View Question

Chronic Vomiting, Fussy Appetite, But Heavy Dog

by CorinneC - March 7, 2024

Asha is a 7yo Border Collie X that I have seen since O adopted her in 2019. When I first saw her in April 2019, she had been vomiting bile, typically 3-4am, lots of borborygmi, and poor appetite on these mornings where she had normally "lived for food". She was very jumpy and anxious in general, calm at home. Fed mostly raw that O started to gently cook. Her tongue had a lavender centre, pink edges, sl dry (but panting), normal size, pulses toned. I put her on YGJ and did very well for a week or so and then developed diarrhea, O stopped and stools improved, tried lower dose and soft stools. Feeding her TID stopped the retching a bit, but she continued to have squealing borborygmi and became more fearful and reactive with certain people. I then put her on XYS to better support her SP and reduce Liver Qi Stagnation. The O again thought it helped for awhile but then she started to regurgitate right after eating (as opposed to the V+ late at night with emptier tummy), O noticed her breath was bad, and stools were occas softer, she was licking at her anus a lot and had a bad smell. Her tongues was now lavender, wet, and swollen, pulses toned. I assumed more Damp Heat with SP Qi deficiency, so put her on SRT, keeping XYS in place. This seemed to calm her down GIT wise as well as mentally...for awhile. By the Fall 2019, regurgitating ramped up again, her appetite was more ravenous, and she was gaining wt, her pulse and tongue had not really changed. I decided to try BZYQT for the seasonal Jue Yin timing and clinical signs which seemed to really help but only only gave until early Spring 2020.

O started taking a human TCM course and dabbled with many formulas and diets after this. She was "ok" for a year then saw her again Aug 2022 for V+ resuming, occas bloody mucous in stool - had tried Shu Gan formula, Earth Harmonizing, ST Harmonizing, Coctis Formulas herself through her courses!!! - all helped a bit. Went back to XYS as per my suggestion. Tongue then became dark red at tip, majority is lavender, swollen, and wet but pulses seemed to be more deficient now so added YGJ to XYS. Interestingly, she had started to develop intense tartar on all teeth - greenish in colour. I rec'd a dental but O would not put her under GA.

By Dec 2022 Asha became so painful in her mouth she had jaw chatter, finally convinced O to do dental. Of course she did not respond well post-op to Meloxicam - very phlegmy and drooling, some V+, nasusea, poor appetite, eventually rallied with some LJZT and Nux vomica. O managed on her own again over 2023 and came bac again in the Fall - Anxiety more and more pronounced, occas V+ (usually sticky slimey bile, rarely food), fussy with food (cooking ground turkey or chicken, veggies, needing to rotate frequently to keep her interest). Tartar already building. Tongue pale lavender at back and swollen, reddish tip/shiny, moist with bubbles; pulses wiry, verging on toned. Put back on YGJ (O also started Ban Xia Xi Xin Tang for Dampness on her own).

Flash forward to today: doing well on it, not V+ much at all. But teeth still really building heavy tartar. Also has quite a runny nose, gets congested, snarks and snores, can hear her breathing in her nose when she lies down, has had this from day one of adoption. O would like to her on Gui Zhi Tang, tried for a bit, but wouldn't eat it in the food (ok with YGJ alone). She is overwt, teeth have horrible heavy green tartar, tongue is centrally quite purple with pinker edges (started off all purple), very moist, dripping saliva, sl swollen at base; pulses appear quite toned, I think they improve with massaging SP 4? O looking at Cinnamon Pearls (has Gui Zhi Tang, Ling Gui Zhu Gan Tang, aka Taibai Tang by Heiner Fruehauf or I thought she could try Earth Pearls (WuJi San) from same line as it warms and moves Blood and I feel that she is having some Stagnation or Stasis with her purplish wet tongue. I really would like to try BZYQT or Xiao CHai Hu Tang with YGJ first??? but I think now I am overanalyzing and I need a smarter and wiser thrid party!!! Aaacckk!!!

Please help guide me!
Corinne

by naturevet

March 16, 2024

Hi Corinne,

That's quite a saga, and I would have made most of the choices you made, or at least wondered about them. The use of fresh food, though, jumped out at me as a game changing aspect of this case.

Dampness as the primary problem is quite rare in real food fed dogs. Almost invariably, when they have GI issues, it is a Shao Yang disharmony, leading to things like dysbiosis and potentially a leaky gut. Especially know, with pronounced Stasis and strong pulses, it's really seeming more like a classic case of "Minor Bupleurum deficiency", so that would be my choice from your latest considerations

Shao Yang disharmony can be aggravated by Dampness and Phlegm, explaining the improvements on formulas that address it. It also causes Stomach Fire, explaining the initial improvement on Yi Guan Jian and later Xiao Yao San. It's one of the main differentials for spring and fall aggravations, which run through this dog's history.

XCHT has anti-Phlegm activity and is useful for colitis and food stasis (causing halitosis). I would wonder if, from a Chinese medical point of view, harmonizing the Shao Yang would then release enough Stomach Heat that the dental disease wouldn't be as big an issue, not to mention the intolerance of Meloxicam and the various gastric symptoms. All things considered, it's what I would add next and should in theory allow YGJ to be used in tandem, at least in small doses.

Hopefully this helps your intriguing case!

Steve

by CorinneC

April 1, 2024

Thank you Steve, I have started her on XCHT and I will cross all my fingers and toes!!!
Corinne

You must be logged in to reply

CuredCases.com