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Carlene

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  • in reply to: Dog gulping and swallowing #88678 Report Abuse
    Carlene
    Member

    No matter what I try, Gotti will not go near anything with ACV mixed in. Oh the challenges…

    in reply to: Dog gulping and swallowing #83116 Report Abuse
    Carlene
    Member

    I apologize for yet another lengthy post but it’s so interesting that many of our stories read the same…

    I’ve been dealing with the gulpy air licks since my pit bull was around 1.5 years old. He is 6.5 now. He will gulp, air lick, hard swallow, stare at me like “help me!”, he grinds his teeth, he will vomit hand size piles of white foamy bile, sometimes dingy yellowish bile, eat grass, eat more grass, throw that up and then being exhausted, he will sleep for hours. If I’m at work while an episode happened, he will resort to carpet, socks, wicker baskets, whatever he could get in his mouth. In the early days, this happened maybe a couple of times every six months but I wasn’t too concerned. I mean we all occasionally get sick, right? But for the first couple of years, I did casually mention it to my vet at bi-annual appts and even joked about renaming him Stan (the South Park character who pukes all the time). Something else maybe worth mentioning is sometimes I would get home from work after being gone for 10 hours or so and he would puke his kibble. It was still in perfect little round pieces, just like it went in, except it’s wet. So ZERO digestion in 10 hours for whatever that’s worth. His episodes began to increase in both frequency and severity about 3 years ago. No rhyme or reason. No patterns. Nothing I have been able to pinpoint. The episodes are almost a daily occurrence now. I mention to friends “he had a good day today” instead of a bad day because they are so frequent. You can see it in his eyes, his head is down, he’s tired, his eyes are red, he’s drooly, he stretches his neck, and he’s very, very clingy. I honestly don’t even remember what the first treatment protocols were or what order we went in. But here are some of the things we’ve tried:

    -Rubbing Trachea/Throat, Singing a song, Going for a walk. Basically distractions – works sometimes.
    -Canned organic pumpkin or Plain Greek Yogurt to settle the tummy during an episode – would work sometimes
    -Pepcid for acid reflux – seemed to work for a while
    -Probiotics
    -Elevated Food Bowl
    -Pepcid with Carafate Slurries each morning and evening to coat the tummy before meals – maybe worked?
    -Metronidazole/Amoxicillin combo for suspected Helicobacter Pylori – tested negative
    -Complete Blood Panel
    -Barium swallow with Xrays to examine the esophagus and rule out Megaesophagus – all clear
    -Daily Prilosec OTC 20mg – works sometimes.
    -Dry Kibble Changes – all over the map but all No Corn, Soy or Wheat – settled on Nutrisource Chicken for approx. 2 years –
    -Canned food – makes it worse-
    -No dry kibble for 6 months – I cooked for him. Chicken, Veggies, Rice. Worked well at first, and got worse toward the end of the 6 month period.
    -Animal Communicator – don’t laugh. I was very skeptical too. But this lady I do not know told me that his tummy had been sick for a really long time and that he was tired. She also told me that his body required a warm protein rather than a cool protein. I switched him from Nutrisource Chicken (cold) to Nutrisource Lamb (warm). She also told me to try essential oils. She didn’t say what kind, she said to let him smell the unopened containers and he would be interested in the one his body needed, if he needed one at all. I met with an essential oils expert, did just what she said and let him do the picking. We went vial after vial while he would sniff and turn his head over & over again. Until he sniffed…and he didn’t turn away. He sniffed again. He sniffed all around that vial like I was holding a piece of meat. He nudged my hand. More like a shove than a nudge really. I turned the vial around to see what it was expecting something food related but it wasn’t, it was something called Digize. Digize is:“a dietary supplement that provides valuable aid for digestive concerns and helps support a healthy digestive system. Benefits and Uses: eases heartburn, calms upset stomach, alleviates diarrhea, minimizes bloating, comforts sickness associated with pregnancy, reduces discomfort while travelling, overcomes constipation, improves digestive function, eases acidity in body, and rids body of parasites.” Well I’ll be darned.
    -Daily Prilosec/Carafate/Reglan regimen
    -And Cerenia. This stuff works beautifully and at $15 per dose, is more expensive than pure gold.

    I know I’ve forgotten a few things we tried, but we have tried a lot. In December 2015 he had had several pretty rough days in a row. I’d gotten home from work one eve and knew he wasn’t feeling well. I heard something weird, looked down at him standing in the kitchen and I see his teeth chattering, his body is stiff as a board, and he has this hard stare, like no one is in there. It was the weirdest thing that only lasted maybe 30 seconds, but it definitely happened. After it was over, it took him a good while to get his bearings back. He was so wobbly and confused. I texted my vet and she replied with “He’s just had a Focal Seizure.” I wonder if that’s somehow related to his gulpy air lick? Anyhow, because December was so bad for him I finally bit the money bullet and scheduled his Endoscopy, Biopsies, and Exploratory GI Surgery January 11th 2016. First off I want to say that I’ve done a TON of research too. I was convinced he had esophageal erosion, burns from the severe acid reflux, or big angry ulcers all over the lining of his stomach. Or stomach cancer. Yeah, that. So the results of the Endoscopy? The doc gives me a rundown. The esophagus looks perfect. The stomach looks perfect. Nothing in there at all (I did kind of expect a toy or something). The pyloris spincter looks good. The duodenum looks good, and the very beginning of the small intestine looks good. He said there doesn’t seem to be bile backing up into the stomach at all. So. Inconclusive. I couldn’t decide if that was good or bad news. I do know that I REALLY need an answer though.

    Since the surgery, I’ve had him on a regimen of Prilosec/Carafate/Reglan but it seems like he was sicker after the surgery than before. Like the scope irritated something, I don’t know. Results of the biopsies came back and they confirmed IBD, which we already knew. Doc says more testing is needed with the next being for something called Myasthenia Gravis, a nerve/muscle disorder. We haven’t done this test yet, but it is our next medical step. Anyway, after doing a bunch more research and with Doc’s blessing of course, last Wednesday February 10th I changed his food again to a limited ingredient novel protein, Zignature Kangaroo. I took away ALL the treats too. Treats are now Kangaroo kibble. I also went to feeding him 3 small meals a day on as consistent of a schedule as I can. If his tummy is empty, he gets gulpy licky. If his tummy is too full, he pukes. So day 1 on the Kangaroo, Wednesday, was a good day. Thursday was a good day. Friday was a good day. Saturday I discontinued the Carafate and Reglan but continuing the Prilosec. So far the good days have continued. Today is day 8 of “a good day”. I hope this lasts and I want to be positive, but I know the odds are not in our favor. Just one more theory, one more trial, grasping at more straws. I’ll definitey be looking more into the magnesium deficiency and Bilious Vomiting Syndrome that were mentioned earlier in the thread. At some point we have got to figure this out. Seems like none of us are giving up so I’d say we have a pretty good chance.

    *One word of warning about the Kangaroo. It stinks. It makes his breath stink, his poops are dense and alfalfa’ish smelling, and it digests quicker than other kibbles. And did I mention it stinks? Wish us luck and thank you for all your comments, for reading, and caring…

    • This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Carlene.
    • This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Carlene.
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