Hi everyone,
My 10 year old boy, Robin (aka 'Nub'), has been showing a whole bunch of symptoms recently. We moved to the Netherlands from the US two years ago, and since then he has shown symptoms that seem to be seasonal allergies every year from around October/November to around February/March (he never had allergies before). It was unclear initially what was going on but I'm fairly certain at this point that this is the cause.
Some of the symptoms include: Sudden and excessive grooming, shaking his head, and becoming more aggressive towards his sister. I have also noticed that he licks our exposed brick wall sometimes, and that he seems to have some gas issues (I can hear his stomach gurgling from time to time, which I don't normally).
Recently these symptoms returned, but suddenly I am now noticing a few other symptoms. The first is that he has been vomiting about once a day nearly every day for the last 2 weeks or so. I have given him hairball treatment thinking that was the culprit (especially due to the over-grooming), but I haven't seen any hair in the vomit at all. His poop has otherwise been normal. The other symtpom is that I have seen him hiding under the bed for no apparent reason a couple of times, so presumably he's either feeling unwell or stressed.
His behavior is otherwise normal (normal appetite/eating, pooping, drinking, urinating, and sleeping). His activity level seems normal and his general behavior patterns have mostly remained the same, with the exception of hiding a few times. The only other thing of note is that one of the times he vomited I did find a piece of string or yarn, which unfortunately isn't too uncommon for him as he tends to eat everything he can fit into his mouth (I wasn't unable to even find what exactly he ate this time).
My questions are as follows:
1. My first concern is with regards to the string. Is it possible that he would have eaten some and not exhibited any symptoms besides those mentioned (vomiting spit once a day and stomach gurgling sounds)? I have tried touching his stomach and haven't noticed any discomfort. I want to know whether I need to pursue that further, which I'm sure would mean ultrasounds which are both expensive and stressful.
2. Could symptoms such as vomiting spit, stomach gurgling, and hiding potentially be related to seasonal allergies?
3. Assuming that all of the symptoms are seasonal allergy related, what can I actually do about this? I've been with him to the vet on several occasions over the last couple of years for this but they haven't had effective recommendations. He is eating a hypoallergenic food and I've tried some skin treatments but they didn't seem to change anything. He had a steroid injection once that did seem to help but I don't want to use that as a regular treatment. Are there risks associated with antihistamines? Any suggestions on treatments that I can ask the doctor about would be helpful. I hate to see my little guy stressed and unhappy.
He has been to the vet many, many times before so I am just trying to become better informed before carting him off there again. If he's stressed, I don't want to increase that stress unless necessary.
Thanks very much and sorry for such a long post!
My 10 year old boy, Robin (aka 'Nub'), has been showing a whole bunch of symptoms recently. We moved to the Netherlands from the US two years ago, and since then he has shown symptoms that seem to be seasonal allergies every year from around October/November to around February/March (he never had allergies before). It was unclear initially what was going on but I'm fairly certain at this point that this is the cause.
Some of the symptoms include: Sudden and excessive grooming, shaking his head, and becoming more aggressive towards his sister. I have also noticed that he licks our exposed brick wall sometimes, and that he seems to have some gas issues (I can hear his stomach gurgling from time to time, which I don't normally).
Recently these symptoms returned, but suddenly I am now noticing a few other symptoms. The first is that he has been vomiting about once a day nearly every day for the last 2 weeks or so. I have given him hairball treatment thinking that was the culprit (especially due to the over-grooming), but I haven't seen any hair in the vomit at all. His poop has otherwise been normal. The other symtpom is that I have seen him hiding under the bed for no apparent reason a couple of times, so presumably he's either feeling unwell or stressed.
His behavior is otherwise normal (normal appetite/eating, pooping, drinking, urinating, and sleeping). His activity level seems normal and his general behavior patterns have mostly remained the same, with the exception of hiding a few times. The only other thing of note is that one of the times he vomited I did find a piece of string or yarn, which unfortunately isn't too uncommon for him as he tends to eat everything he can fit into his mouth (I wasn't unable to even find what exactly he ate this time).
My questions are as follows:
1. My first concern is with regards to the string. Is it possible that he would have eaten some and not exhibited any symptoms besides those mentioned (vomiting spit once a day and stomach gurgling sounds)? I have tried touching his stomach and haven't noticed any discomfort. I want to know whether I need to pursue that further, which I'm sure would mean ultrasounds which are both expensive and stressful.
2. Could symptoms such as vomiting spit, stomach gurgling, and hiding potentially be related to seasonal allergies?
3. Assuming that all of the symptoms are seasonal allergy related, what can I actually do about this? I've been with him to the vet on several occasions over the last couple of years for this but they haven't had effective recommendations. He is eating a hypoallergenic food and I've tried some skin treatments but they didn't seem to change anything. He had a steroid injection once that did seem to help but I don't want to use that as a regular treatment. Are there risks associated with antihistamines? Any suggestions on treatments that I can ask the doctor about would be helpful. I hate to see my little guy stressed and unhappy.
He has been to the vet many, many times before so I am just trying to become better informed before carting him off there again. If he's stressed, I don't want to increase that stress unless necessary.
Thanks very much and sorry for such a long post!