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I'm probably going to get my butt chewed for this...

Posted : 8/22/2006 10:08:32 AM

But, ok, Ella is on 1500 mg of cephalexin since August 11th. Ella has always been a picky eater since we got her home. She only eats once a day, but eats ALL of her required food for the day at that time.
Well, ever since we've started her on the cephalexin she has vomitted just about every day. Not a lot, maybe a couple or few tablespoons at a time, usually in the afternoon or at night or first thing in the morning when she wakes up. She gets one 500mg pill and one 250 mg pill at lunch and right before bed.
Yesterday she vomitted twice. And she vomitted more.
I also want to add that I was feeding her raw for 5 days in with her kibble and then I took her off the raw as of yesterday. I started her on Nature's Variety the day before yesterday.
When she vomitted yesterday it wasn't until like 4 or 5 hours AFTER she ate and took her first dosage of antibiotic for the day.

I called the vet today because my fiancee wants to just stop giving her the antibiotic altogether. I don't know that that would be the best decision. She's taking it for a skin infection that we're not even sure is a bacterial infection, and the doctor wasn't sure either, but we thought would clear up on its own with the aid of the fish oil and vitamin e pills that we give her. Anyway, I call the vet and they say that I can either stop giving her the antibiotic and go get a new antibiotic or we can give her the cephalexin half an hour AFTER she eats and follow that with a dose of Pepcid. She only has 4 days left of her antibiotic so I don't really want to get a new antibiotic.

The Vet's office told me that feeding her raw is messing with her diet and tried to tell me that that is why she is throwing up. They didn't seem to think that the antibiotic was making her vomit.
But she was vomitting BEFORE I ever even messed with her food.
Do you guys think the food is making her vomit or are you thinking that it's the antibiotic??
I know that seems like a silly question and should be obvious, but I've heard of other people's dogs on cephalexin and they never said it makes her vomit.
The also said that allowing her to only eat once a day is bad for her.
I didn't know. That's how she wants to eat, and since she was a picky eater, I just allowed her to eat when she would.

kennel_keeper

Posted : 8/22/2006 10:21:24 AM

You definately wouldn't want to give Cephlexin on an empty stomach as it CAN cause tummy upset and vomiting.

Her being a picky eater is a tough-y because you have to give her smaller meals per day to make up for the fact that she needs to eat with her meds and there you can run into trouble AFTER the med regime is over with. This is JMO, but, I think if you give her smaller meals a couple of times a day and use a tablespoon or so of canned for her to get her meds in (on a spoon, separate from her regular food) that should help with the tummy trouble. You might also was to give her probiotics as well, but don't give them within 3 - 4 hours after antibiotics, as they really wouldn't do any good.
If your dog is having "issues" it may be better NOT introducing any new foods, like raw, that can cause problems (and raw can in some cases). Keep the diet pretty bland until she gets through the meds. I wouldn't recommend changing since you have so little time left on the schedule. I especially wouldn't recommend an antibiotic change now because then it's starts all over from square one and with a much stronger antibiotic. You can't go with a weaker (milder) one once you've used a stronger one with each condition. You can only go UP for it to be effective.

chewbecca

Posted : 8/22/2006 10:26:42 AM

see? And what the crap?? They want me to give her a different antibiotic because this one is upsetting her tummy, what would a STRONGER antibiotic do? Probably upset her tummy worse.
I'm having my boyfriend come home on his lunch and feed her half her food then. I hope she'll eat at that time. And then before he goes back to work, I'll have him give her her meds as usual. See, we can't hide her pills in ANYTHING or even open a capsule to sprinkle powder on anything because she'll find a pill in the food, AND she won't eat a powdered area of food. We have to put them down her throat ourselves.
I'm just glad this will be over in 4 days.

At first I thought it was a combination of giving her the antibiotic, the benedryl AND the fish oil pills. She's a gagger too when we give her pills. I figured that was triggering any vomitting. But I can see now that it's this antiobiotic.

sandra_slayton

Posted : 8/22/2006 10:29:26 AM

My KayCee has trouble with that particular antibiotic--throwing up. I am willing to bet it is the antibiotic. However, I do agree, now is not the time to change food around.

