# Vomiting issue, suggested needed.



## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I'm hoping you guys can help me figure out what's going on with Kaizer. This is a little long, but I just wanted to give all the details I can. Any thoughts/ideas will be appreciated! I put a *tl;dr* at the bottom.

Kaizer's been dealing with some random, intermittent symptoms that vets and I finally concluded to be a possible food allergy. Starting in August 2016, he'd get this dermatitis all over his stomach around the groin area. It'd appear in late August/early September, we'd take him to the vet, get the skin scraping, get antibiotics and it'd clear up for a couple of months and then return. To my knowledge, he never tried to go after it but I can't account for what he might have done at night or while I was at school. It was diagnoses as contact dermatitis each time by two different vets. In 2016, he used to get yeasty ear infections constantly, but that was always in conjunction with he got wet (rain, pool, hose, beach, etc.) so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with his possibly allergy issue. In 2017, we may have had one ear infection, but nothing really stands out. After he got neutered in August 2017, he was on prednisone and an antibiotic (which I can't remember for the life of me). His stomach rash came back after being gone since March and he developed a yeasty paw issue. I made a post about it, if any of you remember, about the thick black wax in-between his toes. He also had the beginnings of a yeast infection in one ear, which we treated.

In November, after talking about it with our vet, my mom and I chose to switch his food. Kaizer had been fed the same food since he could eat solid food until that point - Annamaet Extra 26, which is a chicken-based food. I figured that since it was the only constant throughout these issues, chicken must be the issue. I looked into a lot of foods when I was looking for a new food, but ultimately decided on PPP SSS because I know a lot of people swear by it and I've seen good results from it firsthand. I did do a slow transition, over the course of a week. Kaizer has a strong stomach, I used to frequently mix up his treat meats. As soon as a bag of lamb treats ran out, I'd get duck or rabbit or something else. He never showed an adverse reaction to anything, but admittedly I was looking for BM changes or the like. Kaizer did well on the SSS for a couple of weeks, but then the dermatitis came back. He also started shaking his head like he had an ear infection (he didn't). About 3-4 days before Christmas, Kaizer started vomiting. At first it was only yellow stomach bile really early in the morning or late at night. I figured that it must be that thing that some dogs get (Acid reflux?) so I gave him a bite to eat later in the night. Everything else about his behavior was 100% normal - he was still excited to eat food and still ate with gusto, he was drinking an appropriate amount of water, still liked to play and train, and was otherwise behaving normally. We didn't constitute it as an emergency yet. Then he started vomiting half digested food hours after he had eaten. That's when I started getting worried, the vomiting in general was odd and had no apparent trigger, but still he was acting fine. His poops were still perfect and like clockwork (we were down to one poop a day), still eating, drinking, peeing, playing, doing everything normally. 

On Christmas Day, Kaizer was still vomiting but now was also sporting a swollen eye. We rushed him to the emergency vet (at this point even my mom couldn't tell me he was fine) and after telling her about the recurring rash, the vomiting and the swollen eye, the vet told us that he had food allergies. She gave us a bag of Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein and told us to feed him that since the protein was broken down to its most basic form (aka it won't trigger his allergies). She wanted us to wait two months of just giving him that before introducing other meat proteins into his diet. I specifically asked the vet if Kaizer could only have this kibble or if I could use plant proteins as treats. She gave me the OK for fruits and vegetables. The vet also gave us Prednisone and cefpodoxime. We've gotten cefpodoxime for his rash when we've taken him into the vet previously and it's always cleared up his rash, only to have it come back later. I was hoping that the food change would help clear up the rash for good.

I can't remember the exact timeline, but within a week of getting Kaizer to the emergency vet, I accidentally gave him an egg. Usually I give him some eggs if I make myself an egg (which is rare, I don't usually like eggs) and I guess I just forgot that he couldn't have eggs (although I'm not sure if eggs count as a meat protein). He didn't throw up thankfully. Then I got some sweet potato treats for him (the ingredients were just sweet potato and tapioca flour) to use as high-value training treats. A couple weeks later, the rash started up again (I think from the egg). Maybe it was wishful thinking, but it seemed like it was going away on its own so I didn't take him to the vet again. After the rash appeared, I stopped using the sweet potato treats and just used his kibble as training treats. For clarification, the egg he got that one day and the sweet potato treats were the only foods he was getting that was not his HP kibble. For the past month, all he's been getting for anything is kibble.

Last Tuesday (Feb. 6), Kaizer was given a chicken treat, one he's had before. The next morning, he threw up some yellow bile, that night he threw up some partially digested food. I called our vet and they told me to try giving him some Benadryl. We tried Benadryl for two days (1 pill 2x a day) but he was still throwing up. In a last ditch attempt, I gave him one tablet of the leftover prednisone we had. When he was throwing up over Christmas, the vet didn't give him anything for the vomiting, but after we started the prednisone, he didn't throw up again. Lo and behold, the vomiting stopped. On Saturday, my trainer and I forgot he wasn't supposed to have anything besides his kibble and Kaizer got 4 of the same chicken treats when we were demoing something for the class. I know this makes the both of us sound super irresponsible, I don't even have an excuse for it. Thankfully, we both remembered at the same time, so at least he didn't get more. Neither of us were sure how he'd react, but he didn't throw up - I think because of the prednisone.

Behaviorally, the only thing that changed was how lethargic he was. Kaizer usually spends his day sleeping, but he always greets me with a toy and a wagging tail when I come home from school. When I'm home, he'll either interact with me (drop a toy at my feet, sit next to me for pets, etc.), entertain himself with a toy or lie down and wait for me to do something. He rarely sleeps when I'm home unless it's nighttime. The week he was vomiting, I'd come home and he'd be lying on the ground or in his crate and the most I'd get was a tail wag. He spent all his time sleeping, even when I was home. Just in general, he was lacking a lot of his usual energy and spunk.

Physically, he lost some weight and muscle mass. He's always had a really fast metabolism and tends to burn through food and calories really easy despite not being outrageously active. It's been a struggle to get weight on him despite feeding him 4 cups of a high calorie food. When we took him to the emergency vet, he weighed 71 pounds and finally looked like I wasn't starving him. I took him to the vet for a weigh earlier this week and he dropped back to 66 pounds. I don't doubt that he's lost weight - one of my friends at my training place told me that he looked thinner and I had been noticing that he's lost some muscle, especially on his legs and shoulders. I wasn't sure if the 5 pound weight loss was because of the vomiting the week before.

He probably does have a food allergy, but the vomiting and how it stops because of the prednisone confuses me. I will be taking him to the vet, but does anyone have any ideas of what could be up with him? I'd just like some ideas to bring up to the vet.

*tl;dr*: Black Friday I switched Kaizer from a chicken-based food to PPP Sensitive Skin & Salmon, a salmon-based food to hopefully help with some food allergy symptoms he was having. A month later, Dec. 26, we took him to the emergency vet for vomiting and a swollen eye. The vet told us he had food allergies, gave us a bag of Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein, prednisone and cefpodoxime. All of that helped, but then the rash came back two weeks later - possibly due to an egg I gave him. On Feb. 6, he accidentally was given two chicken treats (treats he's had in the past) and woke up the next morning vomiting. We then gave him prednisone which stopped his vomiting. The Saturday after, Feb 10, he got 4 more of the same chicken treats, but did not vomit. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Again, sorry about the length of this, I figured the more details, the better. Here are some recent pictures of Kaizer at our training place.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Why are you still giving him the chicken treats? If he is sensitive to chicken you are only building on that sensitivity by giving him chicken. It doesn't matter if once in a while it doesn't make him vomit. 

In order to do a true test you need to remove chicken from his diet all together to find out if it is the problem. If you keep giving him even a little chicken you will never know if that is it or not.

Do you think he is doing well on the Salmon food? It's hard to tell from your mixed problems. If you think he is doing ok on Salmon food, use only Salmon treats for training - nothing else - for at least a month.

It almost sounds like he has something rolling around in his stomach causing him to vomit periodically. Be sure to monitor his bowel movements, if they decrease or he starts having diarrhea he needs to be checked for an obstruction.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

mylissyk said:


> Why are you still giving him the chicken treats? If he is sensitive to chicken you are only building on that sensitivity by giving him chicken. It doesn't matter if once in a while it doesn't make him vomit.
> 
> In order to do a true test you need to remove chicken from his diet all together to find out if it is the problem. If you keep giving him even a little chicken you will never know if that is it or not.
> 
> ...


Sorry, I probably wasn't clear in my original post. The two times he got the chicken treats were an accident. The first time I wasn't around to stop it, the second time was me being dumb and forgetting the only thing he could have was his kibble. Otherwise, he's only been given the Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein kibble.

When he vomited in December, it was after we switched him onto a salmon-based food. When he vomited in early February, it was after he had two small chicken treats (treats he's had before, like months ago). I'm not sure what he's okay with, so I've only been using his kibble for treats.

