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@regberadaisy: not dog but my cat is currently puking all over, day 2 now...not the small hair ball piles I'm used to but huge piles of food and she's not very active. I also assumed stomach bug...but who knows? Hope your baby feels better soon!

I would normally wait it out and just give a bland diet (rice, boiled chicken) to see if it works it's way out, EXCEPT the peeing seems like a red flag--when my dogs eat something gross or have a virus, it's just poop/diarrhea and puke. I feel like I read somewhere that bladder issues are different, and can be a sign of something with the kidneys or liver or something. I hope that's not the case and she just ate something nasty! and I hope she feels better soon!

I've gone through this with our golden retriever, who has a very sensitive stomach, and also like to eat things. I think what you do depends on whether she is still vomiting. I'm less concerned about diarrhea than vomiting because it can be a sign of a blockage.

1. If the vomiting hasn't stopped, take the dog in. Otherwise she will get dehydrated and it can cause a lot of issues.

2. If no vomiting, just diarrhea she might just have eaten something weird. My vet said even a little bird poo residue from the outside can cause upset stomach. When this happens to us, we give our dogs over the counter Pepto Bismol, which is safe for dogs and works GREAT. Saved me hundreds in vet bills. Here's some dosage info: http://dosemypet.com/dosage/for-dogs/pepto-bismol/ It works pretty immediately for us - so if you're still having issues after 24 hours on pepto, you might still need to see a vet. Warning, after a lot of diarrhea and then taking pepto, your dog might not poop for like 12-20 hours.

I might just wait it out over a couple of days first. They're pretty resilient and if it's nothing serious they should get over it in a couple days, or you'll know you need to go in!

@regberadaisy: Then I'd be a lot less worried. If she's pooping, it's not blockage, and as long as her belly isn't swollen, you could probably ride it out a day or so. But with the holiday that's a tough choice! Also, if she's drinking and eating, it's also probably fine. Mack had stopped eating.

i would wait a little while to see if it clears up.

that being said, and this is in hindsight, one of my dogs had persistent diarrhea and we took her into the vet multiple times--we gave her antibiotics, antiparasites, probiotics, blood work, new food...a few weeks later her body just started failing and it turns out she had cancer. we put her to sleep. the initial bloodwork didn't show anything because her body hadn't reached a critical point yet.

sorry this is not to scare you as your dog probably just has a bug, but i had no idea that what seemed like a stomach bug could actually be cancer.

It's a heck of a lot cheaper to take her in now than to wait, have things get worse and have to go to an emergency clinic on a holiday for an issue that has become more serious.

Many things can present this way, both very serious and no big deal, but I don't mess around with animals that are either very young or of advanced age. You can decline some testing, but getting a GI antibiotic can make her feel so much better.

ETA- Dogs and cats don't really get GI bugs like people do.

Usually I would say give a bland diet, lots of water, and see how they are (my pup eats grass and random things on his walks that sometimes just give him some diarrhea), but after seeing that your dog recently had tumors, I would definitely take them in to be checked out!

Poor pup. And sorry youre dealing with this.

@regberadaisy: What type of cancer were the tumors and where were they located? I'm a veterinary assistant and I can tell you from my experience, if you had called our clinic we would've done the same thing. It's not nickeling and diming, although it definitely feels that way. It's because of liability. If we tell you not to bring your dog in and then your dog ends up being really sick, that puts us in a dangerous position of opening the clinic up to a law suit. Sad, but true.

As for your pup, if it were me I'd probably wait a few days. If it's cancer (worst case scenario) they won't be able to do much today that will make or break anything. If she wasn't getting better I'd say definitely take her in. But it doesn't sound like anything immediately life threatening. Most likely she ate something that didn't agree with her to have that kind of "explosion." Cancer usually looks more like persistant vomiting, loss of appetite, etc. but not the severe GI symptoms you're seeing. Only big question is about a partial blockage. Not likely with the amount of diarrhea, but still possible. Is she a toy eater?

When we first adopted my dog, we came home to my dog standing in puke and diarrhea in her kennel. It happened a few times that week. Ugh! Rough first few months. My vet diagnosed my dog with IBD (Irritible bowl disease). Luckily after switching to prescription dog food and eventually switch to sensitive stomach dog food, she hasn't had any issues.

I'm so glad I found my vet. I trust them. They are like our friends (FB friends with both vet techs).

Have you looked into the reviews of your vet on yelp? Have others complained about them? If so, I would consider taking to another vet.

The vet issue aside, if my dog was sick and they weren't getting better, I would definitely take my dog to be seen. They can do blood work and look at the stool sample to try to diagnose the issue. Not much they can do over the phone. Dog has to be seen. Also, it might be possible that your dog got into something it wasn't supposed to get into.

@regberadaisy: Also, online pharmacies are often cheaper. Your vet office might not love it, but they will usually ok a prescription for an online pharmacy if you ask.

It sounds like you've got it figured it out, but in that case, I think I'd ask to drop off a stool sample if it was still going on. That way, they could check for parasites/whatever while still not disrupting your holiday plans. But generally, if our dog is acting like that, it's because I've dropped a piece of onion/garlic on the floor and not seen it before she's eaten it. Though there have been a few times that she's had worms, and they've been able to diagnose with the sample (gross, but effective).

I hope that she feels better!

@mrsjd: use extreme caution with pepto, it's actually not considered a safe drug for most animals.