Stomach noise and dry gulp

[DoeEyeDog]

Hi friends, I wanted to ask this before heading to our vet appointment to see if anyone has similar experience. We have a very food driven retired racer who eats anything if you let him. Today before our usual get up time, he vomited some white foam. After that, he started to do his "puking gulp" without throwing up anything (probably because there is nothing to throw up) every 5-10 minutes. His "puking gulp" is what he does everytime he is about to vomit. It's a lip smacking + gulping thing as if he is trying to swallow something. We haven't fed him since (16 hours past since dinner) and his gulping seems to subside now he is on the bed , but his stomach has been making the loud watery gurgling sound constantly. The sound is similar to the sound I make when drinking cold water too fast, but louder.

What is this? Poor guy has been to hospital 5 times in the past 6 years and 4 times out of 5 was due to GI issue. I feel like a terrible dog parent seeing him so miserable

Any insight is appreciated!

[macoduck]

How often do you feed him? Twice a day? How long before bedtime is he fed? 

A simple solution may be to give him a few cookies at bedtime.

[DoeEyeDog]

15 minutes ago, macoduck said:

How often do you feed him? Twice a day? How long before bedtime is he fed? 

A simple solution may be to give him a few cookies at bedtime.

3 times a day, one at 7am, a small snack at noon, one at 8pm, a cookie at 9:30pm. That's why I'm surprised when I saw his only threw up white foam.... I thought I'd see some cookies residual.

 

[greysmom]

The sound you're hearing is more than likely because he has nothing on his stomach - like hunger growls in people.  Most dogs with sensitive stomachs do much better on a strict eating schedule, eating the same thing with few outside treats.  They also do better when there is something on their stomach, never letting it get really empty.  If he's vomiting yellow bile in the mornings it's likely because he has excess stomach acid that can be helped by giving him an acid reducer (omeprazole or generic) once a day.

Lots of info not provided in your post though:  What has he been in the hospital for so many times?  The same thing or each a different emergency?  Have you been seen by a canine gastroenterologist or internal medicine specialist for a consult or treatment (not just as an ER doc)?  How old is your dog and when did he begin having issues?  What kind of food is he being fed?  Have you done a food trial to try and discover if he has a food allergy or intolerance?

Cook him up a nice bland diet - overcooked rice or pasta plus a low fat protein (turkey, chicken, white fish) - and see if he will eat anything.  Start with a very small portion - a 1/4 cup of each - and see how he reacts.  If he keeps that down for an hour or so feed the same again, and follow that schedule for the rest of the day, gradually increasing the amounts.  You can ususally begin adding in his regular diet on the 2nd day.  If he vomits or has diarrhea, he needs to go to the vet for some meds to settle and protect his stomach.

[DoeEyeDog]

On 7/2/2021 at 9:27 AM, greysmom said:

The sound you're hearing is more than likely because he has nothing on his stomach - like hunger growls in people.  Most dogs with sensitive stomachs do much better on a strict eating schedule, eating the same thing with few outside treats.  They also do better when there is something on their stomach, never letting it get really empty.  If he's vomiting yellow bile in the mornings it's likely because he has excess stomach acid that can be helped by giving him an acid reducer (omeprazole or generic) once a day.

Lots of info not provided in your post though:  What has he been in the hospital for so many times?  The same thing or each a different emergency?  Have you been seen by a canine gastroenterologist or internal medicine specialist for a consult or treatment (not just as an ER doc)?  How old is your dog and when did he begin having issues?  What kind of food is he being fed?  Have you done a food trial to try and discover if he has a food allergy or intolerance?

Cook him up a nice bland diet - overcooked rice or pasta plus a low fat protein (turkey, chicken, white fish) - and see if he will eat anything.  Start with a very small portion - a 1/4 cup of each - and see how he reacts.  If he keeps that down for an hour or so feed the same again, and follow that schedule for the rest of the day, gradually increasing the amounts.  You can ususally begin adding in his regular diet on the 2nd day.  If he vomits or has diarrhea, he needs to go to the vet for some meds to settle and protect his stomach.

Thank you for all the suggestions! 

We fed him some bland food (rice+boiled chicken) and that solved his stomach gurgling issue so you were absolutely right he was hungry.

We fees him dry kibble with some treats throughout the day. He is 3 yo, and probably has pica. The hospital visits were all caused by eating random things (small plastic parts, mushroom, human food not suitable for dogs). We asked our vet if he has some parasites issue that would cause this behavior and she thought this was just behavioral. 

His gulping has gotten better after coming back from vet (who just did a quick exam which did not reveal any issue) but not completely gone aways so I do think we still need to work on it.

 

[greysmom]

Has he been tested for parasites??  Even if he has been treated he needs to be retested.  In the US, hookworms are particularly drug resistant and can take months of constant treatment to clear completely - which you need to do because hooks can destroy the lining of their digestive tract.

The urge to eat non-food items goes along with all this.  They feel a desperate need to have something - anything - on their stomach, so they just pick up random crap from their environment, which is dangerous as you've seen.  So you need to get to the bottom of his gastro issues sooner rather than later.

You can begin with an omeprazole acid reducer 20 minutes before each meal.  Keep him on a strict eating/eliminating schedule.  Talk with your vet about a food trial to see if he has an intolerance or allergy to a protein source or a carb source.  Our girl is *extremely* intolerant to any amount of chicken.  Once we eliminated chicken from her diet completely, including treats (which is super hard to do!), she began to feel better.