Poorly labrador. (Warning--Long)

[Loriens]

Just posting for thoughts and experiences really.

My lovely lab is almost 9. He has had a couple of minor ops (removal of toe, lump biopsies etc) but is on the whole fit and well. He has slowed down slightly over the last year but managed a few good walks on holiday in the Lakes a month ago.

Two weeks ago (Tuesday) he vomited a couple of times. Fasted him, introduced boiled chicken and rice etc and he seemed to be ok. He was still active, wanted to go for walks and was his usual loving self. By Friday we began giving him his (dried) food again in small portions. On Saturday he began vomiting again, called the vet and went through the fasting and chicken and rice again. He seemed to perk up but on Monday I noticed he had tarry black poo and Tuesday morning he began to vomit again with a little blood in it.

He was rushed to vets who suspected an ulcer or pancreatitus. Bloods were taken but didn't show anything except slightly high liver enzymes but these are slightly lower than February so the vet wasn't too concerned. He began meds for an ulcer and had an anti sickness jab. I took him back to the vets Thursday for another jab and bought the gentle digestion vet food. At this point he was still eating and although not 'himself' was begging, walking, weeing and pooing ok, full body wags and smiley face when he saw us etc.

On Saturday night he began vomiting again and we rushed him to the vets early Sunday morning. He also began to drool very excessively. He began to look very poorly. He was admitted and had began on fluids and stronger anti sickness meds. Yesterday he had x rays and a scan which showed nothing and the vet said we had to start thinking it may be something more sinister although clinical signs still support an ulcer.

Last night the vet asked us to go and offer him some food and walk him around the garden as he was unsure how much he is fretting and how much is illness. Although he was pleased to see us he still looks very poorly but managed to take a tiny piece of chicken (and keep it down). It was very hard to leave him again but as he is on painkillers and IV meds it seemed the best option.

Today I collected him at 10 and have brought him home for a few hours. He is drooling despite the medication and has refused anything to eat but is pretty settled next to me and seems happier to be at home.

The next stage is an endoscopy but I honestly don't know what to do. We want to give him the best possible chance because if it is an ulcer it will be manageable with medication and food. I am aware that if the scope shows anything else then we do have a decision to make but we don't want to make that decision prematurely if he has a good chance of a normal life. However, I am watching him and wondering how fair I am being. He is on the anti sickness drugs, pain relief that is keeping him comfortable, refusing food and looks sad but pleased to be lying next to me. He has also lost nine pounds since last Tuesday.

I don't really know why I am posting but your thoughts and experiences would be most appreciated .

Oh I am so sorry to hear your lab is unwell. I lost one last year. He had liver disease. Here one minute and gone the next. The decline was so sudden I was in such shock. It is so horrible to see them unwell. Once you get a proper diagnosis you will be able to talk to your vet about a way forward. Hope things go ok.

I would strongly suspect a blockage of some sort. What sort of scans have they given him? Does he have a temperature?

Did the vet do a CLPi test for the pancreatitis? What was the result?

One of my labs was v ill last year with a double blockage and I see a number of similarities in what you describe. Is your dog drinking more or less than usual? Is the water staying down?

Another of my labs has had a couple of attacks of acute pancreatitis this year which symptom wise have not been particularly similar.

The drooling is usually nausea.

Poor boy. He must feel rotten, but if I were you I would have to pursue it further.

I am so sorry to hear about your poorly boy. My experience of high liver enzyme levels is when my retriever had liver cancer - she was displaying some signs of illness, but nothing serious until three weeks before she died (naturally) just five days after diagnosis. She was also drooling, off her food and nauseous during the last few days. Black tarry poo I've come across when we've had a dog with heart disease, again not with a good outcome. My retriever's liver cancer was diagnosed with an ultrasound. In your position I'd be wanting to know what was wrong, and whether it's curable. I really hope you find a cure - he has youth on his side. It sounds like he's much happier at home with you. Keep strong, I know how awful you must feel.

Thanks you for reading a replying, sorry it was so long.

