My dog had vomiting and diarrhea, now improving. What's next?

I recommend that your contact your vet's office to schedule a follow-up appointment. Your dog may need further diagnostics to determine the cause of the vomiting and diarrhea. While blood work is an excellent and worthwhile diagnostic tool (and I commend you on having it done), it does have limitations. Blood tests are extremely useful for looking at the overall health of your pet. From the tests, a vet can learn if your pet's vomiting is caused by an underlying medical condtion like diabetes, kidney or liver disease, or an infection. Blood work can also reveal if your pet is dehydrated from the vomiting. Many of these problems may not be obvious on a simple physical exam, but if caught early can be successfully treated or controlled, giving your pet a longer and better quality of life. Sometimes blood work can lead to a definitive diagnosis, but oftentimes blood work results guide us as to what the next diagnostic steps should be (radiographs, ultrasound or more specific blood testing).

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Popy! Sadly there are too many possible causes for Popy's symptoms for me to give you an idea on prognosis. I was the Vet that answered your last question. If no tests were done we do not know what Popy's disease is. She needs blood work and at least X-rays of her belly. If tests were done then please post the results or sign up for a consult. Causes of vomiting and diarrhea are: intestinal parasites, viral or bacterial infections, foreign body (ate something that is stuck requiring surgery to remove), kidney or liver failure, cancer, pancreatitis, toxin ingestion, etc. I hope this helps and I wish you all the best!

The bilirubin is a bit high, as is the ALP (alkaline phosphatase) but neither of these values is super specific in terms of what the cause or the best treatment is. We can see the ALP be elevated with stress, age, and sometimes even normal cell regeneration within the liver. The bilirubin can be slightly elevated when the blood sample is what we call "hemolyzed," which can sometimes happen when blood is spun down for a blood test to be run. Therefore, if he is still showing symptoms of illness, I would echo what Dr Ana said; it may be time to consider imaging. Either X-rays or an abdominal ultrasound maybe helpful in identifying the problem and therefore identifying the best way to treat it. Take him back to the vet if he's still having troubles, as he probably is in need of some more fluids as well. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach, I hope he's feeling better.

Glad to hear that the vomiting was resolved with Cerenia. This is usually a pretty good indication that there is no serious obstruction within the upper or lower intestinal tract. If there is continued diarrhea, the addition of an antibiotic / anti inflammatory such as metronidazole would be my next step. You can certainly use medications such as pepto bismol or maalox but I do not find them to be very effective. They do not actually address inflammation in a particularly effective manner. Another possibility unfortunately that can not be ignored in an 11 year old animal are certain types of cancer. However, I would not truly begin to consider this strongly unless there has been a longer history of problems, including weight loss and muscle wasting. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Vomiting and diarrhea can be caused by many conditions primarily gastrointestinal in nature such gastroenteritis and gastrointestinal foreign body ingestion and obstruction or other conditions such as pancreatitis or kidney disease. I recommend that you have your pup evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Likely diagnostics to be performed include abdominal imaging and general bloodwork. You could try a bland diet composed mainly of boiled chicken and white rice which is easily digestible and can help with an upset stomach. Good luck and have a great day!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Diarrhea can be observed with conditions such as colitis, gastroenteritis, dietary indiscretion, intestinal parasites, among many other possibilities. This is not likely to be related. I recommend that you have Luna evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They may choose to check for parasites and to start medications for diarrhea depending on the results. Good luck! Hoping for a speedy recovery!

I'm sorry Heinz isn't feeling well. My first step would be a through physical exam, which is very important in deciding what to do next. I would next recommend some combination of blood work, abdominal x-xays, symptomatic care, or even hospitalization if Heinz was ill enough. I would probably not worry about the dental disease at this point, but if he looks pretty healthy, would discuss doing the dental within a month or two since we already have the blood work run today. I know that's super general, since so much depends on additional information, but I hope it still helps a bit. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.