Last week, Pepper began a strange stretch of days of morning puking (jumping off our bed to start dry heaving and then puking up a small pool of liquid). (?Preview of parenthood?).
She'd then promptly act like herself, be eager to go for her morning walk (with normal stool), and eat her normal breakfast (and dinner).
We are not overreacting parents. I know dogs vomit from time to time. We have been very lucky in that vomiting has never been recurrent or prolonged with Pepper, and, other than a time where she was tachypneic and sleepy for a few days (perhaps a touch of doggie pneumonia! But we just listened to her with our stethoscopes and let her get over it with time), she has never really been "sick."
[We are also lucky in that we have wood floors with throw rugs, rather than wall-to-wall carpeting).
We also don't spoil her with anything other than doggie kibble and rare rawhide snacks, and know that she doesn't get into any other funky things like eating shoes, socks, or carpet that I know has caused even bowel obstructions in other friends' dogs! However, we were still very puzzled by this abrupt symptom.
Being doctors, Kelvin and I of course thought we could figure this out ourselves. Was she suffering from sympathetic morning sickness? (she, of course, is spayed).
We thought that a very rich pig snout treat we gave her when Kieu and Jimmy were visiting was too much for her little tummy, for we had not altered anything else in her diet. However, six days later, she was still puking in the mornings.
Was it just run-of-the-mill doggie gastroenteritis? (without a change in her stools?).
She had had an "all clear" physical at the vet's just the previous week (although she did get routine vaccines, NOT that I suspected that they had anything to do with it) although she was not having symptoms at that time.
I was tempted to at least ask the vet for an opinion, for I had to bring her back to get one additional Lyme vaccine last week (since she's little, they recommended breaking them up). "Should I make her another appointment?" I asked K.
"If she was your [human] child, would you bring her to the doctor?" he asked me.
"Probably not, " I answered, as she was otherwise acting normally, with normal appetite, energy level, and stools [note to parents of children: symptoms in general are not of great concern unless there are other changes in activity, dehydration, etc].
"Exactly," he concurred. And then he found more information on the internet that I think gave us the diagnosis.
From PetMD
Bilious vomiting syndrome occurs when bile abnormally enters the stomach from the intestine, causing irritation and vomiting. The presence of bile is indicated by a watery, yellow-green substance in the vomit contents. If vomiting does not occur and the bile remains in the stomach, the irritation to the stomach can lead to gastric reflux.
Vomiting is usually seen in the morning or late night just before eating, especially in dogs that are fed once daily. This might be due to prolonged periods between meals, or to related stomach inactivity, which aggravates the bile reflux.
This condition is commonly seen in older dogs but can occur at any age. Both genders are equally affected...
Aha! So she was puking in the morning due to an empty stomach? We do feed her twice daily.
We decided to start giving her a tiny Cesar's treat snack after her bedtime walk and... voila! The problem is solved as now it seems she has just enough in her little stomach to prevent the early morning heaving. We have been puke-free for at least three days. I hope to wean this late-night snacking in the future but, for now, I am just happy that I feel like our medical degrees (or at least intuition and web-researching ability) are good for something and that our little girl is better :)
She'd then promptly act like herself, be eager to go for her morning walk (with normal stool), and eat her normal breakfast (and dinner).
We are not overreacting parents. I know dogs vomit from time to time. We have been very lucky in that vomiting has never been recurrent or prolonged with Pepper, and, other than a time where she was tachypneic and sleepy for a few days (perhaps a touch of doggie pneumonia! But we just listened to her with our stethoscopes and let her get over it with time), she has never really been "sick."
[We are also lucky in that we have wood floors with throw rugs, rather than wall-to-wall carpeting).
We also don't spoil her with anything other than doggie kibble and rare rawhide snacks, and know that she doesn't get into any other funky things like eating shoes, socks, or carpet that I know has caused even bowel obstructions in other friends' dogs! However, we were still very puzzled by this abrupt symptom.
Being doctors, Kelvin and I of course thought we could figure this out ourselves. Was she suffering from sympathetic morning sickness? (she, of course, is spayed).
We thought that a very rich pig snout treat we gave her when Kieu and Jimmy were visiting was too much for her little tummy, for we had not altered anything else in her diet. However, six days later, she was still puking in the mornings.
Was it just run-of-the-mill doggie gastroenteritis? (without a change in her stools?).
She had had an "all clear" physical at the vet's just the previous week (although she did get routine vaccines, NOT that I suspected that they had anything to do with it) although she was not having symptoms at that time.
I was tempted to at least ask the vet for an opinion, for I had to bring her back to get one additional Lyme vaccine last week (since she's little, they recommended breaking them up). "Should I make her another appointment?" I asked K.
"If she was your [human] child, would you bring her to the doctor?" he asked me.
"Probably not, " I answered, as she was otherwise acting normally, with normal appetite, energy level, and stools [note to parents of children: symptoms in general are not of great concern unless there are other changes in activity, dehydration, etc].
"Exactly," he concurred. And then he found more information on the internet that I think gave us the diagnosis.
From PetMD
Bilious vomiting syndrome occurs when bile abnormally enters the stomach from the intestine, causing irritation and vomiting. The presence of bile is indicated by a watery, yellow-green substance in the vomit contents. If vomiting does not occur and the bile remains in the stomach, the irritation to the stomach can lead to gastric reflux.
Vomiting is usually seen in the morning or late night just before eating, especially in dogs that are fed once daily. This might be due to prolonged periods between meals, or to related stomach inactivity, which aggravates the bile reflux.
This condition is commonly seen in older dogs but can occur at any age. Both genders are equally affected...
Aha! So she was puking in the morning due to an empty stomach? We do feed her twice daily.
We decided to start giving her a tiny Cesar's treat snack after her bedtime walk and... voila! The problem is solved as now it seems she has just enough in her little stomach to prevent the early morning heaving. We have been puke-free for at least three days. I hope to wean this late-night snacking in the future but, for now, I am just happy that I feel like our medical degrees (or at least intuition and web-researching ability) are good for something and that our little girl is better :)
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