Champneys I am sorry for the loss of your dog and thank you for your kind thoughts.

daisydotandgertie, he had the CLPi test on Sunday and it was 'negative'. We originally thought it was a blockage but he was still passing bowel movements and keeping water down. He is drinking quite a bit. He had xrays and an ultrasound scan yesterday. No temperature, pale gums. Still refusing food but that's understandable I suppose while he is nauseaus.
He is currently lying next to me and breathing heavily with occasional quiet whining. No vomiting since Sunday but is on pretty hefty and sickness drugs and atropine for the drooling plus pain relief.

Due to go back to the vets at 6.
Thanks for replying to me, feel utterly distraught.

-- and replying

1Mitchellmum, thank you for your response. USS scan was clear but liver did look slightly 'shrunken'.

Loriens - that was what my lab had. Liver was tiny when they opened him up. We never found the cause, but vet said possibly picked something up several months previously and it had slowly done the damage. I had no idea he was so ill. Bit of yellow/orange sick for the previous 24 hours, but still eating and walking.

Champneys, can I ask how long from diagnosis to the end ? Was it only on exploratory surgery that you got your diagnosis?
Thank you

It does sound blockage like.

My vet just opened my girl up and manually checked every inch of her insides. He found 2 blockages, one was completely sealing the exit to her stomach and was a perfect piece of a nylabone shank and the other was caught in the tiny pouch between her stomach and her intestines (Cecum). We have no idea what the second blockage was caused by, it was foetid, rotten and very close to perforating her insides.

My point is that he felt neither obstruction would have shown up well on an X-ray or an ultrasound so he opened her up. She was desperately ill, and only allowed to be at home with me because I have such a long standing relationship with our vet.

She was also pooing as normal, but had started to vomit. She was drinking masses, and for a while kept it down. The day before her operation, all the water flooded back up. She was also drooling for Britain for the 24 hours before surgery.

It would also be worth you posting on Labrador Forums in their health section, there is a phenomenal amount of expertise available on there which may be able to help.

You must be at a big vets practice if they can do a CLPi test on a Sunday; at what point will you ask for a referral? Your boy is still young, and apart from this he sounds very well. An endoscopy is a good thing. It might tell them how to fix him.

Sick over the weekend. Blood tests on the monday. Hour later call from the vet to say there was something showing seriously wrong with the liver. IV drips and antibiotics and stayed at the vet until the wed. Further bloods showed no change, by which time he was off his food. Vet said possibly cancer, but something really bad was wrong in any case. Final thing was to open him up to see what was happening. Liver had shrunk and was actually really really small. I had been told to say goodbye prior to the op as we had decided it was unlikely to be anything positive and we agreed it was fair to let him go whilst under the anaesthetic.

I really feel for you as it is so so awful. He had just passed his 9th birthday one month earlier.

BUT this may not be the case, and I sincerely hope it is not, with yours.

Oh, he was not diagnosed cancer as didn't have the biopsy, but he felt it was possibly some disease he had picked up along the way that had attacked his liver. No idea what though.

Thank you Champneys , I think it is the not knowing that is the worse. keep thinking there is more that can be done.

DDandG . How long did your dog have symptoms before she was operated on?

My vets is actually based at the vet hospital. We have gone here since we rescued him (he'd had 3 homes in his first eleven months) and he was already registered with them. We decided not to change to our 'local' vets although it is part of the same group as I really liked the vets. It is also a referral centre and we had him scanned by the Small animal internal medicine specialist who specialises in non-invasive procedures hence going for the scope rather than straight to laparotomy. If you are in Cheshire you may know the vet group.

Still sitting with him, he is booked for the scope in the morning. We are going back to the vets at six tonight and all being well we can bring him back home tonight. The scope can't be done today as he will have to have 12 hours without the antseptid.

The vet says as he is a fretter as long as he is comfortable he is better with us. As he is drinking and chewed off two fluid tubes during the night he can have a break from the IV although he still has the catheter in his leg with a lovely pink bandage over it!

My dog had a lovely red bandage over his!

Fingers crossed for you and your boy, I know what you're going through and it's hellish. x

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the responses.

We went to the vets at six and he has had more pain relief and is fairly comfortable. He goes in tomorrow for the endoscopy.

oh glad he is ok. is he home with you or staying at vet til after the endo?

good luck for the morning. xx

Thanks
He is at home . The vet thinks there is a definite improvement when he is with us. He has to be back for seven am to have his stomach washed out to improve visibility during the scope. I should be able to bring him home tomorrow night too depending on the findings.

oh bless yes he`will be more settled at home.

