Morning Vomiting Issue

[Guest mpportraits]

I've been increasing her food this week as well as adding the yogurt. I worry about my other grey Phoebe, who is the WORST counter surfer/plate surfer EVER and she's gaining a few pounds from that. I'll up Nina's though and see where we get.

[Guest greyhound9797]

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.

The suggestion of feeding 3 times daily may solve the problem. Give it a try for a few days and see if it changes. If it doesn't you may want to make a trip to the vet. Mix up the times of feeding by more than an hour to hopefully get rid of the anticipatory bile vomiting. Be random - 8am, 5pm and 10pm today and tomorrow 7am, 2pm and 8pm (if your schedule allows this).

 

I don't recommend feeding "lots of treats at bedtime" as you say. Just give a smaller meal at that time. It sounds like between his meals, training treats and bedtime treats that he is getting a lot of food. I'm assuming you aren't figuring in all those treats for his daily food intake since he's gaining weight?

 

Many of my clients give their dogs Pepcid (per vet orders) and that helps calm things down in the gut.

 

Sandra in FL

[Guest Swifthounds]

What kind of raw meals are you feeding? Making the meLa more challenging can be helpful as well. You can fees the same amount, but just in a way that takes more effort and gives the hound more enjoyment.

 

It is really a myth that smaller, more frequent meals help lose weight, - for people or dogs.

 

With the exception of my oldest, Trojan (who gets a morning snack of extra meat), my hounds eat once per day. I switched from two small meals to a larger, more challenging meal and varying times and no one has bile vomit, no one begs, and they sleep like babies.

[XTRAWLD]

Well, what has worked the last two days is a big breakfast and then taking his dinner and splitting it into two and feeding the second portion before bed. So far no puke! This dog swallows pieces that are absolutely massive without chewing LOL I keep trying to keep them big so he'll chew, but no dice. We are feeding pork right now. I can't do 1 big meal, it's been attempted both on kibble and raw, and I still end up with bile.....so.....

 

I like the suggestion of changing up the feeding times one day and then offsetting the hours the other day. I will try this.

 

Umm, I am actually accounting for the treats portion, but the treats are literally a couple of grams on our "training nights".....this dog has packed on weight since the day we got him. I wouldn't classify him as chubby, but he's "just right" know what I mean? He's filled out in the right places and I want him to stop LOL

 

Thursdays are his class nights, so I try not to feed him dinner and I do this so he'll work for me in class (I give him a little something so he won't puke though because I simply can't fast him). Those nights are when he will get more treats than usual, and I compensate for the amount at dinner time. I know raw will be better for him nutritionally, and maybe that's why he's continuing to pack it on because it is better for him than the kibble? To be honest, I've only been feeding him raw since Friday night and haven't noticed a weight change visually....I just don't want him to get too big and I can't control it and bring the weight back down. Once a dog gets heavy, it's hard to bring them back down. I know this from previous experience.

[greyhead]

Prior *greyhound* experience?! Cuz I don't think getting greys to lose weight is very hard!

[XTRAWLD]

Sorry, to clarify - I meant previous dog experience in general. I think it's hard for ANY dog to lose weight once it's on....I didn't realize that Grey's can lose it quickly. My boys do not get to run around a backyard or get loose often to wear themselves out. So I can't imagine it being easy for my boy to trim down. If it is, I'd love to hear suggestions on getting him to lose it - obviously cutting back on his feeding is one, but I've got this nasty bile issue if he isn't fed regularly.

 

Good news, yesterday he had a small dinner before class, treats at class, treats when we got home. No vomiting in the morning - I was really thinking he was getting up to do that at 4:30am but YAY nothing!

[XTRAWLD]

I give up. I've tried staggering the feeding schedules. I've tried once a day, twice a day, three times a day. I've tried different amounts of food at different meals. I've tried a big bedtime snack, no snack ,small snack. Without fail Ryder throws up between 3-6 in the morning. Last night at 430, Sat morning around 530. It's at least 3 times a week. I am taking him to the vet to get looked at. This is getting ridiculous.

 

I can't sleep because whenever I hear him move I'm alert and running out the bedroom door to try to catch him before he pukes on the carpet, if hubby hasn't already heard him too and running out as well - so he disrupts sleep for both of us. It's happening so often I decided to leave towels out in his general puking area, that's how common this is becoming. He of course missed the towel I laid out, and of course never aims for the laminate. So I have to sit there and clean the spot at whatever time he throws up. Can't fall back asleep, and when I do it's already time to get up to go to work. This has got to stop.

