Why Do Dogs Throw Up Their Food

Vomiting Whats Normal And Whats Not Normal

A perfectly healthy dog can vomit out of the blue and then go about the rest of the day just like everythings normal. Your dog might have simply eaten food too quickly or ingested a little too much grass in the backyard. If the dog doesnt show any other symptoms, they should be fine.11

But if your dog vomits a great deal at one time, vomits without stopping or vomits repeatedly, you need to be ready to take them to the vet. This is also the case if you notice blood in the vomit, or if its accompanied by bloody diarrhea.12

Frequent vomiting can be a sign of inflammatory bowel disease or some other serious condition that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Get to your vet to see whether or not theres a problem.

Medications To Stop Nausea And Vomiting

Cerenia is the most commonly used antiemetic for dogs in recent years. It acts on a trigger zone in the brain to stop nausea, and also acts on receptors in the stomach.

Vets will often start your dog with an injection of Cerenia and then follow up with pills every 24 hours for a couple of days to make sure the vomiting has been resolved.

Reglan is less widely used but is still very helpful for motility disorders in dogs as well as megaesophagus.

Zofran is also an antiemetic thats used in a hospital setting.

In addition to these measures, the veterinarian may also recommend feeding your dog a bland or easily digestible diet.

What To Feed A Sick Dog

You should hold back giving water to a sick dog for two hours and food until 6-8 hours after their last episode of vomiting. Once this period is over reintroduce small, bland meals such as white chicken or rice gradually. If everything is ok the next day your dog can gradually return to their normal diet.

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Try A Puzzle Feeder Or Slow Feeder

If your dog is throwing up because they are eating too quickly try a slow feeder to help them slow down. Slow feeders are designed to keep your pet from gobbling their food too quickly. They might have some columns or channels that the food will settle around so that your pet has to eat around the obstacles. These puzzle feeders from Outward Hound are a popular choice.

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What Your Vet Will Do

Your vet will first want to determine what caused your dog to vomit or regurgitation and how it is affecting your dog. It will be helpful to give the vet a sample of the vomit for them to identify what foreign material might be in the sample if you can collect one. Whether it is regurgitation or vomiting, your vet will likely check first to make sure there is no obstruction in your dog’s throat or digestive tract, such as a sock, bone or other foreign object.

If your vet determines the problem is frequent or sudden-onset regurgitation, writes Wag!, they will look for issues related to the esophagus or stomach. They might also check for accidental poisoning, cancer, gastric reflux or an enlarged esophagus.

If the problem is unexplained vomiting, the most immediate things to check for are infections and dehydration, says the American Kennel Club. Your vet will also likely evaluate your dog’s stomach and small intestine and test for diseases like kidney failure, diabetes, liver disease and pancreatitis.

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Physical Activity After Eating Or Drinking Too Much Water

If your dog is into running with you or youre taking a training class where youre using food as a reward, you might want to watch how much you allow them to have right before or during activity. If a dog eats or drinks too much water theyre active this could lead to vomiting. If this is the case youll likely see undigested food in the vomit – what went down comes right back up!

Symptoms And Types Of Diabetes In Dogs

Early signs

• Weight loss even with normal appetite
• Elevated blood glucose

• Anorexia complete loss of appetite
• Lethargy and depression
• Worsening weight loss
• Recurrent infections

Development of Ketoacidosis A life threatening complication of unregulated diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis is a metabolic acidosis caused by the breakdown in the liver of fat to ketones in response to starvation.

• Depression
• Death

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My Dog Is Eating His Vomit

Understanding why your dog is vomiting is key.

Reading time: 5 minutes

Two words every dog owner has uttered: “That’s gross!”

Granted, there are several things dogs do that inspire this reaction, but few are as gag-inducing as seeing your dog gobbling up his own vomit. Aside from the gross factor, is this behavior something you should worry about? As with most questions in animal health, the only definitive answer is, “It depends.” Knowing why your dog is vomiting is key to knowing if it’s harmless for him to re-ingest it.

Transitioning To A New Dog Food

Sudden changes to your dog’s food may result in gastrointestinal issues, so switching dog food too quickly can upset his stomach. Above all, it’s important to transition to a new dog food slowly, typically over 7-10 days. Before you make the decision to change dog foods, check with your veterinarian. If you continue to see signs of stomach issues or your dog does not stop vomiting, you should bring him in as soon as you can. He may have an allergy or food intolerance, or he may have a more serious problem .

