Vomit

Last week I received an early morning distress call from Pippa’s owner. Pippa had vomited four times during the night and had not slept at all - even keeping the family up in the process. The last bout of vomiting had also contained some blood. Vomiting is a very common symptom in dogs and may have many different causes. 

Pippa is a five-year-old female Pekingese, and very much a family dog that has hardly ever suffered from ailments, so everyone at home was alarmed and distressed to witness such violent vomiting.
The Pekingese is a small, long-haired, flat-faced dog and a very popular breed in Malta. This dog is an ancient Chinese toy breed, also known as the Lion Dog due to its resemblance to the lion statues found at the entrance of many Chinese imperial buildings. I have always found the Pekingese to be among the most docile of the smaller breeds, and Pippa was no exception – a really sweet-natured dog.

Vomiting is a very common symptom in dogs and may have many different causes. The fact is that dogs vomit very easily when compared to, say, cats, horses or humans. This is possibly due to their ancestral ‘pack’ origins and instinctive competition to eat – a sort of philosophy of ‘eat now, think later’. So vomiting in dogs should be considered as a form of defence of the stomach against anything that it considers undesirable.

The rule of thumb on a normal healthy dog is that any vomiting which is less frequent than once a week could be ignored. Any vomiting that occurs more frequently than that should tell you that something is not quite right with your dog.  In addition, when a dog vomits, even on an empty stomach, precious nutrients are being lost together with liquids and electrolytes, and a relatively healthy dog can quickly deteriorate. Pippa had, in fact, vomited four times in one night, so her owners had good reason to be worried.

In cases of repeated vomiting, first of all it is important to make sure that there is no general illness which may be causing this. In particular, the most important of these are possible kidney and/or liver conditions. Irritations of the stomach lining due to dogs’ instinctive propensity to ‘eat now, think later’ is a common problem. So dogs are capable of eating anything and everything they might regard as food – including bones.

Dogs also occasionally ingest foreign bodies, such as pieces of toys or small stones. While stones can be very easy to diagnose because they are very visible on X-ray, other foreign objects can be difficult – as in the case of peach stones, which are hardly visible on X-ray owing to their organic woody composition.

If objects such as peach stones are ingested and are small enough to travel down the intestine, this results in intermittent bouts of vomiting, which is generally beneficial for the dog, but terrible for rapid diagnosis.

Perhaps the one that tops my list with regard to difficult diagnoses was an internal hernia which was only resolved during exploratory surgery when we found that the dog’s intestines had become entangled through a tear in an adjacent intestine.

A simple symptom such as vomiting could have a straightforward cause, but it could also have a complicated source. In such cases, if unresolved, it very often becomes a race against time to save the dog.

There are a number of other conditions which could cause repeated vomiting. Megaesophagus is a congenital defect where the pipe taking food down from the mouth to the stomach is wider than it should be. This means that the food ingested by the dog never makes it to the stomach and in most cases is regurgitated soon after being swallowed. There are also a number of abdominal tumours that can cause vomiting and an ultrasound examination will reveal such tumours.

Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that you should always be vigilant about items that your dog could possibly ingest – be it edible or not. Apart from upholding good feeding principles, you should also avoid allowing small-sized toys, particularly if you know your dog has a habit of carrying things in its mouth.

What is important if and when vomiting does occur, is to gather and observe as much information as possible for your vet, who will ask you for all related information: how many times? How long has it been going on? What came up? Was it related to drinking or eating or both? How soon after ingesting does it happen? Are stools being passed in the meantime? What are they like and when was the last incident?

All this information will help your vet assess how serious the condition may be and will avoid losing valuable time if a serious situation does exist. Pippa’s blood tests turned out just fine. She had been given a doggy treat she enjoyed tremendously just a couple of days before, so diagnosis was quite straightforward. Pippa’s owner called the next day to let me know that all vomiting had stopped and that Pippa was getting back to normal and showing the first signs of a return to interest in food.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Grass seeds

Grass seeds

This week Hank came back to the clinic for a follow-up.  I had seen Hank four days previously with a very inflamed red eye which was causing him no small discomfort.

Hank is a two-year old neutered red and white male Brittany Spaniel with a typical medium-length coat.  The Brittany has been bred as a gun dog, primarily to hunt birds, but has also become popular in the last couple of years as a family pet.

I had only managed to examine the eye after having sedated Hank due to all the pain and discomfort.  Only after having cleaned the eye could I see the tail end of a grass seed which had perforated the inner mucosa of the lower eyelid which was gently removed.

I was glad that I decided to sedate Hank to get a closer look. Hank’s owner glad that he decided to finally visit the vet after a whole two days of Hank not getting better, and most of all Hank was allot happier when he woke up.

Walking out in the Maltese countryside in spring and summer when the grass has already dried out can give dogs plenty of enjoyment, but it can also cause problems that you should be aware of.  At this time of year, grasses and weeds are dropping their seeds and the most problematic of these seeds are the spike-like arrows and round burrs.  These seeds have been designed to attach themselves to passing traffic in an attempt to disperse and reseed.

The spiky arrows have fibers that resemble Velco and cling to clothes and dog coats.  They tenaciously migrate in only one direction and will therefore even burrow into skin.  The outcome can be nasty and sometimes difficult to treat.  The round burrs are huge problem for owners of dogs with long floppy ears and spaniels top the list in this respect.  Apart from matting fur, these burrs can get lodged in the ears and cause severe swelling and pain.  So, at this time of year, you need to keep an eye out for changes in canine behaviour relating to the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, and paws. 

If your dog is:

·       shaking it head, favoring one side of its head, or scratching its ear, it is possible that a grass seed has become lodged in the ear canal.  The ear is a very delicate instrument and your dog will suffer if it not treated quickly.

·       sneezing violently, possibly with blood, or pawing at its nose, then a grass seed could have got caught up in the nasal canal. 

·       exhibiting signs of weeping or discharge from the eye and the eye is red and inflamed.  A grass seed could be embedded in the soft tissue beneath the upper or lower eyelid.  If not attended to, your dog could go blind.

·        limping, then the first thing to check for is a grass seed.  Seeds that get caught in between dogs’ toes can penetrate the skin .

·       showing a skin swelling in any part of the body could also be caused by penetrating grass seeds. These need to be treated accordingly depending on  location and duration

 

You should make every effort to check your dog at this time of year, but you should attempt to gently remove grass seeds only if you can still see it protruding from its entry point – you might still need to see your Vet to make sure that the full seed has been extracted.   Additional preventive measures that you can take after walking your dog include brushing and combing your dog’s coat after every walk, avoiding areas with long drying grass, and keeping your dog’s coat trimmed if they are medium to long-haired.

Hank’s problem was identified and treated.  His owners tell me that he still enjoys running through the grass, but this time they are careful to check him over after each walk.

Dr Martin Debattista

Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com