{"id":36,"date":"2009-12-01T13:14:47","date_gmt":"2009-12-01T13:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/?p=36"},"modified":"2009-12-01T13:20:11","modified_gmt":"2009-12-01T13:20:11","slug":"your-poodle-is-vomiting-%e2%80%93-could-it-be-an-ulcer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/your-poodle-is-vomiting-%e2%80%93-could-it-be-an-ulcer\/","title":{"rendered":"Your poodle is vomiting \u2013 could it be an ulcer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the last few posts we\u2019ve been talking about some of the reasons poodles vomit.\u00a0 Since vets have identified about 70 possible reasons, you can see that we\u2019re just scratching surface (and you can also see why your vet may need to do a lot of tests).<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at ulcers as a reason why your poodle might be throwing up\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ulcer Symptoms<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, a warning: The symptoms that suggest your poodle may have an ulcer could also be symptoms of other illnesses.\u00a0 So be sure to grab a vomit sample, a stool sample and head to your vet.<\/p>\n<p>Now having said that, here are a few symptoms that suggest your poodle may have an ulcer.\u00a0 Do note that your poodle may only have one symptom (such as vomiting):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vomiting: The vomit may or may not have blood in it.\u00a0 If it does have blood, it could be specks of bright red blood. Or it may be partially digested, in which case it could look like coffee grounds or black or brown flakes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Blood in the stool: If the poodle has a stomach ulcer, then the blood in the stool will be digested \u2013 and that means it typically takes on a \u201ctarry\u201d dark appearance (e.g., blackish).\u00a0 If you see red blood in the stool, then your poodle has an intestinal disturbance or an ulcer further down (in the large intestine rather than the stomach).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Abdominal pain: Your poodle may show signs of pain or discomfort in the abdominal region.\u00a0 For example, she may not want you to touch her stomach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Low appetite: If your poodle is experiencing some pain or discomfort in the stomach, then he\u2019ll probably have a low appetite.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Lethargy: If your poodle is vomiting and experiencing pain, he probably won&#8217;t be as active as usual.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are the most common signs.\u00a0 However, if the ulcer is severe and\/or if the vomiting is severe, then your poodle could very quickly move from having a serious illness to a life-threatening emergency. That\u2019s because your poodle can quickly dehydrate, collapse or show other signs of shock.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, you need to get your poodle to the vet NOW if you see any of these serious signs such as bloody vomit, dehydration or collapse.\u00a0 And regardless of what you\u2019re seeing \u2013 even if it doesn\u2019t seem all that serious to you \u2013 call your vet so that you can come up with a treatment plan to put a halt to your poodle\u2019s ill health.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Caused the Poodle\u2019s Stomach Ulcer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are many reasons a poodle can get an ulcer, including (but not limited to) the following:<\/p>\n<p>-Drugs, especially NSAIDs (including painkillers like aspirin).<br \/>\n-Diseases (such as Addison\u2019s disease &#8212; we&#8217;ll talk about this in another post).<br \/>\n-Infection (including bacterial infection such as helicobacter pylori).<br \/>\n-Foreign objects (e.g., your poodle swallowed a sharp bone or a nonfood item).<br \/>\n-Cancer.<br \/>\n-Ulcers secondary to other illnesses that cause prolonged vomiting (such as food intolerance).<\/p>\n<p>And yes, stress may play a contributing factor as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How are Poodle Stomach Ulcers Treated?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Different vet\u2019s take different approaches to stomach ulcers, depending on what they think is the cause of the ulcer.\u00a0 These steps may include:<\/p>\n<p>-Discovering the root cause of the ulcer.\u00a0 To do this, your vet may need to do a blood panel, urine analysis, stool analysis, x-ray and\/or barium study, endoscopic study, etc.\u00a0 If a cause is determined, the treatment plan will include removing or treating the cause.\u00a0 For example, if Addison\u2019s Disease is the cause, then your poodle will be treated for Addison\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>-Anti-vomit drugs.\u00a0 Vomiting just creates more acid and more vomiting. As such, your vet may prescribe an anti-vomit drug (like Cerenia) to stop the vomiting so your poodle\u2019s stomach has a chance to start healing.<\/p>\n<p>-Antibiotics. If your vet suspects the ulcer is caused by a bacterial infection, then your poodle may be put on antibiotics to combat the infection.<\/p>\n<p>-Stomach coaters.\u00a0 Your vet may prescribe something to soothe and coat the stomach. These coaters may include things like Carafate or even Maalox.<\/p>\n<p>-Acid reducers.\u00a0 Your poodle may also need to take a medicine that helps reduce the acid in the stomach (which helps the ulcer heal).\u00a0 These items include drugs like famotidine or cimetidine.\u00a0 (The brand names for these drugs include Pepcid AC, Tagamet and similar.)<\/p>\n<p>-Diet change.\u00a0 Your vet will likely give you instructions for feeding a bland, easily digestible diet (e.g., a low residue diet).\u00a0 You may get a prescription diet, or you may choose a home cooked diet.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to follow your vet\u2019s instructions completely so that you can stop the vomiting and the ulcer can start healing.\u00a0 It may take months to fully heal, so don\u2019t \u201cslack off\u201d just because your poodle feels better.\u00a0 Otherwise, you may end up exacerbating the situation and delaying healing time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the last few posts we\u2019ve been talking about some of the reasons poodles vomit.\u00a0 Since vets have identified about 70 possible reasons, you can see that we\u2019re just scratching surface (and you can also see why your vet may need to do a lot of tests). Let\u2019s look at ulcers as a reason why [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[38,37,36,33],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poodle_health","category-poodle_nutrition","tag-blood-in-vomit","tag-gastric-ulcer","tag-poodle-stomach-ulcer","tag-vomiting-poodle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}