Vet Stress ‘Tis the season for…vomiting and diarrhea

It’s been the week for bad gastroenteritis cases—‘tis the season and all that. Ubiquitous Cuban pork rinds on dinner tables make it stealthily into patient maws lurking beneath tablecloths. The black beans get scooped into bowls when everyone’s too busy to make sure Fluffy’s food made it in the grocery cart. And ribbons are strewn everywhere as if expecting to disappear without a trace.

Already this week I’ve seen one Christmas ribbon case, one pancreatitis via pork rind and several undisclosed cases of dietary indiscretion (most people don’t want to fess up, though they readily admit to the probability of food-borne vomiting and diarrhea).

And we haven’t even hit the busy weeks!

After this weekend’s round of parties, I arrived to work this morning expecting to need a gas mask to deal with my fecal samples. First two cases: diarrhea. Next two cases: vomiting. You’d think we humans would learn. (We certainly don’t expect our pets to turn down a nice juicy ham hock fresh out of the lentil stew, now, do we?)

Yet even I’ve suffered the consequences of holiday fare in my household this year. This morning, my adolescent Frenchie, Vincent, left my mother a nice present on her Oriental rug about ten minutes after she offered him a delicious bite of Humboldt Fog rind (you absolutely must try this cheese if you love soft, ripe goat cheeses). To be fair, the vegetable stew I plied him with last night probably didn’t help.

Vincent’s case is pretty mild, but some gastroenteritis cases are definitely over the top. Like one of today’s vomiters, a puppy mill holiday Lab with a raging kennel cough and blood in his vomitus. Turned out she’d ingested a beer cap sometime last week. Corona Light, to be precise. I know because I just explored her abdomen and opened up her stomach to fish it out.

They’ll come fast and furiously this week and next. In fact, it won’t let up until all the New Year’s leftovers are a distant memory. Much as I love the holidays (really, I do) I certainly won’t feel blue once the “cheer” disappears for good.

December 17th, 2007

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So I guess feeding the dogs Christmas dinner leftovers is out of the question. However, how do you stop a toddler from feeding them? =D

In your line of work, do you do surgeries yourself? I didn't know if you did operations or not.

ashleigh December 17th, 2007 08:03:00 PM

How timely!! I just finished cleaning up several pools of dog-puke myself (of course---produced under the kitchen table while I was eating dinner). A result, I suspect, of Sadie's having found the neighbor's kitchen compost, as I feed absolutely no table food. No ribbons yet for the cats; gifts as yet are all un-wrapped and locked in the guest bedroom waiting to be wrapped. Even though the tree's been down on the floor twice already, I went out and bought all unbreakable, plastic (but look like glass, at least) ornaments this year. (The tree is now wired securely to the window frame). With five animals in the house and all of the holiday commotion, I keep expecting the worst; that way if no disasters occur, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Shellie December 17th, 2007 08:45:00 PM

When DH and I put up Christmas decorations, we gave the old pup a huge bully stick so she would leave the coffee table snacks alone. Exhausted after our Martha Stewart effort, we went out for a bite to eat. When we came back, DH found an almost empty bag of Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses and little bits of foil. She had eaten about a quarter of the bag (but generously left each of us one apiece). Old pup was pretty gassy for a couple of days, and had 24 hours of fairly runny poop, (though she held onto her housetraining) but overall seemed quite pleased with her impromptu dessert.

lin December 17th, 2007 09:26:00 PM

Ugh...sorry Dr.Patty.

My former boss had a yellow lab who was a very good boy, most of time.

Every year clients would give him boxes of chocolate which he or his wife would put under the tree. It goes without saying that the dog would get into them, then be dragged over to the clinic because his owner- a vet himself and clinic owner didn't want to deal with giving him liquid charcoal and the diarrhea that came shortly after that.

One year we did get a break from the chocolate scene. Instead of eating a box of chocolates, the dumb dog ate almost 3 pounds of fruit salad. That wasn't left under the tree, but on the counter. The dog got up on the counter, popped the lid and had himself a fruit snack before his humans got home. Yet another afternoon I'd rather forget. If I could have hung a bucket on the dog's tail to catch what was shooting out of his backside, I would have. I think it was shortly after that the dog ended up back over the hospital for a few days because he picked up kennel cough after grazing on all the fruit.

I'm so glad the holidays here at the house are quiet. The worst things my dogs will ingest is some kibble from the cat's dishes and the cats may get a couple of pieces of dog kibble, if they're lucky.

Stacy December 18th, 2007 07:25:00 AM

Ashleigh: Almost all vets do this kind of gastrointestinal surgery. While I always like to give my clients the choice of seeing a boarded surgeon (especially when complications are likely) I enjoy GI surgeries more than most others. As to the toddler thing: there's no accounting for what toddlers or grandmothers will do. That's just part of life... ;-)

Dr. Patty Khuly December 18th, 2007 08:25:00 AM

Ha ha - that picture is hilarious. Looks just like my dog. Reminds me of this a little bit gross but very funny clip from Family Guy:

http://tinyurl.com/2wjrys

Larry December 18th, 2007 08:32:00 AM

Dr. K -- you might consider elaborating here or in another blog post about pancreatitis and its cause. My obeservation is that very few people know about this. I know of someone who fed their dog a bunch of bacon grease -- the dog disappeared for days (this was in a rural area -- it probably holed up somewhere) and when it finally came back, it was still looking pretty green. They were darned lucky the dog lived, I think.

And don't forget about onions as a cause for copious outflow and the emergency trip to the vet! (Why would a dog eat onions? Envision them swimming in some king of savory sauce. >ggg<)

Deanna December 18th, 2007 09:51:00 AM

holy cowpiles...how timely! Agadore went to the vet today cause in a 12 hour period, he puked 4 times and poo'd twice...and this is just what went on in the house...the yard is anyone's guess.

Did a fecal exam, and his gram negative rods are almost non existent- whatever that means. But he has lots of coccyx(sp?) surrounded by white rings...something the vet said she'd never seen. So massive doses of Flagyll and Amoxicillan. After a few hours post medicine, Agadore is finally eating some yogurt.... poor guy.

He's not had any scraps...just his usual raw chicken necks and venison. Best guess is a bug from the chicken. Usually arrives frozen...the last batch was cold,not frozen.

No matter the cause......yuck!

AGADORE'S MAMA December 19th, 2007 11:21:00 PM

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