puking pup

[Chili]

My 6 year GSP has been puking lately- not daily but every week or 2 will puke 1-2 in the same day. The pattern is he comes in from outside (not out long), drinks a bunch of water and then with no heaving just boom- barfs up all his dinner from the night before (no grass though sometimes he does liek to eat grass and puke).
I took him tothe vet yesterday and she said its not really puking since no heaving. Anyways, she couldnt really offer me any advice but siad he looks really healthy.

Im a little concerned because he is a thin dog and losing his dinner once a week isnt helping, plus he may get dehydrated. He has been on this food for awhile- Sensible Choice.

I am thinking of switching foods for a little while and splitting up his meals into 2 sessions instead of 1, stopping any table scraps for now.

Any other ideas? Any food recommendations to keep him on for now? I only have one place near me that sells high quality foods- they carry solid gold foods, wellness foods (which are too pricey for me), Innova and a few others but not a lot.

thanks

[Tambrey]

Stopping table scraps forever is a good idea...I know it is hard to do, but most cooked people food with the seasoning and all we put in it are just not good for a dogs system...some cooked foods are even toxic to dogs...
here is some links with more info on unsafe foods for pets
http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/Sto ... ory_no=257

http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html

http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/D ... Safety.php

Hope this helps as far as that goes...

Otherwise, I would consider going to a second vet for a full workup, because there is obviously some underlying reason that your dog keeps getting sick...unless you think you can correlate it to human foods that might be on one of the lists in the links above...

Even so, if your dog has eaten something on that list, I would consider finding out what the effecrs of that food might be and go from there to determine if some internal organ injury has happened...

If you switch foods, do so gradually, mixing a bit more into his regular food daily, and it should take a couple weeks to totally switch him to a new food, to minimize upsetting his stomach even more...

I like Eukenuba (sp) foods for my animals and they always seem to like it

Best of luck in figuring out what is wrong with your dog...I am not a vet, but hopefully Traci or Davet can give you a more clinical answer than mine!

[Marty]

I suggest you try feeding him twice a day.....most dogs really do better with 2 meals. Sometimes when their tummies are empty, they get the heaves. See if that helps, before changing foods, seeing as he looks healthy on this food. You might also give him a small treat before bed to tide him over.

[Traci]

There are a couple of red flags your vet should be concerned about:

1) your dog doesn't digest his food within a reasonable time period.

2) vomits after water intake. (while this could be a normal reaction to gulping a large amount of water in one sitting, if he does it frequently, this isn't normal)

3) you said your dog is thin.

4) since your dog is 6 years of age, when was his last blood profiling done? Did your vet offer bloodwork to you? If not, I would consider a basic profile be done promptly.

You could try feeding twice a day as the others suggest, but it also sounds like the food is not appropriate for his needs. Ask your vet for recommendations, but ideally, this should be based on labwork results (if altered or something is picked up), his life stage, need for calories or protein, etc.

Also, check your yard for anything he could be ingesting that might prompt the vomiting.

[k9Karen]

I agree with everyone, and wanted to add a little to what Traci said about checking the yard. Fungi (mushrooms and toadstools, decayed vegetation, rotting garbage or anything else) canhave some powerful toxins, and the body's immediate reaction is to get rid of them. I definitely agree with Traci that throwing up the previous day's food is suspicious of something not right.

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice

I think since the dog looks otherwise healthy (he had blood work done in the past year), is very active, has a great appetite and that this doesnt happen daily or even weekly it's not that big of a concern. Plus since I dropped over $400 at the vet this week Im not ready to take him back for another run of costly tests that tell me nothing when it could be all I need is to split his food up into 2 smaller meals.

He has never done it when we are not at home and we both work full time. It is always after he gulps down water.. he tends to drink a lot at a time. It might not happen for a couple weeks and then might happen twice in 1 day.

He has always been thin. I have 2 GSPs and they are high energy dogs that have trouble keeping on weight.

Right now I am splitting up his food and when he goes to drink I try to limit how much each time. I have asked the vets many times about food suggestions and they are clueless unfortunately. I seem to know more than they do. I have been giving them flax seed oil pills which I guess could be causing the problem because i give them kind of sporadically.


Any food suggestions? High energy 6 year old dog. He eats about 3-4 cups of food a day, plus treats and sometimes table scraps (meat). I was thinking of switching to solid gold- any food that are highly digestible I could try? He has also always been pretty gas-y.
thanks

[Marty]

It does sound like the food is not right for him. Solid Gold is an excellent food, if you want to try him on that. You might also want to try moistening his food before you give it to him.

[Traci]

Any high quality adult maintenance food should suffice. Although I don't neccessarily consider Solid Gold a high quality food (sorry, Marty).

You might also consider raised food/water dishes so that he may eat more slowly. If he tends to gulp his water after an exercise bout outside, try to supervise him at this time and help him to drink only small amounts at a time.

Again, check your yard for anything unusual, which could be anything from fertilizers, to mushrooms as Karen pointed out.

I strongly suggest weighing your dog on a weekly basis, if he is losing weight, and continues to lose weight or regurgitate his meals despite the scheduled feeding or diet change, then back to your vet please for a re-evaluation (an x-ray at that time might be helpful to rule out intestinal inflammation, etc).