I posted about Snowie vomiting and having bloody diarrhea. This is an extension of that post - but hoping this post title will get others whose dogs have had HGE to contribute. If your dog had HGE, how quickly did they recover? How long did they have bloody diarrhea? I'll be calling the vet as soon as they open because it's now Day 5 and Snowie still has blood in his poo. Seemed to get better, but since last night seems to have gone backwards (not nearly as bad as Mon and Tuesday though). At least he's not vomiting all the time - just his dinner last night), but he's craving eating grass. Ate a tiny breakfast - had to hand feed him chicken, he would not eat the gloopy porridge I made of oats, yoghurt, water, and chicken. He did then go drink water (in the pond - yes, he insists on going into the pond to drink!!) and promptly had explosive diarrhea. He woke me at 3am to go outside to eat grass and make a wee. No poo. I was worried he was nauseous from an empty stomach (very little dinner) so I gave him a boiled egg then, which he was happy to eat being hand fed - not sure he would've eaten it from a bowl. He had had extremely watery yoghurt before bed - I wanted to get fluids into him, and it worked well. Just so worried...
One of my labs had this last summer and like you I got very worried about him. It started when we were away on holiday and he spent the whole week in a strange vets on a drip and not on the beach! He lost a lot of weight (4kg)and he's a very slim lab. He was not well when we took him home and we were in and out of the vets for at least another two weeks trying to stabilise him. Never got any idea of the cause and it's horrible to see them so miserable.
Yes Sky had Haemorrhagic Gastroenteritis a few years ago. We went down to her one morning and the scene in the utility room where she sleeps was like a horror movie - I shall never forget it. She bless her was just sat in her bed. We took her to the Vets and DH showed him photographs, he didn't bat an eyelid so I thought he had seen this a lot before. Sky was given antibiotic shots and tablets and rehydrating powders (which she didn't like). She didn't want to drink and the vet said if she didn't she would have to go back in and be put on a drip - it was touch and go for a few days. I remember putting my hand in her water bowl and encouraging her to lick the water off my fingers for several days. We fed her chicken and rice for I think about 5 days - she wasn't hungry for ages. She was very very lethargic. I don't remember what her poos were like, I'm sorry but think they slowly returned to normal. I do remember her eating a lot of grass. The smell from the bloody diarrhoea took me several days to get rid of in the utility room - I have never smelt anything so vile. I had to keep cleaning and cleaning every bit of the floor, skirting boards, lower part of wall, appliances. The smell just lingered. It was grim. We put newspapers down on the floor for a few nights after this just in case but it ever happened again. We never found out what caused it but she had always had a penchant for eating poo out on walks and unfortunately we had to make the decision to muzzle her on her daily walk as the habit was so ingrained in her. She has just gone out now with DH and the muzzle is on. I do hate it but there was no way we could risk that happening to her again. I really thought we were going to lose her at the time and it took her several months to get back to being her usual self. I understand why you are so worried - it was a horrid time for Sky and very worrying for us and definitely had a big impact on her. The good thing is that she did recover but it did take a long long time for us to think she had returned to her normal self. I am sorry Snowie has this and really hope he is improving today.
Obi had blood in his poo for a few days, but the quantity of blood decreased each time. Then he has a couple of days with no poo produced at all (but eating and drinking normally). Then a pretty normal but softish poo. It took him about a week before he was well enough to go to daycare. What kind of medications has the vet given you? Obi had methadone (painkiller and sedative), antibiotics and an anti-nausea injection.
Sorry I realised that my reply wasn't terribly helpful. Dizzy was very unwell with it to the point that I was being rung twice a day with updates from the vet and he looked dreadful. He eventually made a full recovery but he must have had the bloody diarrhoea for nearly two weeks.
Again, poor Snowie! As I've mentioned on the other thread, Brogan had HGE - unfortunately quite a bit. Grass is the devil. Honestly, if you can keep him from eating it, he will be better for it. It just makes everything worse. The empty stomach phase is part of it. Their stomachs need to rest at the worst part in order to heal, otherwise the vomiting and diarrhoea cycle goes on longer. I've had the human equivalent and they stuck me on a hospital on a drip and didn't even let me drink water. So don't be afraid of the not eating causing him to be nauseous - it's actually the opposite (and this according to my vet as well). So I found it was actually better if he DIDN'T eat (but of course had access to plenty of water) for a day or so. Then start with the well-cooked plain oats mixture with a tiny bit (and I mean a TINY bit) of lean/no fat/no skin/white meat finely shredded chicken or other well-tolerated protein. Low/no fat was key. Small meals also were key - like a small cup (50-100g) every couple hours throughout the first 2 days of "re-feeding". Brogan would vomit anything dairy-related even on a good day, so I didn't include any yoghurt or cottage cheese, other foods I often see recommended but didn't work for us. Also the vet visit and what I called the "magic butt shot" were key. Brogan would get that injection from the vet, not eat for a day and within a couple more days all was right in the world. If I didn't go to the vet, it would drag out for 4-5 days, which was bad news. I don't think you'd have access to it, but a combo probiotic/vitamin supplement I found in Italy called "Florentera" worked marvels to both speed recovery and prevent new attacks. The blood looks horrible, I'll grant you, but once I'd been through this with Brogan a few times and had many reassurances from the vet that no, this really wasn't all that serious, the blood didn't bother me as much. It was just a phase to get through and try to prevent or minimize future occurrences. Finally, I think the biggest key to HGE is to get it under control as soon as an attack occurs. In a recent thread, I talked about my friend's galgo Nanda and her attack. My friend unfortunately waited for five days before seeing a vet and Nanda had to be hospitalised for three days with IV fluids and medications. She is still trying to recover the weight nearly two weeks later. This is really one of times where early medical treatment makes it so much easier on the pup.
