Vomiting In The Morning?

[vjui]

Hi Everybody!

 

This is such a great forum...I've learned so much as a first time dog/greyhound owner. Nico is handsome 6 year old brindle boy. Some of you might remember he suffered a broken bone in his paw earlier this year. Anyway, within the last 2 weeks, he's started to eat grass as soon as we do our morning walk, and then promptly throws up! It's all just yellow bile and undigested grass.

 

Talked to the vet who thinks he's got reflux. He advised feeding later in the night and giving Pepsid AC 20 mg at bedtime. That worked for 1 day, and then today...he's back to vomiting.

 

A little background: about 3 weeks ago, Nico developed a rash in his butt/groin area that he was furiously licking. The vet diagnosed a bacterial infection and put him on antibiotics. (A cephalosporin--1x/day dosing). That worked for the first 5 days or so, but made Nico lose his appetite tremendously and start the grass eating/vomiting cycle. Since the rash had resolved quickly, the vet told us to discontinue the antibiotics, which we did about 8 days ago. Since then, his appetite has returned heartily and otherwise seems very healthy and happy.

 

I was worried about possible pancreatitis from the antibiotics, but the vet assured me this was not likely, given that Nico was eating well.

 

Our routine is to feed him 7 AM and 7PM (mostly dry food with a bit of canned food for taste). He gets his usual kong in the afternoon and doggie biscuits through the day.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? Should I be worried about this? Thanks so much for your help!!!

[Guest dobiegrey]

My Dobie does the same thing sometimes, I give him Zantac in the evening before bed, recently I started giving it to him in the AM as well, he is a very high strung nervous wreck, and the vet started him on Prozac and he started vomitting after 10 days so we stopped the Prozac and started the Zantac in the AM and things seem to be calming down and I hope I can take him off the morning Zantac soon. I had another Doberman that had "Bilious Vomitting Syndrome" and would vomit bile when ever his tummy got empty, so I try not to let Jack's tummy get empty and he eats 4 times daily. That seems to work well, he gets a standard amount only divided up into 4. Good luck, I know how worrisome it can be. Try just giving him a little snack before you take him out for the morning walk maybe that will keep him from starting the grass eating/vomit cycle.

 

Lou

[inugrey]

What about a bedtime snack? We do that for our morning puker and it seems to help. We give one of those big ole milkbones right at bedtime. It's not fool proof but it has reduced morning incidents a good bit.

[greysmom]

Lots of greyhounds seem to do this. The acid reducer will help, but you should save a cup or so of his dinner and give it to him at bedtime. It happens most often when they get too hungry overnight. You can use a nice big milkbone or some kibble, a piece of bread - anything to put something on his stomach.

 

greysmom

[Wonder]

I agree with giving him a later night snack. Maybe split his last meal into 2

[Batmom]

Do you feed before or after your morning walk? If after, try giving him a handful of kibble, slice of bread, or large biscuit before the walk.

 

If you're feeding before the morning walk and nothing seems to work, consider changing his food to something from a different manufacturer. Don't just get a different food from the same product line. Went through this with one of my dogs years ago. Snacks, tummy meds, some hundreds of dollars of tests made no difference. I changed his food for other reasons and it was like turning off a tap. No more yellow slime vomit.

[vjui]

Wow...thanks for all the suggestions, everybody!

I have been feeding after the morning walk. Since the antibiotic, he just watches me put the food bowl down and doesn't make a move toward it at all! The bowl is empty by the time I come home from work at lunchtime. I can certainly try to feed him in the morning before our walk..that's an easy thing to do!

 

I am also going to try to split the evening meal in 2 and give him the second half before bed. If we end up having to switch his food, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you folks for suggestions on what food to switch him to! (Seems as though there is no end to my questions!!!!!).

[Guest trevdog]

I'd split his meal in two, feed him half in the morning and half around your dinnertime. Then before bed, a decent snack, like a nice size biscuit, a piece of bread or a handful of small treats. I have rarely had an issue when I do this. Lots of times it's just an empty tummy issue in the AM.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I have to give Chelsa a large biskie in the morning, usually at about 7 when she wakes up. If I don't, she will vomit almost without fail. She just needs that little bit of food in her tummy to tide her over until lunchtime. Some hounds need a snack just before bed.

 

 

[Jeff]

Jet was the same way. A late snack, just before bed really helped the problem.

[Guest TheUnrulyHound]

I have to give Chelsa a large biskie in the morning, usually at about 7 when she wakes up. If I don't, she will vomit almost without fail. She just needs that little bit of food in her tummy to tide her over until lunchtime. Some hounds need a snack just before bed.

Stepper is the same way, I cant sleep in without him throwing up cause his brekkie is late

[Guest SusanP]

What about probiotics, yogurt, etc now that he's done with the antibiotics?

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

So you free-feed your boy? I dont know if this will do anything, but what about putting a few cups of water in with the kibble, and then giving him specific feeding times. If he doesnt eat within 30 minutes, pick up the food. The only thing is, since his appatite is subdued now, this may have the opposite affect of what you need. Not sure on that one. I am not a proponent of free-feeding, thats just not my thing.

[Guest MyBoys]

We had the same problem with our boy Kyle, I spoke to my vet and she suggested giving him a little snack before bedtime and a little snack very first thing in the morning. We started doing this and the morning vomiting stopped.

[Figma]

Our Grey was doing this for a while also. I eventually switched to Pro Plan Salmon for sensitive stomachs and there have been no more problems. I do add a little Blue food at his evening meal and a little canned food in the mornings. You may try some acidopholous (?) in case the bacteria in the gut is out of wack due to the antibiotics.

[vjui]

Update:

 

Okay..so I split up Nico's dinner last night and fed him half at 7:00 PM and the other half at 10:00 PM. (He was a little confused, like: "that's it? where's the rest??" and ..."what? eat again?"). Gave him the Pepsid AC before bed, then gave him a LARGE biscuit with his morning thyroid pill and my hubby says NO episodes of grass eating or vomiting this morning. Yay!! Keep your fingers crossed.

 

As for free-feeding, I know from what I've read that it is not a good idea and that if he doesn't eat when I put the food down, I should remove the bowl. I think I was just worried about his waning appetite and the "mommy-nurturing" thing took over. Do you guys think this is a bad idea?

 

Thanks for all your suggestions and support. It really makes me feel better that Nico is not the only grey with this problem. I'll try to figure out how to post photos so you guys can see what a gorgeous guy he is!!