Anyone know what might cause this?

[Nancy (Spuddie' s Mum)]

My Chihuahua Smokey has been kind of picking at his food since last night. I just switched him over to Natural Choice Lite dog kibble. He's had it before with no problem at all. Tonight he was eating it kind of slow again (I just am thinking he does not like the food much) and right in the middle of his dinner he thew up a "tube" of food. It's like it was not going down into his tummy or somthing. He seems fine otherwise, no runs, no depression. It was really kind of strange and he still seems to have some appetite inspite of this. Any idea what may have caused such an odd way to throw up?

[k9Karen]

I'm not sure - it may just be 'one of those things'. There is a remote possibility of an intestinal blockage. If he can't keep things down, you need to get him to the vet. Try something else. If it stays down OK, and he is defecating normally, you can pretty much rule out a blockage. If something he likes also comes up, it would probably be a good idea to get him to the vet to rule-out a blockage.

good luck - hope it's nothing to worry about.

[Nancy (Spuddie' s Mum)]

Nope, no blockage, he is pooping normal, no runs and no sign of "illness." This morning he went out and ate grass and tossed up some "foam." Which to me means he has a very empty tummy. I fed him some canned soft dog food because he was sooo hungy and it's stayed put. I guess it's just an odd thing that happend to him. Maybe the dry food needs a bit of water to help it slide down? Weird.

[k9Karen]

Had another thought - is the bag of food new? Could be a couple of things, the first one that comes to mind in mold contamination. There have been a couple of instances of recalled food over the past few years due to mold contamination in the food when it was purchased. If it's been open a while, it could also have become contaminated over time. Have you considered calling the company to see if there have been any other reports of problems? If you mention that you think it might be contaminated with mold, I'll bet they'll want it back and should give you a free bag (buy one from a different lot!). I haven't heard anything about any recalls on the news. Mold toxins can be pretty potent.

The other thing I can think of is that Smokey may have developed an allergy to one of the ingredients, or the company has "reformulated" it's product and it no longer agrees with him.

Do you know anyone who can look at or culture the food for mold? Your vet should be able to look at it under the microscope and see if it looks grossly contaminated, but he might not see small numbers.

I'm trying to think of reasons he would throw up, but I don't have a clue about why he did it the way he did.

Hope you figure it out.

[Nancy (Spuddie' s Mum)]

The bag of food was just opened, but now I'm going to go and look a lot closer at it and see if there is anyting wrong. I'll also check the expiry too. I mixed some of the kibble in his canned food last night and he kept it down fine. None of the other dogs seem to be having a problem but I am definitley going to check out that food. Thanks for you suggestions.