hi there -

i have a 13 month old bullmastiff who has had more than her fair share of illness in her short life (and has cost a fortune in vets bills)

she suffers from a lot of skin allergies - which have been tested a lot at the vets with no conclusion.

my main concern is her constant vomiting. she is sick on average of every other day. and often is off her food. the vets dont seem very concerned by this but i am getting more and more worried. on one hand it could be her picking up rubbish in the garden etc (we have a lot of foxes near by) or could it be something more serious????

any advice or similar experiences wud be much appreciated!!!!!

Sorry to hear about your dog, but if I were you I would be a pain in the vets behind and insist they took more interest in my dog. No dog should vomit every other day and refuse to eat without something being wrong :(
I'm not going to make assumptions on why she should be like this but please go back to the vets, see if they can do some simple tests, it could be nothing but you need to know for sure if only for your peace of mind.

Dee

What are you feeding her? Is she sick on one certain type of food only, or is she sick no matter what you feed her.She may have a blockage in her stomach as it is not normal to vomit almost everyday.

Paxo

im feeding her a  mix of half tinned food (pedigree) and half complete dry mix but i have to change her food quite regularly as she just stops eating and i think it may be because shes fussy (or may be to do with this but she will always still eat treats) i have tried her on various complete dry foods in the past but she has always had the tendancy to be sick a lot whatever shes fed.

shes mostly sicks up undigested food but sometimes it is a bile (not often)......

ive arranged another vet appt this pm but it get so expensive!!

hiya bergebabe,

your dog sounds just like my sisters eldest boxer. He has skin problems, and in the end she insisted on having him allergy tested (she got it done through petplan, but she said it was about £160...?), and he's intolerant to most stuff found in dog food! He had chronic skin problems-dry and flaky, itchy, dull flat coat etc. He also vomited. Loads. The skin probs were due to the allergies, but the vomiting was due to a deforemd oesophagus. He has a 'pocket' half way down. As he was feeding from the floor, the food was getting stuck in this pouch. Any sudden movements, or even just mooching around would cause him to throw it back up, because it wasn't contained anywhere, so could only come up. He's now fed from a food stand and that has helped. The 'pouch' is still there, but the added height makes the food go to his stomach.

i doubt this is whats happening to your dog, but just wanted to share the experience!

let us know how you get on !

nicola

(i would invest in a food stand for when he's bigger-with him being a large breed and deep chested, it'll minimise the risk of bloat and torsion, both of which can be fatal. )

poor guy - but it does sound similar...

i do already feed her from an elevated food stand as they suggest it for her breed, they seem to be a bit sensitive generally, which makes it even harder to know if youve got anything to worry about!!

Hi - Did you go to the vet this evening? What did he say?

Dee

yes we visited the vet last night and back again this am for a blood test....

we've got to wait for the results of that before doing anything else now but i will know by monday. if they cant see anything with the blood test theyll look at a scope etc. lucky shes insured.

Fingers and paws crossed for you, let us know how it goes :)

Dee

Have you considered a raw meat and bones diet, that way you dont have to worry about what dubious ingredients are in commercial food, it seems a bit suspicious your dog vomits goes off food and has skin allergies. I dont want to bang on about it (often to people with more experience than me) but i have heard many tales of symptons such as these going soon after changing to a raw diet.

i dont know much about this kind of diet - do u know anywhere i can get more info???

her blood tests show nothing - the vet wants to try allergy food before we give her a scope but im concerned as they suggest specific foods for large breeds and they dont do a large breed food which is also sensitive.....

Royal Canin offer one.
PS if you put "Large Breed Sensitive" into Google several brands come up.

Is she bringing up food or just bile and froth.  If the latter it is indigestion.  My 10 year old used to do this quite often adn would be off her food for the rest of the day.  I started giving her sherleys gastric tablets (a mix of hrebs, Mint etc) and she was much better.

I now feed her Autarky which has lots of added herbs including ones good for digestion, and she is hardly ever sick now.  When I ran out and gave her waht my younger dogs are eating she strted up with the bile again.  I found it worked even when she was getting half and half Autarky with the other food I feed.

Aw sorry to here about your dog but you might be better feeding on a hypoallerginic food like wafcol allerginic, burns or james well beloved.  I hope she gets better.  Best of luck.

Warm regards Susan

Does sound as though it could be what the other posters dog has a pouch, mega-oesophagus or something similar.  Hope it isn't but if it is there are ways around it if it's not too severe.

The Bullmastiff is predisposed to Bloat of which vomiting is a symptom. It's serious so check out this page: http://globalspan.net/bloat.htm and express your concern to your vet.

sorry to hear your bullmastiff is poorly our boy storm is having problems with his skin
at the moment and are attending the vet ( yes it can be expensive) . He has been on tablets for months now it goes away and comes back . So he has had more tests done. Have you experienced any problems with the back of her paws not on the pad but just above, sores that bleed for no apparent reason. I hope he feels better soon.