We talked about an obstruction when we went to the emergency vet in December and the vet said that she doesn't think he has an obstruction.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

aesthetic said:


> Sorry, I probably wasn't clear in my original post. The two times he got the chicken treats were an accident. The first time I wasn't around to stop it, the second time was me being dumb and forgetting the only thing he could have was his kibble. Otherwise, he's only been given the Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein kibble.
> 
> When he vomited in December, it was after we switched him onto a salmon-based food. When he vomited in early February, it was after he had two small chicken treats (treats he's had before, like months ago). I'm not sure what he's okay with, so I've only been using his kibble for treats.
> 
> We talked about an obstruction when we went to the emergency vet in December and the vet said that she doesn't think he has an obstruction.


Just a suggestion, but how about throwing away the chicken treats?:wink2:

I'm sure the vet is thinking since he's pooping regularly that means no obstruction, which is true. But dogs can have things rolling around in their stomach causing irritation that doesn't actually cause an obstruction. Dogs are known to vomit up foreign objects weeks after eating them. That would explain the periodic stomach upset. 

You will need at least month without chicken to see if that clears up the problem. If he is still having an upset stomach you are back to square one, and at that point I don't think I would still consider food as the cause.

I know this is frustrating. Our puppy had continuing loose stools and ended up on prescription food for months. Everytime we tried to move to a regular food it would come back. There was no definitive cause. So I feel your pain. I hope the food switch helps.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

mylissyk said:


> Just a suggestion, but how about throwing away the chicken treats?:wink2:
> 
> I'm sure the vet is thinking since he's pooping regularly that means no obstruction, which is true. But dogs can have things rolling around in their stomach causing irritation that doesn't actually cause an obstruction. Dogs are known to vomit up foreign objects weeks after eating them. That would explain the periodic stomach upset.
> 
> ...


The chicken treat issue happened at my training place, not at my house. The first time was when I had left him with my trainer so I could run out and grab something we needed. She had traded one of the chicken treats for something he grabbed (I never taught him a formal 'drop it' when he was a puppy). The second time was when we were demoing a proper greeting for one of the classes, we both forgot and then remembered at the same time.

Kaizer has only had an egg and some sweet potato treats between December 26th and now. I stopped the sweet potato treats 1.5 the emergency vet visit, so he's only gotten his kibble from then until February 6, which is a little over a month. Feb. 6th was the first chicken incident, but prior to that, he had no exposure to any meat of any kind.

Foreign objects inside his stomach could possibly explain why he randomly started vomiting after a month of being on a food - maybe he ate something. I don't know if it explains why he started vomiting after eating chicken treats or why he didn't vomit when he was on a chicken-based food. Plus, it doesn't explain why he didn't vomit between the emergency vet visit and now. It's been a little over a week without any vomiting on his side. Nonetheless, I'll ask the vet about it when we take him in. I'll take possible foreign object in his stomach over a dog who can't process any kind of protein.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Absolutely time to do an abdominal ultrasound to see if there's anything else going on.


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## Tricia (Jul 30, 2013)

This may not be of relevance but will explain what happened to Charlie. She does not have allergies, but she also started this intermittent vomiting and became lethargic. The vets began treating it as a one off and she had a reaction to one of the drugs and her whole face swelled up. Eventually she was given an ultrasound which picked up a mass in her stomach. This led to an endoscopy which showed she had ulcers.

Apparently this is rare in dogs and as they did not reveal a cause we shall probably never know why she developed them. She is now fit and healthy after treatment with ant-acid and ulcer meds.

Perhaps you need to go down this path. Hope this helps.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

I would imagine the prednisone would cause nausea and vomiting rather than stopping it- so would assume that is a coincidental thing. Pred can cause ulcers and all sorts of tummy issues (especially if given w a NSAID) and shouldn't be given randomly.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

hotel4dogs said:


> Absolutely time to do an abdominal ultrasound to see if there's anything else going on.


I'll bring that up when we take him in, thank you. I hope it's nothing too bad.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Tricia said:


> This may not be of relevance but will explain what happened to Charlie. She does not have allergies, but she also started this intermittent vomiting and became lethargic. The vets began treating it as a one off and she had a reaction to one of the drugs and her whole face swelled up. Eventually she was given an ultrasound which picked up a mass in her stomach. This led to an endoscopy which showed she had ulcers.
> 
> Apparently this is rare in dogs and as they did not reveal a cause we shall probably never know why she developed them. She is now fit and healthy after treatment with ant-acid and ulcer meds.
> 
> Perhaps you need to go down this path. Hope this helps.


Thank you! I am nervous about an ultrasound picking up some kind of mass in his stomach. I'm glad your girl ended up okay!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Figured I'd update this.

Kaizer's eye swelled up yesterday for seemingly no reason - he was fine until 6:30 pm when suddenly his one eye just blew up. There was absolutely no change in his food or lifestyle either. Took him to the vet today and we got the diagnosis of possible food allergies. I was told that I have to wait four more months to see if the food trial is any good and give him Benadryl whenever his eye swelled. I asked about an abdominal ultrasound and the vet said it wasn't necessary.


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

Did the vet happen to mention anything about environmental allergies? I know you are in a colder climate, but was Kaizer out in a field playing recently (even the same day)? Our last Golden boy had problems being on lawn grass, and in the fall when the trees started losing their leaves. We originally thought it was a food allergy, and did discover chicken based food was a problem, so from then on no chicken based food. But his turned out to be more environmental. For the environmental allergies he would take Loratadin (generic Claritin) which was great as Benadryl did not work and only made him sleepy. Then my husband read in the Whole Dog Journal about honey for environmental allergies. We figured we did not have anything to lose so we started giving him a glob of honey in his food. It truly made a difference. Just a few things you can think about. Good luck!


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

FYI the benadryl is only 25mg for every 25 pounds. Always check with your vet but when Sipsy has a runny nose she gets 4 tablets twice a day.

This may be out of the box thinking but is it possible the gluten (mainly in the treats) is triggering a digestive problem? There are lots of good gluten free foods available these days. Be sure and read the package... the protein may be Salmon or lamb but sometimes there is also chicken for flavoring.

Sipsy started having some allergy symptoms and switched her food to Sports Elite as it only has a single protein and no chicken. It was too rich and after a couple of weeks she began to have diarrhea but it didn't really help with the allergies either so guess it wasn't the chicken but some sort of change in the formula.

With all these visits to the vet, has anyone run blood work?? The only time I have had a dog with vomiting issues it was related to kidney problems so just like to cover all the basis.

I hate that you two have had to go through all this and totally understand the frustration. It might be cheaper to get allergy testing done. I hope for both of you that a solution happens soon.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Thank you all! I’m on my phone, so can’t respond individually, but I have more news to share.

Kaizer started vomiting again yesterday, this time without any trigger. He hadn’t been fed since 7:30am yesterday morning, but was repeatedly throwing up partially digested food. It was 9pm at that point, no vets were open. I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I was asleep when this happened. My mom decided that it didn’t warrant an emergency visit. We did not feed him his dinner.

Then this morning, he threw up again at 7:40am. There was still bits of food despite not having been fed since the previous morning. My mom took an appointment at our regular vet for 3:30pm. Between the time I left for school (8:05) and 8:40, he threw up two more times. My mom called me out of school, took a vet appointment and here we are. He had no temperature, no discomfort or pain when his stomach was palpated, no ear infection, nothing. The vet recommended we get an xray done. The xray showed that Kaizer had some “suspicious areas” in his stomach/intestine and had an excess of gas in his small intestine. The vet couldn’t tell if he had an obstruction, but felt that there was something wrong anyway. With my permission, she sent the x-ray to the radiologist. We’ll see what they say in about 30 minutes. Hopefully it’s nothing too bad! They did say he was very well behaved throughout the whole process though.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Geeze. This sounds so awful. I'm so glad you are hopefully get some answers soon. I can't remember, have they done an abdominal ultrasound? Your poor boy. That is a LOT of throwing up. Hope it's nothing serious but that you have a clearer picture soon.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Sweet Girl said:


> Geeze. This sounds so awful. I'm so glad you are hopefully get some answers soon. I can't remember, have they done an abdominal ultrasound? Your poor boy. That is a LOT of throwing up. Hope it's nothing serious but that you have a clearer picture soon.


When we went in on Wednesday for his swollen eye, our vet said an abdominal ultrasound wasn't needed. We only had an x-ray done today. We were going to do bloodwork too, but after seeing the x-rays, our vet didn't think it was necessary.

Radiologist said that he saw the suspicious areas and that his small intestine was "distended with gas". He couldn't see any obstruction either and didn't feel that a barium study or surgery was needed, so we have to do conservative management for the time being. Our vet gave him an anti-nausea and an anti-vomiting shot, told us not to feed him until 5pm, at which point we should give him small, frequent meals. If he throws up after that, we should bring him into the 24-hour vet. So now it's just a waiting game


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I would have insisted on the ultrasound. But that's just me. Abdominal xrays tend to be a waste of money because they don't reveal much and you end up having the ultrasound done eventually.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

I agree with hotel4dogs .. ultra sound and BLOOD WORK for sure. This poor pup has been having a problem for months now, sounds like it is so much more than allergies. Whatever is going on has had way too much time to develop into something worse.

