Throwing up.

[Beanie]

Auggie has been throwing up. I know dogs just throw up sometimes, but I need some reassurance. (Regardless I'm probably taking him to the vet Monday and spending $30 to have them tell me "he's fine, stop panicking." =P)

It happened first a few weeks ago - he was playing with Happy after he ate, and threw up. Then Mom put him into his crate a little later and he threw up again. We dismissed it as his being too rowdy after eating and not having his stomach settled when he was put back into his crate. No big deal.

Then on the 29th, I was woken up at 2am by him barking to be let out. By the time I got to him, he'd already thrown up. He'd been in his crate since 9 or 10pm... plus, he threw up food. Semi-digested food. He eats dinner at 5pm... shouldn't it have been digested by then?
He threw up again sometime between 3am and 8am, just a little bit. However, he acted fine the rest of the day, and though I didn't sleep very well that night (I am a nutcase and was seriously freaking out, laying in bed at 4 in the morning thinking "why did he throw up?!? omg, is something wrong?!") we decided he just had an upset stomach and he was fine.


Well, he just threw up again. I got home about twenty minutes ago and he was excited to see me, so I opened the crate and cuddled with him to get him to calm down and get ready to go back to bed. I put him back into his crate and sat down to check my e-mail... and he threw up.
Again, it's semi-digested food with brown, thick, stinky mucus.
Maybe he was just excited again..?


Is there something wrong with my puppy? He gets into EVERYTHING outside and eats bugs, grass, leaves, dirt, so on and so forth. I know he hasn't gotten anything he's not supposed to have inside, but outside is a different story... by the time I get to him to see what he's chomping on, it's already been swallowed. So it's also possible he's just eaten a bug or something and it makes him throw up...
Maybe he has a blockage? But still, you'd think he'd be throwing up more often. And he's still pooping just fine.

I'm worried. Somebody please tell me I'm being dumb and to relax.

 

[MomOf7]

Keep that appointment with your vet. I honestly think its the type of food you are feeding him. Make sure its nothing else by talking to your vet at your appointment. Could he have worms? Have his stool tested for worms just in case.
What are you feeding him if you dont mind me asking?

 

[bubbatd]

Agree with Mom ...sample of stool . Why do they wait until the weekends to get sick !?

 

[Herschel]

Starting yesterday, my dog has thrown up a couple of times.

Yesterday morning, a few minutes after my girlfriend left, he threw up a tiny bit of white liquid--twice in a row.

Then this morning, it was yellow liquid (twice in a row). His stool is fine and he's very energetic.

Age: 6 months
Food: Canidae

I have a feeling that if we take him to the vet right now they're going to put him on Science Diet or Hill's prescription. Should we give him a bland diet today and then just wait it out?

I just found this online:

Vomiting in the morning (mostly)

Question: Dear Dr. Richards..... We rescued a 3 year old rat terrier from the
Humane Society... Truly God's gift. She is so sweet. I am concerned about
one problem she has though. In the morning and
not every morning....she will vomit.....sometimes a yellow bile and
sometimes a white frothy liquid. She also does this sometimes late in the
day when it has been awhile since she has eaten. After she retches she is
fine. Her vet thought perhaps if we gave her food before she went to bed.
Another vet asked if she was excited in the AM and YES she can get very
excited. So we have tired to limited her excitability. Both helps
sometimes...but she continues to have the problem more than I would like.
We have been feeding her Nutro lamb and rice...and Mrs Hubbard treats
along with Nutro dental biquits. Perhaps we should change her food. Also
we had her teeth cleaned as soon as we got her and within a matter of
weeks she had a brown scum on her teeth and now she has plaque. I try
brushing her teeth...she hates it soooo much and to use a dental rinse
which she really hates. So my questions are..... what do you think is
causes her vomiting? Should we be concerned and have have some tests
run???? Change her food? Give Pecid AC or similar product??? and ????her
teeth? Any information or your thoughts on the subject would be
appreciated. THANK YOU AGAIN SO VERY MUCH for your kindness regarding Our
Beloved Zedty. Nancy

Answer: Nancy-

I have researched this question in the past without finding a really good answer
for what causes vomiting in the morning (mostly) in some dogs or for what
to do about it.

The prevailing opinion is that many of the dogs that exhibit this clinical
sign have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or some other condition that
causes a decrease in gastric mobility. This may lead to gastric reflux when
the dog first gets up or when there is excitement, as your vets have
suggested. The gastric reflux causes some dogs to vomit. It is highly
likely that there are a number of causes of this behavior but this theory
does account for a big portion of the affected dogs, I suspect.

When possible, confirming or ruling our a diagnosis of IBD through food
trials, intestinal biopsy, ultrasonagraphy or other means can be helpful in
pointing out a direction for treatment efforts. In many instances, it is
not possible for clients to pursue the diagnostic testing right at the time
of the visit to their vet, though. Because of this, there is a tendency to
try treatment to see if it is possible to aid the pet without having a
specific diagnosis. The most common treatments are histamine (H2) blockers
like cimetidine (Tagamet Rx) or famotidine (Pepcid AC tm), feeding small
meals just before bed and using motility modifying medications like
metoclopramide (Reglan Rx). These things sometimes work to control the
problem and if no futher signs develop it is reasonable to continue
treatment prophylactically without a firm diagnosis, at least in my opinion.

If these things don't help, or are only partially effective, it would be
better to continue to work towards a diagnosis using one or more of the
tests mentioned above.

Good luck with this.

Mike Richards, DVM
7/20/2001