GERD - Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease

[Halli's Mom]

Anyone heard of this / treating a newf for it?

Because nothing can ever be easy....my Jasmine (the one with EPI) has been doing this reverse sneezing / vomit foam thing. When we first took her in, they diagnosed her with pneumonia and treated her for about a month with Doxy. She seemed fine during the Doxy. About 10 days after stopping the Doxy, she had a few episodes of the reverse sneezing and vomiting again. Took her back to the vet, this time they suspect a respiratory problem, diagnosed w/ Rhinitis and put her back on the Doxy.

Yesterday, during a walk, Jasmine started again with the reverse sneezing/cough then vomiting white foam again - 3 times as i tried to get her home, then another 3 times once we got home, then again in the car on the way to the hospital.

Now the brilliant doctors are saying they think it may be Gastro-Esophageal. They are putting her on a low-fat food (one I'm not keen on first of all), and putting her on Ant-acids. Since the episodes often occur 8 hours after eating, I'm wondering if Acid Reflux is really sticking around that long???

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any advice?

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

Sorry you are dealing with this. GERD is a pretty common problem in humans. It doesn't necessarily have to do with when they eat - its the stomach acid leaking up into the esophagus. Low fat diets and antacids are the common treatment in humans, and I assume the same would apply to dogs.

Here is a good resource for GERD in general:

http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/di...c_disorders/gastroesophageal_reflux_gerd.html

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/dig...agitis_in_small_animals.html?qt=reflux&alt=sh

I hope she feels better and that you've found the problem!

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Absolutely try the antacid (we used pepcid)

I looked into stuff like this a while back with Myra. And what I find interesting is that Myra was treated with doxy for Lymes prior to any of this starting. One of her issues was throwing up bile on an empty stomach, and what's funny is prior she always seemed to have a stomach of iron. One day I noticed an odd noise and smell not sure what it was but my thoughts was some type of acid issue. I called the vet after Vin & I discussed and asked about giving her some pepcid.

Here's the thread I started:

http://www.newf.net/Forums/showthread.php?t=103828

I've always wondered in the back of my mind if the doxy might have had something to do with it, it's such a strong antibiotic. She has always had little quirks that had lead both Vin & I to think maybe she had a Thyroid issue. When we did her blood work we did find she had a thyroid issue and after starting the meds things seem to have improved. Currently she is on a diet and it does seem to have come back somewhat, so I'm still not sure what to think. Now we haven't had any bile issues again but she does do a lot of lip smacking/licking and drooling when it begins, so I give her a cookie or two and it seems to calm until she eats again.
She recently was treated with doxy and I made sure to give her pepcid while on it again.

Just my experience, not sure if it's similar but thought it might pertain. Did you just give her doxy alone or did you give something to take with the doxy (antacid)? Have you tried any probiotics? How fast is her digestive system? I assume this is something new with her? Have you ever had her thyroid checked?

 

[ElvisTheNewf]

An anti-acid may help. If it's always that long after eating, it sounds like she's not doing well with a empty tummy. Would an afternoon snack help? Or splitting her food up into a few smaller meals throughout the day?

 

[Halli's Mom]

this is why I love this forum! THANK YOU ALL!

Dawn the problems started before the Doxy, but I don't rule out it may contribute...my other newf could not tolerate it at all.

 

[victoria1140]

Merlin and Jessie get the throwing up bile and even though Merlin has ibd l have always found it gets worse if they are hungry.
Perhaps try giving a small meal in between and an antacid cant hurt.

 

[R Taft]

Frequent small meals.......up to four/five per day will help and the antacid. They do this with humans too and even kids

 

[Halli's Mom]

we had a bad night last night....constant regurgitation. scheduled endoscopy for Monday....wish us luck.

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Oh Paula, I'm sorry wishing you guys the best of luck. Did you try the antacid and it made it worse?

 

[R Taft]

:hugs: prayers and well wishes from all of us, Ronnie

 

[ardeagold]

I have a Golden with GERD. We feed him 4x a day (breakfast at 9, lunch at around 1, dinner around 6, and bedtime around 11), which is his normal ration divided by 4, plus a few small treats off and on during the day.

Once we started doing the frequent feeding, we never had the problem again, and it's been about 6 years now. He's 10.

I'd speak to the Vet about Pepcid AC. We used to use it, but you need to get the frequency/dosage information from the Vet. It's been so long, I don't remember.

Hope Jasmine is feeling better soon!

 

[KodysGrandma]

I'm not sure how this might apply to animals but I have had GERD for many many years. Tried a slew of medicines. One work colleague used to say to me- remember Tums aren't candy. So for some antacids don't do the job, nor does Prilosec, Nexium, Protonix or the generic. If it is GERD and those solutions don't work down the road a ways ask the vet if there is an equivalent of Dexilant that can be used for animals. In my experience that stuff really truly works wonders. I had to fight the insurance a little to get them to cover it but after 3 rounds they did. Cannot tell you how much difference it has made to me.