My dog won't eat, has diarrhea, drinks water, vet said fine. What now?

Poor guy. It sounds like you should go to another vet for a second opinion here. Something is definitely causing your pets inappetence and GI symptoms. Some things to consider as causes would be addison's disease and pancreatitis. I would recommend going back to the vet to have bloodwork analysis and a urinalysis to start. They may also want to do radiographs as well. In the meantime it is best to offer small portion meals of boiled plain chicken or lean ground turkey and white rice with some pedialyte (non-flavored) diluted 50:50 with water to help replace some of the electrolyte losses. Best of luck with your pet going forward. Take care

I recommend that your contact your vet's office to schedule a follow-up appointment. Your dog may need further diagnostics to determine the cause of the vomiting and diarrhea. While blood work is an excellent and worthwhile diagnostic tool (and I commend you on having it done), it does have limitations. Blood tests are extremely useful for looking at the overall health of your pet. From the tests, a vet can learn if your pet's vomiting is caused by an underlying medical condtion like diabetes, kidney or liver disease, or an infection. Blood work can also reveal if your pet is dehydrated from the vomiting. Many of these problems may not be obvious on a simple physical exam, but if caught early can be successfully treated or controlled, giving your pet a longer and better quality of life. Sometimes blood work can lead to a definitive diagnosis, but oftentimes blood work results guide us as to what the next diagnostic steps should be (radiographs, ultrasound or more specific blood testing).

Poor Ace! The diarrhea could be due to many conditions including eating something he shouldn’t have, bacterial over growth, parasites or other even organ disease. It's likely the diarrhea and the not eating are related. If the diarrhea has continued beyond 24 hours, I recommend to have him examined by the veterinarian. With continued diarrhea, there are often bacterial shifts in the gut that will make matters worse regardless of the initial cause. Make sure to bring in a sample of fresh stool. The doctor will check him for parasites and bacterial over growth. Many times a bland diet can help and then a slow, gradual introduction to the normal food can be done. A bland diet can consist of 25% boiled white meat chicken and 75% boiled white rice. This should all be plain. A good diet in general is Royal Canin. It is low residue and highly digestible. Since Ace will not eat anything you offer, he needs treatment and medication to get and feel better. When pets don't eat well, they often don't drink as much as they should and can become dehydrated. Have him examined today. I hope Ace starts feeling better quickly! Please feel free to post any additional questions!

Based on the information provided, I'm not clear as to how long the loss of appetite and other symptoms have been going on, but I'm assuming more than 24 hours. It sounds like your big man normally has a very healthy appetite. The symptoms do seem pretty vague, but if they are becoming more frequent, it is definitely time to see your veterinarian. Lots of things could cause Cash to stop eating; everything from a virus, to a blockage from something he ate, or kidney or liver disease, and more. Your veterinarian will likely want to start checking some bloodwork and maybe getting abdominal xrays. The previous episode of diarrhea may or may not be related, but I think it is time to look into this further. In response to your question "could this be something serious", that is harder to answer. In short, yes it could, but I hope it isn't. Only with a full exam and some testing will your veterinarian be able to answer that fully. I hope your Johnny Cash is on the mend soon.

Hello, sorry to hear about your pup. It sounds like your dog may be sick, and even though the diagnostics did not show much, there may still be something going on with him and additional diagnostics should be considered. These may include an abdominal ultrasound, urinalysis, and repeat bloodwork. If you dog is still acting abnormally, then have him evaluated by your emergency clinician tonight. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Poor Woodrow. He sounds very sick and likely has an internal illness that requires testing and treatment through your vet. There are so many possible causes for lack of appetite, including liver disease, kidney disease, infection or pancreatitis just to name a few. We need to first have some bloodwork done on him to see if that shows any clues as to why he is ill. He may need additional testing if the bloodwork doesn't reveal anything. I would make it a point to take him in to your vet within the next 24-48 hrs if possible. Until then continue to offer him boiled plain chicken and rice or tuna and rice to see if you can keep him nourished. I would also offer Pedialyte (non-flavored) diluted with water to try and keep him hydrated. I hope that things work out for your pet Woodrow and that he has a full and speedy recovery. Take care and best wishes.

The bilirubin is a bit high, as is the ALP (alkaline phosphatase) but neither of these values is super specific in terms of what the cause or the best treatment is. We can see the ALP be elevated with stress, age, and sometimes even normal cell regeneration within the liver. The bilirubin can be slightly elevated when the blood sample is what we call "hemolyzed," which can sometimes happen when blood is spun down for a blood test to be run. Therefore, if he is still showing symptoms of illness, I would echo what Dr Ana said; it may be time to consider imaging. Either X-rays or an abdominal ultrasound maybe helpful in identifying the problem and therefore identifying the best way to treat it. Take him back to the vet if he's still having troubles, as he probably is in need of some more fluids as well. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach, I hope he's feeling better.