed, in case she was hungry, but then in the morning, there was the normal big puddle of bile, with kibble in it, so it didn't help.

Yes she is wormed regularly with Drontal plus tablets.

I'm not sure what sort of blood test they did, but they did it there at the vets, and I got the results that her liver/kidneys were fine the next day. They sent her bloods off to check her T4 level, and I didn't get the results for a few days. They took the bloods about 8 hours after she'd had her tablets.

She is on no other medication other than the soloxine tablets.

Thanks for your help.


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

momentofmadness said:


> My Maizie.. if I don't get food down her early enough in the morning will throw up bile..


Yes Fen is a bit like this, but even when we get up really early, she's almost always been sick already. I feed her as soon as I can in the mornings.


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

912142 said:


> If it is acid reflux then changing her to a low fat and protein diet should help her and also giving her smaller meals more often so that her stomach has time to digest the food without being packed. However, I think before you look at changing her diet I would have a word with your vet but I guess he will look at the diet before prescribing medication.


Thank you, I'm not sure if it even is this, but thank you for your help.


----------



## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Kali and Flynn do this if I don't get breakfast in them early enough and they are completely raw fed, none of the others do it and eat the same food. 

These two are so very fussy about eating breakfast so the butcher saves pig skin for me as they'll always eat that and once they've had a few scraps pf skin they will eat their breakfast and no sick.

You could always ask your vet about trying her on some Zantac (ranitidine) it helps reduce the ability for making stomach acid and stops sickness too. Marty had Zantac when he had pancreatitis and Kali and Flynn had it for a while too but I found the pig skin worked wonders so I don't use it for them now. 

Just to add: Have you tried active manuka honey? If she likes it a spoon when you first get up may help, it's great for dicky tums, as is natural pro biotic yoghurt.


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Malmum said:


> Kali and Flynn do this if I don't get breakfast in them early enough and they are completely raw fed, none of the others do it and eat the same food.
> 
> These two are so very fussy about eating breakfast so the butcher saves pig skin for me as they'll always eat that and once they've had a few scraps pf skin they will eat their breakfast and no sick.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your reply! Fen was totally raw fed, but I didn't like the way she was looking, she lost a lot of weight! I upped her raw food but she just didn't seem to put weight on, and I worried about her being so old, so I now feed raw in the morning and kibble in the evenings.

Thank you for the idea about the Zantac, I will definitely ask my vet about that.

I will give the manuka honey a go as well, but I have no idea if she likes it, but I know she doesn't like natural yoghurt.

I got up at 7 this morning, and there were 2 very big puddles of bile, so put her outside so I could clean it up, and I could hear her outside being sick again!


----------



## Lady.turbo.wrx (Apr 14, 2011)

*Shanti my staffy is 3 and would often bring up bile after what sounded like a series of wet gags if that makes sence,i spoke to my vet who said that as we were feeding her twice a day,from her last feed around 5pm till her next feed around 7am was a bit to long as acid was building in her stomach,so said we should if possible give her some dry biscuits around 9pm to keep her going through the night,this worked (if) we could get her to eat them,so now we sort of spoil her  as at 9pm every night she has her biscuits with a little warm Goats milk enough to soften them *


----------



## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Poor baby, she could have acid reflux especially as she is an oldie. Us oldies get these things, I have a stomach ulcer and also take Zantac  couldn't function without it.

Hope the vet comes up with a suggestion and tell him you know people who have it for their dogs. If they think you know what you're talking about they often agree with what you are saying. 

Lets know how she gets on and hugs from here. xx


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Lady.turbo.wrx said:


> *Shanti my staffy is 3 and would often bring up bile after what sounded like a series of wet gags if that makes sence,i spoke to my vet who said that as we were feeding her twice a day,from her last feed around 5pm till her next feed around 7am was a bit to long as acid was building in her stomach,so said we should if possible give her some dry biscuits around 9pm to keep her going through the night,this worked (if) we could get her to eat them,so now we sort of spoil her  as at 9pm every night she has her biscuits with a little warm Goats milk enough to soften them *


Thank you, I'm glad it helped your girly, but Fen is still sick if I feed her a little just before bed, and whatever we've given her comes up with the bile undigested.  Yes, Fen makes those gagging noises too, and her stomach heaves, it's horrible to watch.


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Malmum said:


> Poor baby, she could have acid reflux especially as she is an oldie. Us oldies get these things, I have a stomach ulcer and also take Zantac  couldn't function without it.
> 
> Hope the vet comes up with a suggestion and tell him you know people who have it for their dogs. If they think you know what you're talking about they often agree with what you are saying.
> 
> Lets know how she gets on and hugs from here. xx


Thank you for all your help, my vet is usually really good and I'm always in there, so they all know me!

I will definitely have a speak about the Zantac, it sounds like good stuff!

Sorry to hear you have an ulcer, my mum's friend had one, and was in a great deal of pain, really not nice.

I will let you know what the vet says, thank you again. xx


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Just thought I'd update on Fen. Took her to the vets today, and he said her coat is lovely and shiny, so her diet must really suit her, he agreed that she didn't look ill at all. After explaining everything about her sickness, he said to me, it sounded a lot like an acid problem. He said as she's older, her tum is probably a bit more sensitive, and if her tummy is empty for even a few hours, the acid builds up and irritates her tummy making her sick. Soooooooooo, he has prescribed her Zantac! (Thanks Malmum for your advice about Zanntac!) She needs quarter of a tablet twice a day, and he advised me to split her meals up and feed her 4 times a day! (That's gonna be fun if I need to go out!) He said if it works, it will take about a week to see any changes, he said to give him a ring in a couple of weeks to let him know how she's doing. He said if it doesn't make any difference, they'd have to stick a scope down her throat and have a look around for anything nasty eg a stomach ulcer. I soooooooo hope the tablets help! He said he didn't see why she couldn't have her booster, as she didn't appear ill, so she had that today too!


----------



## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Hoping the tabs help, they help me and i've got an "older" stomach too, lol! 

Hugs to Fen and hopefully she'll soon be free of that awful acidic tummy feeling.  I don't seem to get problems since giving up smoking - tummy's never empty that's why! :blush2:


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Ha ha! Thank you very much for all your help! :smile5:


----------



## Lady.turbo.wrx (Apr 14, 2011)

*Fingers crossed the tablets work

Big ((Hugs)) for both of you x x*


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

Thank you! xx


----------

