I took him to the vet on Friday. He was looked over, and this vet was very good in terms of listening to me and not stressing the little guy out. The vet let me open Tinker's mouth instead and the vet did not see anything down his throat. The vet checked him over, and said that at this point he looked pretty healthy. He listened to his little lungs and did not hear anything unusual, nor did he see any mucus. So based on my findings and exam, the respiratory infection is gone. He did not feel any lumps, bumps, fullness, in the body cavity, and little Tinkerdoodle did not seem to be in pain on exam.
However, the vomiting was still a question. Not so much the vomiting, but the vomiting of the coagulated blood. The pic I posted earlier to this thread was the aftermath of me picking up the vomit. But the bloody patch was actually a small kind of cyst like coagulation. Basically, the vet is not sure what may have caused this...a previous bleed from stress, or from long term Ceft Inj....ulcerative issues....worst case it is a tumor. I was not able to get a poop sample in, as when he did poop just a little on the Thursday before he vomited, I did not even think to save it. I am really not convinced this is parasite related though, as he was just tested and treated in December.
Not going to lie, I am quite worried. The vet did not think it was going to be too helpful to proceed with further testing at this time (besides a fecal, if I can get one). As if this is something more severe, it is likely to play out very quickly. I have to say I agreed with him on this one. Poor guy has already been through the ringer lately. X-rays in December showed no tumors or masses. So if there is a tumor or mass it is not showing up on x-ray anyway.
Little Tinkers has not been as black as he was since vomiting. In fact, most of the time he is normal to grey. Grey could mostly be due to being on the colder end more often than not now. Once in a while I have seen a darker beard, but it resolves pretty quickly.
I have at this point decided to let him do what he wants to do. I am caught between stressing him out, and leaving him alone. Since the respiratory infection is pretty clear, I think it is best to let him do what he wants. He is more lethargic than usual. I still am not sure if this is brumation or sickness. He spends a lot of time in his cave on the cool side chillin' or sleeping. He does usually crawl out in the morning to the warmer end, but rarely gets up to bask. He has not eaten on his own since February 26th when he ate 1 worm. The last time I fed him slurry was March 6th, which he threw up on Thursday. So I am not going to be forcing him to eat anymore. I don't feel it is in his best interest for me to do so and he is not basking enough anyway. I am torn, but I think I need to let this play out.
The vet did give me a medicine for ulcers....but I have no given him any yet. I am reluctant to add more meds, and stress. If he is passing, I want him to be as stress free as possible. Who knows, it is hard to tell. I weighed him on March 3 and he was 368 grams, on March 8 he was 360 grams, but he pooped and threw up prior, so that is not unusual.
On the flip side, he has not vomited since, so he cannot be actively bleeding, nothing is coming out in either direction. So....I am just playing a wait and see game, and it is not fun at all, but I have nothing else to do. Poor little man.