Heartburns At Night?

[Josie]

Lately Otis started having gastric problems...

 

the symptomes:
Otis often wakes up during the night, usually after 3am (we go to sleep at 10pm and he sleeps in our bedroom)..

he stands up and walks and stands up long minutes (no crying, no whinning, he swallows and burps, like if it's coming up (reflux)..

we ask him to go back to is bed and he does.. he lay back down and will swallow often too before going back to sleep...

he does this about every hour from 3am to 6am when the alarm clock rings...

 

The vet recommand to give him pepcid AC daily to help (2x10mg)

It helps but he still wakes up two-three-four nights a week...

 

Here's his raw diet (he weights 80lbs):

 

-in the morning it's meaty bone usually capon necks, or chicken 1/4 leg, turkey drumstick, chicken backs... well poultry.. somes days I give frozen shole sardines too

 

-in the evening it's grounded chicken (my butcher shop sell chicken carcaces grounded) about 1 pound, plus liver or chicken hearts, or beef heart cubes , pork liever and I add 1 pattie of a horse without cereal raw feeding from Karnivor compagny (ingredients: Horsemeat, chicken bones, horse liver, alfalfa, marc cranberry pulp, organic apples, organic carrots dried, dehydrated red bell peppers, zeolite, organic sunflower oil cold pressed, yeast, dehydrated parsley, spinach and beets dried, ground seaweed, leeks dehydrated, herring oil, zinc chelate, iron chelate, copper chelate, selenium chelate, calcium iodate, vitamin E, vitamin D, probiotics (lactobacilli and bacilli sp.), spices, choline , dehydrated garlic. <br /> <br /> <strong> guaranteed Analysis: </ strong> Protein min. 17% Crude Fat min. 8.5%, crude fiber: max. 2.3%, Moisture: max. 62%, 1 ball = 225 gr. = 340 kcal)
in the grounded meat I add GreenMin (http://peterdobias.com/community/products/greenmin-2/)
and probiotics powder.

 

I let him go pee before going to bed so he does not need to go at night..

 

He is energetic, eats good, play and is doing ok...

 

it's just at night that he acts up... in the evning he eats around 7pm and lay on his bed with us in the living room and sleeps until 10pm when I let him go pee...

we are not home during the day in the week but the week-ends he usually do what grey does best.. sleep...

 

We dont know what to do to help him

[macoduck]

Perhaps try a Gas-X pill at bedtime since he is burping.

[kudzu]

Some dogs gets something like empty stomach syndrome. (That's my name for it.) Many of us give our dogs a bedtime snack & find this can help with the early morning urps. You may want to try that to see if it helps.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Try feeding him something right at bedtime--a small snack, a cookie, something like that. If he has dinner at 7, he's empty by 3am. I've had dogs vomit bile if they went too long without eating something. A snack at bedtime has helped.

[greysmom]

I third trying the bedtime snack. Just something small - a nice cookie, piece of bread. I usualy say kibble, but you're not feeding kibble, so maybe hold back a couple mouthsfulls of his dinner for right before bed.

[Josie]

thanks

I'll try that

Edited December 17, 2012 by Josie

[tbhounds]

I would give a snack and also switch from Pepcid to 20mgs of Prilosec at bedtime.

[mychip1]

My Dustin has belly issues...and one of the things that triggers problems is an empty stomach. So, they eat four small meals a day....quite a challenge w/a work schedule - but he absolutely has to have the late night one or we will have trouble.

 

And he is on the same dose of pepcid as your baby!

Edited December 18, 2012 by mychip1

[Josie]

thanks mychip1

 

UPDATE:

 

last night I divided Otis evening meal and fed him at 7pm and 10pm...

He woke up again at 3am and would not got back to bed.. was standing not mooving and was swallowing like things are coming up..

I went downstairs with him and let him out... run fiew laps and pee.. was having fun in the fresh snow

I gived him few puf or rescue remedy (my previous grey had thunder phobia)...

I lay down on the couch and after 20-25minutees Otis finnally lay down on is living room bed.. woke up 1 time but got back to bed right away...

 

telling you this I realise that I did not give him more food but just divided.. tonight I'll give him is normal meal and more at bed time to see...

Edited December 18, 2012 by Josie

[Josie]

what's your opinions, dear Gters, about the fact that Otis is running and playing in the ward at 3am?

if he a tummy upset would he do that?

I'm really bafled by all this!

Edited December 18, 2012 by Josie

[greyhead]

I don't know if this is really Otis' situation, but sometimes dogs, including ours, will run around the yard to stimulate a poop. In that case it's not really "playing." If there's gas in Otis' system for whatever reason, perhaps he sought to move things along, so to speak. Just a thought. Mainly wanted to point out that even dogs who don't feel well may find a reason to run around.

[MP_the4pack]

Next time he wakes up at 3, give him a snack and see if he goes back to sleep immediately or still is up and about for a while.

[JohnF]

This is a common problem, even Peggy has it.

To stop the reflux you need to feed much less-fatty and less protein-rich food - chicken skins are very fatty. You also need to give a piece of bread (if the dog is gluten-tolerant) last thing at night with just a tiny amount of PB or veg spread on it. You may soon find that you don't actually need to give Omeprazole or Zantac type drugs.

 

Peggy gets 1/3 of her food after she is back from her morning walk, the other 2/3rd in the evening after she is back from her long play/walk. Between that there will be 2 or 3 Bonio biscuits. Occasionally she get a tin of sardines in tomato sauce, an egg sometimes too. She's on medium quality kibble .. Iams Green Bag or similar to. The only household scraps she gets are quality gravy-free meat leftovers.

[silverfish]

Looking at his diet, he has a huge variety of stuff in there. Personally I'd cut out the cranberries and the bell peppers. Both are known to cause trouble for some people with reflux or a tendency to indigestion and it may well be the same for dogs.

[Josie]

Looking at his diet, he has a huge variety of stuff in there. Personally I'd cut out the cranberries and the bell peppers. Both are known to cause trouble for some people with reflux or a tendency to indigestion and it may well be the same for dogs.

those are ingredients in the Karnivore raw patties... can't really cut off them

[cleptogrey]

it sounds like it can be a couple of variables:

the pecid isn't working, talk to your vet

the food isn't agreeing.

i read that you are feeding raw, maybe it's not exactly what he needs at this time. talk to your vet, talk to other raw feeders who have one of their dogs on kibble. maybe he needs probiotics and digestive enzymes as well, that's what my chiropracter put me on for my acid reflux. if it is acid reflux, he's uncomfortable(i know).