Last Tuesday night, at supper time, the dog started vomiting...
Not the kind of vomiting like a dog does when they eat a little grass or something and hack it up...
She vomited her food, and then vomited bile, and then continued to wretch and heave until there was nothing left but drool. It was awful. :-(
We cleaned it all up and washed her face and assumed it was a fluke.
But then, she continued to wretch daily for the next 3 days. It was so strange. She would be fine for several hours, and then suddenly she would vomit violently all over again. Finally, Friday morning I took her to the vet first thing. They weren't able to find anything wrong with her. No parasites, and everything seemed normal when they examined her. They sent us home for the weekend and said if she didn't improve, they'd have to do more x-rays and scans on Monday.
Meanwhile, I had been cooking her plain rice because it was the only thing she kept down long enough to do any good. Saturday was probably about the worst. She finally went off all of her food and water and just laid there. The sparkle was gone from her eyes and as I stood in the shower that morning I actually let myself wonder if she was going to be okay.
She hadn't had anything to eat or drink the entire day Saturday, so I took out one of her precious Chicken and Sweet Potato dog treats to try to entice her to eat something...
We discovered these treats at Trader Joe's a couple months ago, and they're Gretchen's favorite thing. We always gave her one when we left her home alone (which is quite a bit in the summer).
She devoured the treat, and I was very thankful. After eating the treat, she actually showed an interest in some food and water, too, and I was hopeful. And then...it all came up all over again.
Finally, I started to think back over the last week, and how Gretchen had several Trader Joe's treats on Tuesday... I thought about how she seemed to be able to keep plain rice down, but vomited everything else, and then it occurred to me that she always got sick within a couple hours of having a treat... In looking at the ingredients, it would appear that Gretchen developed a sudden and severe allergy to wheat.
(Well, in hindsight, it was probably actually gradual, but the vomiting was very sudden.)
We eliminated all gluten from her diet, and she has been a new dog ever since!
We are SO thankful!
It's amazing how much pets become a part of the family. Hearing her eating and drinking again is like music to my ears. The little kibble crumbs that used to drive me crazy in my kitchen are treasured reminders that we still have a teddy bear to cuddle and love. She is a gift, and I hope she will bring joy to our home for many years to come!
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