The vet thinks that he may have had a small stroke or spinal stroke. Due to his liver disease, I really didn't want him to be anesthetized for an MRI or CT scan. Senji doesn't seem to be in any pain at this time. He's able to jump up on the sofa and is eating and drinking pretty well now. He seems to walk at a bit of a diagonal sometimes and loses his balance a little when he lifts his leg. Otherwise, he seems to be able to run and climb around the neighborhood hills fairly well. In July, we think he may have gotten shocked when he chewed through an electrical cord. We think he may have had a small stroke from that too. He started to get spooked from shadows after that happened. Senji is going to be 16 at the end of this month. 5 years ago, he was diagnosed with severe liver disease. The vet didn't think he'd live more than a year. Here he isā¦4 years past his expiration date! He's had a good life. He eats good, mostly organic food, drinks filtered water, and gets lots of walks every day. As long as he's not in any pain or losing bladder and bowel function, I'm fine with the way he is. The vet just recommends palliative care at this point.
Ate garbage, threw up, now won't eat food
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Mine have always been the same, they live to snuffle on anything and will sneak it down so I watch them like a hawk.
One reason to be especially careful is because kids throw sugar free gum on the floor and a small amount can kill a dog.
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Get to a vet ASAP. Years ago my previous pup got into trash and threw up over a day and a half until a clear cheese slice wrapper came up. It was blocking his stomach entrance to intestines. Little wrappers and bathroom trash stuff is dangerous. See if vet can induce vomiting and or X-ray to see. Good luck!
Best,
Adina
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Yeah, there isn't much I can do living in an urban environment - there will be the odd food wrapper or napkin everywhere. The vet appointment is tomorrow, and he's resting comfortably right now after having had boiled chicken (phew). But I kid you not -- on the walk beforehand, everything went well for ~45 minutes, and then he gobbled up something "furry" (like a cat's full tail? 2 blocks later, there's a missing poster for a cat not seen in a long while - this was no piece of rodent, I can assure you). Anyways, I can't believe my bad luck - and his mischievousness - but I'm definitely opting for an xray tomorrow....
I'm grateful for the comments, and I'll keep you all posted!
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As an anecdote To my last post my pup kept pooping normally Too but The vomiting happening repeatedly w attempted feeding until the cheese slice wrapper came up. Keep hydrating until you can get to a vet tonight.
Best
Adina -
Definitely needed to take him to the vet. You worry about string and so forth getting wrapped in the intestines and creating blockages. It's not a "wait and see" situation.
Hard to control a small dog with its nose to the ground constantly looking to explore. You might try treats to get him looking at you rather than the ground. No doubt won't be an instant or a 100% cure but it should help.
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Good luck at the Vet. Let us know what happened.
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Always good to work on commands like: "drop", "leave it", or simply "uh-uh" to teach your dog they can't have everything they come across. And work on your walking skills... basically what I mean is that you are walking your dog, tune into their behavior so you can anticipate cues that would indicate they may be tracking something they would think was tasty. If you must take your phone with you on the dog walk, keep it in your pocket and use it only in an emergency.
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The mistake I see many dog walkers make is to let the dog sniff around indiscriminately while talking to someone else or otherwise not paying attention to what their dog may be ingesting. The other mistake is using a harness for walking, since you have no control over the dog's head and can't move quickly to stop scavenging. Flex leads are also an issue. The dog is too far away to keep tabs on what it may be eating!
I hope your trip to the vet sorts things out.
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In any case, when a dog ceases eating it could be either a blockage OR just that there is something going on in the tum which means nothing tastes nice. Does his breath smell bad ? If so, his food probably tastes bad too !
Vet is your first and immediate port of call. This goes for all dogs who decline food for no apparent reason.
It does no harm to starve a dog for 36 - 48 hours and then to resume feeding several small meals of boiled rice with a little boiled fish or chicken, or a coddled egg. Use the water the fish or chicken was boiled in to moisten the rice.
Gradually reintroduce normal diet bit by bit, a little less rice and a little more of the normal - each meal, until your dog is back to his/her old self.
After a period of fasting, it is always wise to restart the engine with bland rice and chicken, just to give the tum a chance to recover completely. Don't just go straight back to usual food routine -
Natural yoghurt helps replace the flor in the stomach after a session or a series of vomitting episodes.
But in this case - VET first !
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UPDATE
He woke up today completely frisky and happy to eat his kibble. Went to the vet, and they said all blood/electrolyte samples were normal and that his intestines felt fine. We are going to take a wait-and-see approach for now, and he'll be given some gastrointestinal friendly food over the weekend. The theory is that he was likely dealing with a virus/flu-like bug for 4-5 days. I'm tired from all the drama, but extremely grateful for everyone's help and suggestions -- I'm a very vigilant dog-walker, and yet I'm always surprised at how quickly he can snap something up whilst on a 6-ft leash!Again, I'm extremely, extremely grateful for the suggestions and comments!! I'm sending out all the most positive vibes I can to you & your dogs, and I'll post a few pics of my Grady in the photo section so you can see what an iron-stomached crazy boy looks like
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@nothernbarker
So happy to hear that Grady has recovered and doing well. Just last week I had to wrestle a piece of fried chicken from my almost ā15 year old girlā that she found and tried to ingest while out on our walk. I literally had to pry it out of her mouth - they are fast and they are SNEAKY! It must have been nerve wracking for you - glad to hear your Basenji is doing well now.
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My guy got into corn cobs from our dinner one time and managed to ingest quite a bit. I used hydrogen peroxide and he wasn't quite as happy with the cobs coming up as he had been when it was going down, but at least I didn't have to worry about a blockage!
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@kembe said in Ate garbage, threw up, now won't eat food:
they are fast and they are SNEAKY!
Got that right! Doodle has reached the point that when I bend over to get it out of her mouth, she swallows it. Little demon dog - I love her sooooo much!
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Fast and Sneaky great names for a pair
ļø Happy to read that all is well.
