My dog's black tongue, liver damage from medication. What to do?

Poor Flash. UV light is used in thin skinned babies to help breakdown bilirubin but this is not likely to be effective in dogs due to the difference in the skin type and also different mechanism of disease; likewise a blood transfusion would rarely be recommended to affect the course of disease but may add additional pressure on the liver (your vet may decide to proceed with such if protein levels drop or clotting factors become reduced). The liver has a good capacity to repair and regenerate and fluids and denmarin are very helpful in supporting perfusion and promoting recovery. Other targeted medications may be required depending on blood results (protein, bilirubin etc)

Poor Charlie! You did the right thing by taking him into the vet. It is likely that he had a cut from hitting himself, and that would cause the bright red blood in the vomit. The black color of his feces indicates digested blood, so if he had blood in his stomach from the injury, it passed through his GI tract leading to the black color of his feces. He may be painful as well from hitting his mouth, causing him to be more lethargic than usual. Now it is concerning he is breathing funny, but that can also be pain related. Keep an eye on him tonight, and if he's still showing these same symptoms in the morning, take him back into the vet. Do not give him any human pain medications, as many are toxic to dogs and can be fatal if given. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

It looks like he is suffering from some liver and kidney values elevations and he also is anemic. (Low red blood cells). Since I do not not his current condition and how long this has been going on, it is difficult for me to give you a survival time. If this has happened quickly and could be a toxin then with aggressive therapy (hospitalization and IV fluids), then these values could go back to normal and stay that way as long as there wasn't any permanent damage. If this has been chronic and his urine is very dilute then this could be permanent damage to the kidneys which is a much poorer prognosis long term. I would still recommend hospitalization and IV fluids if possible. I would talk to your vet about whether he needs fluids, antibiotics, appetite stimulants, anti-nausea medicine etc. I hope this helps and your sweet baby gets well really soon!

I know this is a very worrying time for you, but you did completely the right thing in taking the dog to the vet so quickly. If you had him vomit within 40 minutes then the majority of the gastric contents and the noxious substance will have come up. Sometimes I would also administer activated charcoal but it isn't strictly necessary when they vomit a good lot up. The medication that the vet gave you will help to line the stomach in case the substance has damaged the lining, the other medication is a liver support as it deals with a lot of potentially toxic substances. There really isn't much more you can do aside from being vigilant. If you knew exactly what the dog ingested sometimes other drugs can be administered such as vitamin k in rat poisoning. However your dog should be absolutely fine considering how quick you acted. You could feed Blue some liver as it helps with regenerating red blood cells etc. Best of luck, if you have any concerns at all please ask!

Hello, sorry to hear about your dog. Its likely that his liver disease needs to be further evaluated to rule out the need for antibiotics or steroids and ensure that his liver disease is not secondary to inflammation in another organ such as his pancreas. I would recommend speaking with your veterinarian about obtaining further information with an abdominal ultrasound and recheck bloodwork. It may be necessary for your dog to obtain more aggressive medical management with hospitalization. Hope this helps and best of luck.

If the masses on the liver / spleen ruptured, I would expect her abdomen to be getting larger and her gums to be getting pale due to the hemorrhage. If she has black tarry stool, my concern is that the cancer is also somewhere in the GI tract. If clinically she is unchanged and doing ok, I would speak with the oncologist and see what the recommendations are in regards to this. The fact that there are cancerous changes evident on the liver and spleen, tells me that this is spreading, which is not good. However, that being said, these could be benign. I just worked on my friends dog who had a liver mass and splenic tumor in his dog. I surgically removed a liver lobe and the spleen and the dog is doing better than ever still and this was done about 6 months ago. There is no way to tell for sure whether or not these are cancerous masses until a biopsy is done or the masses are removed and sent out to the laboratory for testing. As long as Chewy is stable and doing the same, I would recommend speaking with the oncologist and see what their opinion is considering all of these changes. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

I’m sorry to hear that Charlie isn’t feeling well! Chronic vomiting is a cause for concern as it may be caused by toxin ingestion, kidney or liver disease, a foreign body, intestinal parasites, and even certain cancers. Charlie’s increased salivation is a very common sign of nausea. I recommend having her seen by a vet as soon as possible to determine what is going on. Your vet may perform some blood work and take x-rays to get an accurate diagnosis. I hope this helps and that all is well with Charlie!