Basenji without spunk - very sick, pls read

[Mantis]

Well I have dropped Beta off at the vet for observation today.

Caesar is with me at work having a blast sniffing everything. He will have a lot of fun spending the week with my family.

What is going on with Beta? Maybe it is an ulcer?

She couldnt take any of her meds yesterday and the original symptoms were present again this morning. The gurgling sounds, the gas and she did appear to be uncomfortable again.

[Duke]

I know you are doing everything for Beta - Bless you both. Curious if your vet has researched known Basenji intestinal disorders. I do not think Duke's current vet knows much about Basenji's, but if Duke gets sick, I will take him to a referred vet that knows this breed but is about 10 miles away.
As always, I am sending healing vibes to Beta.

[Mantis]

The vet knows about basenji diseases and I have given them tons of additional pwork with regards to any intestinal illnesses for basenjis.

The vet just called. They gave her a pepto shot in the morning to help with the nausea. Beta threw up at 11. Then they have her a shot of reglin? to help with the nausea and she threw up around 12:30. The doctor should call me shortly.

If anyone knows people who know basenjis (or are a vet dr, or know a vet dr), please print this thread out and have them read it and see what if any recommendations they may have. I will forward the suggestions or connect them directly with my vet.

Thanks for the support!! Here is a pic of Ceasar sleeping under my desk at work in anticipation for his mini-vacation while I take care of Beta.

[Mantis]

well the vet said she threw up 5 times today at their clinic.

she says that typically an intestinal disease will not relapse this fast and is worried that it is something else.

beta received fluids twice today by iv and 3 shots for nausea. hopefully the one right before we left will work. she threw up after them earlier.

i have now given her carafate which is some type of med that will stick to an ulcer if she has one.

i will try to see if i can get the pepcid in her stomach later.

keep your fingers crossed, i am hoping she will try the chicken broth later.

[red and white furever]

More hugs and positive thoughts coming your way. Hoping that Beta will like the chicken broth and be able to keep it in her tummy.

[jenwilson]

Thinking positive thoughts for your and Beta…. how terrible for her, you and Ceasar... My prayers are with you all as you contine through this ordeal. PLEASE continue to keep us updated. Thanks for the food information.... I just had an allergy problem with my basenji/whippet mix... we don't know what caused it, but the steroid shot and pills took care of it, but we have cut back on WHAT she eats... I may try some of the food you mentioned. Thanks again and God Bless you and Beta.

[JoeyQ]

Thanks so much for sharing your story. Yes, I am certain that it is helpful for all of us to have the information. Poor little Beta, I feel so badly for you all!! You are so dedicated to both your dogs! Keep your head up and think positive. You know how intuitive Bs are!

[Mantis]

well she was at the vet all day and still is throwing up. she has had diarhea twice today and the most recent episope has flecks of blood in it.

the inhouse specialist reviewed the case and looked at her and has suggested that it may be the meds? the pepto has aspirin in it so we stopped that 2 days ago. tonight she had the carafate and held it down. then the pepcid crushed and with water and she threw that up.

the specialist wants me to change to zantac instead becuase it has more of a nausea relief in it. she also said to feed her cottage cheese and soft boiled potatoes. i told her that would be great if she could hold a pill down.

she has had 1/4 cup of broth and i am hoping she can hold it down. she has had no solid food for 3 days now. i am sure she is hungry. i am supposed to try to get the steroid in her somehow, but we will see

if she doesnt start eating soon they suggest the scope to look at the intestines. they throw up with bile and the diarhea that is a wet liquid with brown granules in it is from the upper intestine the doctors say.

i am at about $4k so I am hoping that she will eat soon instead of needing more tests. They took her blood again yesterday and the results didnt show anything wrong.

[nala121498]

Oh boy…I feel so awful for poor Beta...she's getting such good care from you. I hope she starts eating soon. I think of you all often and am keeping her in my prayers. Thanks for the updates.

[Mantis]

Yesterday before bed Beta had blood in her diahrea. Not a good sign. I immediately kicked up my stress and mommy alert.

She woke me at 2:45 coughing (the wheezing sound mentioned earlier) or what I thought was her vomiting. She hadnt thrown up but was in distress. I could hear her gassy sounds in her stomach from the other room, which is amazing. I crushed up the reglan for nausea and gave it to her in a syringe with water.

30 min later I gave her the steroid praying she would hold it down. she hadnt held any meds or food down in 3 days. the reglan shots at the vet were even making her vomit. 30 min later the cough/gag/wheezing sounds stopped and she could breath clearly.

She slept the rest of the night in my arms on the couch.

