cellulitis & swollen abdomen

Question
My dog, Coco, had an operation for a mast stem tumour on her leg in March, and another in June in the same place.  Two weeks after stitches were out she had difficulty walking, losing strength, with that leg.   That was two weeks ago.  She is 10.  A few days later she showed a little difficulty but was otherwise ok, so I just sympathised, spent time with her, but just thought this was post-operative.  This week she rapidly deteriorated, panting, not coming to her food, not wanting to go out, very depressed.  I got her to the vet on Tuesday and her other leg started to swell fast.  They diagnozed cellulitis and kept her in.  Her stomach seemed rather swollen.  She has been on a drip for four days.  Now her stomach is really distended, full of gas, & they say she is not passing anything out of it.  Say they don't know if it is a tumour or what it is.  Nothing shows on the scan or x-ray but gas.  She won't eat, drools, and is sick.  Her leg is very distended.  After four days on a drip there is no change, tests show her white cell count is very high and she runs a temperature.  Her livery & kidneys are apparently ok.  Vet says this is not the mast cell tumour, but cellulitis of the leg & does not understand her stomach problem.  She is still throwing up once or twice a day, very dark water.  I have 4 labs but she is my old girl and i am so worried about her.  She is not getting any better, but also apparently no worse, just in an awful state of sickness & depression.  She refuses to eat, drinks a little water, but due to her distended stomach, throws up, presumably no more room.  Vet does not connect the stomach with the leg problem, but she has a serious problem with the digestion he cannot solve.  Can you make any suggestions?  She still just about wags her tail, and will go for very short slow walks to do a pee and be with me.  She obviously cannot go on like this.  Please try to help.  I am desperately worried about her, and with no diagnosis, and no chance of operating on her stomach, nothing showing on scan, vet mystified, what can we do?

Answer
Dogs with systemic mast cell tumors often have stomach problems.  Mast cell tumors make lots of histamine, which affects the stomach.  Ask the vet to try some antihistamines like Cimetidine, Famotodine, or Ranitidine to see if it helps the stomach problem.  The cellulitis may be from a bacterial infection after the surgery.