Upset Stomach in a Dog: Loulou’s Vomiting

Do you know the potential causes behind your dog’s vomiting?

Vomiting can be a sign of many diseases and problems. The cause can originate within the GI tract or might not be directly linked to the digestive tract at all. Your dog might throw up after a dietary indiscretion or due to a serious disease such as kidney failure, liver failure, and more.

Further information: Why Is My Dog Vomiting? Potential Causes

Regardless of the cause, severe vomiting is an emergency and could result in a life-threatening situation.

Further information: Severe Vomiting in Dogs: What Happens in a Dog’s Body with Severe Vomiting?

Upset Stomach in a Dog: Lulu's Vomiting

Loulou’s story

Loulou is a 10-year-old Shih Tzu living happily with two housemates and their mom. If you have a dog, you know that dogs throw up at the drop of a hat, and often, once they purge what upset the system, they are fine.

When Loulou threw up one Saturday, her mom figured Loulou got into something that didn’t agree with her. Dogs experiment with eating things all the time and sometimes the stomach rejects it.

Her mom put Loulou on a 24-hour fast to help the system to settle. After the fast, she offered Loulou a bland meal of boiled chicken and rice. That often does the trick.

Loulou keeps vomiting

This time, Loulou’s stomach didn’t settle, and she kept vomiting. She was also lethargic, quiet, and not interested in food. She wouldn’t even drink.

As Loulou didn’t get better by Monday, it landed her in the veterinary clinic.

At the veterinarian

Because Loulou didn’t respond to the initial measures, it helped rule out a simple digestive upset. It was time to dig deeper.

Her veterinarian drew blood for testing. The results revealed that Loulou was dehydrated, but, more importantly, her liver values were way above normal. It was clear that Loulou’s liver was hurting.

However, it is one thing to determine that something hurt the liver and another to figure out what. The list of potential culprits includes infections, poison, auto-immune disease, and even cancer. The liver can recover if you can determine and address the cause.

Treating Loulou’s liver

Loulou’s mom had two options to pick from. Loulou could get an ultrasound and even a biopsy of her liver, or they could start supportive treatment and see how things go. If the measures don’t improve the situation, Loulou could always get further tests. A therapeutic trial is sometimes a sound first step.

The veterinarian kept Loulou in the hospital and treated her with IV fluids, antibiotics, and a special diet. The treatment was helping. Within a short time, Loulou regained interest and food and looked brighter and happier. Her vomiting stopped.

Because of Loulou’s quick response, it was reasonable to assume her liver was inflamed from a bacterial infection, quite common in older dogs.

Summary

A week later, Loulou’s veterinarian rechecked her blood, and the liver values were dropping back to normal levels. Loulou had to remain on her medications for a month by which time her levels stabilized.

Loulou’s story, however, illustrate how important it is to see a veterinarian with an ill dog that keeps vomiting.

Source story:
Loulou, the 10-year-old Shih Tzu Had an Upset Stomach

Related articles:
My Dog’s Vomiting: Why Is My Dog Throwing up?

Further reading:
Vomiting in Dogs

Categories: Conditions • Dog health advocacy • Liver disease • Real-life Stories • Symptoms • Vomiting

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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