I hope you get answers soon, poor baby must feel awful.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Thanks guys! I agree with you, but I don't make the financial decisions. And unfortunately, it's hard to convince my parents that something is wrong when he acts normally (except for the vomiting) and two different vets have told us it was just food allergies.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Ok, maybe this will help. This is for your parents, not so much for you.
Intermittent vomiting is the classic sign of digestive tract lymphoma. It's why I suggest and ultrasound; to rule that out.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

hotel4dogs said:


> I would have insisted on the ultrasound. But that's just me. Abdominal xrays tend to be a waste of money because they don't reveal much and you end up having the ultrasound done eventually.


I don't mean to pile on - but just add to the argument for your parents. As someone whose pup had tummy issues, an ultrasound shows you so much more. I think it's totally fine to start with an x-ray to look for blockage, but if it doesn't show anything and the dog is STILL symptomatic, which Kaizer seems very much to be, I would definitely want the ultrasound. There is something going on. This amount of vomiting is really not normal. An U/S is definitely expensive, and you have to shave your dog's belly, but it can provide so many more answers. Plus, having a little pink belly to rub for a few weeks is not entirely a bad thing.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I asked them to shave the minimum on Tito, they shaved a 3" x 3" square.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

It doesn't feel like you're piling on! Any information that I could use to convince them is more than appreciated. Right now, our current agreement is if he vomits again, we take him to the ER and have them do an ultrasound. He has not vomited since yesterday at 8:30am.

I hope I'm not making them sound like evil people. They do love and care for Kaizer and they are really great parents, it's just that they don't spend a lot of time with Kaizer. Money is a big influence too.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

How is Kaizer doing?


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

cwag said:


> How is Kaizer doing?


Thank you for checking in on Kaizer!!

Personality wise, you would not be able to tell how he's feeling!

Our vet last week told us to take him off the antibiotic for his rash (cefpodoxime) since he started throwing up after he had a couple doses of it. He didn't throw up. Wednesday night, the rash on his stomach got worse in a matter of hours. On one side, there were bright red dots all over, on the other side, he had these puffy almost hive-like bumps. I called our vet and she told me to put him back on the antibiotics and give him Benadryl. I gave him both and he was okay Thursday and Friday.

He threw up this morning - stomach bile. Of course, he threw up 15 minutes after our vet closed and of course, they're closed tomorrow too. As of now, we're just going to take him off the antibiotics. If he throws up again before they open, we're going to the emergency vet and I'll ask for an ultrasound (I know I said that last time too, but I have a nerd club event all day today and my parents don't want to take him without me). Also, cefpodoxime is a medication he's been on multiple times before with absolutely no issues, so I imagine that it's related to his new dietary issues.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

My Bichon's stomach got so messed up on antibiotics one time that she threw up in the middle of the night for 8 nights after she had gone off the medicine. Sometimes it takes a lot to get their digestion straightened back up. I hope that's all it is for him--just a snowball of allergies and medicine reactions.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer threw up twice at 7:30, so we’re now at the emergency vet. Expected wait time is 30 minutes to an hour, but the tech will let us know if it’ll take longer than expected. Ultrasound will be done if the vet recommends one (they only do US M-F).

Here’s Kaizer patiently waiting for the vet to come, sporting his now swollen eye.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Any news yet?


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

We had a very long wait at the emergency vet (much longer than the anticipated 30-60 minutes), but came out successfully! We couldn't get the ultrasound done today. The doctor DID recommend we get one done soon (which is great, because my parents are more apt to listen to a licensed professional than me), but no radiologists were available. I'm hoping we can take an appointment to get the ultrasound done soon, but the amount of expensive vet bills we've had in the past week alone is draining my parents' wallet and they may want to wait a couple of weeks. Plus we got into an argument today about taking him to the vet, and I don't want to push it even more than I have.

We didn't get a diagnosis, but the doctor did go through every possibility. She suspects allergies first and foremost, although it seems like Kaizer is allergic to everything on the face of the earth at this point. Kaizer was prescribed cefpodoxime on last Wednesday (feb. 28) to treat a recurring rash he has on his stomach. He threw up that Thursday and Friday. Our primary vet said that he might have developed an intolerance/allergy (can't remember which one) to the cefpodoxime, so we should take him off of it for a couple days and see how he does. By Wednesday (march 7), the rash on his stomach was getting worse (bright red bumps on one side, puffy hive-like bumps on the other) so I called up our vet who recommended we put him back on the cefpodoxime. He threw up three times again today. Emergency vet agreed with our primary vet about the possibility of him being intolerant to the medication (which he's been on at least three times before), so she prescribed cephalexin to treat his rash. We'll see how it goes. She gave us some oral cerenia for his nausea too.

We won't know anything until we get that ultrasound done though. I so wish they could have done the ultrasound tonight. If Kaizer had thrown up twenty minutes earlier this morning, we could've taken him to our primary vet and gotten the ultrasound out of the way, but I guess not. I'll work on getting back on my parents good side and we'll go from there...


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

It's been awhile since I updated this thread. Kaizer's ultrasound kept getting pushed back because the local emergency vet is the only place that does ultrasounds and naturally, they're booked three weeks in advance. And the days they had appointments available, of course, were days I already had plans (plans that were made in September/October - before Kaizer's digestive problems).

But, Kaizer finally his ultrasound today. Good news is that he has none of the bad things that he could have had! No cancer, no gastroenteritis, no pancreatitis - which crosses off about half the sicknesses on his "possible diagnoses" list. His kidneys, liver, spleen, etc. all look normal too. The only thing the radiologist noted was, again, the excess of gas in his small intestine and the fact that his adrenal glands were on the lower side of normal. Addison's disease was on the list, but the radiologist expects that test to come back normal, so that's a last ditch test to do. The bad news is that there's still no diagnosis. The highest contenders right now are still IBD and allergies. I'm just not sure what he could possibly be allergic too because he has literally not gotten anything except his hydrolyzed protein diet. I imagine I'll be frustrated about this until this digestive thing resolves itself somehow.

It also appears that the amount of times Kaizer throws up per week has decreased - he used to throw up repeatedly (6 times a day for a couple days!!) but now it's something like once a week. We thought we finally went a week without him throwing up, but he threw up tonight. Still can't figure out when/why he's throwing up. For awhile, it looked like he was throwing up 24-30 hours after he ran a lot, but on Friday, we played fetch for an unholy amount of time and he didn't throw up until today. And the last couple of times he threw up, I hadn't been home the day before to exercise him. No relation to when he's fed or how much - he gets fed at approximately the same times everyday and always the same amount (he's fed 2x a day, 1.5c per meal). I'm glad it's not cancer or any one of those bad things he could have had, but I really wish we had a diagnosis or some idea of how to control this.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I've been wondering how Kaiser was and if you had found out anything. I'm glad you got a lot of bad things ruled out. I can imagine how frustrating it is to spend all that money and still no answer.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Yeah, it's kinda a waiting game at this point. I just feel so bad for him after he vomits, he's so miserable. He usually passes out asleep or just lies down like a lump:-(.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

He wasn't terribly worried at the vets though


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

aesthetic said:


> He wasn't terribly worried at the vets though


I just saw your post and noticed you're in Newark DE. I'm just outside Newark and was going to suggest maybe trying to take him up to U of Penn Vet. They are a teaching vet and in odd and mysterious cases they use it as a teaching case to students and may not cost you very much. Also, they are the top Vet hospital/University in the world.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I love his big grin smile!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I'll check out UPenn, thank you! I'm not sure if he would be considered an odd/mysterious case, all the vets we've seen don't seem too concerned, but it wouldn't hurt to contact the UPenn vets.

Cwag, thank you! He's always smiley.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Thanks for the update. I'd be so frustrated and worried, too. I hope it does resolve itself.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

I just got caught up on this thread--it sounds like poor Kaiser has been through the ringer! I'm sorry that you all are going through this, its incredibly frustrating and anxiety provoking to not have answers. Both my mom and I have been through similar issues (My mom's dog has Addison's, and my last dog had IBD), and it is not easy to watch our pets go through. 

You might find this link helpful if he continues to have issues: some of it is a little technical, but it gives a good way to approach an issue like chronic vomiting, the possible causes, and the tests often done and might help give you points to ask your vet about if Kaizer continues to have issues. While its easy to focus on the most common things (like a food allergy/intolerance), its generally good to cast a wide net and consider all potential possibilities--otherwise its easy to miss the less common things when they come up. You focus on the most common things first, and go from there, but don't want to get prematurely anchored. This doesn't mean that a vet should shoot from the hip and order all possible tests at once (thats expensive and generally unnecessary), but it can be helpful to guide decision-making when a person is trying to troubleshoot the cause of a health problem. 

https://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00421.htm


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Thank you for the link! I read through it. Our primary vet just called and we've pretty much narrowed it down to IBD. Both our vet and the radiologist yesterday thought that the chances of Kaizer having Addison's Disease is pretty low, so my parents opted not to do that test yet. We're gonna put Kaizer on a round of Flagyl Metronidazle and hope that it helps further reduce the vomiting.


