Morning Vomiting Issue

[Guest mpportraits]

another question about my senior girl Nina (10).

since we got her 1 year ago, every morning, she goes outside to pee, eats some grass and vomits. the vet has done blood work and all is fine. we started doing pepcid in the mornings and it seemed to help for a couple weeks. now, she's doing it again. i've changed her diet to accomodate a sensitive stomach. please, any suggestions would be cherished!

[Brindles]

What color is the vomit?

 

How often do you feed her? What time(s)?

[Guest mpportraits]

It's a bundle of grass, so kind of clearish/green because of the grass. I feed her a cup in the morning and a cup at night.

 

What color is the vomit?

 

How often do you feed her? What time(s)?

[OwnedBySummer]

Unless she's really little... that doesn't sound like very much food? Of course, portions do depend on the kibble brand.

68 lb. Summer gets 2 cups of kibble in the morning and a 1/2 can of moist in the evening. If she was at a run that day, she'll also get an additional bit of kibble with her dinner.

[Guest mpportraits]

Do you think increasing her food amount will help? I'm willing to try anything right now...I don't want my sweet girl being sick like that.

 

 

[greysmom]

Lots of greys have the Morning Urpies. Their tummies get too empty during the night and they get up and barf - usually yellow bile, but it can be clear liquid too.

 

Easy fix - give her a light snack right before bedtime - some kibble, a piece of bread with peanut butter, a large milkbone, or other bulky snack that she likes. Should make the Morning Urpies a thing of the past!

[TheFullHouse]

I'd give her a snack before bed. My pups get a big milk bone dog cookie before going to bed. They will get an upset tummy if they have nothing in there.

 

I don't know how big she is but my Bebe is 54 lbs. and she gets 1 1/2 cups twice a day for a total of 3 cups a day. Your sweetie may need a little more food.

[Guest mpportraits]

thanks guys!!!! ohh, i feel there is hope! i will do both suggestions and let you all know how she does

[OwnedBySummer]

Sounds like a plan. Hope a bit more food and a snack does the trick. Although Summer doesn't have the "morning urpies" (love that term!), my previous dog did. Nasty yellow slime was the vomit-du-jour. If I'd forgotten the bedtime snack, for sure I got the puke in the morning. If I realized first thing in the morning that I'd forgotten the snack, a quick dog cookie or a piece of bread would hold her for the 10 minutes of morning potty until breakfast.

[Guest mpportraits]

never even thought of this. you guys are the best!

[Guest Swifthounds]

If you don't feel she needs more food, randomizing the feeding times ( as much as you can) will short circuit the bile vomit which occurs not because the tummy is empty, but because the dog is conditioned to eating a a set time and so the tummy starts producing acid in anticipation. If the dog has food in it's tummy when that happens, the food will absorb it, but if not, it causes nausea and they way grass to trigger vomiting and resulting relief.

[greysmom]

My five all get 1 cup in the morning and 1 for dinner, plus about a spoon of canned and a spoon of yogurt. Plus treats throughout the day. They hold their weight well and have plenty of energy. I think it just depends on the dog and their activity levels.

[OwnedBySummer]

I think the bedtime snack is going to make the most difference. I hope!

[XTRAWLD]

I recently learned about this with our Ryder about a week ago. It would seem like at least once a month he would wake us up anywhere from 3-6 am and just throw up yellow bile. I felt so bad, didn't know what was wrong. Did he eat something that upset him the day before? Odd that there wasn't any food mixed in the bile. A coworker mentioned "maybe he's hungry" and I thought, no way....and then I asked around and it was confirmed (Thanks Karen!). Ryder now gets an abundance of treats before bedtime to keep him full throughout the night. I felt horrible thinking he's starving (meanwhile if you look at his solid body there is no way he's been starving) He gets 2 squares a day...and Kasey has never wretched like that in all his years. So far the extra treats at night have worked. I couldn't believe it was that easy.

 

Good luck with your girl. I'm sure you'll notice a difference!

[XTRAWLD]

I'm going to start researching this a little more. We are still encountering issues. Like clockwork, Ryder was up at 5:30 puking bile. He did this yesterday morning too although at 2:30 instead. I'm dumbfounded as to why last night. He had dinner at 6:20pm, we trained and he had kibble between 8-9 and a really good snack at 11pm. Usually he pukes and he's all better, no issues. Right now he just started "wheezing and chuffing" like something is caught in his throat. Lsst for a few seconds and then he's fine. I fed him a snack, as we always have after he pukes. This should tide him over for another hour before breakfast is served. I just don't get it. Is there something more serious that could be causing this? Could he have ulcers? Does he have acid reflux?

[Batmom]

XTRAWLD, you might try changing his food to something completely different -- not just a different flavor, but a whole different brand / formula. One of mine did it nearly every morning and some afternoons for months, while I spent $$$ on tests, etc. Changed foods for other reasons, and it was like turning off a tap. He never did it again.