Carol Bobrowsky

Posted : 8/22/2006 10:48:28 AM

Hi
1500 mg of an antibiotic is major dose, even for a human! It would certainly cause nausea and vomiting. Did your vet , perhaps, suggest giving her acidophilis along with the meds, to help her digestion during the time she is on major amount of antibiotics? Most vets , and doctors, do NOT mention acidophilis. I wonder if this same vet would take 1500 mg of antibiotics himself and feel wonderful? I doubt it!
I suggest you get some acidophilis pills or powder and add to your dog's food or give when giving the meds. Also, give antibiotics when your dog has eaten so if you are splitting the antibiotics every 12 hours, feed your dog twice a day. If you are giving three times a day, every 8 hours, feed your dog three times a day.
If your vet doesnt even know what is causing the skin infection, why is he prescribing such a high dosage of antibiotics? That's scary.
Carol

kennel_keeper

Posted : 8/22/2006 11:11:58 AM

IMO, a vet would prescribe an antibiotic in this case to prevent a staph infection from occuring. Even if the skin condition was fungal, it could quickly turn into a "secondary" bacterial (staph) infection. It's to PREVENT this condition and possibly cure the actual problem.

The use of probiotics (lactobaccilus acidopholos and the like) should be a regular part of treatment for infections that require antibiotics, BUT, using them during antibiotic treatment is questionable as to their effectiveness. IF you are going to use them *during* treatment, use them at least 3 hours after dosing with the antibiotics and a couple of hours before the next dose. The best way to use them is AFTER antibiotic treatment has been discontinued. This restores the *good* bacteria in the GIT and makes the environment (of the GIT) less friendly for the *bad* bacteria. This can also help with diarrhea that can sometimes accompany antibiotic treatment.

dyan

Posted : 8/22/2006 11:46:33 AM

I have been giving Bubblegum a probiotic since I got her. It all started with Oliver, my sons Great Dane. He was the one who kept getting skin problems with infections and also then stomach problems. He was on antibiotics and prednisone on and off for quite a while. Eventually my son said "enough of all this medicine" because as soon as he got off of it, the infections and sickness would come back. We found Eagle Pack food,,,this supplement [linkhttp://www.naturesfarmacy.com/DOGzyme.htm]http://www.naturesfarmacy.com/DOGzyme.htm[/link], and even gave him Nzymes for about a year. We stopped giving him vaccines or heartworm pills since he would start vomitting a day or so after getting it,,,for about two weeks. I treat Bubblegum pretty much the same as we do Ollie,,,even though she doesn't have the same problems. I do give her Interceptor every 6 weeks though for HW protection.
I am not suggesting you take you dog off antibiotics right now,,,but I do believe that after a while of this stuff,,,,we are only weakening our dogs immune system even more. My sister-in-law who works in a nursing home said she sees the same thing with the elderly all the time.
Fooling around with food while they are not up to par also could make things worse..you never know what is causing problems or not. I believe feeding raw WHILE they are not up to par is also a mistake,,because they need to fight any kind of bacteria that they might encounter.
ITs a rough world out there with our pets once in a while,,seem your going thru one of them.

chewbecca

Posted : 8/22/2006 1:06:41 PM

Thanks, guys. Ella didn't act in pain when we first got her. The "infection" isn't even itching and never has.
I didn't put two and two together when it came to screwing with her food. When I first changed her kibble (because the shelter didn't give me any of her normal food) she was fine.
This vomitting crap started when the antibiotic did. I'm not switching her food around anymore, unless I find out that it's her food causing her to vomit. I shall try to find a probiotic for her.

Pam

Posted : 8/22/2006 1:25:17 PM

Its the anitbotic trust me. How big is your dog? 1500 sounds a lot. Give the Pepcid with food.

My dog is on doxyclycine just 250mg twice a day (54 pounds). He was on Nature Variety raw for a year (adores it). Right away he vomited as I knew he would. Now he associated raw food with vomiting and refuses to eat it. So I am cooking white rice and ground turkey and/or canned Canidae/rice.

The PEPCID (10mg) worked like a charm. I give him about a cup of rice/turkey, then wrap the Pepcid, the doxcycline into 4 pieces of turkey luncheon meat

I am only feeding him twice a day as ususally cause the DOXYclyine is 2x.

If you are givng 3 doses then feed 3 small meals with her meds plus a pepcid.

Plus lots of water, think he has a fever or the doxy is making him thirsty...beware,,,tho he has been running out to pee twice during the nite and at least 5 times a day.

BTW: I will go back to raw when the pills are gone...

cakana

Posted : 8/22/2006 1:29:25 PM

As kennelkeeper said, you don't want to give the probiotic at the same time as the antibiotic and to avoid confusion and any more tummy problems, I'd honestly wait until you finish the antibiotics, just so you don't add anything new to the mix. In the future, you might ask your vet about using Simplicef instead of Keflex. My lab could detect Keflex in anything and would refuse her food, plus I had to give her like 3 capsules at a time, twice a day. The Simplicef costs a little more, but I only have to give her one tablet (not capsule) in a 24 hour period. I find that putting any of her pills into a little mound of canned food hides it well enough to get her to take it.

Pam

Posted : 8/22/2006 1:29:55 PM

PS: stop all supplements while on the meds,,her stomach can't take it,,,even stop fish oil and E. Maybe acidoliphis is ok, but if you follow my way, the vomiting will stop.

