Who wants to help diagnose??

**rangersmom** · 11-11-2006, 05:05 PM

Ranger is 7.5 months old and has been in great health. He has recently starting puking in the morning...foamy, yellow bile (not too much and NOT every morning). I figure this is because he is like a vacuum cleaner outside...eating: grass, dirt, sticks, and anything else. After he woudl do that he would feel much better and want to eat. We have also had to stop letting him have rope toys unsupervised because we have pulled out of his butt - looooooong ropes (you get the picture).

Yesterday he was sleeping in front of a family member. When he got up, he could not walk straight. It looked like he was walking in a fun house or severly drunk...it was the damnest thing. My first thought was seizure, because I've seen dogs after a seizure and they look similar. Excpet his eyes were alert and he was not drooling excessively...a little more than normal...but not too much. AND the family member saw no twitching or odd behavior when he was sleeping.

This kept up for about an hour and we rushed him to the vet. Full blood work and everything seems normal. The vet said to just watch and see if he does it again...it could have been a seizure. Ranger's father apparently also has suffered from some seizures.

Today he was better...however a little more subdued. He puked a little yellow bile this morning before breakfast and again, got into some rope somewhere and we pulled out of his butt...I'm not kidding...about 16 inches of rope. Sorry to be gross.

So I'm wondering....based on the facts and symptoms...has anyone heard of anything like this - besides being epilepsy? I'm just wondering why the puking yellow bile?

Any thoughts are really appreciated.

**imported_zoezoe** · 11-11-2006, 05:13 PM

I'm assuming he doesn't have an ear infection (thus the funny walking). What are you feeding him? I have heard some people that feed Nutro have had problems with bile pukes. Also, try giving him a cookie before bedtime, in case it is from an empty stomach.

**Buckyball** · 11-11-2006, 05:23 PM

Like Zoezoe said...the bile puking could be because of an empty stomach. Does this happen only when he wakes up after a night of sleep? If so, then best thing to do is give him a cookie or something small to eat before he goes to bed.

Not sure what the "drunken" walk could have been due to.

In humans as far as I know...sometimes an imbalance can occur in the inner ear which can make a person very dizzy and disoriented. An aunt of mine has this condition and I think she is on some meds for it. But it still causes her to be dizzy and what not. Nothing can really be done like operations or anything to cure it.

**Labs4me** · 11-11-2006, 07:29 PM

I had this happen several years ago to one of my girls (no strings out the rear, I meant the puking of yellow bile) turns out she had ingested a rock witch she eventually threw up. I then had her x-rayed to be sure there were no other surprises...

**Garth** · 11-11-2006, 08:20 PM

My advice to you would be to capture some of the vomit in a container with a lid & get it straight to the vet who should send it off to the laboratory for analysis.

It doesn't seem logical for a dog to puke up anything on an empty stomach unless he's going outside at night & eating something you don't know about. Do you have a dog door he can get out of?.

As far as the "drunken walk" is concerned, that MIGHT be caused by an ear infection or it could be any one of a dozen things. Most dogs that get ear infections tend to walk around with their head on one side. This is usually the side of the infection.

Please get that sample to your vet & let us know how things are going.

Good luck

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**Barney and Bailey** · 11-11-2006, 10:38 PM

Every once in a while Bailey throws up yellow bile in the morning. She actually did it this week. We have always figured it was because she was hungry. She comes in and eats a full meal right afterward. I agree with the cookie before she sleeps, or some sort of little treat.

I think the ear might be the cause of staggers, too. When humans have vertigo they stagger. I'd get her ears tested.

**rangersmom** · 11-12-2006, 08:08 AM

Thanks for the input everyone. You know I thought about the inner ear and asked the vet to look at them while we were there and he did .... but not "thoroughly". He just looked into each ear by sight. He was not scratching or tossing his head as though his ears were bugging him.

What other tests would they run for inner ear?

The rock suggestion does make me nervous. When he was younger he ate three rocks (on different ocassions) from the plants in my house. He would promptly barf them up in the morning (thank God). I was able to hide/remove the rocks in the house. Now he goes outside on his own and guess what we have.....a gravel driveway. However, I don't think he likes those rocks out there because they are rougher. Jeez.

**Garth** · 11-12-2006, 08:54 AM

What other tests would they run for inner ear?
Here's some info that will either help you or confuse you even more:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...&EVetID=221632

Hope it helps

Garth

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**gerst001** · 11-12-2006, 11:10 AM

It could be the empty stomach or just acid indigestion. Ways to cure it are to split 2 meals into 3 and then feed the last one near bedtime. Or try giving a pepcid at night and see if that works.

Not sure about the wobbling, but you may want to look into "wobblers syndrom". However, if the dog is fine now, its probably not that.

Let us know what works or does not work...good luck.

**rangersmom** · 11-13-2006, 08:22 AM

Here's an update:

Ranger ate only about 1/2 cup of dog food yesterday - but acted completely normal - playing, throwing etc until the late afternoon.

He did not eat supper or but finally ate some rice with a little chicken this afternoon.
He has not drank anything since 5pm yesterday (that I know of and I'm trying to watch him...slept with him out in the living room all night).
He had the shivers last night, put a blanket over him and it stopped.
He is pee'ing and poo'd once since yesterday.
Lethargic and inactive - although a bit better this morning...still wanting to lay down only.

Just waiting for the doctor's office to open, going to find out about his blood work that was sent out. I have no idea what could be causing this. Now I'm afraid of lead poisoning or something. We have been having a lot of construction work done around the house.