Vomiting

[Guest UESBrindle]

This morning before I went off to work William stood up in his bed, hunched over dry-heaved for a while, got a bit out, dry heaved again, and got out the rest- it was yellow He did this two other times in the middle of the night other (2 seperate nights, a few days apart). After he pukes, he seems better.

I started pulling out my Dog Home Vet reference book, but had to run off to work this morning.

Does anyone have an idea of what this could be? I think it must be something to do with what he's eating for dinner the night before. We recently cut back from 3 cups of Nutro to 2 after he gained a few pounds, and then I thought that maybe like people who have a seriously empty stomach, could it be bile (because it was yellow?) and he's not eating enough? Or is dog puke usually yellow and it's something else? He has been trying to eat grass in the park on his walks, but that's not showing up in the puke. I can't think of anything else out of the ordinary that he's been eating...

What else could it be and what should we do?

[Guest HersheysMom]

Is it always happening in the morning? Yes, some greys will vomit a yellow-ish bile from having an empty stomach. How late are you feeding him dinner the night before? Have you tried Pepcid? A Pepcid before bed before could help.

[Guest UESBrindle]

Is it always happening in the morning? Yes, some greys will vomit a yellow-ish bile from having an empty stomach. How late are you feeding him dinner the night before? Have you tried Pepcid? A Pepcid before bed before could help.

 

We feed him about 6pm every night.

Would it be a good idea to up his amount of food so he doesn't get as empty a stomach? We currently give him about 2 1/4 cups of Nutro Chicken Rice Oatmeal twice a day, around 8am and 6pm.

[Guest SoulsMom]

I'm going through the same thing with my non-grey. It was twice in the morning in less than a week, so I started giving him a bedtime snack. But yesterday he vomited in his crate while I was at work. Not just bile, but undigested food. Now I'm at a loss . . . .

[Batmom]

Could be just empty tummy, but if he's gaining weight you may not want to up his food. Could try dividing his food up a little differently and feeding 1/2 - 3/4 cup an hour before his last out in the evening.

 

I will say, tho, that my angel Batman had this problem with Nutro. Any variety of Nutro. Puked slime nearly every morning and sometimes afternoon as well for nearly 6 months. After $holycrap$ number of tests looking for a problem, feeding snacks at night, etc., I switched foods for other reasons and the problem disappeared instantly.

[Guest kydie]

I was told by a greyhound expert that when a grey vomits like this, as mine did the same thing, it is a sign of an empty stomach, so I started to give my hound about 1/2 cup of food at bedtime, and no more vomiting!

[Guest Energy11]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008..._recalls98.html

 

I heard several varieties of Nutro were recalled. Please go to above link, or Google about this. THIS might be the problem. I'd stop this food asap, and start on some other high-quality food. I like Chicken Soup myself. In the meantime, you might want to get some bloodwork done to be sure all is well with the kidneys and liver.

 

Good luck on this. I would also try a Pepcid AC before bedtime, and maybe some pumpkin and plain yogert.

[Guest pennmorgan]

I think it's hunger, as others have pointed out. Rather than upping the amount of food, just shuffle it around some. So instead of giving 2ish cups at 6, give one and a half at six and a half before bed. Or give a little less for dinner and give him a couple of treats before bed. That works for Olivia--if she doesn't eat between dinner and breakfast, she does the same thing!

[Guest UESBrindle]

With Pepcid, do you give the chewable tabs or liquid? If tabs do you break up and add to a treat? or give the tab as a treat? If liquid do you mix with water? or do they drink it as is willingly?

 

It's just weird because he's been on the nutro for about 3 months already and hasn't had any problems with vomitting up until now. I hate to think he's so hungry.

 

Also, he's not looking to loose weight- we can still see 3 ribs, so he could gain and still be ok I think.

 

I think what we'll plan to do for now is up him back to 3 cups per meal and then a 1/2 cup before bed (do you wet this down like you would his usual meal?- we wet his dry food with warm water and soak before he eats usually)

 

We still have about 40 lbs of Nutro left, but once we finish it off we'll try and switch - we saw a dog dental specialist Monday who recommended Science Diet Oral Care (I also posted about it in the food section too) so we'll try and change to that and hopefully it'll work better.

[Guest Energy11]

With Pepcid, do you give the chewable tabs or liquid? If tabs do you break up and add to a treat? or give the tab as a treat? If liquid do you mix with water? or do they drink it as is willingly?

 

It's just weird because he's been on the nutro for about 3 months already and hasn't had any problems with vomitting up until now. I hate to think he's so hungry.

 

Also, he's not looking to loose weight- we can still see 3 ribs, so he could gain and still be ok I think.

 

I think what we'll plan to do for now is up him back to 3 cups per meal and then a 1/2 cup before bed (do you wet this down like you would his usual meal?- we wet his dry food with warm water and soak before he eats usually)

 

We still have about 40 lbs of Nutro left, but once we finish it off we'll try and switch - we saw a dog dental specialist Monday who recommended Science Diet Oral Care (I also posted about it in the food section too) so we'll try and change to that and hopefully it'll work better.

 

 

RE: the Pepcid AC ... tablets, 20 mg. I put mine in a piece of cheese or peanut butter. You also might want to try unflavored yogert and pumpkin before bed, ... it coats the stomach. Good Luck!

[carronstar]

It does sound like bile. I went through that several times with Morgaine. She also had Nutro issues.

 

Did the dental visit go well? I will have to go read about this Oral Care food.

[Guest HersheysMom]

Sorry - I meant to check back much sooner, but darn work got in the way

 

Given all of this info, I think switching the food right away is a good idea - there's debate about if you can switch cold turkey or over a number of days to make it easier on his belly - I think since there's a possibility the food is making him sick anyway, you should try switching cold turkey to something else. Maybe try a limited ingredient kibble - like Natural Balance who makes a duck and potato fish and sweet potato (you could pose the question in the Food forum to see if there are other suggestions)

 

Since he threw up bile just this morning I'd go ahead and try the Pepcid AC 20 mg as suggested, before bed, for a few days. Then try him off of it once he is on the new food.

 

Lastly, if you want to give a snack before dinner rather than another small meal, you could always give him a cookie when he comes in from his last turnout of the evening

 

And keep us posted!!

 

P.S. - I just noticed you may be switching to a new dental food? I'm not sure how that would be on the belly - I'd have to see the ingredients. I really think a limited ingredient food would help settle him down right now - you could always buy a 5 lb bag of limited ingredient duck & potato to feed just until his tummy simmers down, and try the dental food later on down the road? Just a suggestion.

Edited May 13, 2009 by HersheysMom