Extreme intermittant stomach pain

Question
Tonight my Beagle mix had another bout of extreme stomach pain. I called her for her final trip to the bathroom for the evening, and when she finally came she was obviously in great pain, emitting a high-pitched whine with her tail between her legs. When I gently touched her stomach, she nibbled my hand and cried out in pain. Now, an hour and a half later, she seems fine: touching her stomach doesn't hurt, and she's comfortably sleeping.

This has happened at least five times before with the same pattern of extreme stomach pain that resolves within a couple of hours. (We're not home 24/7, so she could be having these episodes without my knowing.) Her stomach doesn't appear to be distended.

I have taken her to my vet, and he couldn't find anything from physically examining her. He thought x-rays and blood work were premature at this point and told me to keep a food diary.

The last time this happened (that I know about) was about two months ago, and we speculated that the "attack" might have been triggered by a little flax oil we added to her food. Since then, there has been no more flax oil added to her food, and we were beginning to think that was the cause of the problem. Until it happened again tonight.

She is about 2 1/2 years old and has no other health problems that I'm aware of, although she is a bit on the lazy side. She's not overweight. I adopted her when she was 5-6 months old, and she's always seemed pretty healthy. The only slightly unusual thing I've noticed about her is a metallic smell to her breath. She's always had that.

We feed all of our dogs (there are 3 more) a mixture of Innova EVO, a veggie/chicken mix, and usually cottage cheese or yogurt. A couple times a week, they get a raw, organic egg. They eat twice a day. I've never seen any of my other dogs have this problem.

I'm at a loss... What could be causing this? I know from my own experience that trapped gas in your stomach or intestines can be extremely painful. But these attacks, though infrequent, aren't normal for a dog. My web searches haven't turned up anything with the symptoms matching what my dog is experiencing. I've heard of bloat and know that it's a medical emergency; this doesn't seem to be bloat to me, unless there's a mild form of bloat that resolves itself in a short period of time.

I can't stand seeing my dog in such pain! If there's any direction you could point me to find the answer to this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer
Dear Lisa,

Thank you for writing to me about your dog's medical problem.   My heart goes out to you.  It is so frustrating when we don't know how to help our dogs when they are suffering.

Lisa, because I am not a vet I can't tell you exactly what is going on with your dog.  What I can tell you, is that it cannot be ignored.  Dogs hide their pain.  It is natural for them to do so because in the wild. If a dog is not able to keep up with the pack it is destroyed, so once a dog actually shows it's pain, it has reached a desperate point.  Listen carefully and seriously to what your dog is "telling" you.

There are many things that could cause this kind of pain from parasites to a blockage to a hernia to allergies...and many more things than I can even begin to mention.  If your vet doesn't know what is going on then you must get a second opinion and/or see a specialist.  I would start with a gastro specialist.  If you are anywhere near a teaching vet school, that would be a wonderful place to bring your dog.

On the other hand, I can suggest one of the best holistic vets in the country, who can run bio-chemical profile on your dog, which would give you a tremendous amount of information.  His name is Dr. Kruesi.  http://www.crvetcenter.com/drkruesi.htm

You might want to change her food, just to see if allergies are playing a roll in this problem. Start with a fish and potato, human grade food.  Add some live culture yogurt, squash/pumpkin or sweet potato,  and a pinch of either olive oil, advocado or fish oil, starting with 1/8 teaspoon. Do this very slowly.

Have a fecal exam done, including for Giardia and Cryptosporidium.  Dr. Kruesi can do that test for you..it is extremely thorough.

Personally, if it were my dog, I would have an ultra sound done of all the organs in the area in question.

If your dog is having a problem with gas, as you mentioned, bloat is a potential life threatening problem.  Keep some gas-x and activated charcoal on hand and see if this helps the situation.

Additionally, prior to eating, give your dog some Prozyme (J&B Wholesale Pet Supplies).

If you are feeding your dog dry food, be sure to wet the food, let it stand for 5-10 minutes and then give it to her.  Don't elevate the food bowl.

This is all that I can think of at the moment.  What I do urge you to do is persue further investigation until you find out what the problem is.

I wish you and your dog the best of luck.

Best Regards,
Shelley Davis