You poor thing. I hate, hate, hate having a proper poorly dog.

I hope the endoscopy shows them the problem - he is a very lucky boy to have so much expertise on tap.

To answer your question, in hindsight I had known she wasn't herself for quite a long time. Probably about 10 months. We'd been backwards and forwards to the vet for infected anal glands and lethargy. She is my dog of a lifetime and I just 'know' when something isn't right with her. She has a history of being horrifically ill - pyometra, meningitis, gastric torsion have all been ticked off with her - so I know her symptoms. She gets very, very clingy to me, pretends to be terrified of my DH, and begins to smell very doggy. She normally has no smell.

The crisis, if you like, had been over a very short period of time. The trouble is, with 4 dogs, unless you see them vomit, it's hard to work out who did it. With hindsight again, it was Daisydog 2. So, she was sick overnight on Thursday, and then again overnight on Friday. On Saturday morning, we cleared it up (she had been fine on her walk and pooing as normal), fed her and went on a car journey. She was very sick in the car; her breakfast, pretty much as it went in. We got to the place we were heading, and she started to drool and developed a high temperature so we went to the vet. He gave anti vomiting meds, antibiotics and sent us home with instructions to watch carefully. We were back with him a further 3 times that day. Then on Sun first thing we had her back in to be opened up. I chose that quick route rather than scan because I know her; I know how ill she can be and it was a fail safe fix.

I hope your lovely boy is OK today.

Daisy, thanks for responding. I am so glad that you were able to help your girl so quickly. I also hate seeing a poorly dog, took me a long time to get over losing my last one.

I said I'd never have another but our boy as I mentioned above had a bit of a bumpy start to life and came to us in a roundabout way. He came to us in an emergency and we had no idea of breed etc. He bounced into our house, ran round like a loonie and picked up small pen in his mouth. Looking back I probably shouldn't have but I just reached into his mouth, he just relaxed and let me take it out and I looked at his big brown trusting eyes. I was lost forever.

He has had some issues; he had been knocked around a bit and was quite nervous of men and small children. He is not that interested in other dogs either and is quite submissive but is so loving and adoring towards us and people he trusts. I know it sounds corny but he has been the boy that DH and I never had together. He really has been life changing (first dog DH has ever really known). Until Sunday the longest he has been away from one of us is about 8 hours (minor ops etc).

I am feeling a bit guilty for dragging it out but has all been on the vets suggestions. I am worried about the anaesthetic today as he had a bad reaction during his last op but at least we will know one way or the other.

Last night he was quite settled but woke at 3 this morning crying in a way I have never heard before. He has also started smelling a lot and this is also a dog that never smelled (unless he's had a roll in a dead fish or other delight). He is still refusing food and sleeping a lot.

Just waiting around for vet to ring...

A quick update:

Vets rang and some slight inflammation in the stomach but nothing obvious to cause the symptoms.

He confirmed no blockage but did notice some thickness in the small intestine and samples have been taken for biopsy. So now looking at duodenal ulcer, Inflammatory Bowel Disease or possible lymphoma. Hopefully, the results will be back by Friday .

Just off to bring him home again, poor boy.

I so hope the thickness is nothing to worry about - he has so obviously stolen your heart.

There's nothing in the world like the eyes of a Labrador, nor actually, like a Labrador at all, I think. Kind, trusting and hilarious. That's how I have ended up with four. My labradaughters!

I mentioned Labrador Forums upthread, and whatever does come out of these investigations, the site is a mammoth vat of expertise. There is absolutely bound to be someone on there who has had whatever he is diagnosed with who can help.

And you have made really good, sound decisions for your boy. Opening him up would have not helped at all; and he would have had a major, major surgery to recover from. Your vets have the equipment to make all those things instantly available. Mine didn't. Not on a Sunday!

'Labradaughters' I love it!

Thank so much for the reassurances, it's always a worry that one is doing the right thing. Keeping fingers crossed for the results on Friday.

Anyhow, he is home and asleep on the bed, he is still quite weak and vomited twice but putting that down to the anaesthetic. Off back to the vets in the morning. Feel like my car knows it's own way!

I am a member of Labrador Forums but couldn't remember my password last night (tend to lurk on forums rather than post). Have had excellent advice in the past though.

Any news?