Loud gargling

Hello, Would be so appreciative of any advice. Last summer when my toy maltipoo was 1.5 years old, he developed really bad stomach pains and spent about five weeks going in and out of the vets. His symptoms were… not wanting to eat, his stomach was gurgling so loud you could hear it across the room, lots of burping, nasty smelling wind out of his backside, generally just extremely sad and wanting to be picked up and cuddled all the time. There was also some vomiting and diarrhoea but minimal. He was clearly in a lot of pain. After lots of tests at the vets the outcome was fairly inconclusive. They think it was maybe a Helicobacter infection but were also suggesting that he potentially had doggy IBS. I know IBS can sometimes be a last resort diagnosis when they aren’t sure what else it could be. He ended up having painkillers and five weeks of strong antibiotics along with his regular diet (Hill’s digestive ID wet food and fresh frozen mince) and he seemed to finally recover after nearly 2 months. A year on he’s been really great with his food and consistent and a happy little dog. Until Friday of last week (he’s now just over 2 years old) he suddenly came down with the exact same symptoms. 4 days later he is still no better. Have had painkillers and some probiotics from the vets but will take him back tomorrow and try to maybe get him started on the antibiotics again. It would be so helpful if anyone in this group has been through anything similar or treated it and could suggest potential causes or treatment for it. I think both the vets and I are at a bit of a loss of what to do or suggest. Appreciate any help you lovely people have got!

Hello!  Sometimes with 'dicky tummies,' a change on to very bland food and treating the symptoms will calm everything down.  However, it is useful to find a diagnosis - to put a name to the condition in order to better understand what is going on, and in order that it is being treated from all appropriate angles.  You say that your vet is at a loss - it is therefore unlikely that I will guess the right diagnosis over the web.   When you mentioned stomach pains for instance, I wondered about pancreatitis as well as large bowel inflammatory conditions and even cancer.  A referral to a specialist may prove useful, although it may not be necessary - it is hard for me to guage over the line exactly how 'at a loss' your vet is.  Do they have a proposed plan for diagnosis?  Sometimes, asking them 'What it still might be' (what's still on their list) and how to definitively test for those things, will help to guide you as to what to try next.  Best of luck - and please will you let us know what happens?