Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 4/24/2011

Question
QUESTION: my dog hasn't been as active as she usually is. she is actually seemingly very weak. she hasn't been pooping as well probably because she hasn't been eating. she won't eat anything i give her. she has also been shaking and sitting all day, when she is usually hyper. she has recently (in the past few hours) been vomiting, three times in the last 6 hours. i took her to the vet twice and they haven't been able to diagnose anything without bloodwork or xrays. i can't afford treatment unless i know for SURE it will help my dog. she is  years of age, and is vaccinated. she is not spayed. please help

ANSWER: It sounds like your dog is blocked. You need to have this dog xrayed for sure or they won't be able to tell if she is blocked. She could have eaten anything to do this, bones, sticks, plastic, wads of grass, etc.

She can't poop and won't eat because this is causing her to become toxic. If you don't get her xrayed and treated you are going to lose her. Vomiting is a sign of toxicity on top of it so she is becoming poisoned inside. In other words her body is filling with toxins from her not being able to excrete whatever is inside of her.

Get her back to the vet's and get her xrayed. Find out about pet insurance or Care Credit, that can help with the costs.

You didn't put down how old she is. Why isn't she spayed? She could even have an infected, swollen uterus at this point that is blocking her colon.

Please get her back to the vets asap!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She drinks water but vomits it afterwards, and she refuses to eat at all. Do you recommend a blood test or a xray be more accurate for my dog?

Answer
I answered this for you a few hours ago but for some reason, this site is letting all of my answers go through. I apologize for that.

I think that you need to get some blood run on this dog as soon as possible. I am not a vet and will not diagnose this but it sure sounds like she has more of a case of acute pancreatitis than a blockage.

It would be best to have her checked and treated for that first, then if there is no improvement in 24 hours she will need an xray.

Pancreatitis is a potentially fatal condition of extreme inflammation of the pancreas. It gets so inflamed that it starts to digest itself.

Don't try and feed her anything until she sees the vet and only give her ice cubes to lick. That will help stop the vomiting from drinking water.
You need to get her into the vets first thing in the morning.
These cases can very quickly lead to a fatal condition.
I hope she does well soon.