So, the nausea med is 2x per day and was still in her system in the morn, so she was ok. I gave her the carafate for a potential ulcer. She kept that down. I then gave her another prednisone dose and she held that down. The crushing of all pills and giving it to her with 6cc of water or chicken broth seems to work now that the pills are too harsh in a swallowing form.

Now she is only to eat cottage cheese and boiled potatoe if I can get her to do more than chicken broth. She has eaten about 2 cups of it today and still hasnt thrown up.

The vets are concerned that the nausea meds were causing problems. The pepto bismol has aspirin in it and may be to rough on her stomach. The doc also had me change from the pepcid ac to zantac (1/4 of a reg dose). Apparently zantac has something in it that covers nausea better than pepcid. So I gave her the zantac around 2pm when her meds had worn off and she was starting to get nauseas and wheezy again. too early for pred and i was worried she would throw up all of the food i had worked so hard to get her interested in. she doesnt seem to react well to the zantac and i am not going to use it tomorrow unless i have to. the reglan is a 2x a day thing, but mid day it wears off.

so the vets have her on the cc and boiled potatoe because they are worried that she is reacting to a med or the duck in the duck and potatoe (which she loved).

i believe the problem that caused this relapse is the pepto, pepcid and zantac. they must have something in them that doesnt sit well with her. hopefully.

she is 16lbs now and i have to get some food on her.

they said if she doesnt improve over the weekend (which she has just by the not vomiting) that they recommend a scope to look into her tummy etc. it is frustrating they dont know what this is.

if they do the scope the specialist said that they usually put a feeding tube at that point. i am not ready for that. sounds too scarey.

so, all meds have stopped since she wouldnt hold them down.

now she gets the reglan for nausea
the prednisone for inflamation
and the carafate in case there is an ulcer

if she doesnt throw up tonight i will try to get her back on the flagyl for the antibiotic.

food is key.

here is a pic of her today hanging out on the couch.

[lvoss]

Some of the side effects listed for Flagyl are diarreah, loss of apetite, and naseau, and vomiting.

[red and white furever]

More hugs and prayers for you and Beta.

[Mantis]

well beta has been off of the flagyl and tramadol now. they want her back on it soon, but i am sure it isnt a parasite. but i will put her back on it if she stops the diahrea and throwing up for 1 week.

she slept all night and all day today. she ate less today but loves the boiled potatoe and isnt sure about the cottage cheese alone, but eats it mixed w the potatoe.

she pooped solid and florescent orange with some old blood. so things appear better. very quiet today. lets hope for a quiet week and that the food and the lessened meds will get her to a stable level.

caesar is having a blast at my parents. they said he was inspecting their kleenex box extensively.

[red and white furever]

So glad to hear that Beta is interested in food and sleeping peacefully! HUgs to you both! Also glad to hear that Ceaser is living large at your parents! I chuckled over the tissue box story!

[nala121498]

Keep us posted on how she's doing…lots of hugs comin' your way!

[jys1011]

Oh gosh Betsey I pray that things go better this week. The thought of little Beta at 16lbs is just too sad!!

[Mantis]

well the silent day she had yesterday hasnt lived long. beta woke me up at midnight to do something in the dark outside. she woke me at 5am vomiting.

in the morning she was shaking again. a tremor in her chest. the coughing was bad and the gurgling sounds were there again. she looked very uncomfortable so i decided to take her in to the vet and have a talk.

i told the vet that all of the meds as soon as they wear off dont seem to remedy the symptoms which is apparent. she agreed. the zantac did not relieve the nausea and i didnt give it to her again because she was so nauseous after recieving a dose that i was afraid she would throw up.

i said i wanted to do the scope. i dont know what else to do. the scope will go through her esophogus and all the way into her upper intestine where the vets think the problem is coming from, or the stomach.

they xrayed her chest to make sure she doesnt have any throat inflamation. she said there is always a concern about that with this procedure ($8-900 est cost). i will find out about the xrays tomorrow, but the procedure is scheduled for 10am.

i told the vet, even if her throat is irritated, it would be dumb to try to remedy that and risk her losing more weight and trying to do the procedure later. i would rather do this now since they have to put her to sleep than with her any weaker than she is currently.

i will fill you in on any news.

i picked beta up after work and she hadnt eaten anything. but didnt throw up. they gave her fluids and a shot of prednisone and nausea med.

the dog says the reglan is for nausea and the pepcid, or pepto, or zantac is to reduce acid

betsey

[Ambered]

oh betsey, i hope the scope finds whatever the problem is. poor beta. me and fender send her hugs and kisses. :x
GET WELL SOON BETA!

[seko]

I really hope they'll find the problem and can do something about it to get your Beta better pretty soon! Fingers cross and big hugs to your girl!

[nala121498]

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that they find out something today and can help her get on the road to recovery ASAP. Update us when you can. I'll be thinking aobut you both.