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Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis

danalynn

Well-known member
Colin is sick - Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis

Has anyone's dog had HGE or Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis? I took Colin to the vet this afternoon because he was not acting himself today - wouldn't play, run around, etc. and his belly looked distended. Although he ate this morning and drank water, the doctor said he was getting dehydrated, had gas throughout his upper intestine and bloody diarrhea that was getting ready to come out.

I looked on the internet and they said it was more common in toy breeds - so was wondering if this has happened to anyone's pets on the site and how things went as I'm worried about him.

Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.
 
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Yes, Lily had this recently. It can be quite dangerous if not caught early as dogs can get seriously dehydrated and ill, and need to be put on drips and watched very closely. Obviously a dog already in poor shape (or a puppy) would be at much higher risk from something like this.

But it is also fairly easy to resolve in most dogs once it is diagnosed -- usually they will be given a painkiller, some antibiotics, an injection to settle their stomachs, and put on a bland diet for a week or so.

Lily often has a bit of a dicey stomach -- one of the reasons I really try to control what Ms Garbage-Guts tries to eat. She had a bout a day of the runs then suddenly she was passing blood as well -- it was really scary. My vet squeezed me in even though they were officially closed just because this can get serious if not treated fairly quickly. She was much better within 24 hours. :)
 
Thanks Karlin! - Colin is feeling much better. He spent the night at the emergency vet and got everything that Lily got. He is hydrated again and his red blood cell count is back down. I'm so glad we got him in to see our vet before closing yesterday as well - it is pretty scary.
 
Tibby had HGE last summer. It started with her vomiting (on my bed of course) what appeared to be blood tinged but not frank blood. I started reading about what it could be and she went into the other room with Bubba.

By the time I had her diagnosed and got to the living room there were two or three large puddles of bloody diarrhea - more blood than anything else. Bub was hesitant about taking her to the ER so I played along with him for a few minutes. I went back and re-read then went to the kitchen and told him that if she had one more episode of any kind she was going to the ER. He admitted that she had vomited blood again, so off we went.

I am convinced that the ER saved her with hepastarch, a manmade type of plasma often used in Parvo dogs or other dogs that need a transfusion but a donor is not available. The dr there was wonderful (especially when he found out that I had done ER work) and had her on fluids, the hepastarch, antibiotics. But she turned the corner that night. HGE can go into DIC and the animal will bleed out completely, or it starts to get better and the diarrhea starts to look like raspberry jam.

She spent a couple of days at the regular vet clinic (don't remember how long) but was fine when she came home and hasn't had a problem like that again. She was obviously in pretty bad shape when we first realized she was sick; you are lucky that your was found early on.
 
OMG, I read it could get bad, but that is horrible!!!

I'm so glad my husband was home during the day to notice Colin was not feeling well, otherwise we wouldn't have figured it out until later. I feel very lucky and am so thankful Colin is feeling better!!!
 
I'm glad that you caught it early, too. I had been home with Tibby all day but she hadn't shown any sign of not feeling well.

Hope everything is cleared up now.
 
Wow, that's a scary story about Tibby. How lucky you made the decision to take her then and not wait any longer! When I brought Lily in the vet was surprised that she was in such good spirits as he said usually they'd be a lot more outwardly ill. Reading Tibby's story makes me really glad I brought her in as it was end of the time they were open on a Sunday and were very decent to wait til I got there. If I'd waited another 30 minutes no one would have been around.
 
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