A puppy buyer of mine has two adult Labradors which became very sick, very fast (the only dogs in the household). Both dogs have been at the vets getting IV fluids and IV antibiotics as well. One is staying at the local emergency vets overnight to continue with fluids. The diagnosis is Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis (HGE), which is something I have never heard of. Does anyone have any experience with this? They are being well taken care of and responding well to treatment. We do not know what caused it. From what I have read, and what her vet says, they could have come into contact with something bacterial, viral, etc., that caused the major gastric/intestinal upset. These are well loved house dogs. They have a moderate sized yard, which they are only in when the owner is home. She is concerned that the dogs might come in contact again with whatever caused the illness. I would also like to give her any advice that anyone might have to help the dog's systems recover from this. Poor babies.
Thank you.

Where do you live..what state?

The dogs live in NC.

seems to be an outbreak of this right now

In the NC area? These are not show dogs, as far as 'show crud' for ex. These are family pets. I'd love to hear any additional info you might have. thx

My oldest lab, Hawke had HGE back in february, she threw up a few times, had some diarrhea and very quickly came to a point where all she had was bloody water for diarrhea and was nearly continually vomiting or drooling. My husband thinks it was from cookies they got from the recycling guy as another of the dogs vomited a lot that day

I took hawke to work and we put her on IV fluids, and drugs to stop the nausea, it didn't help much, i took her to the emergency straight from work and she stayed there a day and a half on fluids and medications.

when she came home, she could only eat 2 tablespoons of food at a time, and she had carafate for her stomach, metronidazole for her bowel, antibiotics, and a very strict diet

she lost almost 12 pounds overnight and was quite weak and sick for about a week. we almost thought we would lose her, there was so much blood and so much dehydration. Even the vets I work with (who tend not to tell me much until after an event) said, "she was a very sick dog, it was touch and go" eeeek!

we see it in some dogs, getting good pallative, restorative care is key, its not something they "just get over" they need fluids and medication to be able to cope

barb

There is a lot of this around at the moment and I am really worried this is another poison food issue like we had earlier in the year with tainted product from China.
This is what happened before and it was only when vets began connecting the dots ...
I would consider changing food.

Good luck and prayers for these dogs!

Mine almost died and was in the ER for 2 visits! I know another breeder who has the same thing with the same.

My ACD boy had an HGE event a few years ago. We took him to the emergency vets, and they asked us to do a thorough search of the yard/house for anything he could have gotten into. My hubby found mushrooms in the yard, and they *think* it may have been related to that. He was in ICU for two days, and they sent him home with his IV, and told me to "make him comfortable", (and to prepate for the worst).
I slept on the floor with him, that night, and gave him droppers full of water all night. I held him in my arms and silently begged him to live.
I finally fell asleep, and expected him to have passed in the night. I awoke to his sweet face looking at me in the morning, and got a few tail thumps. He drank water and ate for me that day, and made a slow recovery over the next 6 months. They slough all the lining of their digestive tract, and it takes a fair amount of time to fully recover. Quinn was 9 or so at the time, and he is almost 12 years old now.

So sorry abou the long post, I hope your dogs are doing OK, and I will be thinking of them, and you... I would look into mushroom toxicity if you can.

We've had 3 of our dogs have bouts with this over the last year. Our 8 year old bitch has had it three different times since February. Metronidazole has taken care of it, usually after about 2 days.

Another of our bitches needed IV fluids because she got too dehydrated. She also needed IV antibiotics because she couldn't keep the oral meds down. She was the only one that was vomitting too.

The recurring nature of this in our one bitch promted us to get her thyroid checked and sure enough low thyroid function. This leads to a weaker immune system.

It appears very scary when you first see all the bloody diareah, but for the most part it has been easy to cure.

Mike

I had 3 of mine become horribly sick with this in the last 12 weeks. IV, Meds, All kinds of expensive testing and no answers other than they were on death’s door.

They are doing better but still vomit from time to time and go off their food and I hear their tummies just roaring with gas.

This has not only been devastating for my dogs but I have had to charge all the emergency and supportive care and maxed out all my credit cards.

I have the 3 that got ill on a very expensive duck and potato food that is breaking the rest of the bank but they seem to do better on it.

I think there is something bad brewing. It’s worrisome because five other breeders within 500 miles of me are dealing with the same issue.

What can we do?

I too think something bad may be brewing. Where do you live? I am in Alabama and I recently lost my seven-year-old male lab after a trip to the ER, several days at the vet and a big credit card bill. I had schnauzers for many years and two of them developed what the vets called HGE. One girl died within 24 hrs. after a visit to the ER. Probably three years later her son had it and I knew what it was right away, rushed him to the ER. He was at my vets on IV for close to a week and we did save him. Then I got my lab and I saw the same symptoms once again. He was about a year old at the time. I rushed him to the ER and they confirmed that he had HGE. They told me not to worry because big dogs usually survive. Now six years later I see the similar symptoms in the same lab. I take him to the ER but they don't think it is HGE. I ended up losing my boy five days later. We still don't know what caused this. I think the vets ran every test they could think of but the results gave no clear indication as to what this might have been. Nothing really showed up on the necropsy but the lab report showed acute hepatitis. For years it seemed I was the only person I that had dealt with HGE, nobody had ever heard of it. Rhonda

Is anybody trying to "connect the dots?" Location, timing? Are these cases reported to anywhere, like Cornell? Are other breeds becoming experiencing this illness?

A co-worker's pomeranian had a sudden, nasty gastroenteritis a couple of weeks ago. He was rushed to the ER with very bloated abdomen/vomiting/couldn't defecate. They x-rayed after barium and saw pockets of gas/feces and a strange spot in the upper intestine. Whatever he had it responded to the IVs,etc. and he went home two days later. He comes to work alot at the boarding kennel/grooming facility, so maybe he picked up something there? I don't remember any specific dog being ill that week, but having said that, it is difficult to distinguish between real illness and stress. I will notify my boss and co-workers about this illness spreading.

I have had two dogs in the last few years get HGE. One was a visiting puppy. The latest one was last Jan., and there were no reasons why the girl got sick. She just did ( ie. nothing out of the ordinary, no shows, etc). Luckily,with this illness the dogs get so sick you don't tend to second guess a trip to the vet. I have taken them within 8 hours and with iv's they bounced right back. HGE has been around, and I don't think anyone really knows what causes it.