Dog ate chocolate?

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Hypoglycemia and food coming from nose.

Species: Dog
Breed: Pomeranian
Age: Less than 3 mon
Walter began sneezing this morning. The sneezing became worse and he was soaked with mucous. I took him to the vet. They administered glucose to bring his blood sugar up as it was 43 at the time.

NOTE: He was hospitalized on July 4th with low blood sugar.

He has been recovering quite well until this morning's sneezing. The sneezing has become worse.

The vet thought maybe something had gotten up his nose. Prescribed antibiotic and canned food Hills A/D.

They asked me to come back later in the afternoon to recheck BG.

BG was 230. Due to glucose administered earlier.

At home between appointments, I noticed he has sneezed out some of the canned dog food. Yes. Sneezed it out. I told the vet about this on our return. They were slightly surprised.

They want to check him on Monday for Megaesophagus.

When we returned home, I hand fed him more canned food. within fifteen minutes he sneezed out a large portion of the canned food.

Two doctors have checked for cleft palate and found none.

What could caused the sneezing of food out of the nose??

I'm worried we may lose him. He will be 8 weeks old on Saturday. Just a little guy at 1.2 pound

I will email a photo so you can see how soaked he is from sneezing.




Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that your little puppy is having trouble. These symptoms really do have me concerned.

Low blood sugar is not something common in puppies. When we do see it it's often in very small puppies. A very common cause of low blood sugar in a small puppy is if the puppy is born with a liver abnormality such as a liver shunt. A shunt is hard to diagnose in a tiny puppy. Some dogs with shunts can live perfectly healthy lives. Some will need to be fed special foods. Others can only survive if they have surgery to correct the shunt. And there are some that even surgery can't help.

A liver shunt should not cause sneezing up food though. My concern though is that if he has been born with an abnormality in his liver, there is a possibility that there are other abnormalities. A cleft palate is certainly the first thing I would look for. I wonder if it's possible that there is a cleft really far back on the palate that is difficult to see without sedation.

Megaesophagus can cause regurgitation of food, but it doesn't usually cause food to come out of the nose. Still, it's not a bad idea to have your vets check him out for this.

My guess is that there is a defect in the soft palate that can only be seen under sedation. In some cases these defects can be fixed by surgery.

I do hope that things work out ok for the little guy!

Dr. Marie


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Disclaimer: Although Dr. Marie is a qualified veterinarian, the information found on this site is not meant to replace the advice of your own veterinarian. AskAVetQuestion.com and Dr. Marie do not accept any responsibility for any loss, damage, injury, death, or disease which may arise from reliance on information contained on this site. Do not use information found on this site for diagnosing or treating your pet. Anything you read here is for information only.

Customer reply:

Thank you for your reply. As it turns out, no liver shunt. Already tested last week. Low blood sugar was to to lack of eating....litter mate guarding food. We separated them and there was not another problem until he stopped eating due to the sneezing fits. Three doctors have determined no cleft palate.

Took him to ER last night. Near as they can tell, he had choked on a small piece of kibble and a small crumb entered his nasal cavity. this started the sneezing fit that went on for several hours. ER vet believes the event perpetuated itself. He's been xrayed and all are unremarkable. He's doing much better and not sneezing dog food out any more.

A rather perplexing case. We were all expecting the worse.

Nevertheless, we're still going to do barium xray tomorrow. Never hurts to check out all avenues. Although the vets say if it were megaesophagus would likely have presented itself before this. They believe this was just a freak occurrence but we were all guarded due to last weeks low sugar incident.


Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

Aw, the poor little thing. I'm glad to hear that potentially this is a fixable problem.

Dr. Marie.



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Dr. MarieDr. Marie is a veterinarian who practices in a busy animal hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. She created Ask A Vet Question as a resource for good, accurate veterinary advice online. Dr. Marie treats dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and rats. She has been a vet since 1999.

Is an online vet visit just as good as a trip to your veterinarian? No! But, many times, asking an online veterinarian a question can help save you money. While Dr. Marie can't officially diagnose your pet or prescribe medications, she can often advise you on whether a vet visit is necessary. You can also ask Dr. Marie for a second opinion on your pet's condition.