The wife and I were abruptly awoken at 3:00 AM this morning to our miniature dachshund heaving - on the bed! First thing I do is hold his head over the bed so it ends up on the floor (we have already forfeited our deposit due to him and a couple of cats).
The wife cleans up the puke and treats it with enzyme stuff to keep it from setting and I start to clean of the dog's face. Wife takes him into the kitchen to keep an eye on him and he throws up even more. This time there were little specks of red and left-over food. Side note: He hadn't eaten a full meal since Friday evening, barely ate any of his breakfast Saturday and none of his dinner. After that, he pees on the floor and less than a minute after that, he poops. First it was solid, then it was runny with blood.
So we clean that up and start looking for a 24-hour emergency clinic. I don't know much about dogs but I do know that for people if there's blood in any fluid/feces that come out of you it's time to visit a doc.
We get him to the vet and the first thing they do is run a blood test. 45 minutes later we get the details: He's dehydrated, low on electrolytes. Liver enzymes are normal, pancreatic enzymes are way out of whack, white/red blood cell counts are normal, he's got a fever and sore in his abdomen. The vet said that it looks like acute pancreatic inflammation or infection but
another test would give us an indicator of the severity (if it is). She wanted to start him on IV fluids/electrolytes, anti-vomiting and nausea medication and then try feeding in about 6 hours. They recommended keeping him for
24 hours at a cost of $1200-$1600.
Seeing as money is a bit of a concern, we opted to have him stay in their care for the next 12 hours (for $800) and monitor his progress. If he's on the path to recovery we'll take care of him the rest of the day and I'll stay home Monday to take him to our normal vet for follow-up care.
My questions to the Pelican Brain Trust - how common is this? What causes it? What's the best/worst scenarios to prepare for?
Obviously this is a bit heart-wrenching. We love this little guy like a kid.
The dog stats:
Breed: Miniature Dachshund
Age: ~9.5 years
Weight: 11 lbs.
Health Problems: Allergic to fleas, has a heart murmur, on controlled thyroid medication.