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## Neeko13 (Jul 10, 2010)

Good luck with Kaiser, I hope he feels better on the meds....


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Uh, oh I think I caused a line of misspelling KAIZER's name so here's the correction. Sorry about that


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

cwag said:


> Uh, oh I think I caused a line of misspelling KAIZER's name so here's the correction. Sorry about that


It's okay!! My fault for spelling his name weird


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer threw up again, this time it was a mix of mostly digested kibble and yellow stomach bile. I think we've uncovered a kind of pattern to his vomiting though.

Kaizer's diet consists only of his HP kibble, absolutely nothing else. We're not allowed to give him any kind of meat protein, no fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. In the past, after he threw up, we only skipped a meal or two and then reintroduced the kibble, because something bland like rice violated his diet. We always ended up at the emergency vet at some point for some anti-vomiting meds, down $200. A couple weeks ago, Kaizer threw up and my mom decided to give him some rice for a couple meals. I was out of the country at the time, Kaizer was still throwing up, and honestly, we just don't have the funds to spend $200 every month for the same issue with no resolution. The rice seemed to work too, his vomiting decreased to once weekly vs every couple of days. I didn't mention the rice when we went to the vet on Monday because I figured they'd tell us that the reason he hasn't stopped vomiting entirely is because he got the rice. We did ask the vet on Monday what we should do after he throws up and we asked if giving rice was okay. The vet said he didn't recommend rice and that we should just skip a meal and give his stomach time to reset. After he threw up Monday night, we didn't feed him dinner or breakfast, but fed him dinner last night (tuesday) and breakfast this morning.

I'm thinking that he needs the rice to really settle his stomach, just skipping meals is not cutting it. I'm gonna talk to his vet too about switching completely off this food because I don't think it's agreeing with him.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

aesthetic said:


> Kaizer threw up again, this time it was a mix of mostly digested kibble and yellow stomach bile. I think we've uncovered a kind of pattern to his vomiting though.
> 
> Kaizer's diet consists only of his HP kibble, absolutely nothing else. We're not allowed to give him any kind of meat protein, no fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. In the past, after he threw up, we only skipped a meal or two and then reintroduced the kibble, because something bland like rice violated his diet. We always ended up at the emergency vet at some point for some anti-vomiting meds, down $200. A couple weeks ago, Kaizer threw up and my mom decided to give him some rice for a couple meals. I was out of the country at the time, Kaizer was still throwing up, and honestly, we just don't have the funds to spend $200 every month for the same issue with no resolution. The rice seemed to work too, his vomiting decreased to once weekly vs every couple of days. I didn't mention the rice when we went to the vet on Monday because I figured they'd tell us that the reason he hasn't stopped vomiting entirely is because he got the rice. We did ask the vet on Monday what we should do after he throws up and we asked if giving rice was okay. The vet said he didn't recommend rice and that we should just skip a meal and give his stomach time to reset. After he threw up Monday night, we didn't feed him dinner or breakfast, but fed him dinner last night (tuesday) and breakfast this morning.
> 
> I'm thinking that he needs the rice to really settle his stomach, just skipping meals is not cutting it. I'm gonna talk to his vet too about switching completely off this food because I don't think it's agreeing with him.


Have you tried one of the gastro prescription foods? Purina makes one (Purina EN Gastroenteric), as does Royal Canin, and there is probably a Science Diet one. Shala was put on the Purina one when she was battling giardia and coccidia, and it helped so much. Really calmed down her insides. The food is very bland, very easy to digest (yet, dogs seem to really like it). I wonder if that might help.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I don't know a lot about this but my little dog used to throw up the yellow bile pretty often. We went to feeding her a small amount of kibble at lunch and it pretty much stopped the throwing up. I think an empty stomach can cause the bile to build up but it's just an opinion I developed not any science.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

I wonder if three or four smaller meals, rather than the two would help.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

I was also thinking smaller more frequent meals might help. Has your vet suggested giving pepcid at night?


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## GoldenMom999 (Apr 14, 2017)

My girl had stomach issues. She vomited on occasion and was constantly trying to eat grass to settle her stomach....for years. She ate multiple kinds of canned and dry dog foods, nothing helped. Her stools were often loose. She became a new dog with just plain cooked ground turkey in the AM (1/4 pound) and then a mixture of plain ground turkey in the PM (1/4 pound), 1 raw egg, plus Honest Kitchen dehydrated grain free base mix (1/2 a cup). She gets probiotics and the only treats she ever gets are freeze-dried or fresh meat (usually chicken), cooked eggs or cheese. She has been on this diet for four years and she no longer vomits or eats grass. Plus you can bounce her stools off the sidewalk. There are so many things that can trigger allergies or digestive upset in processed kibble. Some dogs are OK...others just can't handle it.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Sweet Girl said:


> Have you tried one of the gastro prescription foods? Purina makes one (Purina EN Gastroenteric), as does Royal Canin, and there is probably a Science Diet one. Shala was put on the Purina one when she was battling giardia and coccidia, and it helped so much. Really calmed down her insides. The food is very bland, very easy to digest (yet, dogs seem to really like it). I wonder if that might help.


I'll ask the vet about the GI foods. I looked at the Purina and Royal Canin ones and the only potential issue I see is that they have meat protein (chicken). He isn't supposed to have any kind of protein unless it's broken down to the most basic level. He does need something that will calm his insides though.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

I just hate that all of you have had to go through this for so long. I liked the suggestion of going to the vet college. Anyway you would consider getting a copy of his file and trying to find another vet? If you have a young guy maybe find an older more experienced vet? Or the other way around, sometimes the older guys aren't up to speed.

Usually the bile is because the tummy is empty and it's trying to process... well, nothing. So we gave him a plain old med. size milkbone during the day and right before bed. It's sort of like what the others are saying, offer smaller meals more often. 

I don't remember when you had him neutered. Did this start after the surgery? I remember the incision being very large... is there any possibility of a connection?


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Sorry I didn't get to respond to all the comments.

I did consider giving him smaller, more frequent meals, but I worried that that would make the vomiting worse. He usually vomits partially digested kibble and yellow stomach bile HOURS after he's eaten (like 7+ hours later, when it should be digested) which makes me think that the kibble just sits in his stomach until he vomits. I don't know how accurate that theory is either since he doesn't always vomit. He doesn't get a lot either, about 1.5 cups per meal. The kibble is pretty large so it's really not a lot. He has a fast metabolism and the food is low calorie so he needs this much food to keep weight on.

The vets office we currently use is great. All of the instructors at my training place use the same office, so they definitely aren't inexperienced or anything. We actually switched from another office to this one and haven't had a problem. If it comes down to it, I would get another opinion from a different vet but I don't think we've reached that point yet. I'm not opposed to going to a vet college either, UPenn is maybe 50 minutes away from my house. I think my mom wants to try the Flagyl first though.

I read that yellow stomach bile comes from the small intestine. In both the x-ray and ultrasound, the vets (two different ones) noted an excess of gas in the small intestine. Since he throws up partially digested kibble along with the stomach bile, I don't really know if his stomach is empty or if he just cannot digest the food.

He was neutered in late August of last year. We had a couple health issues post neuter (yeast infection on his stomach, ears, and between his toes), but the vomiting didn't start until a month after I switched him from a chicken-based food to a salmon-based food. I switched him because vet mentioned possible food allergies since the rash and yeast infections are recurring and thought maybe the chicken was the issue. I was wondering about a possible connection since his surgery was very invasive and he had three incision sites, but the x-ray and ultrasound came back clear.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

I'd probably try the smaller, more frequent meals, with the thinking that his system is hypersensitive and maybe can't handle 1.5 cups at a time. As an example, I couldn't feed my dog more than a cup at a time prior to him being about 1.5 yrs, as he would have soft stools. However, like Kaizer, he needed the calories, so I gave him more meals, to mitigate some of his digestive issues. At this point, it may be worth a try. If it was me, I'd try anything I could think of to try to help him. If it doesn't work, you can go back to what you were doing before.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer threw up again about 30 minutes ago, a lot less than he did yesterday. This time it was mostly yellow bile with some partially digested kibble - I'm thinking that's because we didn't feed him dinner last night but fed him this morning (only a cup)? I'll definitely try the smaller, more frequent meals. It didn't occur to me that he couldn't handle 1.5c of food because on his old food (smaller kibble) he was getting 2c per meal and we didn't have a vomiting issue. Regardless, I need him to get better and it would not hurt splitting his meals.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

Do you still have any of that old kibble? I'd be really curious as to the difference in volume if you soak two cups of the old in water, versus the 1.5 of the new.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Yeah I have a lot of the old kibble left. That would be an interesting experiment for sure! I'll try out this weekend. I think the new kibble expands a lot in water (just based on what I'm seeing from his vomit) so I'm pretty sure it has a bigger volume.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Definitely worth trying smaller meals more frequently. He may have a smaller stomach that is getting over-full with 1.5 cups. Is he a smaller dog? Shala is small - the most she can eat in one meal is one cup. I once fed her more because she had been SUPER active all day, and I clearly caused her to have an upset tummy. :frown2:

BTW, Shala used to be what I called a barfy puppy. She'd throw up clear out of the blue, and then be entirely fine, about once a month. It slowly stretched to once every 3 months, every 6 months, and now I can't remember when the last time was it happened. But - all this to tell you - she would sometimes throw up an entire stomach full of undigested kibble 10 to 12 hours after her last meal (if she threw up in the morning). I was surprised by that. My vet said some dogs just take longer to digest.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

I'm one of those people that had something left inside during surgery  So my mind sort of goes there. Gauze doesn't show up very well but this was long before ultrasounds so who knows, maybe they can "see" better than in the dinosaur age.

