Porky Update...

[doxielady5569128]

Porky is doing the same, if not a little worse today.   We had a long night of running outside, cleaning up vomit, and begging him to chew up his medicine.    He is on Endosorb tablets and cannot tolerate the flavor or smell.   He can't hold anything except water and his prescriptions down at this point and I'm hoping the medication starts helping soon.  He was given an anti-nausea shot at the vet yesterday afternoon and it seemed to help him for quite awhile.  Porky seemed to do pretty well until about midnight last night.  He started refusing his food and medication.      Since he is only supposed to eat rice and hamburger the next few days, I don't know how to disguise the tablets so he will take them.   

Any idea how long it should take to see improvement???   I can't get his allergy meds in him either as he is refusing those totally and when he does try they come right up.       Any creative ideas on how to get him to take the Endosorb tablets since he's only allowed rice and hamburger to eat??   He can sniff it out when I mix it in his food and he just nibbles around it.  I don't want to make him more sick by putting it in peanut butter (the usual trick that works), but I also need him to take the medication so he feels better. 

[Spanish Teckels]

We are so sorry to hear poor Porky is struggling still, you must be exhausted too.  Will he take the meds if you roll them in his hamburger meat and hand feed him?  When Red was terribly sick we could get him to take his nasty smelling meds by putting them in a bit of tuna or salmon paté which he virtually inhaled.   Good luck and get better soon, little fellow, we miss your antics.

[DeeanDave]

We're sending rays to Porky.  With all the medications that Earl is having to take, we finally ended up crushing his pills into a powder and mixing it in with the food.  Earl is only able to eat baby food at this point, so I mix the pills in powder form with a dab of baby food and he'll take it that way.  Could Porkky have some baby food, i.e., beef?  All that is in the Stage One baby food by Gerber is beef, water, cornstarch and lemon extraction.  In the turkey or chicken, it is only turkey or chicken and water.  Earl can't eat the beef.....it seems he has developed an allergy to beef so we are sticking to the turkey and chicken.  He eats the beef and up to comes.  He is keeping the chicken and turkey baby food down well.  The consistency is real smooth so the pills go down real well.  I talked to our vet about how to get Earl to take his pills because he was not wanting to take them.....the doc said to crush then and mix them in.  We only feed Stage One baby food as the other levels have onion powder, garlic, etc., and the furkids cannot have those ingredients.  Just read the labels. 

Earl also had the anti-nausea shot which lasts for 24 hours plus he had the pill form to take after the shot wore off.  I'd say try the baby food route.  With Earl, as I said, he developed an allergy towards beef.  I had been feeding him hamburger and rice and he would eat and up it would come and that was with the anti-nausea medication.  He did well with the medication until he ate.

Hope this helps......belly rubs to Porky and lots of rays coming his way. 

[Munchfam]

Oh, poor Porky, I wish the sedation would have worked a little longer for him!  I would think it would take 1-2 full days to see improvement from the Endosorb, but I'm sure the vet's office wouldn't mind if you call to ask. Generally whatever medicine is being taken for "fights back" pretty aggressively in the beginning. It's just so hard to see the little guy suffering. Dee has the best idea with the Stage One baby food, and either Gerber or BeechNut (or both) has an organic line too. Just be sure that there are no instructions with the meds of not crushing them; some shouldn't be. I don't remember what you've said about which meats Porky is allergic to, but could he be allergic to the beef? Beef is much harder to digest, for humans and puppers, and my IBD dog couldn't handle it; the vet was okay with ground-up boiled chicken and later we went to RX duck or venison foods. We were able to use veterinary Recovery food too; it's very soft and high in nutrients but ultra-digestible. You can only get it at a veterinary office though. More rays and prayers on the way!  :pray: 

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Oh no I didn't realize Porky was so sick! Poor little guy he really has had a rough time with those allergies. Dee has a great idea with the baby food I used that a lot with my Great Dane who was sick all the time. He got the chicken for him the vet said the beef was too hard to digest too, but every dog is different. I hope that will be an option for Porky and make at least that a little easier for you. Will be praying for both of you got to get the little guy well again and enjoying summer!

[doxielady5569128]

We got some much needed sleep from 10 until 2 finally!!!   :apls:  Porky is still feeling pretty badly, but the running outside has lessened for now.  He took his Diagel like a champ this morning, despite hating the flavor.   Thanks for the idea about crushing the Endosorb and putting it in Porky's food.  That worked great!!   Porky is only able to eat about a tablespoon of the rice/hamburger mixture every few hours so he's a pretty hungry guy.   

The baby food idea is a great one too. I'll check with our vet on Monday about that.   Porky can't have chicken at all as he is allergic, but the beef kind might work.   Now that I've got him taking his Endosorb, tonight we are adding the anti-nausea medication and his allergy medications.    Hopefully he'll take them without too much of a fight.   They are pretty sure that this is a stress-related episode of gastrointestinits so I'm a little worried about the noise from the fireworks tonight and tomorrow.  Plus we have a NASTY storm rolling in.   I'm going to call the vet and see if I can give Porky some of his calming pills from Petco.   I would hate for him to get any worse!!! 

Our trip to the lake got cancelled today as we didn't want to try and drive 1 hour in this heat with a sick dog.  Plus, since they didn't do a stool sample they can't rule out a bacterial thing going on and we didn't want to share it with Justin's parents lab or their cat.    Well I better get going.   Thanks for the helpful ideas!!!    You guys are the best!!!