[Guest Swifthounds]

If you don't feel she needs more food, randomizing the feeding times ( as much as you can) will short circuit the bile vomit which occurs not because the tummy is empty, but because the dog is conditioned to eating a a set time and so the tummy starts producing acid in anticipation. If the dog has food in it's tummy when that happens, the food will absorb it, but if not, it causes nausea and they way grass to trigger vomiting and resulting relief.

 

Have you tried splitting the evening meal between regular time and a later meal closer to bed time. That would prevent the empty gurglies but also help the hound feel more satisfied. I did that with my one hound when he had bile issues in early morning. That was before I switched to randomizing feeding times, which will often eliminate the bile problem in an otherwise healty hound. Once a hound knows what times meals are, they start to anticipate a meal and it triggers the stomach to ready for food and they get excess bile. If the tummy doesn't know quite when food will arrive, it can't anticipate.

 

Also, be careful with giving a treat after a hound wakes you and vomits bile. Usually the vomiting has eliminated the excess bile and the hound feels better, and the extra treat can just be extra incentive to wake you for a snack.

 

If changes in routine don't help, then a diet change may be in order.

[Guest mpportraits]

Hi everyone! Here's what I've been doing. I started giving her a snack before bed and I've also started mixing in 1/3 cup of yogurt in with their food. I feed them Blue Buffalo, so I was told they shouldn't be lacking anything in their diet. I saw Nina "nibbling" on some grass the last couple days but not like she used too. Could this just be a weird habit of hers? I'm hoping to see it diminish. She has been really excited about the treats!!!

[OwnedBySummer]

Summer also nibbles on grass. But not any old grass, only the taller grass around the edges of a baseball diamond. Or some that I haven't trimmed properly against the fence in the back yard. She's not obsessive about it by any means and it has never made her puke. We call it "eating salad". But it is truly nibbling, the quantity actually ingested is very low. I don't worry about it because it's a natural thing for them to do and I'm not getting any unpleasant reactions.

[Guest mpportraits]

love it!!!! "eating salad" that is precious!!!

[Guest Liz_in_PA]

DH switched the bedtime snack to chicken jerky and the urpies started again. So we have lunchtime jerky and bedtime milkbones. So, not just any treat will work at night.

[greyhead]

Spring grass is apparently really tasty and chemically different from grass at other times of year. (I learned this by accident in researching cat habits.) So I wouldn't be overly concerned that it's a full-blown grass addiction. It's probably just spring.

[XTRAWLD]

He did this when on kibble. I was thinking regarding the kibble, maybe it's just a bad bag? Or maybe he ate something that didn't agree with him during the day (table scraps or the like). Now he's doing the same thing now that we are on raw. I'm discovering 11-12 hours between meals seems to be his threshold. Breakfast is always between 7 and 730am. Dinner anywhere between 530 and 630. On March 18 (yes I logged the day) we started to try to feed dinner closer to 630pm and lots of treats at bedtime to see if the bile theory was true. It did help out and he didn't start throwing up until early Saturday morning. We also train for roughly a half hour in the evening so he gets lots of treats there too.

 

I'm debating giving him a bedtime treat that consists of a meal portion now. The problem is, this guy is continually gaining weight....and I really don't want him to get any more padding....but this bile stuff is making me feed him just in case he throws up.

 

We don't have a yard, so there is no grass nibbling, or even much sneaking of anything odd on our walks.

[greyhead]

Summer also nibbles on grass. But not any old grass, only the taller grass around the edges of a baseball diamond. Or some that I haven't trimmed properly against the fence in the back yard.

The other thing I learned from cats is that not all varieties of grass are chemically/nutritionally equal. So Summer should have her favorites!

 

xtrawald, feeding more frequently (e.g., 3 meals instead of 2) will tend to keep the metabolism up and the weight lower. It does sound like your pup would benefit from a late-night meal or big snack.

Edited April 4, 2011 by greyhead

[greytpups]

another question about my senior girl Nina (10).

since we got her 1 year ago, every morning, she goes outside to pee, eats some grass and vomits. the vet has done blood work and all is fine. we started doing pepcid in the mornings and it seemed to help for a couple weeks. now, she's doing it again. i've changed her diet to accomodate a sensitive stomach. please, any suggestions would be cherished!

 

another question about my senior girl Nina (10).

since we got her 1 year ago, every morning, she goes outside to pee, eats some grass and vomits. the vet has done blood work and all is fine. we started doing pepcid in the mornings and it seemed to help for a couple weeks. now, she's doing it again. i've changed her diet to accomodate a sensitive stomach. please, any suggestions would be cherished!

 

I just saw this today...Brooke eats about 6 cups food including treats/day and maintains her weight of about 63 lbs. She raced at 61 lbs. I guess if you aren't feeding her enough, she would be losing weight. btw, Brooke is our only grey who eats this much. And I have to space her meals 12 hours apart or she'll have me up at 4 am because she's hungry

Edited April 4, 2011 by greytpups