Rottweiler won’t eat, regurgitating water, weak and no diagnosis.

by Rosy
(Houston, TX)

Our beloved, 6-yr old male rottweiler, Achilles, is on a raw diet, was neutered last year, has never liked being examined, and he will put up a fight, which makes it difficult for vets to handle him.

He started having loose stools, then about a week later he threw up after eating his morning meal. We took him to the vet, the vet said he had pancreatitis and gave him fluids subcutaneously. He gave us antibiotics and pills for nausea and vomiting and sent us on our way. The next day Achilles still hadn’t eaten, no medicine taken because he will only take pills in food, and he was regurgitating water after he drank it. That evening, we decided to take him to the hospital where they did a battery of tests and ruled out pancreatitis, along with several other ailments, but were unable to diagnose what the illness is.

They kept him overnight and gave him everything intravenously (fluids, antibiotics, and drugs for regurgitation and diarrhea). The next day, we were told by the hospital vet that they did not know what was making him ill, he would not eat, walking wobbly, and there was nothing else they could do except keep him on fluids, and broached the subject of euthanasia.

We told them he hadn’t eaten in four days and it is difficult to support a 135 lb. frame without nourishment and want to give him a fighting chance. She said they would keep him on the fluids one more night, which they did, and called us to pick him up the next day. We have him home, he will only eat Nutri-Vet biscuits for dogs.

We have tried his raw, dry, and canned foods, cooked ground beef, scrambled eggs, raw eggs, and bacon. Just anything to get him to eat. He sniffs everything, turns away, and will only eat the biscuits. He drinks plenty of water but, his second day home, he started regurgitating some of the water and sometimes small pieces of the biscuits. He urinates often and he finally had a bowel movement his second day home (loose stools).

Does anyone have any idea what this could be and what we can do to get him to eat? We are so worried about him and it seems no one knows what to do for him, including us. (Sorry this is so long, but we want to include everything.) Thank you.

Hi Rosy. Sorry I didn’t see this submission sooner 🙁 I hope and pray your Achilles managed to make a recovery from what sounds like very serious, and scary, symptoms.

Personally I wouldn’t accept that there is no diagnosis, a veterinarian is a professional expert and has at his/her disposal enough knowledge and diagnostic tools to figure out what is going wrong. Suggesting euthanasia also seems well out of line to me.

When a big dog like this won’t/can’t eat he is going to become weak quickly and you were absolutely right to say he needs a chance to recover. However he also needs a diagnosis and treatment, a second veterinary opinion or even a third would be in order.

There is a supplement called NutriCal which is calorie and nutrition dense and can help give quickly digested sustenance to a dog when needed. Making rice water (boil a cup of white rice in four cups of water, then drain rice, cool water and feed to dog) is a good source of liquid which contains electrolytes.

I am so sorry for your difficulties and again apologize for this submission slipping past me. My prayers are with you all and perhaps someone else here has input or experience of something similar and can help out. All the best to you. ~ Sue

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Jul 08, 2017

Update NEW
by: Rosy

Achilles is still eating just the chicken tenders (baked now) and his treats. He stopped regurgitating and, although his stools are not yet completely firm, they are ‘firming up.’ One of our biggest concerns became his gait. He was still wobbling sometimes and when he would shake his head, there were a few times that he would actually fall over so far that his head would hit the floor. His imbalance made me think about Joe’s comments regarding the bacteria build-up in his ears, so we took him to the vet and he got a BNT ear pack. It has been two days since he had that done and this morning, I saw my big boy trot out into the yard looking more like himself than I have seen in a while! He is walking around more and he is once again putting his head in my lap and looking up at me with those big, brown, bright eyes. We feel so blessed and happy! We are being cautiously optimistic, but it looks like things are moving in the right direction. We are going to try again to introduce him to dog food (fingers crossed). Thank you all for your prayers, concerns, and suggestions! It is wonderful to know that in a time of need, I can count on people like you all.


Jul 07, 2017

diet NEW
by: Anonymous

Are you feeding him a raw diet? uncooked food? If you are stop. Very dangerous vets will tell you this. They uncooked cary alot of germs and bacteria.


Jul 07, 2017

toads NEW
by: Nancy

Watch out for toads in the yard they are very poisonous to dogs and cats. My Rottie Rusty got a hold of a toad one year and it almost killed him.


Jul 04, 2017

Sorry to hear NEW
by: Jim

Did the vet and hospital rule out parvo?

The general symptoms of parvovirus are lethargy, severe vomiting, loss of appetite and bloody, foul-smelling diarrhea that can lead to life-threatening dehydration.

Breeds at a higher risk are Rottweilers, Doberman pinschers, Labrador retrievers, American Staffordshire terriers and German shepherds.


Jun 28, 2017

TAZ NEW
by: JOE

My Rott name Taz went through something like that. Wouldn’t eat, couldn’t hold water down just lay and wouldn’t do anything. After taking him to his vet, he seem to have bacteria build up in his ears. They gave him some drop and he is doing better now. I’ll keep you and him in my prayers and he will get better. GOD BLESS


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About The Rotty lover 2159 Articles
My name is Dr. Winnie. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Duke University, a Masters of Science in Biology from St Georges University, and graduated from the University of Pretoria Veterinary School in South Africa. I have been an animal lover and owners all my life having owned a Rottweiler named Duke, a Pekingese named Athena and now a Bull Mastiff named George, also known as big G! I'm also an amateur equestrian and love working with horses. I'm a full-time Veterinarian in South Africa specializing in internal medicine for large breed dogs. I enjoy spending time with my husband, 2 kids and Big G in my free time. Author and Contribturor at SeniorTailWaggers, A Love of Rottweilers, DogsCatsPets and TheDogsBone