33 replies to this topic

[Melissa34]

Anyone ever have experience with a dog that consistently regurgitated their food? For the last couple of days, Raz has been doing this. It isn't that he is vomiting it up, there is no heaving. He simply places his face downward and everything comes up. There is no stomach bile in it and the food is not even partially digested. At first I thought that maybe he was eating too fast... Then today it happened about 3 1/2 hours AFTER he ate. The food was NOT digested even partially. This doesn't seem normal to me.

He has a vet appointment for this next Monday for his thyroid and some other testing and I am certainly documenting this behavior now so I can ask.... but Monday seems so far away......

[Javaluva]

Does he do this after every meal or only occassionally?

[Melissa34]

I feed him twice a day and for the last several days, it has happened at least once a day. Until today it has been within 15 minutes after eating so I figured he was just gulping his food too fast cause he is a gulper. Like I said though it was 3 1/2 hours later today and the food was still whole and there wasn't any stomach bile in it.

[debl]

Ruby used to hurl all her food up undigested, too, but it was shortly after she woofed it down. I can't say it was ever 3 1/2 hours later. Although she would hurl occasionally from a nervous stomach. Her system was very sensitive. Sorry I'm not much help with this.

[aanderson]

I would call the vet and see what they say. Better to be safe than sory. Good Luck

[chimommy]

Arda does this when she eats to fast. She will move her head like she is going to burp and it just spills out on the floor. I put obstacles in her bowl to make her slow down and it helps greatly. Also she does not get water until about 1 1/2 hours after she has eaten. This has worked for us keeping her food in her tummy.
Lorie

[Javaluva]

The only time my dogs have done this is if they eat too fast or get too excited after they've eaten, and it doesn't have to be as soon as they've finished eating. Did something happen to Raz that caused him to get really excited in the time following his meal?

A survival response to stimuli that causes exciteability in animals is that the body directs the majority of its blood supply to the muscles to prepare for action. During this response, digestion stops, the bowels are eliminated (you see this in horses before they run)...essentially, all non-essential bodily activity is temporarily halted in an effort to direct all necessary energy and blood flow to the parts of the body that need it most in a fight or flight situation.

I think the same thing happens when a dog enters a state of extreme exciteability. The resulting effect could cause a dog that has a full stomach to vomit undigested food.

[Melissa34]

Interesting information about the fight of flight response. No nothing happened for him to get excited. Unless going out to go potty was a REALLY big deal that time compared to all the other times.

I don't know what is going on with him. I have him eating out a very large dish, splitting up his meals and will monitor him. I will talk to the vet Monday and if it continues before then I will take him in before then I'm sure

[Javaluva]

Hmmmmm, definitely very curious and worth futher examination. Fingers crossed that it's nothing you have to worry about!

[Kennysmom]

I had a Lab that did something similar to that. It ended up being gastritis. What caused his was that he ate ladybugs, the smelly ones. He ate so many of them that the juices from their defense system would cause his stomach to be upset. Luckily, gastritis is fairly easy to treat.

I had a couple other labs that also had similar symptoms.....I can't remember if the food would start to digest or not. The first one would only get sick if he ate food that was way out of the ordinary....and you could tell that he was miserable. The more recent one actually wouldn't get sick until late.....like midnight or so, a few hours after we'd gone to bed. In these cases, they had something lodged in their stomachs....like a golfball, rock or a piece of a toy. Both needed surgery to have the objects removed.

I wanted to share the not so scary one first, but I'd maybe shoot for an x-ray. I have heard that dobes digestive tracks are a little more resilient than labs....but it still scares me. And I think it's easier on the dog if the object is removed from the stomach instead of the tract.

Edited by Kennysmom, 05 December 2006 - 03:15 PM.

[scott]

I found this article and thought I would share. Hopefully this will give you some idea of what might be affecting Raz.


http://siriusdog.com...gaesophagus.htm



Scott

[Melissa34]

Thanks for the information. So far tonight he isn't having problems keeping his dinner down. I am going to be monitoring him closely and following up with the vet. He is actually getting x-rays monday. If this problem continues...maybe before Monday.

[Sparkles]

I am having a similiar problem with our dog Duke. He is doing the same thing with his food which is still whole when it comes back up with saliva too. He did it on Monday, which I fed him in the morning and got back about noon,he had just thrown it back up. This has only happend a couple times but have made an appt. since it is still happening. Also every once in a while he will have an accident in the house which is pretty much liquid poop. The thing is later he will go out and go to the bathroom and it will be solid and might not happen again for another week. This has been happening for about the last couple weeks so now time for the vet but can't really understand what is happening. I haven't changed his food or given him scraps. Does anybody know why this could be happening with the whole pooping thing?


Sarah

[Melissa34]

Hmmm no but keep us infomed as to what the vet says. You guys will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Raz has been okay the last two days (yesterday and today) so maybe he had a flu bug?

[Eric D]

I’ll ad my two cents in about the problem of bring back up dry dog food after eating it. First off I believe a dogs thought process when faced with food in front of them, is to get it down as fast as they can. Maybe this is something from the wild still programmed into their brains. I have resolved the problem of bring back up dry food with my dogs and friends that have dogs that had the same issue by adding warm water to the dry food before feeding it to my dog.

I am NO expert in a dog’s digestive system, but putting a large amount of dry food into a dogs system without any added moisture makes me wonder how in the world it could ever become digested. In the dogs I have had as family members and also many friends that have experienced the same problem with their dogs, have resolved it by adding warm water. I have also noticed a reduced amount of doggie gas production using the added moisture to the food.

Again, I’m no expert, but this is what works for my dogs.

Eric D

[Arda]

If you think like a dog.....This is winter.....Every morsels provides a wild dog with necessary fat to get through the winter. If you study wild dog you know that the females gorge themselves, go back to the den, recurgitate for the pups to eat, and finish what is left. There is still "wild dog" in every domestic dog. It is the only animal that is both wild and domestic in the same form. I have found that adding warm water helps and putting a Large rock in their dish helps. They now make a dish with a center raised in it to stop the gulping. We have used puppy dishes for years that have a raised center in them to keep the pups from wading in their food. But it also helps to stop the fast eating. This is not something to worry yourselves about. It's natural if you were a wild dog. Smaller meals, warm water, making them eat around something. Putting kibble in a kong sounded good to me but I can't aford to hire a staff of stuffers.

[Melissa34]

thanks again everyone....

I will try the warm water. I have to say that I don' t need any extra food and don't really care to share Raz's regurgitated food Maybe your explanation's of the wild dog and taking home to thier pups, etc makes sense.... He keeps doing it in front of me. Once again, I will try to explain to Raz that I have plenty to eat and don't want something that has been vomited up out of his belly! He can keep it! Nice thought and all.....but....ewwww

[dobeluvr]

My first dobe threw up every meal. Turned out the food was too high in protein. Once I switched to a senior food with lower protein it went away.

Jane

[Karen A]

"I am NO expert in a dog’s digestive system, but putting a large amount of dry food into a dogs system without any added moisture makes me wonder how in the world it could ever become digested. "

Good point Eric. It also helps decrease the chance of bloating If you add leftover canned food from the fridge, pouring the warm water over it in the bowl warms it up too. Yum!

[CAB]

If you add leftover canned food from the fridge, pouring the warm water over it in the bowl warms it up too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is how I feed the kids at night. They get hot water and a couple tablespoons of canned food in with their kibble. For variety, I add peas or green beans.