[papbouv]

Wonder if Porky is allergic to Turkey they have it in a baby food also Veal you would have to read the label about any other added ingredient like the onion or garlic powder.Thought if you could use those for the pills might be such a small amount of baby food it might not bother him.Rays & Hugs to you both hope Porky gets well soon.

[peterparker]

We had a lot of alllergy issues with our Jack. We finally put him on a vegetarian, gluten free diet and he did very well for many years. Perhaps something to be investigated. Our Vet recommended the diet.
Sure hope Porky is feeling better soon.

[Madderoos Mom]

Rays to Porky.  I don't know much about this but the gluten-free idea sounds worth looking into.  Maddie had a bunch of allergy tests done 2 years ago.  One thing she was really allergic to was brewers yeast....and we found that BY was in EVERYTHING...almost. 

Rays to dear sweet Porky Pie and more rest for you.  The no sleep thing I can relate to.  It's AWFUL.

[doxielady5569128]

Well Porky held down 3 tablespoons of his hamburger/rice combo yesterday.    :apls:  I'm glad, poor little guy was so hungry!!   He also slept from 10 until 3 this morning.    :meme:  So... he is going longer between episodes.  He is still a pretty sick little guy.  I had to beg him to drink some water this morning and he is looking a little dehydrated again.  I'm staying on top of that and waking him up to have him drink something every hour during the day.   He seems to be perking up a little bit and is wagging his tail, begging for food, and not whimpering anymore.    These are all baby steps to getting better, but at least I can see some improvement now.   He still has very watery stools, but the vomitting hasn't been back since yesterday morning.   We started his anti-nasuea meds last night and had to disguise it in his food with his Endosorb.    Now if we can just get his stools to firm up, we'd be doing well. 

I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts out there with my flashlight at 2 or 3 in the morning inspecting the poo.          Porky is able to sleep more now which is exactly what he needs.   I think I'm finally caught up on the lost sleep as well.   I'm hoping we'll see even more improvement throughout the day today and he'll be all better by Tuesday night when we are out of meds.      :xfinger:  If not, we'll have to head back to the vet and do a stool sample, etc on Thursday.    We'll be sure to ask about the gluten free diet. 

Our vet called to check up on Porky last night and told me he was a little concerned that the medicine hadn't caused more improvement yet.    He already made an appointment for us on Thursday just in case we need it.    Please pray we don't!!!  I can't handle another week of Porky being soo sick.   We asked about the baby food and Pedialite.   He liked the Pedialite idea and said that would be fine to try.    The baby food, he asked me to hold off on because he wants to see if Porky's tummy could handle the hamburger/rice yesterday first.    Since Porky held that down and went longer between poo episodes, we are going to keep him on the hamburger/rice combo.   

We're hoping for a quiet neighborhood tonight or a rainy night.  We don't want those fireworks stressing Porky out and making things worse.      If things change, I'll post another update today.  Otherwise, I'm taking advantage of this extra sleep time and will wait until tomorrow.    Thanks for all the rays and prayers!!!!   

[Madderoos Mom]

Loads of rays coming to Porky.  Poor baby.  And poor Mommy!  What us Mommies do at 2 in the morning on poo patrol.  Wishing the best for our sweet little man.

[papbouv]

Might ask the vet about putting Porky on a Vegetarian diet not sure about the gluten stuff though some Vegetarian people also feed their dog a vegetarian diet they say they do well on them??? Since you are going to ask about the Gluten free diet my friend is allergic to foods with Gluten in them.Glad Porky is feeling a little better sure hope it continues more Rays & Hugs can't hurt either.Papbouv.Patches & Buddy

[Roberta]

can he tolerate fish as some steamed fish in place of meat would be OK, our lot have always loved it tinned fresh cooked raw, lying dead on the beach.
Roberta

[Spanish Teckels]

Mine love fish and, as I said before, we managed to get Red to keep his meds down last year by mixing them with salmon paté.  Any kind of fish, even tinned tuna or mackerel is fine, just not in sauces or too oily.
Here´s hoping you all had a better night.

[doxielady5569128]

Porky loves fish. That's why we are going to be switching him to Blue Buffalo's fish and rice formula this week.   Porky is feeling lots better today.  We slept through the night last night and even went from 1 in the afternoon yesterday until 8 this morning without having to run out and poo!!    :apls:   He is taking his medicine on his own now without me having to crush it and put it in his food.  We are slowly starting him back on his regular food and then Thursday will begin mixing it with his new food slowly.   

I didn't check with the vet about those vitamins.  (See the post about recalls from Marcia)  I was so upset when I read that, I just threw them away.    I don't think they were the culprit, otherwise Porky would still be sick.   He never had a fever or anything so we only treated for stress related gastrointestinits.  We didn't want him on antibiotics unless it was absolutely necessary.    So if he had salmonella from the vitamins, I don't think it would resolve this quickly with only diarrhea and anti-nasuea medication.     I could be wrong though.   

I'm just glad Porky is feeling better.   We plan on napping a lot today and making sure that Porky gets lots of extra sleep to keep this nasty stuff from coming back.   We still are only at about 1/4 of the food Porky gets on a normal day and will gradually get it back up to the right amount by the end of the week.   Its important we go slowly so the little guy doesn't get rebound effects from eating too much.    He has lost some weight (not sure how much, but at least a pound!!).  He needed to lose that pound anyway, just not that quickly!! The medicine worked on his dry/itchy skin thing too.     :apls:  He is soft and shiny looking again.   

[Madderoos Mom]

So glad you're feeling bettah Mr. Porky Pie!   

[klsb]

Porky you too!! Man these puppers have poor ouchie tummies!



Feel better soon.