My dog ate something bad and has a hard, painful stomach. What to do?

Abdominal pain in dogs is different than in himans, you can't give her meds without knowing what is causing this. withhold food for 12 hours, but if she is not better by then or if she seems worse you need to take her to the vet in order to get it checked, it could be serious.

If she is behaving normally otherwise, try fasting her for 12-24 hours. Allow small amounts of water or unflavored PediaLyte. Resume feeding a bland diet in small, frequent amounts until symptoms resolve. Monitor for lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite or abdominal pain. These are symptoms that should be addressed by your veterinarian.

There is not a hard and fast rule for how long a pet should be without food. Some vets say as long as 24 hours. I generally recommend 6 to 12 hours. It may help also if you feed him a bland diet for the next 24 hours. Boiled white meat chicken and plain boiled white rice. If he continues to be sick, have him examined by the veterinarian.

I really don't know what medications you have available in Australia to give so I am not sure what to tell you to do. Usually symptoms from eating something like this are self-limiting, meaning after 24-48 hours they will resolve on their own. I just suggest you feed some plain white bread now if she will eat it - one or two slices. This may help prevent diarrhea and further GI upset. Then feed nothing else for 8-12 hours. Water is fine for her to have.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do for her at home. You cannot give her any human pain medications, as many are toxic to dogs and can be fatal if given. In addition, it is illegal for the experts at Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to prescribe any medications for her without seeing her in person first. There will be a vet on call for the holidays, so I would call your local clinics to find the vet on call to see her now. Usually there is an emergency contact number on their website or their answering machine. I would find a vet to see her now if she is in a lot of pain.

I'm sorry that Jasper is uncomfortable! I'm concerned because you say that he has stomach pain and is acting restless - these can be symptoms of a life-threatening condition called bloat, or GDV (gastric dilatation and volvulus). This is a problem that can affect large breed dogs, in which the stomach becomes overly full of air and/or food and twists on itself. Symptoms normally include acting painful, restlessness, panting, unproductive attempts to vomit, and sometimes a large or bloated-looking abdomen. If this sounds like what Jasper is doing, I would recommend getting him to a vet immediately as this is a medical emergency - bloat requires emergency surgery, and is fatal within hours without treatment. If this isn't possible or you opt not go to the vet, you can try offering him some plain boiled chicken and rice or chicken-flavored baby food to help settle his stomach. There are no over-the-counter human medications that are recommended for use in dogs for this problem, so unfortunately there is nothing you can give him apart from small amounts of a bland diet to see if this helps.

Severe abdominal pain in a six year old Shih Tzu warrants veterinary attention some time soon. With this type of pain, I imagine Marble is probably not wanting to move around much, eat, or drink either. I would recommend that she is taken in for x-rays and probably some blood work at minimum to see if there is any underlying condition causing this type of discomfort. It is a little hard to tell from the picture, but it sort of looks like the abdomen is a little bit distended and puffed out. Since this has been going on for a few days already, I don't think I would necessarily call this an emergency. I would however recommend getting in sometime tomorrow.