# Should I go to the vet?



## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

Please help Cuba. He went to daycare for the first time today. On the ride back, he threw up in the car. He still gets really nervous when riding in the car and he usually starts drooling profusely. He has thrown up before and over the weekend when we went to the pet store, he threw up bile. Today I am concerned because I noticed a little bit of blood in the throw up. His stomach was empty because he didn't eat much for breakfast and except for treats, he didn't eat in daycare. Is this something I should go to the vet with?

The daycare said he played with the other dogs (his size) all day with the exception of break time and was good. Now he is resting. I am assuming it is because he had an active day, but could it be something else?

Hope


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## Poornima (Jun 29, 2007)

I hope Cuba is doing better by now. They tend to throw up bile when the stomach is empty. I have seen Benji do it when he was a puppy , and occasionaly Lizzie too. But I have never seen any blood. I would be concerned if I saw blood. You might want to chekc with your breeder and the vet. 

Benji is prone to carsickness. I use Bonine per his breeder's and vet's recommendation. I also use Rescue Remedy to calm Benji and Lizzie on the rides. However, our car rides are not frequent and the use of Bonine is occasional. If Cuba is going to ride every day, I do not think using any medication, even over the counter medication on a daily basis is a good idea. If you take him for short rides to get him used to the car travel, he might get over the carsickness eventually. 

Good luck and I hope Cuba is feels better soon.


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## DanielBMe (Nov 25, 2007)

More than likely he is exhausted from the day care. It's normal for dogs to be quite tired after a day of play. 

How long did he go between eating? If he ate a small breakfast and played all day, he may very well be throwing up because of that. You may want to give some of his food to the daycare and ask them to feed him some midway. If there's blood in his vomit I'd be a bit concerned. You may just want to watch him for the next day or so and see if he's got his appetite and if he continues throwing up. If he throws up again and you notice blood, I would definitely go to the vet.


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## MaddiesMom (Apr 1, 2007)

Vomiting bile from an empty stomach or vomiting due to car sickness is pretty common. But if there was blood in it, I'd call the vet. You want to make sure there isn't an ulcer or something else going on.


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## Leeann (Feb 28, 2007)

DanielBMe said:


> More than likely he is exhausted from the day care. It's normal for dogs to be quite tired after a day of play.
> 
> How long did he go between eating? If he ate a small breakfast and played all day, he may very well be throwing up because of that. You may want to give some of his food to the daycare and ask them to feed him some midway. If there's blood in his vomit I'd be a bit concerned. You may just want to watch him for the next day or so and see if he's got his appetite and if he continues throwing up. If he throws up again and you notice blood, I would definitely go to the vet.


This is what I was thinking, a mid day snack would help. I also wanted to add when I was going through a bout of Monte throwing up and went to the vet I mentioned to him seeing small specks of red in his bile throw up that I thought could be blood. He said that would be normal if they throw up a lot and their stomach is irritated. Still watch him and maybe at least call the vet and ask about it even if he seems fine through the night.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Ah, poor little guy. My guys throw up on occasion. I normally don't get nervous when they do, but the blood would probably make me want to take him to the vet. Good luck!


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

Cuba is still resting. He gets up to follow me around and then he lays down where he can see me. I think he is just exhausted and he went a long time without a meal. I think during the day when he is home he usually sleeps most of the day so when I get home he's full of energy. I think daycare must have worn him out. He's not eating his regular food, but he does eat his treats.

He ate less than normal this morning because he was more interested in stretching and playing. I will bring some food for him on Thursday though to see if that helps. I also bought some medicine that is supposed to make him calm at Petsmart. I will add it to his water and see if it helps. I agree with the advice of getting him used to the car rides so I plan on using it only sparingly. He was doing ok with the car rides until Saturday when he had a bad time throwing up bile. When I tried to take him out Sunday, he started drooling as soon as I got him in the car. I left him home because he seemed so nervous.

Thanks for all the advice. I will watch him closely and let you know how he is.