Thank you @Peartree , @Atemas , @Oberon , and @Emily_BabbelHund -- all your replies are so helpful to me. Really, thank you so much for taking the trouble to describe in detail what you and your dogs have been through. Thankfully I took Snowie in fairly quickly -- I waited 24 hours from the first diarrhea on advice from a vet (not recent advice, but he said: wait 24 hours, if worse, go to the vet). He got a subcutaneous drip so he was well hydrated fairly quickly, although he wasn't actually badly dehydrated anyway (red blood cell count was at the high end of normal). @Oberon -- immediately given an antinausea injection, and the following meds: Enrofloxacin/Enrovet (antibiotic liquid) to be taken 1x/day for four days; Ranclav (Amoxicillin and Clavulanic acid - antibiotic tablets -- huge!) 2x/day for one week; and Omeprazole (antacid capsule to sooth the gut) 1x/day for one week. I made an appointment with the vet for 11am today. But at 8am Snowie perked up and demanded(!) more breakfast. He was very cheerful and excitedly greeted a couple of visitors who came to our house. By 10am he was so not-sick that I called the vet to ask if I should bring him in. The assistant (vet only starts at 10.30am) said to change appointment to 4pm and only come in if he deteriorates. Meanwhile, my vet called at 2pm -- oh my word, the most DIVINE person!! -- to enquire after Snowie. She said it sounded like he had a "wobbly" by being overfed dinner. But from all the signs she was happy for him to continue the meds he's on and she changed the appointment to 5.45pm, but only if he needs to come in. Otherwise, she'd call me Saturday morning to ask more. She said he clearly isn't nauseas if he's asking for meals -- he asked again at 1pm and again at 3pm. Both times got sloshy porridge. And I'm making kefir (first time!), so he got some of that -- hopefully as good as Florentera @Emily_BabbelHund. He's also drinking adequately so I'm not worried about dehydration -- @Atemas in the first few days I also put my fingers into his water bowel to get him to lick -- he was not interested at all! But he did vomit out the grass at some point mid-morning. And his last poo (mid-morning) was a couple of squidges of orangey gelish stuff, thankfully no blood. @Atemas I have no idea if the poo is smelly -- I've had such a bad cold I can't really smell much at the moment! I did read on various web pages that HGE diarrhea has a very bad smell! @Peartree Snowie does appear a little thinner, but thankfully isn't dropping that much weight as I'd expect given seeing all that comes out his rear end, as if nothing is being absorbed. Let's hope with the adjusted meal regime -- frequent small helpings of sloppy oat porridge or watery rice with a tiny amount of chicken (no skin) plus yoghurt and kefir will help him make progress. Thank you all so much!
It sounds dreadful, all of you. I do hope Snowie recovers fully, and soon. Does the vet have an idea how he got it?
Thanks for the update - I hope Snowie continues to ask for those meals and makes a steady recovery. Sounds like you are doing everything possible for the sweet big boy!
My vet said that the important thing is that they drink. And it sounds like Snowie is drinking well (or at least having his slushy porridge). Also sounds like he's on the mend generally. Good news!
Wispa had HGE (with no known cause) when we were in Scotland a few years ago and it was very scary. The vet kindly arranged to keep her in overnight the first night, as we would have had to take her into Glasgow or further down the coast if she had deteriorated. As I didn't know the area well, and also had my grandchildren to look after too, that wouldn't have been easy. She was very subdued for several days and had to return to the practice daily to be put on a drip. She didn't even worry at the bandage on her leg. I was very relieved when eventually she recovered. Keep Snowie on the sloppy food and make sure he drinks plenty. I hope he's back to normal soon.
No idea. It could be anything. They treat with antibiotics cos apparently there is a particular bacteria associated with HGE. It's not contagious though.
Thanks for asking! Good news. Sloppy food fed in small quantities and frequently seemed to have worked well. However, Snowie has not made a poo since yesterday mid morning! Not sure if that is good or not? The vet nurse called this morning to ask about him. She was happy with the report back, didn't comment on the poo no-show. I'm only happy there's been no diarrhea! And we all slept until 7.50am!! Had a late night, family over for dinner. Snowie in his element. Husband let him lick some of the dishes including the pot that had been used for cooking the Mexican beans!!! I was not impressed, told him if Snowie woke me up in the night, he would taking him out, not me! Lucky for all, we all slept through. Today Snowie has been begging for food. Albeit a very polite beggar: sits patiently forever and ever hoping a morsel will come his way. The small meals are not satisfying him. Got a bigger evening meal and a raw carrot - hope we (and he) won't be paying for this later. In himself he's fine - cheerful and playful. Not begging for outings mind you, but thoroughly enjoyed his one short walk around the block this afternoon (and scavenged some chicken bones - aargh!!). Still on antibiotics and antacid. But I feel we've turned the corner. Just need to see a proper poo and then I'll be happy!
I am so glad he seems better! Its always struck me as funny at how happy we as dog owners can be when we have a good healthy poo! Hopefully he hasn't pooped because he's been eating so little he just doesn't have any yet.
You ain't seen nothing yet - we have whole threads on this forum devoted to poo!! I am guessing, like you, that the starvation rations are the cause of no poo.
Good news and bad news. Good news: Snowie made a magnificent poo this morning! Well formed and solid. And huge! No blood. Bad news: been up since 5am eating grass, ferns, and lemongrass. Vomited all that up twice. Won't eat breakfast. Wags tail though. Will see how he gets on this morning. If no improvement, will go to emergency vet (unfortunately far away). Our vet is closed on a Sunday.
Sorry to read that, hope the huge and solid poo is the winner and the eating grass etc is only a blip.
