Desperate help needed....please

[RubyDoo]

I"m not sure where to begin with this. But here is goes.

We lost our 6 year old boxer, Ruby, on Feb. 14th. She had this thing where she would lick and swallow excessively...eat anything on the floor...then would finally throw up. We never figured out WHAT was causing this....or what really caused her death...but it might have been heart related.
Anyway....Now, about 3 weeks ago, our 5 year old boxer, Lexi started the SAME symptoms, infact, she's even acting worse. We took her to the emergeny vet last week..and he was sure it was reflux. She's on Pepcid. But, she's still sick.
She is wearing us down and we want to help her....but I don't think anyone knows what is wrong w/ her. I've done some research on Google...and it seems like she "could" have Pancreatits. If your dog has had this please tell me the symptom of this. I need to take Lexi to the vet again. I"ll mention Pancreatits to the vet....but would like to hear our your dog's symptoms.

Does anyone else have any ideas what is going on w/ our lexi? When she gets in this mode...she eats anything...my curtains, rugs, grass...anything...and she licks, drools, swallows, etc. This is really scaring us....is this what killed Ruby? We must find out what is going on.

Thank you so much...Can you tell I'm panicing?

 

[Althea]

Cairo did something similar, but I never knew what it was. I wish I could tell you. Glad you are hunting down answers. Get a second opinion if you aren't happy with the first. Keep us posted.

 

[Lisa H]

Justice is doing the same thing but she is not eating random things....thank god...she grew out of that years ago...she will be nine this week. She does the licking and swallowing and will occassionally throw up. It tends to be bile only and her stomach rumbles like crazy. We too are now on a pepcid a day. We have done blood tests, stool samples, exams, xrays, etc. We even switched to a prescription diet. It is becoming less frequent but it is still there. It actually never started until she had an MCT removed and was put on a thyroid med last year...we are at a loss too!!! Sorry we can't help either but we can sympathize.

Lisa and Justice

 

[sriley]

My first Boxer had pancreatitis once and would vomit repeatedly, but he never attempted to eat random things in the house/yard. What does your girl eat? Has she been given any fatty foods or treats? Fatty foods are often the culprit when pancreatitis is diagnosed.

I hope you can find a vet who can provide some answers to your girl's problem. Please keep us posted.

 

[SherylM]

I recently read an article about Pica. Sometimes it is caused by a medical problem, ie: digestive upset or malabsorbtion problem with the intestines. Don't know if that helps but perhaps you can ask your vet about it.

 

[Cami]

Pancreatitis can be diagnosed via blood work. Typically during an "attack" (feeling very ill) the liver enzymes....amylase and lipase will be elevated. Add in the symptoms (stomach pain, nausea/vomiting) and you might get a diagnosis however further in depth testing might need to be done to rule in or out.

I might start with a simple CBC first. The symptoms you describe don't specifically point towards pancreatitis as it is more often seen with profuse vomiting. Feeling sick wouldn't come and go as it would tend to be longer term and progressive until it was treated. But of course all dogs can present differently.

It seems as if you are almost describing a bit of a panicky-type behavior with her eating multiple items in an attempt to make herself feel better.

Not trying to scare you but it is eerily familiar to what my girl would do when her heart was acting up. She could feel the erratic beating and it would cause her to panic. She too would try to eat anything she could find.

I am so very sorry for your loss and hope that you get answers for Lexi soon.

 

[trc4941]

Dino has had bouts of pancreatitis over the last couple of years. We finally had it diagnosed this Jan. Here were his symptoms:
*He would not eat.
*He would curl up in a tight ball.
*We could hear his stomach squeaking from across the room - not growling, but high pitched squeaks
*He would be very restless, like he couldn't get comfortable.
*When we'd go for a walk, he'd move very slow.
*He would throw up yellow bile.

This would happen just every once in awhile - every few weeks, once every couple of months - it wasn't all the time or on a regular basis. Although it is caused by too much fat in the diet, we could not think of anything different he had eaten prior to his "episodes". Because it was only every once in awhile, we chalked it up to being a typical boxer sensitive stomach. His last bout was this last Jan and he kept us up most of the night with his stomach noises and jumping on and off the bed. So I took him to the vet who did a blood test. It came back positive for pancreatitis. So he is now on a low-fat food. No episodes since...knock on wood! Good luck.

 

[Lisa H]

trc4941..

What food do you have Dino on?

 

[EAO76]

My foster dog sometimes has these episodes. She licks the ground, walls, the floor, paces, drools, etc. She won’t settle down until I let her outside to eat grass (she will eat a ton of it if I let her). I think this is just the way some dogs deal w/ an upset stomach. My foster has never had any lasting effects from one of these episodes. You can try giving a little liquid Maalox or a Pepcid and see if that helps.

 

[RubyDoo]

Update:

Lexi had a another bad night last night. She was on the couch and all at once started to drool, lick and swallow obsessively...hard swallows. After she did that for awhile. She finally stopped...and fell asleep. But..my husband and I thought that maybe it's her food that's making her sick. She's on Iam's mini chuncks....green bag. So, now wer'e looking for a new food.
Meanwhile, our vet called to check on her. She likes the idea about changing the food, but would like us to try some perscription food first. So, we're trying Royal Cannin, Potato and Rabbit. She also wants us to give her Prilosic instead of Pepcid. She said if she doesn't improve, she wants Lexi to be scoped. Gee...I sure hope it's just the food causing all this problem.
But...as far as Iams..I did some seaching on the internet, and found a lot of complaint or problms w/ the Iam's green bag food. So....I'm thinking...this might be the culprit...I hope. Wouldn't it be nice it it were this easy.

I'll keep you posted.....Thanks everyone!!