I even think kibble is too hard on the tummy, i think raw is easier on it.

your poor dog,,,,getting antibotics on an empty stomach,,,stupid vets should have told you to feed her

brookcove

Posted : 8/22/2006 6:45:29 PM

The normal dose for Keflex sounds really scary and don't forget dogs usually get more, not less meds than people. Anyway, you can't compare it to say Doxycyline which is a different type of antibiotic altogether.

With that said, any cephalexin at all is knock down, drag out, nasty on the tummy. It makes me thoroughly sick, within an hour of the first dose, whether I eat or not.

You really have to finish the meds, or go the route the doctor suggested. Now, remember that you can go to a stronger med but one that isn't as efficient at upsetting the stomach as cephalexin - antibiotic effectiveness and their effect on the tummy aren't linked. Amoxicyllin, Doxycycline and Cipro are in the same class, and might be prescribed for the same thing (tick disease). Amoxi is the least effective but the worst on the tummy (except some individuals who are sensitive to doxy like my hubby). Cipro's not too bad at all.

I digress. [8|] I liked the idea someone mentioned of finshing this med, going to a totally bland diet, then very gradually introducing the diet you want to offer your dog. You can start with whta he is used to first, then work back up to the course you want to take with offering raw supplementally.

chewbecca

Posted : 8/22/2006 7:07:59 PM

thanks, guys.
She hasn't eaten at ALL today. There isn't really one food that she is completely used to. I'm going to give her half the amount of food tonight at her normal feeding time, and then tomorrow give her half the amount in the morning or in the afternoon and maybe that way I can get her to eat twice a day since she takes her meds twice a day.
Then the antibiotic upsetting her tummy and the need for food would stand to reason why she'd vomit once a day when she only eats once a day. Does that make sense? I'm awfully tired. I had an extremely busy day today.

brookcove

Posted : 8/22/2006 8:26:22 PM

Try this. My vet suggests the following when a dog goes off feed. Not vomiting - call vet immediately if your dog has vomiting combined with lack of appetite, not wanting to drink water, and very dark soft stools. Get some of those jars of baby food meat - chicken if your dog can have it, or beef or veal or turkey or whatever your dog can have.

Feed your dog spoon by spoon. Try to get half a jar in your dog with each dose of meds, plus offer some every few hours in between. If your dog is so sick that this doesn't work, and your vet shrugs it off, find a new vet ASAP.

If your dog accepts this well, add some instant rice (easy to make). Mix a little of the meat in and offer it - see if you can get as much as a quarter cup per dose of meds. If you can get your dog to eat a jar of baby food and two cups of rice per day, plus three or four cups of water, you are ok for a few days and you can get clear of the meds.

I forgot to mention that your vet's suggestion of the pepcid was a good one. The whole thing is a cycle that starts with the good flora in your dog's tummy being stripped by the drug. Then a chain reaction happens that ends with the pancreas making too much "acid". The pepcid is only a temporary fix but it will help short term.

chewbecca

Posted : 8/22/2006 9:04:59 PM

ORIGINAL: brookcove

Try this. My vet suggests the following when a dog goes off feed. Not vomiting - call vet immediately if your dog has vomiting combined with lack of appetite, not wanting to drink water, and very dark soft stools. Get some of those jars of baby food meat - chicken if your dog can have it, or beef or veal or turkey or whatever your dog can have.

Feed your dog spoon by spoon. Try to get half a jar in your dog with each dose of meds, plus offer some every few hours in between. If your dog is so sick that this doesn't work, and your vet shrugs it off, find a new vet ASAP.

If your dog accepts this well, add some instant rice (easy to make). Mix a little of the meat in and offer it - see if you can get as much as a quarter cup per dose of meds. If you can get your dog to eat a jar of baby food and two cups of rice per day, plus three or four cups of water, you are ok for a few days and you can get clear of the meds.

I forgot to mention that your vet's suggestion of the pepcid was a good one. The whole thing is a cycle that starts with the good flora in your dog's tummy being stripped by the drug. Then a chain reaction happens that ends with the pancreas making too much "acid". The pepcid is only a temporary fix but it will help short term.

Thank you so much for your help. All who have helped in this thread. She ate 1 1/2 hrs. ago and we did the pepcid right after she ate, waited half an hour and then gave her her antibiotic. She's held it down so far. If she doesn't hold down her food come tomorrow, I shall try the baby food suggestion, if she'll eat it.
I'm thinking that while the antibiotic may have upset her stomach, the fact that she was eating almost 3 cups of food at one time probably contributed to the vomitting. Maybe we'll have luck spacing her food out, like suggested.

Thanks again!