Stomach flu

Link feeling a bit under the weather.

 I've spent the better part of the early morning hours caring for Link. He woke me up at 2:30 a.m., standing by the door whining. I took him out, but he didn't do anything so we went inside again. He wasn't able to relax at all though, just pacing and whining. I thought it was hormones again, like earlier this summer, so I basically just ignored him and told him to be quiet.
One hour later he started vomiting. First came all the dog food he had eaten the night before and then came a big wad of grass and sticks that he probably ate while being off leash in the forest the previous evening. Then he wanted to go outside and what came out the other end wasn't exactly pretty. After that we fell asleep for a couple of hours before he started vomiting and had to go out again at 7 a.m. To say that I was tired at this point is an understatement.
We are also taking care of my boyfriend's family's dog Scott, so I walked him too after Link was done, and gave Scott breakfast. Link has been on a strict 1-2 tablespoons of Hill's i/d canned dog food (canned food for sensitive stomachs) every other hour and a probiotic paste (called zoolac) every 6 hours since 4:30 this morning.
When he threw up at 7 a.m. I decided that if he did that again, I would have to go to the vet with him. I work at the vet, so I know not to wait to get your dog checked when it vomits. If it only has diarrhea, I'm not so worried, but vomiting can be caused of a number very serious conditions. Also since he had eaten a lot of grass I was afraid that some of that might have passed from the stomach to the intestines and gotten stuck. More than once have we had to surgically remove grass from the intestines of dogs that show the same signs as Link did this morning. When dogs eat a little grass it is not a problem, but when they eat a lot, it can get stuck and block the intestinal tract. This is fatal if not treated, so vomiting should always be taken very seriously.
Vomiting can also be caused by poisoning, and when that is the case, you have even less time to start treatment than when there is a blockage. Poisoning can either cause death directly, or indirectly by first causing organ failure, depending on what the dog is poisoned by.
Luckily for us, Link has not vomited any more, none of the canned food he has eaten has come back up. So either he ate something that he couldn't digest (well yes, the grass) or that he is sensitive to. Or he, like so many other dogs here in Tromsoe, has gotten the stomach flu that is going around right now. Often dogs will eat grass when they don't feel well, so that seems plausible.
While what comes out the other end can best be describes as a brown watery mush (Sorry for the vivid description!), Link seems to be in good shape and he wants to eat, so for now I'm not worried. Let's just hope what he has isn't contagious, since Scott is here.
Here's to hoping that Scott won't be waking us up tomorrow morning...

If you want to know more about what to do if your dog has the same symptoms, check out my blog post about that here.

A radiograph of the intestines of a dog with the stomach flu, after it had been given some contrast solution. In this case there was no blockage, as the contrast solution has passed through the system. This picture is from a previous post I've written about the stomach flu and you can read it by clicking here.