Bilious vomiting, acid reflux/GERD could use help, please

Dog Food Advisor Forums Diet and Health Bilious vomiting, acid reflux/GERD could use help, please

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  • #185909 Report Abuse
    Danielle V
    Participant

    Hi everyone, I could really use some help on next steps for my 3-year-old Westie. She has been diagnosed with bilious vomiting syndrome, and the internal med vet figures she has acid reflux/GERD. She has, for over a year, off and on, vomited bile very late at night or really early morning. Then often, not the next, but the following day, she will not be able to eat breakfast, her tummy will growl horribly for a few of hours, and she is quite nauseous but does not get sick again. Sometime later in the day, she can start eating again.

    This started with just an incident once or twice a month and then went to once a week and then every couple of days to the point that she is npw having some degree of nausea and issues daily. She never throws up food, and almost always, the bile incidents are in the AM – also, she never has diarrhea.

    She has been through many diet changes and has a boarded nutritionist. We are pretty sure that a food change in December made things worse, as she began to burp a lot! The smacking, hard swallowing, a lot of yawning, and occasional odd sound when eating or trying to play started as well. She appears to be nauseous to some extent most of the time now. Also, several weeks ago we tried the probiotic visbiome and that made things much worse! She was so nauseous and could not stop burping! We obviously stopped giving her this.

    On top of this, she has nasty environmental allergies that are horrible in spring and not great in the fall. Also, some food allergies and certainly food sensitivities. Chicken is definitely a no go!

    Yeast, she battles with on her mouth and on her personal area. Sadly the creams and shampoos for this she is so sensitive to that the cure is causing her as much discomfort as the yeast. Has anyone found something that does not cause massive skin irritation?

    We are working on transitioning her over to home-made venison, sweet potato, butternut squash, and plain old pasta diet — she seems to have trouble with digesting grain; even white rice does not go well – worried about heart issues, though without it.
    The nutritionist is going low-fat with this for GERD, but does anyone have thoughts as to if this combo looks good for acidic belly/reflux issues?

    Here is the big question though — she was on Pepcid for 12 days, and it stopped the morning vomiting, and she was able to eat all her meals each day. She was still nauseous off and on, but better than before. Then it stopped working which I read a study saying that by around day 12, the drug lost its potency for dogs, and this sure seemed to be the case her.

    We tried Prilosec, and it made her so sick! The burping kicked back into high gear, the nausea was awful, and she threw up and not just bile. She just does not seem to be able to tolerate this. The vet has recommended Raglan, but it scares me. Have others tried this and did it work, and what were the side effects? Also, it is for short-term use, so I do not understand what to do for the long term. All these drugs you are not supposed to keep them on, so how do you manage this ongoing? Does anyone have recommendations? Is Raglan a good next step, or should we be trying something else less extreme? Are there other options? Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. We are feeding her 4 smaller meals throughout the day, and she has a raised dish. We tried feeding before bed, but that seemed to make it worse. She did have an abdominal ultrasound, and everything looked normal. I know we may need to do more aggressive testing, but we would like to try everything we can before going there – putting her through anesthesia and more stress is not something I take lightly in her current condition. Thank you very much!

    #185968 Report Abuse
    Thehealth R
    Participant

    Thank you for sharing this information with us.

    https://thehealthreviews.org/alpilean-weight-loss-reviews/

    #185985 Report Abuse
    aimee
    Participant

    Hi Danielle,

    I’m so sorry that your dog and you are going through this. It sounds like you have a good team of Dr’s and that your dog is getting appropriate care.

    My dog was on reglan after she developed esophagitis post anesthesia. She had no issues with the drug and her condition resolved after 6 weeks treatment.

    My understanding is that bilious vomiting is related to a motility issue so using reglan makes sense to me. As I understand it the motility issue itself may be secondary to another problem so the homecooked diet trial seems appropriate. Please note that the current DCM issue associated with “grain free” is not due to a lack of grain. Dogs eating grain inclusive diets have also been affected. It seems linked to the use of peas and legumes as the primary carbohydrate sources in the diet.

    You may want to consider discussing with your vets if a trial treatment for Physaloptera, the stomach worm, would be appropriate. My understanding is that this parasite can sometimes only be diagnosed on endoscopy. I say this because I know of a dog that had chronic intermittent vomiting and a single worm was found on scoping. It was removed and the dog had no further problems.

    #186020 Report Abuse
    Danielle V
    Participant

    Thank you, Aimee — all the meds have such worrisome side effects, and she seems to be so sensitive to anything she takes. I am relieved to hear that Raglan went well for yours. I think we are going to have to give it a try — the Pepcid just does not seem to be able to help much. Also, happy to hear that perhaps if we just avoid peas and legumes, a grain-free option may be safe.

    Appreciate your help,
    Danielle

    #186304 Report Abuse
    Sarah G
    Participant

    Hi Danielle, the Pet Health and Nutrition Center has a holistic protocol for bilious vomiting. I’ve used all the products in that protocol for my pup’s tummy issues with success. Their Stomach Soother is nothing short of a miracle – really helps with nausea. I like that their protocols resolve the root causes and they’re mostly organic ingredients. The owners are also kind and responsive to questions.

    For my sensitive dog, I start with a lower dosage and build up gradually.

    Good luck with your little one.

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