Odin was born July 6, 2014 and came to live with me at 6 weeks old. His puppyhood is typical – very curious and energetic.
In the fall of 2014 Odin had his first bird hunting experience. Odin has always been a “house dog” but loves to spend time outdoors. The following spring he was able to spend time (fishing) from the shore and also enjoyed laying in the boat given the opportunity.
Odin completed two courses at Twin Ports Dog Academy. The first one was puppy class and the second one was obedience training. He also completed a retriever class at the Duluth Retriever Club. He continues to train with retriever skills. Odin continues to have high energy and enjoys running alongside a bicycle and ATV.
Sometime over the summer of 2015 Odin began regularly vomiting bile. His vet suspected bilious vomiting syndrome – something that can easily be controlled but not curable. And most people claim their dog eventually grows out of it.
It seems like Odin is always hungry. At one time I was able to feed him 2 meals/day, but as vomiting began I had to increase frequency to 3 smaller meals/day and now it is 4 to 5 depending on the day and number of vomits. He was also switched to Purina Pro Plan for sensitive skin and stomach (summer 2015). He does not get table scraps or people food (aside for occasional fresh chicken meat cooked for him and given to supplement his regular meal).
The vomiting has only continued to get worse and the vet suspects something much greater is the problem. It seems no matter what I do with Odin’s diet and medication he keeps vomiting and it is difficult to have to watch every day. He has to work very hard to get the vomit up and it is now happening 3-5 times daily.
Odin is requiring food in the middle of the night to avoid vomiting. The time following a meal (before he begins to vomit bile) varies from 2.5 to 5.5 hours this past week. Vomiting episodes are preceded by standing up, drooling, licking lips. The process is strained and he must retch a while to bring up the bile.
Other than the vomiting episodes, Odin seems “normal” and continues to have normal urine and stool output. He still is energetic and loves to go outside. He is probably gaining some weight with the extra feeding. A meal of ½ cup does not sustain him very long so rather than additional vomiting I give him ¾ cup to stretch it a little longer between meals. His daily 3 cups is now closer to 3 ½ cups.
At one and a half year old, I now have a very difficult decision to make. I am at my wits end and running out of options. The constant vomiting is destroying Odin’s esophagus and if I cannot resolve this, I will have to have him put down. The vet has left me with a few more options to send Odin to a specialist and have more tests and exploratory surgeries done to try and diagnose a problem.
I do not have the funds to pay for this.
So here is my decision. If I can raise enough funds, I will continue to put Odin through the ringer and keep trying to figure this out which will include sending him to a specialist to have an endoscopy done which includes biopsies as well as inspecting for any foreign objects and looking for any disease process that could be going on.
If I cannot raise the funds needed, Odin will be put down. If you feel like Odin still deserves a chance at life, then please consider donating to his cause.
This is just a thought, but having raised 4 rottweilers and seen some interesting things, and also owning a health food store for humans, have you looked at putting him on a raw food diet? Things like the Purina you mentioned are full of toxins (e.g. http://www.holisticvetpetcare.net/ethoxyquin.htm, my male rottie wouldn’t even eat kibble if you put it in his dish he would bring you the pieces one-by-one and look at you as if you really expected him to be complicit in his own poisoning). Once we switched over it was amazing the health benefits. And get this, if it rained, I didn’t even have to scoop my yard – the waste just vanished. I recommend the book Giving the Dog a Bone. Sadly, like most human doctors, most vets have very little training in nutrition, and in most vet schools the training they do get is sponsored by the dog food companies.
Best of luck, I once paid $5,000 to repair a broken neck on my dog. I know the issues and the pain of having to balance cost versus longevity of a loved one, but it makes sense to me to approach a digestive system problem through diet first. It costs nothing, it’s not invasive, and you have nothing to lose. Hell, I had my own long-standing acid reflux issues completely cured by my massage therapist in 5 minutes. There are options out there.
Thank you for the insight Jon. I have looked into this but will dig further.