Dog Off Food/Vomiting

[Gertie]

I am looking after my boyfriend's Chesapeake while he's away for work. He's out in NC fighting fires and has only been able to touch base a couple of times due to a lack of cell service so I need to make a command decision here and am pulling my hair out. His dog (female, 2 yo) went off feed last night. Shortly after she refused her dinner she vomited up a lot of liquid and, what appeared to me, to be some bits of pinecone, grass and possibly some mushrooms. She threw up a couple more times last night (mostly water) and did not eat food when offered again. I let her out this morning and she had a very liquid bowl movement. She's very lethargic but otherwise seems comfortable and has a normal temperature. I called his vet and the soonest they could get her in is tomorrow morning. I am wondering if I should take her into emergency vet (knowing the bill will be significantly higher). Any thoughts? Thanks folks!

[Sharon]

If it was somebody else's dog , I'd go to emerg.
If it was my dog, I'd wait for the regular vet appt you've made.

edited for some unbelievably pathetic grammar

[Soignie]

Get the dog to the Vet, better to be safe than sorry.

[DonF]

If it was my dog it would go to the vet. Some things just aren't worth waiting to see what happen's. And I'm slow to go to the vet. Anytime you feel a need to ask anyone else's opinion, go to the vet. That is of course unless you ask Holly! She's in Nebraska!

[SwitchGrassWPG]

Take to the vet if you made the appt. An irritated GI tract can lead to some nasty problems for the dog and unpleasant for you. Best to get it taken care of before it gets too bad.

[Gertie]

Thanks for the responses folks. She's alright. They did some blood work, a fecal exam, and an x-ray (to test for a blockage). All good. Likely she ate a couple pine cones and some grass and it upset her stomach. She's a sweet girl and I feel much better knowing she's ok. Of course after I took her to the vet I took her out for a walk and then she ate her dinner when we got home like nothing had happened :roll: Mushrooms are bad news though. Some of them can cause death pretty quickly so I'm grateful that it was just some aggressive roughage. Thanks again as always for the advice. Cheers!

[SCT]

It scares me terribly when one of my dogs go off their food, it is so rare. They all are ravenous eaters so you know it's serious if they go off. Glad to hear she's okay. Scary deal.

[ezzy333]

I always wait a couple of days to get very concerned about digestive problems and have been lucky that I have never had problem that turned into more than an upset stomach.

[Moonshine Ike]

I always wait a couple of days to get very concerned about digestive problems and have been lucky that I have never had problem that turned into more than an upset stomach.

Too many Dudes and Dudettes will rush their pooch to the nearest Vet at any sign of sickness. No matter how slight the problem is.

Dogs are resilient. I've had over 60 in my life and very few ever needed to be taken to a Vet for an "emergency"

There are some here on these forums that think only a Vet should worm, trim nails, groom, etc a dog. Don't clean a very slight wound with Peroxide, take dog after hours to the vet and spend $400 so they can do it

[DonF]

I think that a dog owner really can tell when a dog needs to go to the vet. Generally when I take a dog to the vet, it is serious. But if your unsure, go to the vet. Better safe than sorry! Info off a web site is a hard thing to buy. Problem being it seem's a lot of different people have an opinion, right or wrong. The only opinion that matter's when the problem might be serious is a vet's. Most people mean well but most people aren't vet's.

[ezzy333]

I think that a dog owner really can tell when a dog needs to go to the vet. Generally when I take a dog to the vet, it is serious. But if your unsure, go to the vet. Better safe than sorry! Info off a web site is a hard thing to buy. Problem being it seem's a lot of different people have an opinion, right or wrong. The only opinion that matter's when the problem might be serious is a vet's. Most people mean well but most people aren't vet's.

Amen

[randomnut]

I'm new to having dogs, so I'm kinda like I was with my kids. If they act odd, I get worried. I don't need more stress in life, so for my own piece of mind, they usually go to the vet.

Yes, it has cost me hundreds of dollars, but if I can't afford to care for them, I can't afford to have them.

None of the times I HAD to take them was anything wrong, though.

[cjhills]

I always wait a couple of days to get very concerned about digestive problems and have been lucky that I have never had problem that turned into more than an upset stomach.

The problem with waiting a couple of days is that if the dog has a stomach outlet blockage it will be dead in one day...........Cj

[DougB]

I always wait a couple of days to get very concerned about digestive problems and have been lucky that I have never had problem that turned into more than an upset stomach.

Too many Dudes and Dudettes will rush their pooch to the nearest Vet at any sign of sickness. No matter how slight the problem is.

Dogs are resilient. I've had over 60 in my life and very few ever needed to be taken to a Vet for an "emergency"

There are some here on these forums that think only a Vet should worm, trim nails, groom, etc a dog. Don't clean a very slight wound with Peroxide, take dog after hours to the vet and spend $400 so they can do it

Works good, until the dog eats something that kills them. Mushrooms were mentioned above, and yes, they can and will kill over time. A vet visit can keep the dog alive. If you know what the problem is, fine. If you don't, you can kill a good dog. The problem is knowing when it is an emergency.

[greg jacobs]

Too many Dudes and Dudettes will rush their pooch to the nearest Vet at any sign of sickness. No matter how slight the problem is.

Dogs are resilient. I've had over 60 in my life and very few ever needed to be taken to a Vet for an "emergency"

There are some here on these forums that think only a Vet should worm, trim nails, groom, etc a dog. Don't clean a very slight wound with Peroxide, take dog after hours to the vet and spend $400 so they can do it

You have one pointer now
but you have had over 60?

[ghideon]

Really active dogs going off food is always scary.

At about 4.5months old mine went off, vomited a lot, ate a ton of grass and vomited that too, repeatedly. Wouldn't take treats, water or regular food.

Started in the morning, and took him to the emergency vet later that night when he did not improve.

Ended up being a blockage, but luckily they didn't need to operate (a pup here in the neighborhood did need surgery). Xrays indicated his bowels were slowly moving.

Got him back from the vet the next morning and he was improved (they walked him and he pointed a bird). Later that day at home he had a bowel movement.

It had two squeakers in it.