My 15-year-old dog is not eating, throwing up. Is it phenobarbital?

I would have your vet re-examine Belle tomorrow. We do not normally see seizures as a result of an ear infection or prescribe phenobarbital short term for seizures. We don't usually see decreased appetite or severe lethargy as a result of ear infections either. Belle may need some additional testing to help determine if there is something other than an ear infection going on, or if your vet cannot find a cause for her symptoms she may need to go and have a more advanced workup at a specialist who has imaging/testing a normal service vet may not offer.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Molly should take phenobarbital to avoid further seizures, which is a priority in this situation. You should continue with the dose she has been prescribed. Many dogs are lethargic after the first few doses of phenobarbital but then are back to normal. Please, get in touch with your vet on Monday to confirm that Molly is on the right dose of phenobarbital. If the lethargy and lack of appetite persists, your vet will likely decrease the dose or change the medication. Molly will probably stay on anti-seizure medication for life.

While toxins could cause vomiting there are many more common causes ranging from a bowel obstruction to intestinal parasites. An overdose of phenobarbital would not cause vomiting: I would expect to see sedation or difficulty vomiting. If she had a seizure that is atypical for her, or if her vomiting continues I would recommend taking her to the veterinarian later today. I would recommend withholding food until you can see the vet. A little water should be okay but don't let her gulp an entire bowl.

It is definitely suspicious that something is hurting her mouth and causing her to not want to eat, but this would not normally cause her to vomit. The bile staining in the vomit doesn't tell much other than she is vomiting on an empty stomach. This is not specific to any one disease, but indicates that something is either directly upsetting her stomach, or generally making her feel nauseous. It would be best to first have a good look on her mouth using a flash light to see if there are any obvious injuries or something stuck in her mouth. I recommend having someone help you with this. In order to discover the cause of this problem you will need to take Zoey to a veterinarian for an evaluation. They can help narrow-down the cause of this and provide treatment to at-least make her feel better. For more information about vomiting, I recommend you read the article at the link below. https://www.petcoach.co/article/diarrhea-vomiting-in-dogs-when-to-call-your-veterinarian/ If you have further questions or need further clarification, then you may consider having an online consult with one of our vets on Petcoach. This way, you can send unlimited pictures and have a text conversation with a vet. I hope that helps and Zoey gets better soon.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I assume Chhutki was prescribed phenobarbital for seizures. This medication can produce transient elevation of liver enzymes, increased thirst, increased appetite, lethargy and weight gain. It does not affect kidney or heart function and does not cause gallstones formation. If you don't use any anti-epileptic medications for your dog, she will likely have more seizures, which can be longer/more severe than her first seizure.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. In the initial stages of starting Phenobarbital, dogs develop what we call transient symptoms. These include becoming wobbly (ataxia), drooling, disorientation, panting, etc. These symptoms will eventually subside as the dog's body becomes used to the phenobarbital. If Trapper is no longer having seizures, I would call the veterinarian and ask if the dose can be slightly lowered. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Those are likely side effects from the phenobarbital. For that reason, I would highly recommend that you contact your veterinarian as they may decide to decrease his dose of phenobarbital based on this. Best of luck!