Question
Vomit
Hi
We have a 2 year old male, neutered Maltese. On the 3rd of December 2009, he swallowed a lamb chop bone, which got stuck in his esophagus, right at the entrance to his stomach. Surgery was successfully performed to remove the bone, but in order to remove it, his stomach sack had to be cut open as well so as to fold it over the stuck bone.
After getting home about 7 days after surgery, he started a doing a retching/coughing sound and he kept doing a sucking motion with his tongue, as if constantly swallowing saliva. After a day or two of that he started to vomit. The vomit was white, foamy, egg-like consistency. He vomits about 12-16 times a day. It seems that the vomiting is somehow linked to his emotional state. I say this because when he was left at the vet for observation during the day, he did not vomit, but as soon as he comes home and he is all excited and me or my wife are around he starts to vomit again. He did manage to keep his food down, and he did pass a normal stool.
X-rays were taken, ultra-sounds were done, barium test (where he was fed a dye and it was traced through his system), as well as an endoscopy were done. Nothing abnormal was found. There were some very minor scarring in his esophagus, but nothing adverse. Based on all of this, his digestive system was functioning normally. However he is still performing the sucking action and vomiting.
It was found that his salivary glands, on the sides of his neck, just below his jaw, were severely inflamed. No tests have been done on the glands as yet. After all tests coming back with nothing concrete, one of the specialist physicians we have take him to, has suggested that it is a form of epilepsy. He is now being treated for that with phenobarbitone. It has not made any significant changes to his behaviour, as he is still vomiting about 12-16 times a day. Also something to note, is that his whole body tenses up, sort of a spasm, when he wants to vomit, and he holds his breath for about 5 seconds or so during this spasm.
We have no idea what to do, as he has lost approximately 1,3kg, but he is still eating twice a day. However over the last 2 days he has some food in his vomit to.
Have you come across something like this? Could you point us in any direction?
Thanks so much.
Regards
Ajay
AnswerWell I am already confused as you said this happened over a year ago? I don't understand why this hasn't been treated since then?
I am not a vet but I would certainly get him into the vets and have another ultrasound done to see if there is a pocket in there, like a diverticulum, that has formed in the last year. (since you put 2009 and not 2010 I would have to guess that it isn't a typo).
But in light of the fact that his salivary ducts are swollen I would have to venture to guess that this vomiting and excess saliva is from that. We have successfully removed these and the swelling in the area then stops. It seems that you can explore a duct forever and it won't stop the swelling at all. Only removal seems to do that.
If you want to post this to one of the vets in here please do so and you might get an idea of what this could be. I highly doubt that he has seizures at all, as evidenced by the fact that the vomiting has persisted.
It sounds like he is gagging up the saliva, however, not really vomiting. That amount of vomiting in itself can cause problems with his stomach. He should be on reglan to try and slow down the stomach action and probably cimetidine as well for the excess acid.
These are the things I would ask your vet when you go in for a check up for these salivary ducts glands.
I am sorry I can't help you more so please re-post this to one of the vets. I hope you find an answer soon.
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