Dog Community

Duker the Puker!

Posted : 8/24/2006 11:15:42 AM

Some of you may know this from previous posts, Duke is a puker!
He throws-up a lot (his nickname is seriously Duker the Puker).
Sometimes he will go a few weeks without throwing-up, but then he will throw up a few times each day for a few days. A lot of the times it is just bile but a lot of the times it is digested or undigested food. It happens a lot in the middle of the night (not fun), it also happens when I am at work or pretty much any time. We have taken him to 2 different vets (a western medicine vet & a holistic vet), he has been tested for many different things but no one has been able to figure this out. There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern... it just happens periodically.

The reason for the post is because I am wondering if anyone has had any experience or heard of a puking dog like Duke??? I just want to get some ideas that I could maybe suggest to my vet. As much as I hate cleaning up puke all of the time, I hate seeing Duke so sick... it makes me so sad![

]

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

willowchow

Posted : 8/24/2006 11:33:37 AM

What kind of diet is he on? Is it a lot of ingredients? Maybe if it is, you could switch him to something a lot blander, something with few ingredients.

Caprice Christian

Posted : 8/24/2006 11:36:53 AM

ORIGINAL: willowchow

What kind of diet is he on? Is it a lot of ingredients? Maybe if it is, you could switch him to something a lot blander, something with few ingredients.

Lori, right now he is on Solid Gold's Just a Wee bit. My vet doesn't think that it is the food. I have tried him on a whole range of different foods and it nothing changes at all. Plus a lot of the time there is no food in the puke, its just bile.
Recently I started them on a Raw Food diet for their evening meal, seems to be going good so far, but he threw up bile yesterday... I just don't know!

willowchow

Posted : 8/24/2006 11:45:10 AM

OK, so yeah, from what I've heard (and I don't feed raw but I've read about it here and other places) the raw is going to digest much faster than kibble or any other type of dog food. So, it makes sense that he's vomiting bile now after the raw.

I think it might help to try giving him smaller more frequent meals and maybe after a raw dinner some snacks before bed. Or, you could always divide the evening meal into an earlier and later

ortion.

Willow vomits bile if she goes so long without food too. I've had almost no problems since changing from two meals to three. I just divide the evening meal into two servings. Or sometimes she gets extra, [

]

Does he eat really fast, that could be doing it too? Too much food, too fast. . .

Debbie R

Posted : 8/24/2006 11:58:44 AM

I agree w/ everything that Lori said, the bile is acid, and a little food between feedings should help that. but also would like to know when does he throw up and is it always bile or does he sometimes throw up food?

Caprice Christian

Posted : 8/24/2006 12:01:43 PM

ORIGINAL: debv53

I agree w/ everything that Lori said, the bile is acid, and a little food between feedings should help that. but also would like to know when does he throw up and is it always bile or does he sometimes throw up food?

I try to feed him three times a day (because that is what I feed Daisy), but he won't eat the middle meal. He actually doesn't usually finish his morning meal right away, he picks away at it during the day.

There is no certain time that he throws up, sometimes during the day, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening and sometimes in the middle of the night.

Sometimes it is Bile, Sometimes it is undigested food, Sometimes it is digested food.

There is no pattern, its really confusing!

willowchow

Posted : 8/24/2006 12:05:30 PM

Well, if your doing all that even though the vet said it's not the food, I wouldn't completely rule that out. Where the other foods your tried all the same protein source as the Solid Gold? I know Willow can't handle barley, it could be something like that.

Karen

Posted : 8/24/2006 12:25:31 PM

My Sammy was also a puker, some days up to 16 times a day. He was on Natural Balance at the time and we tried several premium brands of food. Eventually we tried Solid Gold Hund N Flocken and he finally stopped vomitting. Now he only does so rarely, and its usually after seriously overexerting himself. My vet believes his digestive system couldn't handle the very protein rich foods and the Hund N Flocken was high quality while being lower in protein. It is also possible he has a chicken allergy. We never really figured out what was behind it, but switching to the lower protein food did work.

Caprice Christian

Posted : 8/24/2006 12:34:04 PM

ORIGINAL: willowchow

Well, if your doing all that even though the vet said it's not the food, I wouldn't completely rule that out. Where the other foods your tried all the same protein source as the Solid Gold? I know Willow can't handle barley, it could be something like that.

When I get home this afternoon I will check my list of food that Duke has been on in the last year and a half and see. I am just so worried that it could be something more serious internally. But hopefully it is just his food!

dawn

Posted : 8/24/2006 4:17:15 PM

This could very possibly be a completely ridiculous idea, but aside from the food issues which have already been discussed (and most likely, the real problem) it's the only thing I could think of. There have been a very few times when Whinny has gotten something irritating in her throat like a piece of plant, a bug, etc. and has thrown up bile as a result. I wonder if Duke could be experience some kind of throat irritation, or perhaps he is getting (almost a hairball?) hair in his throat from grooming himself and that could be causing the puke.

Again, this is totally pulled out of the air and most likely not the issue, but just thought I'd throw it out there!

Caprice Christian

Posted : 8/24/2006 4:26:48 PM

ORIGINAL: whinny__g

This could very possibly be a completely ridiculous idea, but aside from the food issues which have already been discussed (and most likely, the real problem) it's the only thing I could think of. There have been a very few times when Whinny has gotten something irritating in her throat like a piece of plant, a bug, etc. and has thrown up bile as a result. I wonder if Duke could be experience some kind of throat irritation, or perhaps he is getting (almost a hairball?) hair in his throat from grooming himself and that could be causing the puke.

Again, this is totally pulled out of the air and most likely not the issue, but just thought I'd throw it out there!

[

] Thanks! Could be.... He doesn't shed... so probably not a hairball (unless its DH's - hes slowly balding.....hmmmmm)!

SheltieGirl

Posted : 8/24/2006 5:33:20 PM

I don't really know what it could be. Diego was a pukey puppy when he was very young.

Is he a nervous/hyper dog?

BTW...you're dogs are awefully cute! [

]

boneyjean

Posted : 8/24/2006 6:19:31 PM

Harley throws up bile too when he has gone too long b/w meals. I think you should def look into his diet. I was also told that a spoonful of plain yogurt sometimes helps too. I did this with Harley and he loved it and it did seem to help. Harley had become a really picky eater though and we ended up stopping the yogurt after awhile b/c he wasn't eating it and we were throwing away his food every day. Now we have switched him to California Natural Lamb & Rice to help with the farts too and we have no problem getting him to eat and he barely ever vomits bile anymore either.

Caprice Christian

Posted : 8/24/2006 7:44:28 PM

I found a place in our town that sells TWO and I am going there on Monday to ask a bunch of questions and see what they think I should try Duke on. I tried mixing in the most enticing things with his food, but he still just picks away at it all day, nothing to make him gobble down. I think he is just too lazy and would rather sleep in than eat!