Vomiting and Diarreah

Question
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Followup To Hello Dawn:  Today is December 26, 2004 and we picked Shadow up from the vet on December 24.  She did get two bags of IV fluid and has had no more vomiting or diarreah since December 23.  The vet did run a stool sample for worms (which I knew she did not have) and it was negative.  He still wants to run blood work this coming week.  I don't think as of now we will do that since she is eating, drinking, and doing much better.  She is on a soft diet for about a week then I will slowly reintroduce her regular food mixed with what she is eating now until she can eat just her regular diet of Innova.  He did give her about five days worth of antibiotics which she is now taking.  I think she just had a virus but he still thinks it is something more.  I will run the blood work if she has any more problems.  What is your take on this?  Can a dog catch a virus from other pets (cats) in the same household?  Let me know what you think.  Thanks, Mary, mlowe5@cfl.rr.com
Question -
My 2 1/2 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi started having diarreah last night around 9 p.m.  She went out for a walk and had two spells of diarreah.  Then about two hours later had another small spell of diarreah.  Around 3a.m. she had a larger spell of diarreah with some vomiting.  I stayed up with her until 5a.m.  When my husband got up at 9a.m. he found she had another spell of diarreah and vomiting.  He made an appointment with our vet.  She did not vomit or have diarreah after 9a.m until around 3p.m. when I took her outside, she had one small spell of diarreah.  She has not had anything to eat since her dinner last night at 5p.m.  She did drink some water this afternoon.  I took her to our vet and he said she needed to stay overnight for observation.  He called about one hour later and said she had a spell of diarreah and wanted to put her on an IV.  I said okay and he said he would like to run some blood tests to check for parasites, kidney problems, liver function, pancreaitist, etc.  I wanted to hold off until tomorrow as he could not give me a cost of all of these tests.  I have three cats and two of them had a spell of diarreah and vomiting this week also. (Just once each)  I thought maybe she picked up a virus from them.  He does not think so and wants to run the tests.  I don't want to risk my pets health, but already today it has cost me over $120.00 for the office visit, one night in his clinic and the IV and fluid.  It is a financial strain right now, but I don't want to make the wrong decision that could cause my pet to have more health problems.  I definitely will have the blood work done if she is no better by tomorrow (still having diarreah and vomiting).  If she is better, do you think I need to go ahead with these tests?  She is strickly an inside dog (only goes in our yard) and all of our cats are strickly inside pets also.  All of our pets are up to date on all vaccinations and checkups.  We did have some blood work done on our dog (Shadow) just about two months ago when she went in for all of her vaccinations and checkup as we had her fur shaved in the summer to reduce the amount of hair in our home and her hair is not growing back correctly.  She has some patches that are longer but most of her hair has not grown back.  The vet thought she might have a thyroid problem and ran a blood test.  It came back 1.  The scale she said is 1 -4 with 1 being the lowest acceptable rating.  She did not put her on any medications and said she would run the blood work again in 6 months.  She does not get any table food and is on Innova dog food.  She has not had anything different to eat or been out of the home to get into anything poisonous.  Do you have any suggestions? Any info would be very much appreciated.  Mary Lowe, mlowe5@cfl.rr.com
Answer -
Hi Mary, Since this was submitted on the 23rd, can you give me an update on the dog.  I'm figuring you have already made some decisions regarding the dog's visit to the vet.  If some things have not been resolved, I would be glad to help you.

Dawn

Answer
Hi, I'm glad to hear she is doing better.  She probably did get dehydrated from the diarhea & vomiting.  Most viruses do not cross species, it sounds more like they all got into something.  Maybe they found something in the yard to eat or a bad batch of food could cause it (can she get into their food or vise versa?).  I would definitely follow the course of action you are following and hold off on the blood work unless she doesn't cross back over to her own food well.  A thyroid problem probably would cause the problems you had, but I would definitely follow up on that when it is time to have the blood work done again.  Good luck and if you have any other problems, feel free to contact me.

Dawn