
Tagamet and Carafate Treat Severe Gastritis
We are at our wits end! Three weeks ago, our Shih-Z-Poo (8 month old female) ate the poop of our 6 month old Peek-A-Shu. She has done this before and has gotten really sick (vomiting) for a day, then completely back to normal. This time she has never came out of it. She vomited for several days, wouldn't eat or drink, so we call the emergency on call vet on a Sunday, and they put on an IV because she was dehydrated. The kept her for several days and ran tests. They took x-rays, blood samples and did the barium thing. They found nothing. They did prescribe Tagamet and Carafate thinking she might have an ulcer. We brought her home and she would not eat or drink for us at all. She did eat a little (a few bites)when she was in their care. We had to force feed and water her. A couple of days later I took her to a different vet and they gave her a shot for nausea, and said to continue the Tagamet, and gave her IV fluid under her skin on her back. I brought her home and that afternoon, she got worse and started vomiting again. That night I took her back to the second vet and they admitted her and put her on and IV and gave her shots for nausea and Tagamet. After a day or so she stopped the vomiting, and ate a little for them and sent her home. Once again, she refused to eat or drink anything. I even boiled chicken, fried egg, hamburger, tried cheese... At times she would take one or two bites, but that was it. We had to force feed and water her again. Took her back to be admitted again. They ran the same blood test the first vet ran, and ran a urine and stool sample and started her on an IV again. After a couple of days we tried bringing her home again. At first she always seems to be better, (perky, playful) but within several hours she goes back to the same old thing. They did discover she had a really bad bladder infection and started her on Baytril. The vet ran a test at the beginning of this week for Addison's disease and sent it to U of I. It came back today normal. She is currently at the vet's for the weekend on an IV. It seems she is fine when she's on the IV, but a while after being taken off, she goes downhill again. We are all very puzzled. Our next option is to take her to the U of I. We are more than willing to do this, but I would be very interested in what your thoughts on this are. She is losing so much weigh we are getting scared for her, she is just skin and bones. She is current on all shots and was spayed about three weeks before this happened.
Be sure to read the article on acute gastritis. This will help you and others with the general topic. I will add a few more specific comments below. You pup sounds like she is receiving much care from your veterinarians. The blood tests and x-rays are a critical part of proper diagnostics. Tagamet is Cimetidine, and over the counter medicine used for dogs and humans. Tagamet blocks the receptors in the stomach, decreasing acid production, thus relaxing an acidic stomach. Carafate is Sucralfate, a powerful stomach protectant. Carafate should not be given at the same time as other medications, for it blocks absorption of most medications, thus erasing their effectiveness. Corprophagy is the act of eating feces. Most dogs choose to eat other animal's feces. Most of the time it does not result in disease. It is questionable whether this practice actually caused your pup's stomach upset, or was it merely a coincidence. To stop coprophagy, you should clean up the feces as often as possible. Adding monosodium Glutamate, sold as Accent® in the grocery store, to the other dog's food will make his feces taste worse. You would think feces would taste bad anyway, but monosodium glutamate makes it taste bad to dogs that like to eat feces. Adding a general mineral supplement ot a dog's food sometimes decreases the desire to eat strange foods. The barium x-rays are good for identifying obstructions and large foreign bodies, but may not identify simple, smaller objects in the stomach. Foxtails and other plant burrs can cause similar signs to what your are seeing, and do not show on x-ray. In addition to the carafate and tagamet, the addition of antibiotics, Baytril in this case, is very important. Even if infection is not the initial cause of the problem, infections commonly occur secondary to other problems. Be sure to check for parasites, such as roundworms, too.
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Tagamet and Carafate Treat Severe Gastritis

We are at our wits end! Three weeks ago, our Shih-Z-Poo (8 month old female) ate the poop of our 6 month old Peek-A-Shu. She has done this before and has gotten really sick (vomiting) for a day, then completely back to normal.
This time she has never came out of it. She vomited for several days, wouldn't eat or drink, so we call the emergency on call vet on a Sunday, and they put on an IV because she was dehydrated. The kept her for several days and ran tests. They took x-rays, blood samples and did the barium thing. They found nothing. They did prescribe Tagamet and Carafate thinking she might have an ulcer. We brought her home and she would not eat or drink for us at all. She did eat a little (a few bites)when she was in their care. We had to force feed and water her. A couple of days later I took her to a different vet and they gave her a shot for nausea, and said to continue the Tagamet, and gave her IV fluid under her skin on her back. I brought her home and that afternoon, she got worse and started vomiting again. That night I took her back to the second vet and they admitted her and put her on and IV and gave her shots for nausea and Tagamet. After a day or so she stopped the vomiting, and ate a little for them and sent her home. Once again, she refused to eat or drink anything. I even boiled chicken, fried egg, hamburger, tried cheese... At times she would take one or two bites, but that was it. We had to force feed and water her again. Took her back to be admitted again. They ran the same blood test the first vet ran, and ran a urine and stool sample and started her on an IV again. After a couple of days we tried bringing her home again. At first she always seems to be better, (perky, playful) but within several hours she goes back to the same old thing. They did discover she had a really bad bladder infection and started her on Baytril. The vet ran a test at the beginning of this week for Addison's disease and sent it to U of I. It came back today normal. She is currently at the vet's for the weekend on an IV. It seems she is fine when she's on the IV, but a while after being taken off, she goes downhill again.
We are all very puzzled. Our next option is to take her to the U of I. We are more than willing to do this, but I would be very interested in what your thoughts on this are. She is losing so much weigh we are getting scared for her, she is just skin and bones. She is current on all shots and was spayed about three weeks before this happened.

Be sure to read the article on acute gastritis. This will help you and others with the general topic. I will add a few more specific comments below.

You pup sounds like she is receiving much care from your veterinarians. The blood tests and x-rays are a critical part of proper diagnostics. Tagamet is Cimetidine, and over the counter medicine used for dogs and humans. Tagamet blocks the receptors in the stomach, decreasing acid production, thus relaxing an acidic stomach. Carafate is Sucralfate, a powerful stomach protectant. Carafate should not be given at the same time as other medications, for it blocks absorption of most medications, thus erasing their effectiveness.

Corprophagy is the act of eating feces. Most dogs choose to eat other animal's feces. Most of the time it does not result in disease. It is questionable whether this practice actually caused your pup's stomach upset, or was it merely a coincidence. To stop coprophagy, you should clean up the feces as often as possible. Adding monosodium Glutamate, sold as Accent® in the grocery store, to the other dog's food will make his feces taste worse. You would think feces would taste bad anyway, but monosodium glutamate makes it taste bad to dogs that like to eat feces. Adding a general mineral supplement ot a dog's food sometimes decreases the desire to eat strange foods.

The barium x-rays are good for identifying obstructions and large foreign bodies, but may not identify simple, smaller objects in the stomach. Foxtails and other plant burrs can cause similar signs to what your are seeing, and do not show on x-ray.

In addition to the carafate and tagamet, the addition of antibiotics, Baytril in this case, is very important. Even if infection is not the initial cause of the problem, infections commonly occur secondary to other problems. Be sure to check for parasites, such as roundworms, too.

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