If you’ve recently begun the transition to a Hill’s® brand food, be sure to start small and gradually build up the amount until it’s the only food you’re only offering.

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How To Prevent Some Cases Of Dog Vomiting

Many causes of dog vomiting cannot be prevented, but some can be if you follow these rules:

A Matter Of Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the dog’s pancreas and is often triggered by the dog eating a high-fat meal. In the “acute form,” pancreatitis causes dogs to become very sick, developing loss of appetite, severe vomiting, a painful belly and fever.

However, there is also a low-grade, chronic form of pancreatitis which is sort of the “slow burn” version of the acute form. Affected dogs still have an inflamed pancreas but tend to develop periods of pain and nausea with intermittent vomiting.

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Why Do Dogs Throw Up

Vomiting serves a vital function in dogs, many of whom have a well-deserved reputation for eating just about anything. Throwing up can be the bodys way of correcting a mistake. Most owners have witnessed their dogs eating something unsavory, only to see it come back up a few minutes later. Other relatively benign causes of dog vomiting are motion sickness and bilious vomiting syndrome. Of course, vomiting is also a symptom of many potentially serious diseases, such as:

• Gastroenteritis
• Intestinal obstruction caused by foreign material, tumors, organ displacement, etc.
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Food allergies or intolerance

Cases Of Dog Vomiting And When Should You Worry About It

Reading Time: 5minutes

Dog vomiting can be caused by a number of things and its not always a sign of a serious medical condition. The sound of your dog gagging and retching is worrying, but theres no need to press the panic button just yet. You must first understand what dog vomiting is and the different reasons why it happens so that youll know the appropriate treatment.

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When To Call The Vet

In addition to notifying your veterinarian if your dog continues to vomit, be ready to call for help when:

The vomiting is severe and comes on suddenly.

Your dog has a fever or is lethargic or in pain.

You know or suspect that your dog swallowed a foreign object.

Your dog has bloody diarrhea.

There is blood in the vomit or it has an unusual color or consistency .

If medical care is needed, your veterinarian may take an X-ray or do an ultrasound in an effort to discover what your dog might have swallowed. Blood tests may be useful to help rule out other causes such as pancreatitis or acute kidney failure. Surgery may be required to remove an object that blocks the intestines or a large object in the stomach, such as Gorilla Glue, which swells to a large mass after ingestion.

If no cause is discovered, you may need to consult a specialist for an endoscopy, where a tube is inserted through your dogs mouth and esophagus into the stomach. Small objects in the stomach can be removed with the endoscope. If no obvious cause is found during endoscopy, a biopsy of the stomach lining can be taken to provide additional information.

What’s The Difference Between Vomiting And Regurgitation

You’ll often see the terms “vomiting” and “regurgitation” used interchangeably. But the truth is that these two are different.

Regurgitation refers to the return of food into your dog’s mouth after it’s been swallowed. Your dog swallowed food, but it came back from the stomach through the esophagus and out of your pet’s mouth. The esophageal muscles pushed the food back out rather than the stomach muscles.

When your dog vomits, on the other hand, the food is pushed back out of the stomach by the stomach muscles. The contents could be undigested, or they could be partially or fully digested depending on how much time passed between your dog eating and their vomiting episode.

To put it simply, regurgitation involves the esophagus pushing food out of your dog’s body before its digested. Vomiting refers to the stomach expelling its contents, whether it’s undigested food or partially or fully digested food.

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Bacterial Or Viral Infections

Infections are one of the most common causes of vomiting in dogs. If your dog comes down with a bacterial or viral infection, he may begin throwing up. He may also show signs such as loss of appetite, weakness, and lethargy related to his vomiting.

Dogs with acute illnesses like this may have other symptoms as well. Some may have respiratory symptoms like coughing, sneezing, runny eyes and nose, and trouble breathing.

Others may run a fever. If your dog has any of these symptoms along with a fever, take him to the vet right away.

Issue With The Esophagus/larynx

On top of the megaesophagus, the esophagus may be host to several other problems too. Esophageal and cricopharyngeal achalasia, both swallowing defects and myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, may cause issues in the esophagus leading to regurgitation of undigested foods.

Lately, geriatric onset, laryngeal paralysis polyneuropathy has been known to cause a vast array of symptoms in elderly dogs including noisy breathing from the throat, trouble breathing, especially in hot or humid weather, or when the dog is excited or stressed, hoarse barking, hacking, or coughing, gagging with or without regurgitation, hind-end weakness and reduced muscle mass.

