Thickening of stomach wall?

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Postby TheRedQueen » March 25th, 2012, 9:53 pm

trying to get some info on why a dog's stomach wall would be thickening?

Michelle's boxer has not been eating on her own...hundreds of dollars later, we have no conclusive evidence on what it is. 8 year old boxer, spayed female, previously healthy as a horse. Monday we took her to the vet, the first x-ray showed a weird "structure" to the stomach, and an enlarged spleen. Wed was the ultrasound...which showed the spleen was only slightly enlarged, and they're not worried about that anymore...but the stomach was full of gas, and they couldn't see anything specific with the stomach. So we fasted her and took new xrays (digital) on Friday. The stomach wall is thickened, but the weird "structure" is gone.

However, she's still not eating on her own...and only eats if I hand feed her. (she did eat for the first time from her bowl today).

She is on a stomach coating med, and antacid...but she's still not eating well. No vomiting but diarrhea. Losing weight (which she doesn't have to lose, as she's a skinny dog already)...even though she's eating 3 cans of Merrick (she enjoys that) and 6-12 satin balls each day.

The vet recommended a specialist to get her scoped or other...but we're talking $$$$$ at this point, with no real clear idea of what we're looking at.

Does anyone have thoughts, ideas, anything? Grasping at straws here...:(
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Postby TheRedQueen » March 26th, 2012, 12:09 am

Update, she ate on her own tonight and threw up the entire can of food within a half an hour
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Postby Malli » March 26th, 2012, 1:49 pm

I wish I had something to offer.
This reminds me of Joyce's Harley and his problems, well, the description of the external symptoms, but his I believe was a GI Motility issue.
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Postby TheRedQueen » March 26th, 2012, 3:22 pm

she's only vomited once...so far

the vet wants to do an exploratory...but we're looking at $700 at least just to open her up...not including biopsies and treatments...:(
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » March 26th, 2012, 8:29 pm

Ugh. Could it be a tumor?
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Postby TheRedQueen » March 26th, 2012, 10:58 pm

they're thinking cancer, but there isn't any clear sign of tumors or masses
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
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Postby Tubular Toby » March 27th, 2012, 12:47 am

=( I'm sorry Erin, I have no idea, but sending lots of good thoughts!
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Postby Malli » March 27th, 2012, 2:29 pm

I'm so sorry, good thoughts from here as well...
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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Postby TheRedQueen » March 27th, 2012, 9:14 pm

We've all decided to go the non-surgery route, and maybe treat with meds and support her with good food and supplements. It's just too expensive to go exploring and treating. She's old for a boxer...and since the second boxer had a vet visit tonight, we're a bit out of cash.
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
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Postby pocketpit » March 30th, 2012, 8:45 pm

The last two Boxers we've treated for similar symptoms sadly did not turn out well. We were never able to find an actually diagnoses despite lots of testing, scoping etc. I hope your friend's dog fares better. We'll keep her in our thoughts.
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Postby mnp13 » April 2nd, 2012, 1:34 pm

That sounds a LOT like my mom's standard poodle, who had a partial blockage from a corn cob. She would eat, and things were going through, but just as often things were shooting out one end or the other. A barium xray finally diagnosed the real issue, as corn cobs are invisible on xrays - and Emma turns 16 in two weeks.
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Postby TheRedQueen » April 2nd, 2012, 9:10 pm

She's not throwing up or having diarrhea on a regular basis...so the vet basically ruled out blockage...it only happened once.
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
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