Vomiting, Diarrhea, Oh My!

    • Gold Top Dog

    Vomiting, Diarrhea, Oh My!

    So I don't know if there was something wrong with the last bunch of marrow bones I got Ari, but the first time she had a vomitting/diarreah night I chaulked it up to the fact I had fed her a LOT of marrow - much more than normal and Ari isn't known for having the strongest of stomachs.  Well two nights ago I gave her one marrow bone, she tore off what meat was on it and ate about half the marrow before I took it away (nothing unusual there), and last night we dealt with vomitting and diarreah like you wouldn't believe.  Poor girl was miserable all night.  She's better today, acting like nothing happened last night - ate breakfast, about to eat lunch, and just fine.  Same thing happened last time too (next day fully recovered).

    But, I don't think we'll be giving these bones to her anymore, or anything raw for that matter.  Too bad, she really loved them.  But I don't like (nor does the SO) dealing with vomit all over the place (she retched till she was only retching up foam) and diarrhea.  In fact I got sick myself cleaning it up and hearing her retch. 

    Bad bunch of marrow bones perhaps?  They looked/smelled fine to me. 
     

    • Gold Top Dog

    My concern would be that she’s reacting to the fat in the marrow. Yes, you certainly can get a ‘bad’ bunch – I’m assuming since there was time between them that they were frozen before you used them? (to kill the bacteria)

    Before you decide to not give raw at all I’d try a different type of bone (maybe shortribs – far less fatty, or even a chicken wing).

    That all being said – I’d be super careful of how much fat you give her and frankly, you might have some blood-work done on her at some point just to see how close to pancreatitis she may hover normally. (yes, they can tell that from the amylase and lipase levels in the blood-work). but it could save you a nasty, nasty bout of pancreatitis sometime just because she got hold of something that pushed the inflammation beyond what the body could handle.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Yup I freeze them at least a couple of days ahead of time before giving them over to her.  She's had them since she was about 12 weeks and it's only been this last batch she seemed to have reacted too (they all came from the same place, bought at the same time). 

    I do think we need to be careful of fat with her, she had gotten ahold of some (as in quite a bit, I had a wee mishap in the kitchen) chicken fat actually (before she knew the leave it command) and come to think of it she vomited all that up as well.   

    I will definitively have some blood work done on her - I'd rather known this now than find out later.  Ari just seems to have a sensitive stomach to begin with (Innova puppy was too rich for her, but she does well on california natural puppy).  We really don't give much people food (occasionally a spoonful of cottage cheese frozen in a kong, egg on occasion, some berries on occasion, and we save high value treats for parts of training that call for it (right now that's american cheese or cut up chicken breast). 

    Poor girl last night - both our hearts were breaking.  When she's not feeling well the look on her face, well you'd have to be pretty heartless not to want to make her feel all better!   

    • Gold Top Dog

    I agree I wouldn't give them to her anymore.  I think with her history of issues already I wouldn't give them anyway.  But, if she's getting that sick from them it's not worth it and like was mentioned all you'd need is pancreatitis--believe me I've been thru a scare with that and it's not fun. 

    Maybe, (big maybe) you could try a small amount again when she's older. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    there simply could be a bacteria in there that's not killed by freezing -- not common, but it CAN happen. 

     But yeah, I think bloodwork is a good idea