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Is It Safe For My Dog To Eat Its Own Sick

If youve owned dogs for any period of time, youll be well aware of their less pleasant habits However, there are very few that are as disgusting to us as eating their own sick! That awful retch retch heAVe slurp slurp slurp is something none of us enjoy hearing from behind the sofa, especially if the culprit then trots round to give us a friendly kiss! But why do they do it, and is it safe?

So, lets start with the basics.

When Dogs Vomit On An Empty Stomach

Some dogs vomit when their stomachs are empty for too long, perhaps because of irritation from the stomach acid that collects there. This is commonly called empty tummy syndrome, or more formally, bilious vomiting syndrome. Affected dogs usually vomit bile and foam in the early morning hours but are otherwise completely normal. Offering a small meal just before bedtime usually solves the problem.

If feeding more frequent meals doesnt help, the cause could be a foreign body, which is the general term for something a dog swallows that cant pass through the digestive system. Anything that stays in the stomach for too long causes irritation and can lead to vomiting, especially when the stomach is otherwise empty.

Its a relief when a dog throws up something he shouldnt have swallowed in the first place and the evidence explains what happened. But sometimes its a mystery, especially when X-rays and ultrasound exams dont reveal everything in a dogs stomach.

In 2002, Lori Curry of McGaheysville, Virginia, couldnt figure out why Race, her one-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, threw up every morning at 3 a.m. He was eating well, looked healthy, and had normal bowel function, she recalls, but the vomiting went on for more than a month.

In addition to interrupting Currys sleep, the formerly well-housetrained Race began having accidents in the living room.

After an inconclusive ultrasound test, Race was scheduled for an endoscopy, a visual exam of the esophagus and stomach.

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How Can I Prevent My Dog Being Sick

Many causes of vomiting cannot be prevented. But by removing potentially harmful foods, bones or objects from your dogs environment you can help minimise the risk of them swallowing a foreign body or eating something poisonous. Try not to change your dogs diet suddenly and try to prevent them scavenging and eating rubbish or leftovers.

Dog Vomiting Home Remedies

• Limiting the food intake of dogs allows his gastrointestinal tract to recover. However, do not starve him and do not feed him a large quantity of food.
• Ice chips can counter dehydration caused by vomiting.
• Ginger has carminative properties that will give relief to his stomach. Most dogs do not enjoy the taste of ginger. As such, you may mask it by mixing ginger with warm coconut milk or putting ginger powder on the bread with honey.
• Feed him with a bland diet. Plain white rice, plain chicken, or plain meat will suffice.
• Include chicken broth on your dogs diet. This will help him with dehydration. It is best to make it at home rather than buy a commercial one that may contain harmful additives. Only use newly cooked rice as the leftover rice has much less starch.

Did these tips help the condition of your dog? Find out more pet care tips in our pet health blogs! Dont forget to share it with your friends!

Hannah Mitchell

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Light Formula Dog Food

If you suspect motility issues to be the cause of vomiting, consider giving the dog a light formula dog food.

Canine nutritionists believe that high-fiber dog foods boost motility by moving the food forward.

Many dog owners have also reported significant improvements by feeding their dogs plain pumpkins.

Causes And Treatments Of An Old Dog Throwing Up

After practicing as a veterinarian for more than 25 years and being chief of staff at Animal House of Chicago, I have treated my fair share of cases of elderly dogs vomiting. The cause of an old dog throwing up has ranged from something simple, like the dog eating too many dog treats, to more complex issues, like liver or kidney disease.

Senior dogs, like puppies, are not as resilient and may become significantly and more rapidly affected by vomiting compared with adult dogs. Therefore, its important to address the situation with your veterinarian if your senior dog is throwing up, and find the root issue.

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Why Do Dogs Vomit Food

If your dog is throwing up undigested food but it isnt immediately after they’ve eaten, they’re probably vomiting. As described above, you can usually tell vomiting from regurgitation by the consistency, color, and smell of the stomach contents.

So, why do dogs vomit? There are many possible causes.

Common Causes Of Vomiting

The Chagrin Falls Veterinary Center & Pet Clinic, identifies the eight most common causes of dog vomit as:

The most common reasons for regurgitation are:

• Overeating
• Anxiety or over-excitement
• A dilated esophagus that does not effectively move food to the stomach
• The breed of the dog. While regurgitation can occur for any dog, it’s more common in breeds including the shar-pei, German shepherd, Great Dane, Irish setter, Labrador retriever, miniature schnauzer, Newfoundland and wire fox terrier, notes Wag!.

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