Hope


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Hope, Cash had terrible car sickness...what we found that finally worked for him (besides lots of short rides to fun places) was placing him on the floor in the back seat. It may be unique to Cash but it is worth a try. I think there is less stimulation.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

Missy said:


> Hope, Cash had terrible car sickness...what we found that finally worked for him (besides lots of short rides to fun places) was placing him on the floor in the back seat. *It may be unique to Cash but it is worth a try. I think there is less stimulation.*


It and lots of fun little rides worked for Oliver!!! It also helped I would bring his brother Tucker along (Tucker LOVES to be in the car)


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## DanielBMe (Nov 25, 2007)

I found for car sickness, that having the dogs see out the window was important. They seem to get more sick if they can feel the motion but not see it. So now they sit in the front seat generally looking out with the window slightly down. No issues at all.


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

DanielBMe said:


> I found for car sickness, that having the dogs see out the window was important. They seem to get more sick if they can feel the motion but not see it. So now they sit in the front seat generally looking out with the window slightly down. No issues at all.


I think the other problem is I have an Infiniti G37 manual transmission. In the G, you can FEEL the road. Also, I am not the smoothest of shifters so I might be contributing to Cuba's car sickness. I make sure the windows and sun roof are open and I think he enjoys the breeze, but with the low bucket seats, it is hard for him to really see out of the windows. In addition, he seems to think the best place is in my lap no matter how many times I put him in his own seat. I might have to get a different style harness. The first one I got and returned actually went around the seatbelt. I didn't like it because all Cuba could do was sit. I got one that plugged into the seatbelt buckle, but that allows him to crawl into my lap.


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## Beamer (Jan 29, 2007)

Hope, so let me get this straight.... you let Cuba ride in your brand new G37 knowing that he will vomit? hehe....... I'd put plastic wrap over the seats!! 

I'm just trying to be funny.. lol... Seriously, it might be the shifting, if you are not to smooth with it... or some havs are just bad in the car... Hopefully he gets better!

Ryan


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

He was on the blanket today :biggrin1: I try to shift smoothly and not throw it into gear as I normally do, but I think Cuba is just in a phase where he's scared. I'm going to have to do a lot of little rides. Maybe he'll like daycare so much he will look forward to the ride.


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## boo2352 (Dec 18, 2006)

MacGyver has a lookout car seat so he can see what's going on. It's helped make him calmer on rides. I don't know if you can get one for bucket seats, though. 

For children they recommend ginger snaps for car sickness -- the ginger helps. I don't know if this would work on dogs.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

So sorry to hear that he's sick! Scooter threw up in DH's BMW last week. uke: I thought I'd be sick when I heard that, he didn't freak out though. Called the detailer guy and he told him what to do until he came to clean it again.

I hope Cuba is feeling better!!!


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## Eva (Jun 20, 2008)

Todd has never gotten carsick but for awhile he went through a panting heavily, drooling phase. 
I spent several days working with him in the car feeding him treats everytime that he would lay calmly in his seat and now he actually looks forward to going on car rides and will jump in and dive into "his" seat when I open the door..lol


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

Eva said:


> Todd has never gotten carsick but for awhile he went through a panting heavily, drooling phase.
> I spent several days working with him in the car feeding him treats everytime that he would lay calmly in his seat and now he actually looks forward to going on car rides and will jump in and dive into "his" seat when I open the door..lol


Eva - that's a great idea. I might do it a little tonight. I think Cuba gets scared/nervous too. As I mention, on Sunday all I did was have him sit on the seat and by the time I got to the driver's side, there was drool everywhere.

Thanks for all the suggestions! He seems back to his normal self today. I saw a booster seat for bucket seats so maybe I'll try that if I have no luck with the treats.


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## Jane (Jun 2, 2007)

Esperanita said:


> I think the other problem is I have an Infiniti G37 manual transmission. In the G, you can FEEL the road.


That can make a huge difference. I have an SUV that has basically a truck suspension and it makes Scout very carsick. He prefers the smoother ride of the sedan.

Poornima told me that Benji and Lizzie much prefer her Benz, but I've had no luck convincing my husband to get me one of those yet.


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

I finally brought Cuba to the vet because it seemed like his little skip was happening more frequently. The vet took about 10 - 15 minutes examining his legs, knees, hips and said everything seems fine. He didn't want to do Xrays at this point because he didn't think they would show anything but he did say if it seems to get worse or if Cuba is holding his leg up all the time to bring him back and he would do xrays.

