Well…I have been at the same thing as Molzy for the past almost 2 yrs…
I have a jack russell beagle mix. He is 5.5 yrs old. He was over weight , not anymore considering the circumstances….He went from 17 lbs when we got him to 27.5 lbs at highest and last yr this time was at 17, today he is at 21. Gulping has been going on so long I can’t remember when it started. He has had blood tests, xrays, barium xray, several meds for worming, He had an upper endoscopy…all leads us to nothing. So he was put on prilosec last Spetember (’13) and metoclopromide 3 xs a day. Ok…so he was being examined for all of these…worms, mega esophagus, pyloric stenosis, reverse sneezing, bloat, acid reflux, collapsed trachea…post nasal drip, and all the stuff everyone else has said here…He has none of that. He used to eat kibble, Canadae. Our other dogs eat that. We switched everyone last spring, summer to Taste of the Wild. Mind you all along I am continuing treating for all the other ailments…so his kibble would get crushed by me and wetted into a paste and a kong goes in his bowl to slow him down. He was on Purina EN for some time and that was when he lost weight. I made rice and fish and carrots and sweet potatoes and rice and veggies and dog food from our local butcher shop that is all hormone antibiotic free…then since he was doing so good we eased into taste of the wild…well that gets expensive with 4 dogs and feeding everyone seperate isn’t an option. So we went back to Canadae maybe a month or two ago…we are on our 3rd bag of it I think…And January 8th and January 10th my husband and I got NO sleep what so ever. Last night he gulped and filled with gas so bad I thought I was going to have to rush him to the pet er…No, he threw up, just like he did on the 8th right around 5 am. Last night it was barf at 4 then back to bed to sleep and he was all gurgly and snoring and I just wanted 1 hour of sleep…I moved him. Shouldn’t have done that, it sparked another episode. This is all so in such a small nutshell what I am writing, but today I took him to another local regualr vet office for just a 3rd pair of eyes to see what she thought. She thinks it’s digestive, perhaps a food allergy, something similar to celiac…Told me whe would show my video to the other vets in the practice and get back to me. Suggested I take him to Cornell, the Veterinary School. He could see more specialists there than at the local office with 1 specialist since she felt what was wrong with my dog is so rare. Rare until you research it and find all these people having the same problem…WHY is it only at night? He has little spats in the day sometimes but most of the action is at night. Why do none of have any REAL answers? What is in the kibble that we feed our dogs? I did some research a while back and I could go find the link and post them if you are interested but you have probably already seen them, about kibble and how people had this issue during the major dogfood recalls….a few years back…That spawned a TON of gulping and posts everywhere. I do not think this is partial seizures…The more i read and the more I talk to vets, I think it’s the food. I cannot feed him a raw diet, I can feed him partially cooked and plain food like I have in the past, I think the limited ingredient food is good for a short time. In the mean time I am going to have to come up with a fund raising campaign to take him to Cornell, because I have spent over $2000 as of the end of 2013 on this issue. I LOVE him dearly but I cannot spend anymore or charge anymore. I am getting nowhere, and I am so tired, literally. I don’t know what else to do…He is getting a new probiotic tonight and for food we are doing quinoa and salmon for a while. He will get NO chicken for a long time. Back to the butcher shop food after the salmon. So…I also got him some tramidole so he can sleep tonight and so can we…I will hang around here, it seems like a good place to bump ideas off of each other…I am interested in hearing more about the chinese medicine and will go back and read that posting more in depth tonight. It’s good to know we are not alone I guess. I am wondering is anyone has had ultrasounds or had their dog eat under fluoroscopy…those were suggested to me today along with a nutritionist and all these are available at the Vet College, for more than I can pay I am sure…lol
Looking forward to staying in touch!
PS my dog’s name is Doug…(love that boy)
