beagle puppy with bloated belly

Question
QUESTION: Our 7 month old beagle has had a bloated belly for about 10 days. He acts completely normal. He is going to the bathroom, playing, eating, and drinking normally. It does not bother him when we press on his belly. We took a fecal sample to the vet and it tested negative for parasites. We did not feed him for 24 hrs (following the advice of our vet) thinking he may be taking in too much air while eating. Then after 24 hrs we gradually introduced food 1/4 cup at a time 4x a day. Today it looks even larger. We did catch him licking the dripping collection container under the grill this morning. I liken his appearance it to a cow's body where you see the rib cage and spine but the belly bulges below. We are not able to get him to the vet until Thursday but I am getting worried since it seems to be getting larger. One other thing that may be completely unrelated, he had a hernia repaired when he was about 7 wks old and then had to have it "re" repaired but I do not have the details because we had not adopted him yet from the local Humane Society.

ANSWER: The fact that he is eating, playing etc is a good sign, but I would be concerned that he is getting air into his body cavity somehow. Have you tried to raise up his food dish about 6" off of the floor? This will sometimes help dogs that are gulpers to not eat as fast and to chew their food better.

Just because his fecal was negative doesn't mean he doesn't have worms so I would treat him for worms anyway.

However, you don't mention that he is on heartworm prevention and one of the hallmarks of heartworm disease (usually later stage) is a bloated belly due to liver congestion issues. They are also very thin on the upper part of their body.

What is the color of his skin, his mucous membranes and the lids around his eyes? Are they slightly yellow or pink? Does he cough?

There are so many things that can cause this that I couldn't name them all but they require some testing and an xray to determine.

Is this dog a chewer of balls, toys etc? These can cause gastric blockages that will cause the gut to fill with air, but the dog usually shows signs of distress as well.

I doubt if the hernia has anything to do with this since it was repaired twice but you never know.

I guess there is probably nothing you can do until Thursday but at least you have some things to ask the vet about- namely his state of heartworm disease or not. If he has been on prevention since he was 6 weeks it's unlikely that he has it but he should be tested anyway.

I'm sorry that's about all I can give you. I hope you find the cause on Thurs. Please drop me a line and let me know what you find out.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We ended up at the vet today. Turns out his bloated belly was full of clear fluid. They drained about a liter of it, he is still dripping from the drainage site. He now looks like a skeleton with fur. Apparently he was not getting enough to eat (that was out fault because we thought he was eating too much too fast and taking in a lot of air.)

He had blood work done and we should hopefully know by noon tomorrow what is causing it. She said it could be his heart, his liver, or possibly a protein deficiency. She sounded very guarded with what she was telling me. She said that she did not want to get my hopes up. She was surprised at how happy and energetic he is due to the amount of fluid that had built up.

To answer your question regarding heartworm prevention, he has been on monthly heartworm pills since he was old enough to start. I still asked the vet and she said that it takes 6 months to show symptoms and since he is only 7 months old, it is unlikely that is what is going on.

We are all praying that is it something treatable. He is really a sweet little guy and was my daughter's 12th birthday present. She is having a hard time dealing with all of this.

Thank you for answering my questions so quickly last night, it really meant a lot to me to hear something during the time we were waiting to go to the vet.

Answer
Well she is right to be guarded with his prognosis Jennie. Even a protein deficiency is not a good thing, as the outcomes are uncertain.

She is right about it being one of those three things, but the liver or protein deficiency are the most likely.

Heartworm disease can be detected by the age of 6 months in a dog that has NOT been on prevention. Yes, the symptoms of ADVANCED HW disease wouldn't show up until later but hey, we have seen all kinds of very odd things.

I hope that whatever your pup has is treatable. Thanks for the follow up and please let me know what the outcome is.

I will be praying for him!