Gurgling, Salivating And Dry Heaving

[Guest Lmw626]

Hi all...

 

I have a situation this week... Started Two Point on IAMS Sensitive Naturals Fish and Barley (here's the specifics on it http://www.iams.com/dog-food/iams-sensitive-naturals-ocean-fish-rice-barley-recipe) a week or so ago. Yes, I've tried literally every kind of food all the way up to the ultra super-duper expensive premium brands and this is the only one so far that cleared up the diarrhea and gas... virtually immediately, and he seemed to like it. It has no chicken which specifically causes him to vomit with foods that contain chicken. It's not grain free but still he seems to be ok... that is until I noticed a serious increase in salivating (making that lip smacking sound) and gurgling tummy. Mostly it has been happening in the evening and at night. There has been no vomiting and no diarrhea at all and no gas. Which is a minor miracle after two years of trying to find a food he can tolerate. But today about two hours or so after he ate his first meal, he started hacking and dry heaving. I thought he was going to vomit so I took him outside. He immediately tried to eat some grass and he's never done that before. After about 20 min the heaving stopped or subsided at least, but there was gurgling tummy through the whole episode.

 

I have read up on bloat and while he does seem to have some of the symptoms he definitely does not have a *lack* of gurgling.

 

I am not sure if a trip to the vet is warranted, especially since they just closed for the day and the only option til Monday is the ER Vet.

 

He is up to date on all his shots etc and gets a heart worm pill each month (due for it tomorrow on the 1st) that covers a spectrum of things and he was checked for parasites etc. last fall.

 

Your thoughts?

Edited March 31, 2012 by Lmw626

[greyhead]

Went back to check your earlier threads, which I'd missed the first time around, and saw this from last May: "Last October, I noticed Two Point would occasionally do this hacking thing, like a cat trying to cough up a furball (not a reverse sneeze) and swallow back down whatever came up." I know you said they tested for parasites, but they can be missed if the worms aren't shedding eggs when the fecal is done. This, along with other things you've mentioned such as gurgling and gas, sounds like hookworms to me. When they migrate to the lungs, the dog tries to cough them up and then immediately swallows. So it's not the food per se that he's reacting to, if in fact the problem is worms. Worms bother them in a cyclic way as they go through their three-week life cycle, no matter what food they're on.

 

If you or your vet don't want to repeat fecal testing, you could just treat with Panacur and see if it helps. I will say that if he has had worms all this time, they will have to be hit hard (longer) with the medicine. Just my two cents.

[Burpdog]

Mostly it has been happening in the evening and at night

 

How long after eating? Are you feeding twice a day? What times?

[MaryJane]

Sounds like you had one sick puppy ...

 

If you are still getting symptoms like this is could possibly be bloat (gas) that could lead to torsion which is the intestines twisting. The salivating might be an indication of gas.

 

IMO, with these symptoms I probably would have already had the dog at the vet as I tend not to like to wait and see what happens. A vet will at least give something that will settle the tummy.

 

You might want to try feeding cooked hamburger and rice for a few days and see if the situation stabilizes.

[Guest Lmw626]

Yes I feed twice a day around 8:30 am and 5:30 pm and he gets treats, usually Blue Buffalo "health bars." I don't add other food except plain yogurt as a treat. In the past I've tried adding veggies etc and it has always resulted in very upset stomach issues. He used to have major problems with eating too fast. That has been solved by putting one of those large stainless steel balls in the bowl so he has to eat around it. Has made a major improvement. He is forced to slow down and not literally hoover up the food without chewing. He still doesn't chew it but at least he does not inhale it in less than a minute like he used to before the ball.

 

The gurgling this week has been happening usually around 9-10pm after he's eaten at 5:30 or so. The bag says his 80 lbs should get 3.25 to 3.75 cups per day but I've been giving him 2 cups in the am and 2 cups in the pm. I'm questioning weather the gurgling all week has been him being hungrier on this food and maybe he needs 3 meals a day vs. 2. He's usually gotten 4 cups split in 2 meals on all the other foods we've tried but this one could be the one that's he needs more of.

 

He has not had any "outward" signs of gas, no pun intended, since I started him on the IAMS food and his stool is as perfect as a dog's stool could possibly be. Maybe there is gas backed up in there and that's the problem... Would a pepto tablet help? I don't want to make anything worse...

 

The thing I was most concerned about this morning when I first posted was the dry heaving and how long it was going on without anything coming up. At first I thought he had hiccups but quickly realized it wasn't that... he was making that forward head motion like he was trying to get something out of his stomach but couldn't and then there was the sudden urge to eat grass which he's not done before. Oddly, at least to me, during the entire time he was heaving and salivating and tummy gurgling, he's wagging his tail and acting like he's in a fine mood! He was not panting or otherwise acting like there was discomfort. In terms of his "normal" behavior, he's only vomited a few times in the last two years that I've had him. He had dry heaves and visible discomfort within a few hours of eating a chicken based food after that happened two meals in a row it was decided no more chicken. Another time was panting, discomfort and vomiting three hours after eating a turkey based dog food. After that the Vet said no more poultry foods for him. The other time was just bile at 4:00 am, vet said he was probably experiencing hunger and needed more food.

 

Since it stopped around 12:15 or so, this afternoon he's had a couple incidents of increased salivating but no more heaving and only a couple of hacking sounds. No vomiting, no, diarrhea, etc.

 

About the hacking sounds, it sounds like something is being regurgitated and then he swallows it back down, the best way I can describe it is that it's like the way humans experience acid reflux except he makes a hacking noise as it comes back up. It's definitely not the reverse sneezing thing, totally different sound/action. He's been in to see the vet about the hack before, and he thought it was in fact acid reflux and prescribed pepcid AC but getting that twice a day for months never seemed to make a difference with the hack.. He is also prone to allergies of all sorts and has been to the vet several times for various allergic reactions to foods, fleas, etc. Claritan does provide him some relief, and summer is in full swing already here in St. Louis, the high tomorrow is going to be 90 degrees. Today I was connecting the hacking with the dry heaving like he was trying to get something out of his stomach that wouldn't come up.

 

Since he seems to be fine the last few hours I think I'll wait and see how he does over night and take him to the ER if it starts up again and also call his vet on Monday morning.

[Batmom]

Dry food or do you add water? And, how are his teeth?

 

Salivating can occur due to nausea, kibble stuck in the throat, bad tooth.

 

Salivating + swallowing + funny head moves as if trying to vomit are more likely something stuck in the throat.

 

Hope it's something simple and easily resolved.

[GreytNut]

It could be that your dog has an allergy to something besides just chicken in his food. The most common culprits are wheat, barley, soy and to a lesser extent corn. Can your vet perform an allergy test to aid you in finding a food that will agree with him?