my pug has been vomiting for 6 weeks

[mypugdog]

Ok here is the whole story. I have a 4 year old female pug. About 6 weeks ago she was given sentinel flavor tabs but for dogs from 51-100 lbs, one tablet was given to her(she is about 25 lbs). About 2 days later she started vomiting and diarrhea a day after. I took her to the vet and they ran xrays and put her on metronidazole, id prescription food, etc. She was given iv in her two nights of hospitalization and a pepcid like substance. She was better on bringing her home but she has started vomiting again. But her stool is almost back to normal. Im going to bring her to the vet in the morning where they are probably going to conduct a barium series of tests. What can this possibly be. Bloodwork came back almost perfect, no parasites, xrays showed something(dont remember what they called it but nothing serious) and the following xray it was almost gone. My dog has been sluggish and extremely congested at times and at other times ok. more often she has like a regurgitation effect and sometimes she vomits. She gets extremely congested during her night walks and usually ends up vomiting trying to clear up the congestion. She does not wag her tail as often and looks depressed. The only time she gets real excited is when i mention food. What can this be, this dog is my baby and im extremely concerned.

[mypugdog]

i have spoken to a few vets and they said they doubt the overdose of sentinel would still be causing this.

[doberkim]

i agree with the vets - your dog while overdosed on the typical dosage, was still within the safe range and the dosing of the sentinel was probably just incidental.

best of luck - im out th edoor right now will write more later.

[LuvMyPups]

Have you look into Live Shunts and such? I know pugs are prone to them.

[Pugdawg1]

I don't have any words of wisdom, other than to wish you luck in finding the cause. It's so hard to watch our babies when they are ill, and not know WHY they are sick, to be able to help them. PLEASE update us on your girl when you find something out.

[mypugdog]

thanks for all the help so far folks. Its just really hard im a college student and the bill is over grand so far. The barium test is going to run another 500. If nothing is found there then we do an endoscopy and then exploratory surgery. Her stool has gotten much better but the vomiting or regurgitating its a comibnation of both, but mostly regurgitating is happening to often. My dog has always had a week stomach but never to this degree. I just dont know what to do, im waiting to hear from my vet if we are going to proceed with the barium. Anyone with any useful info it is all greatly appreciated
thanks again

[AngelScout]

I only just today, read about your baby's situation. Did you ever find out what the condition is, with your pug?

Our collie Dana, recently began hacking and I took her to the vet on Thursday as I stayed up late with her Wednesday since she seemed to have problems with her breathing. After running blood tests and doing some chest xrays, we noticed a spot in her lung (appears to be a swollen lymph node). We also noticed that her esophagus was enlarged. To make a long story short, she is on antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. (Precautionary measures)
My guess is that she may have aspirated a little something and in the time it will take for the lungs to break it down and it to reabsorb into the body, she will keep having a reflux. The gag reflux can cause one to vomit. The bigger the meal, the more likely it is to happen, even if the dogs stomach feels fine.
If the esophagus is enlarged, the food will come up very easily in a gag reflux.
Does she still have an appetite? Yes. The stomach is fine.

Solution for reflux is to elevate the food dish so that the neck is straight
keep dog in a sitting position for 20 minutes after eating.
Feed smaller amounts of food a couple of extra feedings per day.
An antibiotic will prevent any infection that could by caused by the foreign object in the lung.
An anti-inflammatory can reduce swelling of the esophagus.
She will naturally be more tired, as coughing and vomiting can and usually will cause fatigue over a period of time.

My theory on your pug (and this is just a theory) is that initially, when the overdose made her ill, she may have aspirated some vomit into her lungs. Thus, two days later, even though she wasn't suffering from a bad stomach affliction any more, the feeling of having something in her lungs keeps making her gag. The more often that she has thrown up, the more likely the esophagus is to have been weakened and enlarged. (thus making it even easier for food to come up the next gag.)

There are a lot of different drugs out there, but Dana is taking:
Previcox (anti-inflammatory)
Baytril (antibiotic)
(I do notrecommend Rymadil)

I sure hope your pug is doing better, please let me know.