I'm curious if it's gas or just air.. perforated bowel maybe? This of course is just a guess, I'm no Dr.! Like everyone else we just want to throw out ideas. Only you of course know the details of the many vet discussions. 

Let's just hope there is a simple resolution to this as I know your boy is miserable and you & family are extremely frustrated. I'm so sorry!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Sweet Girl said:


> Definitely worth trying smaller meals more frequently. He may have a smaller stomach that is getting over-full with 1.5 cups. Is he a smaller dog? Shala is small - the most she can eat in one meal is one cup. I once fed her more because she had been SUPER active all day, and I clearly caused her to have an upset tummy. :frown2:
> 
> BTW, Shala used to be what I called a barfy puppy. She'd throw up clear out of the blue, and then be entirely fine, about once a month. It slowly stretched to once every 3 months, every 6 months, and now I can't remember when the last time was it happened. But - all this to tell you - she would sometimes throw up an entire stomach full of undigested kibble 10 to 12 hours after her last meal (if she threw up in the morning). I was surprised by that. My vet said some dogs just take longer to digest.


I would not consider him small - he's 24-25" at the withers and 70 pounds. He is narrow though, he never really filled out the way he should have. I try not to feed him within an hour before or after physical activity to prevent the vomiting, but I'm thinking that maybe his current kibble expands a lot more than the previous kibble so even though he gets a smaller amount, it takes up more space in his stomach.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

puddles everywhere said:


> I'm one of those people that had something left inside during surgery  So my mind sort of goes there. Gauze doesn't show up very well but this was long before ultrasounds so who knows, maybe they can "see" better than in the dinosaur age.
> 
> I'm curious if it's gas or just air.. perforated bowel maybe? This of course is just a guess, I'm no Dr.! Like everyone else we just want to throw out ideas. Only you of course know the details of the many vet discussions.
> 
> Let's just hope there is a simple resolution to this as I know your boy is miserable and you & family are extremely frustrated. I'm so sorry!


I'm gonna talk to my vet and see what she thinks about giving him smaller, more frequent meals vs Flagyl. I didn't see the ultrasound, so I can't tell you how clear they were for sure (in hindsight, I should've asked for a copy).

If that does not help, I guess we'll see if there's an issue with a perforated bowel or something left from his neuter.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

aesthetic said:


> Yeah I have a lot of the old kibble left. That would be an interesting experiment for sure! I'll try out this weekend. I think the new kibble expands a lot in water (just based on what I'm seeing from his vomit) so I'm pretty sure it has a bigger volume.



Did you ever try this? Curious as to the results, if so.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Yes! Sorry, had a busy week. I asked my brother do it because I've been pretty much out of the house all day everyday since last Thursday. As predicted, the new kibble has a bigger volume and expands a lot more in water than his previous kibble. That's helpful to know for sure. We're starting the three meals a day tomorrow because my parents have been out of town since late last week and my brother are at school during the day and can't come home to feed him a midday meal. I really hope it works, but I do have my doubts too. The vomiting is random (I can't figure out what causes it) and his feeding schedule is always the same. Before last week's episodes (one time a day for 3-4 days), he hadn't thrown up for 2-3 weeks.

Sorry, I know it must seem like I'm asking for opinions and then shooting them all day. We will definitely be giving him three meals a day, but I'm the type of person who also likes to know the whys and hows. Brightside, he hasn't thrown up since last Thursday! Looks like we're back to normal, although I can't entirely tell you why. I think the rice we gave him stopped the vomiting, but again, no clue why.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

Whatever works! Sometimes trial and error is all you have. Thanks for the update.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Of course!!

I took Kaizer in to get weighed tonight and he's 64 pounds - 6 pounds down from earlier this year. I've been trying to put weight on him and we had a brief couple months of glory with him at 70 pounds, but he dropped again for some reason:-(. Certainly not a lack of food or an increase of exercise! Now all his ribs are poking out again (all of them, very clearly).


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

aesthetic said:


> Sorry, I know it must seem like I'm asking for opinions and then shooting them all day. We will definitely be giving him three meals a day, but I'm the type of person who also likes to know the whys and hows. Brightside, he hasn't thrown up since last Thursday! Looks like we're back to normal, although I can't entirely tell you why. I think the rice we gave him stopped the vomiting, but again, no clue why.


There's so much trial and error, especially if there's concern for IBD. Do you guys ever use a dog walker? Sometimes they will feed a dog in the middle of the day. I used to do that with my last girl. Or I would feed her in the morning, as soon as I got home, and then she got a little mini-meal before bedtime.

You're still doing the Royal Canin HP diet right? You could also get some of the canned HP dog food and fill a kong, freeze it, and give it to him when you leave for the day. Not in terms of substituting a meal, but as a way to slowly get some extra calories into him when no one is home.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

i just read the thread and the IBD diagnosis is incredibly frustrating. 

Lily has vomited up undigested kibble as a pup, however the problem disappeared after she was switched to Raw food. I can't help but wonder if perhaps kibble just doesn't agree with Kaizer? Perhaps you can consider raw food as it is very digestible. Kibble is often recognized by the body as a carb. I hope that helps!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Piper_the_goldenpuppy said:


> There's so much trial and error, especially if there's concern for IBD. Do you guys ever use a dog walker? Sometimes they will feed a dog in the middle of the day. I used to do that with my last girl. Or I would feed her in the morning, as soon as I got home, and then she got a little mini-meal before bedtime.
> 
> You're still doing the Royal Canin HP diet right? You could also get some of the canned HP dog food and fill a kong, freeze it, and give it to him when you leave for the day. Not in terms of substituting a meal, but as a way to slowly get some extra calories into him when no one is home.


No we don't use a dog walker. Fortunately, Kaizer is not typically left alone for very long so there's never been a need. I like the idea of using the canned food though! That's smart.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Ffcmm said:


> i just read the thread and the IBD diagnosis is incredibly frustrating.
> 
> Lily has vomited up undigested kibble as a pup, however the problem disappeared after she was switched to Raw food. I can't help but wonder if perhaps kibble just doesn't agree with Kaizer? Perhaps you can consider raw food as it is very digestible. Kibble is often recognized by the body as a carb. I hope that helps!


Raw is a last resort thing for us, if nothing else fixes it. My family is not a pork and beef kind of family, and while I have given Kaizer pork and beef, my mom is still very wary about having those kinds of meat in the house. She's open to it if it'll help Kaizer, but only as a very last resort. Kaizer is also not allowed to have any meat protein whatsoever.

That being said, Kaizer has been on a kibble his entire life and didn't present with any digestive problems until last December at 2.5. I guess it is possible that kibble just does not agree with him anymore, but there's a wide variety of possibilities that we'd go through before arriving at that conclusion.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

aesthetic said:


> ..... Kaizer is also not allowed to have any meat protein whatsoever........


Why is he not allowed to have meat protein? Are you saying Kaizer is on a vegetarian diet, his kibble is vegetarian?


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

aesthetic said:


> the vet told us that he had food allergies. She gave us a bag of Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein and told us to feed him that since the protein was broken down to its most basic form (aka it won't trigger his allergies). She wanted us to wait two months of just giving him that before introducing other meat proteins into his diet. I specifically asked the vet if Kaizer could only have this kibble or if I could use plant proteins as treats. She gave me the OK for fruits and vegetables.


Apparently, he can have it, so long as it is already broken down. Having said that, I do know of a dog (not a golden) that can only tolerate a hypoallergenic diet of vegetarian kibble. She'd been on the hydrolyzed food and it didn't help her issues.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

mylissyk said:


> Why is he not allowed to have meat protein? Are you saying Kaizer is on a vegetarian diet, his kibble is vegetarian?


He's on Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein kibble. I am not a fan of it, the ingredient list is pitiful. The only meat protein in the food is chicken fat and the rest of the protein comes from soybeans. The hydrolyzed part means that the all the protein is broken all the way down so it's easily digestible. So yeah, his kibble is basically vegetarian. None of the other HP kibbles are any better either.

