Throwing up

[LucyFur]

My 2 year old Female throws up quite often, and although I know it is not normal, I'm not sure what I should do. She will throw up only on an empty stomach, most often in the morning if we don't feed her soon enough. It is yellow and almost foamy. We have done our best to make sure she doesn't get too hungry, but don't know if this is a sign of a deeper problem, or if she just gets so hungry she makes herself sick. Has anyone experienced this before? I have been looking all over for help and haven't found any.

[moondog]

Some dogs do not do well on an empty stomach and will throw up bile. How many times a day do you feed her? You might try feeding 3 times a day, with the last meal right before bedtime, and see if that helps. Or, 2 times a day with a nice sized biscuit at bedtime.

[Imre0538]

Some dogs actually can have acid reflux; you need to take her to the vet and see if that is the case, there is also a condition called megaesophagus that coud be the problem; I think the best thing is for her to see a vet, the acid from her stomach can begin to erode her esophagus and cause 10x the problems.........good luck

[moondog]

Dogs with megaesophagus do not vomit. Vomiting involves gagging, retching, and heaving to bring stomach contents up. With megaesophagus, the food they swallow never makes it all the way to the stomach and rests in the esophagus until certain positions cause it to simply fall out of the dog's mouth. That doesn't sound like what's going on here.

It could be acid reflux, though, in which case smaller more frequent meals can help.

It should go without saying that a vet visit is ALWAYS a good idea for any frequent or chronic symptoms of any kind.

[livertw]

My cocker spaniel would throw up in the early morning -- just foamy stuff. Vet said some dogs do not tolerate an empty stomach. Instead of feeding him at 6AM and 6 PM, we changed to 6AM, 4PM and just before bedtime, usually around 9:30PM. Same amount of food, just divided into three meals. The vomiting stopped immediately. Good luck.

[Imre0538]

Originally Posted by moondog

Dogs with megaesophagus do not vomit. Vomiting involves gagging, retching, and heaving to bring stomach contents up. With megaesophagus, the food they swallow never makes it all the way to the stomach and rests in the esophagus until certain positions cause it to simply fall out of the dog's mouth.

I know what megaesophagus is sweetie.........now tell me this if your dog leans over and food and other liquids exit out of their mouth are you going to say 'oh, his food just fell out of his esophagus' or "hes vomiting"?? whether it is void of the traditional vomiting sounds or not.......and I know it does not have all the characteristic symptoms of megaesophagus, however it was a diagnosis suggestion over the net since no one has seen the dog.

[Ninasmom]

My Chow has done that since I've known him (got him at 8 weeks old). He always does it very close to his next meal or in the middle of the night, and it's always either yellow bile or the whole previous meal undigested. The vet has checked him numerous times from stem to stern , without finding anything. Near as we can figure, it's a 'Rogan thing'. Over the years, we've taken to several pre-emptive tactics: 1. tums and a cookie before bedtime, and 2. small meals several times a day. Now we only get the occasional hairball, but that's the price you pay for owning a chow.

[BostonRott]

Acid reflux does not cause vomitting, and megesophagus does not involve vomitting of bile. Please stop playing doctor and scaring people with zebra medicine (unlikely differentials). Referring to people whom you don't know as "sweetie" is insolent and rude.

I agree with Moondog, it sounds like she's vomitting up bile in the a.m., most likely due to being too hungry. This is not at all uncommon in young dogs, especially in the a.m. Perhaps add more feedings during the day, or consider switching foods to one higher in protein/fat and lower in carbs (therefore will stick with the dog longer).