Ferguson's New Talent for Butt Juice Art

Since last Friday, we have had extensive ups and downs with Ferguson.  

I realize I hadn't written since the summer, when Ferguson was suspect to having worms. We went through a deworming treatment, and he went back to normal within a few days.

Unfortunately, he's caught up another bug.  On Friday the 26th of September, he suddenly had horrible vomiting and diarrhea, all over the apartment. Because it was more than just diarrhea, we took him to the vet immediately.  They gave him some fluids, did an x-ray to make sure there was no blockage, and sent us home with metronidazole.  

In my experience (which is sadly very extensive) with metronidazole, it usually kicks in by the 2nd or 3rd dose, to where the dog becomes almost constipated and wipes out any bug the dog might have had since it is broad spectrum.  In this case....we were still having loose stool and vomiting (though less) after the 5th. Because I still had some Panacure (or generic name, SafeGuard) from the summer, and because I know it doesn't cause any drug interactions, I went ahead and gave him a dose.  Only then did I see remote improvement in him that actually got his appetite and thirst back, as well as his energy and desire to chew on toys. Unfortunately, I didn't have a proper 3 day dose to keep up with him, and now we're back to vomiting and diarrhea. Arik was so kind as to take him back to the vet on Wednesday, where they insisted on doing blood work and a urine test.  All came back normal (for $344 more, after the initial $475 from Friday >:( ). This makes me think it must be a type of parasite, if we saw any improvement at all with the panacure dosage.

I don't even know if I should call it diarrhea at this point. It's like he intentionally tries to paint a picture, in swirls with his butt all over the carpet.  Additionally, he never has once tried to ask to go out, whine, cry...ANYTHING, which is very frustrating. We even slept with our door open last night in hopes that we could easily hear/see him, but to no avail; we still woke up to an attempt at the night wind's swirls in Starry Night, similar to below, only with less colors: 

We've been in touch with the vet almost every day with updates, always either up or down. Some mornings he won't eat, some days he throws up, and even on some days his stool had gone back to remotely normal, only before everything going back to horrible the next day.  Needless to say, it's been driving us crazy.  

The next step she suggested would be an ultrasound ($500), which obviously I am reluctant to do, seeing as his bloodwork was all fine, and the fact that he did improve after the panacure.  Unfortunately, the vet didn't seem to think it was the panacure, because according to her, the metronidazole should have wiped out any infection he might have had. Because I'm going crazy and broke, I insisted that we do a fecal example, sent to the lab, to see if anything turns up at this point.  I've also frantically ordered more panacure, a proper 3 day weight appropriate dose this time, that unfortunately won't arrive until Monday, which should also be the day we hear back about his fecal sample. Even if there are no parasites, panacure should be a good thing to have on hand. Then, I suppose, we'll go back to plan B, which is coughing up the cash for the ultrasound -_-.  

So much for that hope of purchasing a house any time soon!