He's on this kibble because all the vets think he has food allergies. I, personally, don't think that's the issue (for a lot of reasons) but his X-ray and ultrasound turned up clear and even if he does have IBD, they're gonna tell me to keep him on this food because it "promotes gastrointestinal health"


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

I’ve had Duke on the Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein for years. With his IBD, I’ve introduced Stella and Chewy’s rabbit. I mix the two and he’s doing better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Gleepers (Apr 20, 2016)

The Canine nutritionist that I’ve been studying with formulates diets for dogs with IBD. I think she personally has had dogs with the condition and has a lot of experience with it. 
Holler at me if you want to take s look at her contact info.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

The RC HP is basically vegetarian I think. There isn't really protein in chicken fat. Even if dogs with IBD don't have food allergies, they often have food sensitivities, and meat proteins frequently are an issue (they were with my dog, she was on the veggie corn-pop looking PP Hydrolyzed dog food). Not the most appetizing thing in the world, but it worked for her. A raw diet was too much for her system to handle but I've heard some people have success with it in IBD.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

jennretz said:


> I’ve had Duke on the Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein for years. With his IBD, I’ve introduced Stella and Chewy’s rabbit. I mix the two and he’s doing better.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


How long was he on the HP diet before you saw a change? Kaizer's been on the food for the last 5 months.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Gleepers said:


> The Canine nutritionist that I’ve been studying with formulates diets for dogs with IBD. I think she personally has had dogs with the condition and has a lot of experience with it.
> Holler at me if you want to take s look at her contact info.


Thanks!! I'll shoot you a PM when we're ready.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Piper_the_goldenpuppy said:


> The RC HP is basically vegetarian I think. There isn't really protein in chicken fat. Even if dogs with IBD don't have food allergies, they often have food sensitivities, and meat proteins frequently are an issue (they were with my dog, she was on the veggie corn-pop looking PP Hydrolyzed dog food). Not the most appetizing thing in the world, but it worked for her. A raw diet was too much for her system to handle but I've heard some people have success with it in IBD.


I think we're gonna try weaning him off of this food in the next couple of months. Kaizer threw up some bile at some point last night and he's been getting three meals a day since Thursday (total amount of food was the same as before). Obviously it's too soon to say that the three meals a day isn't working, so we're gonna continue that. The current plan is to give him some rice and yogurt (for probiotics) with his dinner and get to a point where he hasn't thrown up in 3-4 weeks (he has not gone more than 2? weeks without vomiting thus far). Not sure what we're planning on doing at that point, but we have time to figure it out.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

aesthetic said:


> How long was he on the HP diet before you saw a change? Kaizer's been on the food for the last 5 months.


This has been a four year journey until we received the official IBD diagnosis last fall. We continued to see issues when he was just on the HP diet, but we were still feeding him cheese, ice-cream, etc. All of that was eliminated last fall. Changing to the Stella & Chewy's rabbit (still do 1/4 cup HP) has improved things dramatically (less upset stomachs and diarrhea). It's expensive though. I've also added metronidazole and HempRx. It's been trial and error.

I hope Kaizer starts to feel better soon. It's no fun when your pup is not feeling well.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

jennretz said:


> This has been a four year journey until we received the official IBD diagnosis last fall. We continued to see issues when he was just on the HP diet, but we were still feeding him cheese, ice-cream, etc. All of that was eliminated last fall. Changing to the Stella & Chewy's rabbit (still do 1/4 cup HP) has improved things dramatically (less upset stomachs and diarrhea). It's expensive though. I've also added metronidazole and HempRx. It's been trial and error.
> 
> I hope Kaizer starts to feel better soon. It's no fun when your pup is not feeling well.


Thank you! He's solely been on the food since March (before that, he was getting some sweet potato treats - the ingredients were just sweet potato and tapioca flour). We're going to play around with his diet in a couple weeks once we get everything back on track.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

If the rice seems to help, you can also try some plain oatmeal. When I have a dog with digestive upset, I'll alternate the rice with plain, instant oatmeal.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Figured I would update this as it has almost been a month. Kaizer has not thrown up since my last update, which means we are three weeks free of vomiting! This is the longest stretch without vomiting Kaizer has gone since this started in December.

Now he has a lot of rashes all over his chest, under his armpit and across the back of his thighs where his butt fluff is. They're obviously painful for him because he flinches whenever I touch them. The armpit rash is the worst, so I don't know if it's because of the harness I use for him in my car - it moves around on him so I wonder if the rash is being worsened by the harness burn? I should get some pictures, they look so bad. My poor boy can't ever catch a break.

I was thinking of adding boiled chicken back into his diet since he's been vomit-free for so long, but I'm not sure if that's the best thing to do given all his rashes.


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

Poor Kaizer with his rash. I was reading your other thread where he has been swimming recently? Maybe he picked up some sort of bacteria in the water? Or if he was damp for a while, it caused the rash? Just a few thoughts as you get to the bottom of it.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

The rash is not new, but today is the first day I saw the extent of it. He's been cooped up in the house for the past couple of weeks and I just feel so bad keeping him inside even longer because of his skin. My trainer thinks he started itching himself out out of boredom and now he's itching because he caused a rash to form. That's totally possible too because I have most certainly not been the most fair to him over the last two months.

I have a friend whose golden also swims in the same river almost daily who has no issues.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

Thank you for the update! Glad things are improving for him- 3 weeks is great! Maybe you can add kefir to his diet to boost his overall immunity as well. Make sure you cone him so he doesn't start chewing at his skin. Looking forward to further positive updates


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Poor Kaizer is just not having a good time with his skin:-(. He's SO itchy now, he's scratched himself so hard he bled. He's got a funky hot spot or yeast infection (unsure which) under his armpit. He's also got some weird flaky skin thing happening. It's NOT ichthyosis, he is clear by parentage. It's only in some spots along his back where his skin is literally flaking off. His crate bottom is black and it's covered in little white flakes. I gave him a bath last week? I think, so I'm wondering if I just didn't get all the shampoo out. He was on antibiotics for the stomach rash, but it was making him throw up so I don't know what we're gonna do now. He's just really crusty lol I don't know how to explain it. In some areas, he has crusty bumps, but in other areas, it's just crusty skin. I'll attach a pic of the crusty skin on his shoulder. Again, all the areas are localized, but spread over his body. So the crust skin on his shoulder is ONLY in that area of his shoulder, but he has crusty skin patches along his back too. 

In the picture, there are some black flecks - do those look like flea dirt? I work in a pet store and someone brought their dog in saying that it has fleas (naturally, this is after we all pet the dog lmao. some people.). I disinfected my clothes right after he told us and threw it all immediately into the wash when I got home and didn't let Kaizer near me, but I suppose it's possible he still could have gotten fleas. I completely forgot about that until just now, and I think the timeline matches with when the itching started - the itching really was not this bad before. He's never had fleas before, so I don't know how to look.

I started a new job at the end of April and now have almost $1k saved up - it's not a lot but I don't pay my own bills or pay for anything yet. I'm debating if I should take him to a dermatologist or get him allergy tested. My mom thinks nothing will come out of the dermatologist appt, and she's worried we'll have to keep going to one doctor after another.

I did give him a very small piece of chicken on his birthday. He did vomit once, which sucks, but it's improvement nonetheless. The itchiness started before that though. I'm planning on keeping him on this HP diet until we get the skin issues resolved (or unless I find out it's causing his skin issues lol)


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

Given your ongoing concerns about allergies, did you ever ask your vet about the cytopoint shot? You might just be able to call and ask your vet for an opinion on it in regards to Kaizer, then go in for a visit, if the vet feels it might help.

I cannot see that photo very well on my phone, so I can’t speak to the flea issue.....


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I was under the impression that cytopoint is for environmental allergies. Does it work for food allergies too?


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

Worked for my dog’s food allergies, yes. He completely stopped itching. Firmed up his stools, too.

Also, if Kaizer has other non-food allergies piling on top of his food allergies, the shot may be enough to pull him back from the threshold of allergic reaction. It’s at least worth a chat with your vet. Worst case, he/she tells you that it isn’t a good solution for him.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

That does not look like flea dirt to me. It's more like a heat rash?? Have you tried dusting him with some athletes foot powder? Of course he shouldn't lick it but can't see that it would hurt anything to try. Worst thing that could happen is it irritates the skin and he gets another bath. He is quite the mystery. 
Have you tried dropping a zinc tablet in his food? Can't hurt


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Turns out that another dog (a golden @ my training place) has those scab things in the same places Kaizer does (along their back/spine area). She goes to a creek near the river I took Kaizer swimming, so we're thinking it might have been a plant. I have another friend who takes her golden to the same river. I see her tonight, so I'll ask if her dog has the scab things too.



usually lurking said:


> Worked for my dog’s food allergies, yes. He completely stopped itching. Firmed up his stools, too.
> 
> Also, if Kaizer has other non-food allergies piling on top of his food allergies, the shot may be enough to pull him back from the threshold of allergic reaction. It’s at least worth a chat with your vet. Worst case, he/she tells you that it isn’t a good solution for him.





puddles everywhere said:


> That does not look like flea dirt to me. It's more like a heat rash?? Have you tried dusting him with some athletes foot powder? Of course he shouldn't lick it but can't see that it would hurt anything to try. Worst thing that could happen is it irritates the skin and he gets another bath. He is quite the mystery.
> Have you tried dropping a zinc tablet in his food? Can't hurt


I'm gonna stop by our vet tomorrow and talk to them about Kaizer's skin, possible zinc deficiency, and now cytopoint. I spend 8 hours a day at work so I'm nervous about putting athletes foot powder on Kaizer - there would rarely be anyone around to make sure he would not ingest it. He thinks his cone is a game and runs around the house, shaking his head around and banging it into furniture, tail wagging a mile a minute .

