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Tummy troubles? Please help

KimNIndy

Well-known member
Hi everyone! i have a three concerns about indy and his sensitive tummy and i'd really appreciate any advice you all have! easiest first:

1---indy's tummy has been making VERY loud growling sounds lately. the first time i noticed this it was actually upset, but it's been happening a lot, mainly when he is resting. has anyone else noticed this? i can actually hear it if he is in the same room.

2----along the same lines. indy is 6.5 kilos and our vet is happy with his weight and size. this tummy growling thing has got me wondering if we aren't feeding him enough as he also has quite a love affair with food. how much are you feeding your cavs? he's a year old.

3----okay, this is the weird one.

indy has a sensitive tummy and unfortunately also has a love of eating 'found food.' we live in dublin city centre and for those of you who know it, probably also know how dirty it is. we are doing our best to keep an eye on him but i am constantly pulling chewing gum, bits of sandwich, and chicken wing bones (people are just filthy) out of his mouth. he's had a few recent episodes of tummy upsets including diarreah (sp?) and frothy clear vomiting because of it. twice during these episodes, indy has woken during the night yelping. he'll be sleeping at the foot of the bed, wake with a start and loud yelp or two, run to me, and start to retch. this really frightened me but he's always been fine after fasting and i assumed that it was tummy cramps causing the yelping.

this always occurs at night and i comfort him and keep an eye on him. the next morning there is no sign of trouble.

last week, indy woke me several times during the night doing the same thing---waking with a start, standing up and yelping once or twice in pain, and settling back down. this time there was no accompanying vomiting or diarreah. i was terrified (he always does this when his daddy is working and mommy freaks out!). the next morning he was happily jumping about the place with no sign of trouble. i took him to the vet and they gave him a good check and found nothing. i was relieved that they couldn't find signs of anything wrong, but a bit worried nonetheless.

when he yelps, he doesn't scratch or claw at any part of his body or indicate where the pain is coming from, he just sort of runs like he's running from something hurting him. it lasts a second or two and then he presses up against me and lies back down.

has anyone gone through anything like this before? should i be satisfied that everything is ok and that he was probably just having some little tummy cramps??? no bloodwork was done.

thanks for all your help and for putting up with this very long post!

k
 
Gosh, I agree, that has to be very scary for you, and for Indy too! Last summer Bentley had a very sudden, but thankfully very brief, intestinal upset. I was in the livingroom with him, and all of a sudden he yelped, and kind of hunched his back end, as if it hurt back there....and if I remember correctly he had a bit of loose stools, and his tummy/intestines were gurgly-sounding and very noisy. I freaked-out and called my vet, who told me to keep an eye on Bentley, and if I wanted to bring him in I could do that too. I opted to watch him, and he had one more episode, altho it wasn't as bad. And he hasn't had any more since then thank God. But, I guess if it were me and it was still happening, I would ask the vet if x-rays might be helpful. Also, I switched to a different dog food too, I'm not sure if this helped or not (I switched later on after that episode Bentley had), but he had been having some loose stools on the food he had been eating, so I switched and his stools are a lot better, so maybe the food I had him on at that time was the culprit.

My dogs are kind of finnicky eaters, and don't really eat a lot, but I'd guess that maybe Bentley, my Cavalier, eats about one-and-a-half to two cups of his dry food a day (I feed Eagle Pack Holistic Select, chicken meal and rice formula) and he weighs about 20 lbs. I don't usually hear a lot of tummy/intestinal noises though, or at least I haven't noticed any.

But, I guess if it were me, and that was still occuring, I would either get another opinion from another vet, or ask your current vet to do some more tests or perhaps an x-ray? Sorry I couldn't be of more help, maybe someone else will have more info for you.
 
thanks for the responses! yes his anal glands were checked so i don't think that's the problem.

here's where it gets really weird. so about 20 minutes after i posted indy did the same thing!!! so he had an episode exactly one week later at the same time. i didn't mention that after the yelps, he sort of wanders around the room trying to settle, moving back and forth between me and other places. it's like he's worried or can't get comfortable and the whole time he gives me worried looks.

as this was happening i could hear sounds like furniture being moved around under us (we live in an apartment). is it possible that my neighbours are actually doing something that causes noises or vibrations that humans can't hear? i wonder if something is happening downstairs that frightens indy (hence the yelps) and this moving around is him trying to locate or escape the sound.

he settled down very early this time---the whole episode lasted less than 10 minutes and the sounds stopped about the same time he settled back on the bed.


geez---i just read over this and it sounds like i'm losing my mind, but it has happened three times at around the same time on a friday night. i think i'm going to call the vet and also keep a little record of what he eats and other environmental factors like sounds, etc....

since the vet couldn't find anything wrong, the sound theory would sort of make sense. the times with the vomiting could have been yelps due to tummy cramps.....

weird!

k
 
Regarding the growling -- one of mine does this -- try feeding small meals a few times a day and a small meal right before bed. This tends to help. You could try a different food as well as perhaps something he is being fed disagrees (eg grains in dog food sometimes cause problems). Be sure he is on a high quality, not supermarket, food -- like James Wellbeloved, Burns or Royal Canin 27 (all at most pet shops though Burns is harder to find in Dublin -- some vets carry it).

On the hoovering up the sidewalks -- I'd recommend teaching him the 'leave it' command. As always, if you are in Dublin I strongly recommend Tara and Lisa's classes at Dog Training Ireland in St Margarets -- www.dogtrainingireland.ie -- where they cover this command and are very cavalier-friendly. :) I think you've done some classes out there -- if so you will have done this command at the start of the classes and should continue working on it at home so that you are able to walk him thru a room full of small piles of food; that will then get you started to have him ignore anything outside as well if you say 'leave it'. 'Drop it' is the related command to work on too.

On the yelping -- this is something you definitely want to resolve as he is indicating pain. You need to have a vet thoroughly check him for every possible cause including spine problems or sprain and also consider syringomyelia. Not many vets in Ireland are that familiar with SM or eliminating other causes first but I would recommend Fintan, Tanis or Susan at any branch of Anicare (www.anicare.ie) or Adrienne at Beaufield vets in Celbridge. More info here: www.sm.cavaliertalk.com; have a read thru the symptoms, the 'is this SM' ad the information sheet sections and run them out for your vet. Waking and yelping for no reason at night is one of the potential symptoms for this as the dogs are often more uncomfortable at night (my Leo, who has SM, is). Given the more recent episode I would definitely be talking to vets about SM as a possible concern as this seems to be becoming more frequent/regular going from your posts. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss vets.
 
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