Preventing hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in dogs

May 9, 2010 12:49 PM

How can I prevent my dog from getting hemorrhagic gastroenteritis again?

Twice now in ten weeks, my poor dog has had diarrhea that progressed to bloody vomiting, and ended in $1,000 worth of vet bills. She's in the hospital right now. This time when her stomach started acting up, I took her off food and then gradually started her on a bland diet, but she still ended up with bloody vomit. She's been cheerful and energetic the whole time. There weren't any big changes in her life when all this started, and she's an indoor dog except when I take her out on a leash, so she hasn't been eating anything weird from the great outdoors.

I'm worried this is going to keep happening -- there's only so many times I can afford it, and once I'm working again it's going to be hard to deal with the medication schedule (last time she had one medication every six hours, one every four hours, etc.) if it happens. I really need to figure out what's going on here and get this fixed -- I love the silly little dog! (Obligatory photos: 1, 2)

Has anyone had this problem with their dog and managed to get it resolved?

posted by Blue Jello Elf to pets & animals (4 answers total)

My 9 year old schnoodle, Chloe, has had HGE twice and pancreatitis 3 or 4 times. She has been doing really well for the last 3 years on Royal Canin Low Fat Digestive (wet & dry) and absolutely NO people food. The only "treat" that she gets is 1 and 1/2 Happy Hips chicken with glucosamine and Vitamin E; they are very low fat and have no fillers. Sometimes I give her some extra of her kibble in her moleculeball which she has to roll around to have the kibble fall out. Her diet is really limited, but she doesn't seem to mind at all. I love it because she seems very happy and healthy.
posted by sushrob at 1:04 PM on May 9, 2010

What exactly is she is eating? Kibble? What brand? People food? What kind of food?
posted by The ____ of Justice at 11:21 PM on May 9, 2010

She eats Science Diet lamb kibble. I haven't ever given her any people food because I didn't want her to learn to beg. The only other thing she eats is dehydrated chicken dog treats, and those are pretty infrequent -- only when she's going through her tricks or learning a new one. She's always had a sensitive stomach, so I haven't been too adventurous with her food.

I have an appointment tomorrow with her regular vet (had to go to emergency over the weekend) to talk about putting her on some kind of prescription diet. She's a little tired from her hospital stay, but she's back home and seems happier.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 9:37 PM on May 10, 2010

I'm glad she feels better. Hope your vet visit was productive!

I have heard Science Diet gives problems to quite a few dogs. Possibly your dog included?

This thread seems to have lots of recommendations for alternative types of food and kibble.
posted by The ____ of Justice at 3:41 PM on May 12, 2010