My senior Lab won't eat, vomits yellow, and is losing weight. Why?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Did your vet take belly X-rays? If he is vomiting and has lost over 20 pounds. he needs X-rays of his belly and blood work. He does have very bad hips but that shouldn’t cause vomiting and weight loss. You need to follow up with your vet today. Good luck!

That is very concerning that she is not eating, vomiting, and losing weight. If blood work is normal than your vet could do x-rays and/or an abdominal ultrasound to look for abnormalities. Your vet could also do an ACTH stim test to make sure she is on the correct dose of vetoryl. Your vet could also treat with an anti-nausea medication called Cerenia and an antibiotic called Metronidazole to see if that helps with the vomiting and diarrha. Hope she feels better soon.

I am sorry to hear about Lady! The next steps in diagnostics would include abdominal ultrasound and surgical biopsy to look for possible inflammatory bowel disease or cancer. This is likely why your vet has started steroids (these diseases will sometimes respond to steroids). If this is inflammatory bowel disease a trial of a hydrolyzed protein diet may also be of benefit.

In a senior dog, a concern is always cancer. It could be Bella has a tumor that is causing her to stop eating and causing vomiting. Some types of cancer don't show any blood work abnormalities, so I think doing an ultrasound as the next step is a good idea. Best of luck.

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern. Based on your history and description, I would recommend an abdominal ultrasound as the next diagnostic step. The protein being low could be related to a GI inflammatory disease or intestinal cancer. X-rays do not show enough detail of the intestines or organs so things can be missed on x-rays that would show up on an ultrasound. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

It sounds as Nemo is suffering from a gastrointestinal condition, possibly an infection. it could also be due to ingestion of a foreign body material. i would recommend taking him to the vet urgently, he will need to be checked first, if the vet thinks it's a simple gastrointestinal infection he will need an anti vomiting injection, antibiotics and a special food for a few days in order to get better.

I am so very sorry to hear about your concerns for Pinky, it sounds like she is not doing well. If her bloodwork was normal, the next step would be additional diagnostics such as abdominal x-ray and ultrasound. I would be concerned with this ongoing weight loss about something like a malabsorption issues due to intestinal abnormality such as unfortunately cancer (we would also worry about protein loss from the kidneys but if they checked her urine they hopefully would have seen whether or not she was losing protein this way). I would discuss the possibilities of additional diagnostic imaging with your vet to help determine why Pinky is losing weight and if there is anything that can be done to help her.