Too much zinc in a dog's diet can cause a lot of really bad issues, so I don't want to do anything until a vet gives me the OK or something.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer's vet appointment was today. We got some pills (can't remember what it was, but not cefpodoxime) for his rash and something for his ear infection (left ear only). We haven't had an ear infection in well over a year. I imagine the ear infection is because I didn't blow-dry his ears dry after his bath when he swam. I usually do to prevent the ear infections (and it's worked!!) but I was really busy and didn't have time. Now I have to make sure I make time to do that.

Anyway, the diagnosis was "allergies" and the doctor said that the HP food he's on should help with that. It's just annoying to me that I tell them he's been on this HP food for the last 6 months with no improvement in his skin. Then I tell them, "he's had this rash since February, but we couldn't treat it because he was reacting negatively to the medication. And I know he has an ear infection, but I think it's because I didn't dry him out properly after he swam." only for the doctor to turn around and tell me, "it's allergies, he has all the symptoms for it - the itching and the ear especially. the HP diet should help though!". I guess the reason I'm so hesitant to accept that Kaizer has allergies is that it always seems like a cop out to me - it just didn't seem like the doctor listened to anything I said. Then he offered me some kind of diagnosis, a band-aid solution to the diagnosis in the form of some pills and ear medication, and then left. I say band-aid diagnosis because Kaizer has had this rash before. The pills clear it up for a couple months, then it's back. The previous pattern used to be that it would come in July-August, then we'd treat it, it'd go away and come back in February. We couldn't treat it this February, so here we are. He didn't even tell me how I could prevent or lessen Kaizer's suffering if it was allergies, nor did he give me the opportunity to because he said he was gonna go get the meds for me, and then had a vet tech bring them to me and check me out. He doesn't think it's a zinc deficiency though because his food does have zinc in it. I didn't get the chance to ask about cytopoint because he left.

The receptionist/vet tech did give me the UPenn Vet dermatologist's phone number though. I'm gonna finish this round of meds and get Kaizer's skin healthy again. I'm gonna keep him strictly on the HP diet, so that if his skin gets nasty again in the winter, no vet can possibly tell me it's environmental or food allergies. Plus, better be safe than sorry.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

let me know if i'm overreacting and the vet really does have a point. i could totally be biased since i don't really love this vet anyway (not that he has mistreated any animal to my knowledge, I'm just not a fan of him). The only reason I took Kaizer there is because this vet hospital had an appointment today, which is my only day off of work this week (my schedule changes week to week, I don't always know which days I have off). I just needed to get him some relief as soon as possible.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

Definitely time to see someone else if your vet isn’t listening to you and isn’t offering the level of care that you feel like you and Kaizer should be receiving. Keep us posted!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Yeah, I usually go to another vet who I like better, they just didn't have any appointments for today.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

These are tricky symptoms to find the root cause. A dermatologist seems to make sense at this point. Even on HP, Duke continued to have symptoms. Adding raw and cytopoint has helped.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

jennretz said:


> These are tricky symptoms to find the root cause. A dermatologist seems to make sense at this point. Even on HP, Duke continued to have symptoms. Adding raw and cytopoint has helped.


I agree, he definitely has tricky symptoms! Everyone I've talked to (for ideas to bring up to at the vet) are stumped - all the trainers at my training place, my friends whose dogs have allergies, people at pet stores (lol), etc. I was thinking maybe a yeast overgrowth or something.

Can I ask if there's a reason you're still feeding HP? If he's also getting raw, there has to be a meat protein Duke can handle. Why not feed a kibble with that protein? I'm genuinely asking, it sounds kinda snarky reading it back.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I never posted the picture of his tummy rashes. This was the worst his stomach has ever been. I put a Gentamicin topical spray on it, twice a day for three days. We got it from the vet either last year or the year before when he had this stomach rash (it expires in 2019). It helped because his stomach does not look like this right now at all, but I still thought I should take him in and try to clear up his skin for good.

What does that look like to you guys?


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

And this is his stomach today. I've done nothing to it except the Gentamicin last week.

Bonus pictures of his chest (it's just red and a little scabby) and his armpit (which smells yeasty). The armpit is new. He's got places along his back that are scabby, so there are skin flakes all over his back. His coat is nasty - it's "sticky", dull, and not as soft anymore, especially along his back. That's new too, just started a week ago.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

aesthetic said:


> I agree, he definitely has tricky symptoms! Everyone I've talked to (for ideas to bring up to at the vet) are stumped - all the trainers at my training place, my friends whose dogs have allergies, people at pet stores (lol), etc. I was thinking maybe a yeast overgrowth or something.
> 
> Can I ask if there's a reason you're still feeding HP? If he's also getting raw, there has to be a meat protein Duke can handle. Why not feed a kibble with that protein? I'm genuinely asking, it sounds kinda snarky reading it back.




Because I haven’t pulled the trigger completely yet and I use his kibble as treats. The only protein he seems able to handle is rabbit and it’s very expensive (over $600/month if I transitioned 100%)


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

That makes sense! It's hard to find something that agrees with them.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Aesthetic - sorry if this was asked and answered back further in this thread. But do you have a good vet school near you? I wonder if it would be a good atmosphere for all the differing symptoms, to try to find some answers. I feel for you - it must be so hard not to know what is causing all this.


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## Rundlemtn (Jan 16, 2015)

aesthetic said:


> I never posted the picture of his tummy rashes. This was the worst his stomach has ever been. I put a Gentamicin topical spray on it, twice a day for three days. We got it from the vet either last year or the year before when he had this stomach rash (it expires in 2019). It helped because his stomach does not look like this right now at all, but I still thought I should take him in and try to clear up his skin for good.
> 
> What does that look like to you guys?


Oh my goodness! I have no answers for you, but, I just feel for you. Your poor baby. I would be so worried if I found Rundle breaking out like this. I hope your new plan to keep a super strict diet works, or that you get some answers soon. So sorry you are having to go through all of this! At least as you are entering school now, you are learning the kind of vet not to be in the future!


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

Poor Kaiser! That rash looks really really uncomfortable. 

Honestly, I don't have a lot of advice, and I think all of your thoughts and concerns are valid. It could actually be allergies that are the cause of all of it (whether food, environmental, or both). Even though food allergies are more common than environmental allergies, if you have an allergy you're likely to have/get others, since there's likely something that makes you more susceptible to hypersensitivity in the first place. If he's sensitive to a food or something in the environment, the skin gets inflamed and is a setup for bacteria and yeast to set in. So there might be a component of bacterial infection or yeast overgrowth, but I wonder if something is triggering it. Or possibly some type of autoimmune type thing (especially if there is concern that Kaiser has IBD....I do know that things like Crohn's and Ulcerative colitis in humans can cause skin issues as well). Zn deficiency also might be worth considering if the IBD is causing Kaiser not to absorb nutrients well from the gut (although I would expect it more if there was evidence of gut malabsorption, which would generally show itself in the form of diarrhea). 

Does he lick those red and inflamed areas on his belly? If he does, I might try and keep a shirt on him, or consider a cone if it gets really bad (although that won't help the ear infection clear up). 

I think you're onto something by keeping him strictly on the HP diet. You could also try switching to another brand's HP diet, in case there's something about the current diet that isn't working out with him. 

I think seeing the dermatologist is a great idea. Another thing to consider if there's a specialty clinic nearby, is to see a board certified veterinary internist. They are in the community and also at vet schools. A little more costly than a regular vet, but it was very helpful when I was going through IBD issues with my last dog! 

I wish I had some advice for you, but just wanted to say that I'm thinking about you and sending lots of good thoughts your way!! Kaiser is so lucky to have such a dedicated, loving, and concerned owner.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

jennretz said:


> Because I haven’t pulled the trigger completely yet and I use his kibble as treats. The only protein he seems able to handle is rabbit and it’s very expensive (over $600/month if I transitioned 100%)
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


You might look into rabbit exhibitors or judges- they often cull their mismarked babies, and sell them. I used to buy my rabbit from a judge with ARBA https://www.arba.net/showsSearch.php and he'd let me know when he had enough in his freezer to be worth my trip. The dogs loved them.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

Prism Goldens said:


> You might look into rabbit exhibitors or judges- they often cull their mismarked babies, and sell them. I used to buy my rabbit from a judge with ARBA https://www.arba.net/showsSearch.php and he'd let me know when he had enough in his freezer to be worth my trip. The dogs loved them.