I guess I am relieved. It still seems strange though. Cuba seems fine - he has been hopping up on my bed to get things he shouldn't have and you should see him scramble up and down the stairs. And don't let him get ANYTHING he knows he shouldn't have. When he does it is a mad dash and this little 8 pound sucker can beat me in a foot race any day. So I guess hes alright...


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

One of our Havanese forum members is custom making beds, car seats and crate covers. I have seen her car seat, it is much nicer than those carried in our local stores. I will ask if they can be made taller than the typical height to allow more visibility. The heavier foam and padding she uses might help shield Cuba from some of the car shifting? 

As to the skip you referred to with Cuba, I could not find mention of this in this thread but Suzy came home last week from daycare holding one leg up. We did have x-rays and a couple hundred dollars later found she probably had a soft tissue injury. We were told that she has luxating patellas and this could cause a skip on occasion.


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## Esperanita (Jul 12, 2008)

ginny said:


> One of our Havanese forum members is custom making beds, car seats and crate covers. I have seen her car seat, it is much nicer than those carried in our local stores. I will ask if they can be made taller than the typical height to allow more visibility. The heavier foam and padding she uses might help shield Cuba from some of the car shifting?
> 
> As to the skip you referred to with Cuba, I could not find mention of this in this thread but Suzy came home last week from daycare holding one leg up. We did have x-rays and a couple hundred dollars later found she probably had a soft tissue injury. We were told that she has luxating patellas and this could cause a skip on occasion.


Thanks for the tip. I got Cuba a booster seat today so I will see if that works better. As for the skip, it started before he went to daycare. It seems like it might be getting a little worse. I'll watch him this week and see if he is noticeably worse. The vet said his knees felt great. I am assuming you would have to feel a luxating patella instead of xray because it is cartilage?...


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

When Suzy had her puppy well care check-ups I was told her knees are fine. We heard about the luxating patellas at an emergency visit, and she was not seen by her regular vet. I was told the x-rays taken would not be diagnostic for the knee problem. The emergency vet said she found the problem when preparing Suzy for her x-rays.


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## mellowbo (Aug 12, 2007)

Poor Cuba. I suffer terribly from car sickness so I usually have to be the driver. I would have a hard time with the rough shifting too. I think it is the unexpected movement that causes car sickness. Something about your brain not registering with your inner ear. Having the window cracked or vent on and seeing out the window really helps. Good luck with the new car seat!!
Carole


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

ginny said:


> One of our Havanese forum members is custom making beds, car seats and crate covers. I have seen her car seat, it is much nicer than those carried in our local stores. I will ask if they can be made taller than the typical height to allow more visibility. The heavier foam and padding she uses might help shield Cuba from some of the car shifting?
> 
> As to the skip you referred to with Cuba, I could not find mention of this in this thread but Suzy came home last week from daycare holding one leg up. We did have x-rays and a couple hundred dollars later found she probably had a soft tissue injury. We were told that she has luxating patellas and this could cause a skip on occasion.


Can you let us know who is making them? Does she have a web site or anything???


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

Kialee's mom is making the dog seats and also the neatest crate covers and beds. I have photos of Suzy in her bed but I had trouble getting the avatar attached here and not sure I can post a photo. 

No web site yet, she is a former decorator with a Hav puppy and is making the most incredible well made fantastic looking dog accessories- she is just getting going on the business.

I will put Kialees mom in touch with you, she is out of town for a couple of days.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

ginny said:


> Kialee's mom is making the dog seats and also the neatest crate covers and beds. I have photos of Suzy in her bed but I had trouble getting the avatar attached here and not sure I can post a photo.
> 
> No web site yet, she is a former decorator with a Hav puppy and is making the most incredible well made fantastic looking dog accessories- she is just getting going on the business.
> 
> I will put Kialees mom in touch with you, she is out of town for a couple of days.


Thanks Ginny! I'd love to get her contact info if you could PM it to me if she doesn't mind. We have a crate in our bedroom and it just has a towel over it so a nice cover would be great. It takes away from the look of the room a bit! LOL


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

I will PM you. Yesterday she brought over a gorgeous tailored crate cover. She also has designed a gathered type of cover that she has on Kialees crate. They are lined with coordinating fabric, heavy duty and have the cutest closures. She includes a matching crate pads. Nothing is too good for the fur babies (does not hurt to make our decor a little nicer at the same time!).


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