[Guest iconsmum]

I don't know if this might help, but I had a hound that upchucked bile every morning too, until I gave him half a cup of warmed oatmeal just as I was turning out the lights last thing at night. He was raw fed but he needed something warm and soft to get him through until 7 30. If I forgot, I'd be up at 6 every time.

[Guest mpportraits]

I'm having "some" success with changing up the feeding and the night snack. Somedays she's fine and then out of the blue another one. I like the oatmeal idea. I'm going to try that. Can't hurt right?

[XTRAWLD]

We've been puke free for 3 nights.

 

See if you can spot a trend cause I can't:

 

Last throw up was Apr 12.

Apr 13 Breakfast 9:10am, Dinner 8pm, bedtime snack a small handful of dehydrated lung/liver

Apr 14 Breakfast 7:00am, Dinner 7pm, no snack period

Apr 15 Breakfast 7:00am, Dinner 7:30, piece of bread for bedtime snack

Apr 16 Breakfast 6:45am, Dinner I'm aiming for 7 or maybe 8 because I hope to sleep in a little tomorrow morning and seems if I can hold out for a late dinner, I'm not ending up with puke.....

 

I'm still laying out towels in the event he pukes in his favorite spot. At this point, I'm not going to get up in the middle of the night to rush out to clean it anymore. Haven't had a chance to make it out to the vet, but plan to soon just to chat with her. She was very reasonable in her pricing when we took him in to get his paw looked at (this is our new vet) so hopefully just to talk to her about his bile issue will not cost an arm and a leg. I wonder if I even need to bring him in or if it can be discussed on the phone?!

 

I like the oatmeal idea - the problem is I'm having problems controlling his weight as it is. I'm scaling his feeding back today to see what kind of an impact that will have since he's mister tubalub.

Edited April 16, 2011 by XTRAWLD

[4My2Greys]

mpportraits & XTRAWLD, have you'll tried Manuka honey for these issues? Several people have tried it and have had success both for themselves and their greyhound in settling stomach/digestive problems.

[JJNg]

When the early morning vomiting doesn't response to a change in feeding schedule and bedtime snack, I agree that talking to your vet is a good idea. Some dogs do have some associated acid reflux or GI motility issues and may respond to a dose of Pepcid at bedtime or the prescription medication Reglan. I'm not familiar with Manuka honey, but it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

 

With the morning vomiting issue, it's more a matter of redistributing the meals, not increasing the total amount of food given, so it shouldn't interfere with a diet.

 

And on the issue of weight, I agree with XTRAWLD that most dogs have a hard time losing weight after gaining it. However, although I'm sure there are individual exceptions, I've found that, in general, weight loss seems to be easier in greyhounds (and other sighthounds). My theory is that sighthounds breeds may have a faster metabolism than many of the other breeds that are prone to weight gain.

 

With my dogs, I can sometimes almost see daily fluctuations in their weight (based on activity level, and other factors), and I make small adjustments to their feeding amounts based on this. Their weight gain or loss in response to the feeding adjustment happens quickly, within a few days. When I adopted my whippet Ollie, he was very overweight at about 36.5 lbs. I was too busy to exercise him regularly, but just by controlling his intake with measured meals, I got him down to an ideal weight of about 27.5 lbs in about 6 months.

[OwnedBySummer]

Once, my previous dog, my morning puker, got into a bad puking cycle. Normally it was just once a week or so, less if I remembered snacks at night or paid attention in the morning and got a little piece of bread into her right away. But once, it was every day and accelerating. Finally, I got some blood in the yellow bile. A trip to the vet and an injection of some kind of anti-nausea drug (too long ago to remember the name) and we were good to go! They can get themselves into a real cycle and frequency, which then can need intervention. I never had to do that again as I learned how to handle it but it was pretty frightening at the time.

[Batmom]

Change the food.

[XTRAWLD]

Change the food.

 

What food change would you propose I do? He did this on kibble, and now on raw......

 

They can get themselves into a real cycle and frequency, which then can need intervention.

 

That's what I'm worried about, that it is so recurring that he needs medical attention before it gets worse. So far 4 nights in a row he's holding his own.

[Batmom]

What food change would you propose I do? He did this on kibble, and now on raw......

 

Something different from what he's been eating. Totally different brand/makeup of kibble or different type (not pork, if he's been getting pork) of meat with no bone. I would cook the meat for the time being.

 

If he did this on all the kibbles you tried before, don't get any of those same brands -- don't choose anything from the same product line (for example, if he did it eating Nutro Lamb, don't get another Nutro product at all). I would also do a little analysis of ingredients and protein/carb/fat percentages before buying.