Thanks Robin. I'll check it out.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Piper_the_goldenpuppy said:


> Poor Kaiser! That rash looks really really uncomfortable.
> 
> Honestly, I don't have a lot of advice, and I think all of your thoughts and concerns are valid. It could actually be allergies that are the cause of all of it (whether food, environmental, or both). Even though food allergies are more common than environmental allergies, if you have an allergy you're likely to have/get others, since there's likely something that makes you more susceptible to hypersensitivity in the first place. If he's sensitive to a food or something in the environment, the skin gets inflamed and is a setup for bacteria and yeast to set in. So there might be a component of bacterial infection or yeast overgrowth, but I wonder if something is triggering it. Or possibly some type of autoimmune type thing (especially if there is concern that Kaiser has IBD....I do know that things like Crohn's and Ulcerative colitis in humans can cause skin issues as well). Zn deficiency also might be worth considering if the IBD is causing Kaiser not to absorb nutrients well from the gut (although I would expect it more if there was evidence of gut malabsorption, which would generally show itself in the form of diarrhea).
> 
> ...


Hi, sorry, busy week!

Kaizer does not lick those belly rashes to my knowledge, but he sleeps in a crate at night so it's entirely possible that he does and I just don't notice. I have seen him lick his armpit thing though, so I'm trying to discourage that whenever I see it.

I've thought about it over the last couple days and have realized that allergies really aren't the end of the world. I mean it sucks because now I have to figure out what he might be allergic too and that process will not be fun, but it could be so much worse. For now, I'm just gonna focus on clearing up his skin and keeping it and him healthy.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

aesthetic said:


> Hi, sorry, busy week!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Have you tried a patch test? Much more reliable than a blood test. 


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

jennretz said:


> Have you tried a patch test? Much more reliable than a blood test.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


We haven't tried any kind of allergy test yet. I'm still seeing what my options are and narrowing it down from there. My vet's office mentioned just trying an elimination diet, but his reactions seem to include continuous vomiting, ear infections, and rashes that require medicine. I'm not willing to put him through that until I figure out what he can tolerate, especially since it takes weeks to get him back on track.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

The skin patch can help narrow down possible allergens. It’s done under light sedation by a dermatologist. Some of this may be driven by things other than food; although food can be a challenge and I understand your concerns about changing anything up there.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Thanks for letting me know! Nutriscan is the other one I've been looking into, it's a saliva test.

I've gotten a referral to both an internal specialist and a dermatologist. I'm not entirely sure which one to go to, or if it's even worth spending the $$ (my mom thinks we won't get an answer). I think what I'll do is get his skin cleared up, and maybe take him in if it comes back again.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

He threw up again today :-(

One second he was lying next to me, dead asleep, and the next minute, he's in his crate vomiting. It looked like it was digested kibble, chunky and yellow. More solid vs liquid. The issue, though, is that his last meal was breakfast because we had agility class when he usually gets dinner, and he threw up a lot more than what he got during class. He was acting a bit off during class, a little more tired than he usually is, but I chalked that up to the day we had yesterday. 

I'm just really at a loss. I finally got his skin all cleared up, he wasn't vomiting, no ear infections, he stopped smelling so gross and yeasty, his toes were clear, he was so energetic, etc. and in a matter of a week, he's right back where he started. I just really don't understand what went wrong, he's gotten NOTHING but this hydrolyzed protein food for the last seven months and that's all we've been given to help fix this. The only thing I can think of is that it was pouring and thundering all last week, so I guess there's a lot of pollen/allergens in the air. But on the flip side, he's not presenting with any symptoms different from what he had in the middle of winter - January, February, and March.

I will say that I've noticed that he's been drinking a lot of water. I know it's really hot, but Kaizer's never been a really big water drinker. But, I think he has more coat this year than he has had in previous years, so that's why he could be drinking more water. He's also had a weird bump pop up on his left (if you're facing him) thigh, 3-4 inches from the base of his tail. It was a little bigger than pea sized and moveable. I had a couple friends from my training place feel it. They weren't terribly concerned and my mom didn't think it was a big deal either, so I've just been checking it a couple times a day. It has shrunk over the weeks and Kaizer does not care about it.

I just feel so bad for him, he's always so miserable after he throws up. He's currently curled up on his bed, hopefully asleep.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

Have you gone to an internist? Duke continued to vomit on hydrolyzed protein diet. After many tests, xrays we finally had colonoscopy, endoscopy and a camera that was inserted in his stomach. What we learned was he was digesting things much slower than usual and had inflammation/thickening of walls along stomach and intestines. It’s been a year since we switched to Stella and Chewy’s rabbit. We still do some hydrolyzed protein. We also added metronidazole every day. IBD diagnosis. He’s had a pretty good year. We went from throwing up every week to just occasionally. The one time it happened was when I tried to switch him to a turkey based kibble. His skin issues have also cleared up and I was able to take him off Apoquel. We have done cytopoint, but it’s been two months and no hot spots.

Hope you get some answers soon.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

He threw up three times today. I'm not 100% sure when he threw up the first time - I was gone at puppy class and left him home because he wasn't feeling well, so it was between 6 and 9pm. My brother went down to play video games and left him alone upstairs. About 15 minutes after I came home, he threw up twice about 15 seconds apart. The only "meal" he had today was rice (which technically goes against his diet, but in the past, it's been the only thing that stopped the vomiting) at 2pm. His vomit was just the rice in a thick, bright yellow liquid (sorry for the visual). I guess improper digestion is part of his issue. 

I'm gonna take an appointment with an internist tomorrow. At this point, I don't care what we have to do to figure out why this is happening, or at least get a game plan to stop it from happening.

It's just frustrating because he was doing SO well since May and I thought that maybe the HP diet was finally working. I just can't figure out what caused this episode. My poor boy is so miserable


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## Rundlemtn (Jan 16, 2015)

So sorry to hear you are still struggling with this. I hope the internist is able to give you some answers.


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## Gleepers (Apr 20, 2016)

There is a group on FB called Canine Nutrition and Natural Health. One of the Mods is Victoria K. (Don’t necessarily want to put her whole name up due to google search)
I seem to recall that her dog was allergic to the world. Took her awhile but her pup is doing pretty well I guess. She might be a good person to reach out to for advise.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer has an appointment with the internist tomorrow. I’ll update tomorrow after the appointment


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

Sending positive vibes his way. Hope you're able to get some answers so he can start feeling better.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Hope Kazier's appt. goes well with the Internist tomorrow, sending good thoughts.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Appointment with internist went well, he was very thorough. He did some bloodwork and a cortisol level test on him, we get the results tomorrow. Internist said that they are both probably clear, but Kaizer's symptoms were odd enough to warrant doing those tests anyway. He still thinks it could be a food allergy/sensitivity or IBD, and thinks that maybe the HP diet isn't agreeing with Kaizer, so he gave us some rabbit prescription food to try).

We got cephalexin and a chlorhex shampoo for Kaizer's skin and mometamax for his ears. I'm probably not gonna start the rabbit food until Kaizer's skin and ears are clear, that way I'll know for sure if he can handle it.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Hey guys, it's been awhile! Thought I'd update this thread since it's been over six months.

We'll start with the good news: Kaizer has NOT vomited since October! A pretty big deal considering we went 10 months of nearly continuous vomiting. Kaizer did not have Addison's Disease like the internist thought. I also got Kaizer's thyroid tested, he does not have a thyroid problem at this point in time (he was mid-normal).

The bad news is that we're still having skin issues on his stomach/groin area and his armpit area. It got so bad (despite following advice from our various vets) that he lost all of his fur in both those areas. I ended up switching him to the prescription rabbit-based food at the beginning of September - that stopped the vomiting but seemed to make his skin worse. I ended up switching him to raw at the beginning of December (got the OK from my vet). He's been on raw since then and is doing really well - absolutely no vomiting and we're getting hair growth! I didn't really think I'd ever put him on raw because it's a lot of work, but I was ready to try anything. I also thought that maybe he was having an issue with the preservatives in kibble? If he has an allergy to anything, I think it would be something like that because he's had issues on every kibble he's been on in the last two years and they all had different proteins. He had been eating a salmon-based kibble for a month in Dec. 2017 when all this started, then the HP kibble from Jan. 2018 - Sept. 2018, and then the rabbit kibble from Sept. 2018 - Dec. 2018.

He's on antibiotics (again! after almost 6 months) for his skin. The vets do a skin scraping and say it's yeast so we have Cefpodoxime again. He reacted to Cefpodoxime last year (he vomited), but we did not have that issue this year. We are on week #3 of antibiotics. In the past, it usually cleared up fairly quickly after starting on the antibiotics, but not so much this time. One half of his stomach is definitely clearing up faster than the other, and it's growing more hair. Not sure why. He is on probiotics (and has been since October).

My heart breaks for him, there is so much I have had to stop doing with him because I'm not sure what will make his skin worse. We don't go on hikes through the woods (we do leashed walks on paved paths) and we don't swim - no more beaches, lakes, ponds, pools, or dock-diving. At almost four years old, he developed a papilloma wart under his lip, so until that goes away, no more: agility, demo dogging at our training place, and pet store visits. It's been about a month (give or take a week) and it just seems to have gotten bigger lol. Still, he is so ridiculously happy and still the sweetest boy ever - just a little bored! I've been making do best as I can.

Hopefully next time I update, it will be all good news!


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