Vomits Almost Daily

[Busderpuddle]

I have a 1 year old Poodle mix who has had issues with vomiting from day one. We have tried several different foods for sensitive tummies, raw food diet, and she is now on a combo of sensitive tummy grain free and raw. She has never been a good eater, so it is hit and miss what she will eat that day.

The problem is, she vomits almost every day. It is undigested food that looks like it never made it to her tummy. Sometimes she will vomit first thing in the morning, and that is yellow bile liquid. This morning she woke me at 5 AM as she was vomiting on the bed, which is new.

She has had multiple x-rays, an ultrasound and a camera down into her tummy. Nothing is wrong. She had a Barium swallow too. Labs are all normal. We have tried Pepcid and Zantac, and we also have a tummy med to keep her from vomiting in the car. The car sickness pill works in the car, but it zonks her out, so not something to be used daily.

I have tried feeding her a mini meal right before bed, and no changes.

I am wondering if there are any foods or OTC meds that I could give her at night to help settle her tummy, so that she feels like eating in the morning. She tends to not want food in the morning, and will either vomit the bile or vomit what she did eat.

Our vet (2 different ones) has no idea what to do for her. She is lively and happy and bouncy. She weighs 12 lbs, which is 5-6 lbs less than litter mates.

Any ideas you can think of ? She will not eat rice or noodles, which I thought might help.

[greysmom]

Time to see an internal medicine specialist. You may need to travel a bit, but if what your general vet is doing and suggesting isn't working, it's time to pull in the big guns.

 

My first thought is IBS/IBD, and/or some sort of food intolerance. But it could be some other sort of autoimmune syndrome, or physical abnormality.

[Remolacha]

I thought IBS as well. About the only thing to do for that is find out what are her triggers and avoid those. That is a sensitivity/allergy to some food(s). My vet explained to me the difference between vomiting and regurgitating. Regurgitation is when the food comes back up shortly after eating looking undigested. That has different causes from vomiting, which is often caused by a bacteria, virus, or parasite. Obviously, the treatment would be different. I agree, time to see a specialist.

[Busderpuddle]

She has been to an Internal Medicine doctor, who suggested testing different foods to see if she had issues with them. The specialist is the one who did the barium swallow and the US. We have done only chicken for several weeks, then beef and lamb, all separate to see if she tolerates any of those better. Nothing changed. We did 6 weeks each. Her treats were the protein only. I have made sure that she is not getting any preservatives or artificial coloring too. Nothing has even slowed down the vomiting/regurgitation. She does both, with the bile in the mornings, and the regurgitation a few minutes after eating.

Now we are letting her eat the raw diet (NW Naturals), the dehydrated chunks, and a grain free kibble. She loves the chicken breast and the kibble. The rest she usually turns her nose up at.

She burps a lot too, but no farting. I thought maybe she was eating too fast, so we got a maze bowl to slow her down. It didn't help. She usually eats a few bites here and there, but never a normal size meal. I feel like she needs Tums or something, but they are not safe for dogs according to the vet.

I read today that sourdough bread can help settle their tummies. I may try it soon.

[Remolacha]

IBS is tricky, Fletcher could eat just about any protein, but not most veggies and nothing processed. That is when I started feeding raw. I know one dog who could only eat fish. There are anti nausea drugs, stronger than Pepcid and the like, perhaps she needs something like that? What does the internal meds vet think?

[palmettobug]

Prilosec can be used it pets--it is a proton pump inhibitor, which is a different mechanism than the acid reducing of Zantac or Pepcid.

[Roo]

Nothing wrong with her esophagus? Regurgitation always makes me think megaesophagus, and the vomiting could be from an empty stomach due to food not staying down due to ME. Even if your think it may not be that, I'd still try feeding her vertically - you could sit in a chair and hold her front end up while someone else hand-feeds her, then continue to hold her upright for a little while (at least 10 minutes) after she eats. It's a fairly simple thing that might be worth trying to see if it helps.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Roo

[Busderpuddle]

IBS is tricky, Fletcher could eat just about any protein, but not most veggies and nothing processed. That is when I started feeding raw. I know one dog who could only eat fish. There are anti nausea drugs, stronger than Pepcid and the like, perhaps she needs something like that? What does the internal meds vet think?

We did start her on a raw diet, but she would only eat it the first couple of days. She still threw up. I feed her a partial raw diet now, as it is just a guessing game on what she will eat that day. She loves her kibble, I think she likes the crunch. She gets a combo of kibble, raw and dehydrated.

 

Prilosec can be used it pets--it is a proton pump inhibitor, which is a different mechanism than the acid reducing of Zantac or Pepcid.

OOpppsss, she was on Prilosec for months, also Pepcid, not Zantac.

 

Nothing wrong with her esophagus? Regurgitation always makes me think megaesophagus, and the vomiting could be from an empty stomach due to food not staying down due to ME. Even if your think it may not be that, I'd still try feeding her vertically - you could sit in a chair and hold her front end up while someone else hand-feeds her, then continue to hold her upright for a little while (at least 10 minutes) after she eats. It's a fairly simple thing that might be worth trying to see if it helps.

No, she was scoped to see if she had this. Everything looks completely normal on scope, x-ray and ultrasound. We have fed her this way also (so hard) and she still vomited. She did go all day yesterday without vomiting. We have never been able to go more than 3 days though. I keep praying.

 

The Internal Medicine doctor just said to try limiting foods, one protein at a time, and to avoid preservatives and coloring. She mentioned IBS, but was surprised that she has never had diarrhea.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Busderpuddle

[Remolacha]

I think diarrhea is more common than vomiting with IBS, but nearly everything related to it is so vague. I hope you can figure something out.

[Busderpuddle]

I think diarrhea is more common than vomiting with IBS, but nearly everything related to it is so vague. I hope you can figure something out.

I thought so too.....but she has never had diarrhea.