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Reply To: Advice needed on what to do for dog that won't eat /GI issues?

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anonymous
Member

@ 2doodlemom
I hope you will continue to work closely with your vet and I urge you to get the abdominal ultrasound done asap. As recommended by the examining vet.
Ask your vet what she suspects. What does she need to rule out. It may be cost-effective in the long run.
Trying various supplements, over the counter meds, and changing the diet frequently could end you and your dog up at the emergency vet $$$ Meanwhile the diagnosis and the medical treatment that the dog may need is delayed.
If finances are a concern
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/trouble_affording_veterinary_care.html

Sincerely, best of luck

Ultrasounds for Dogs http://www.tuftsyourdog.com/issues/19_6/features/For-Your-Dog-X-ray-Ultrasound-CT-Scan-MRI-or-Nuclear-Medicine-250-1.html (excerpt below)
Best for seeing: most body tissues and their architecture, including the heart, abdominal organs, and musculoskeletal system (muscles and tendons).
How it works: Sound waves are transmitted into the patient and reflected back from tissue based on the architecture and acoustic properties of that specific tissue. (Ultrasound is not good for looking at bone or gas-filled lungs, both of which do not allow the transmission of sound waves.)
Sedation necessary? Not usually (which helps keep down cost). Exceptions include anxious or boisterous dogs or those in pain.
Cost: (roughly) $300-$400.
With an ultrasound, unlike an x-ray, you can “discriminate between different things going on in one organ,” Dr. Sutherland-Smith says. “It won’t be just all one shade of gray.” For instance, if you’re looking at the liver and there’s a tumor nodule, the sound waves will reflect that differently, and it will come across as a different color and therefore get picked up.
An ultrasound also looks at the workings of tissue in real time. It’s not just a snapshot of a single moment. For instance, you can see blood flowing through the chambers of the heart. You can see if any of the valves don’t close properly when blood goes through them and thus cause some blood to flow backward instead of forward, like it should.
You can even see differences in fluid types you’re zeroing in on, Dr. Sutherland-Smith says. For instance, if you’re looking at the bladder, abnormal urine (perhaps containing blood or crystals) will be more reflective than normal, and it will come across as a white or gray dot in a sea of black. You could also see “cellular debris if there were an infection in the bladder, like cystitis,” Dr. Sutherland-Smith explains.
Ninety percent of ultrasounds performed on dogs is for imaging of structures in the abdominal cavity or for looking at the heart, Dr. Sutherland-Smith points out. Occasionally, he says, ultrasounds will also be used to look at musculoskeletal issues — tendons and ligaments around the joints — or abnormal structures within the thoracic cavity.
The dog does not usually have to be sedated unless she is particularly excitable or nervous. On the day we visited the ultrasound unit on the radiology floor of Tufts’s Foster Hospital for Small Animals, a dog was lying on her back, gel smeared across her belly, for a look with an ultrasound probe to see if her mast cell cancer had metastasized to any body organs. The dog was as comfortable as could be, with several technicians at her side to help her feel secure.
One difference between abdominal ultrasounds for people and those for dogs is that with dogs, the medical team will generally look at all of the organ systems at one time rather than just in one location. “If the owner is spending a lot of money, we want to make sure he or she is not missing something else that will change the treatment plan,” Dr. Sutherland-Smith says. “By the time we perform an abdominal ultrasound, an older pet can often have more than one disease, and some of the illnesses may not have any outward signs for the owner or veterinarian to notice.”
Note: Sometimes, whether to order an abdominal ultrasound or an x-ray is a judgment call. “If it’s not urgent,” Dr. Sutherland-Smith says, meaning the dog is stable and not in acute pain, “most people will wait to do an ultrasound” as the procedure cannot generally be performed on the spur of the moment. But if the dog is in bad shape, an x-ray might be ordered to see if something has ruptured, torn, or broken, or if there’s a life-threatening blockage in the G.I. tract that needs immediate surgery.