throwing up kibbble, HOURS later

• 09-04-2008 10:46 AM

  the_gopher Joined on 08-02-2006 New Hampshire Posts 1,180 Points 0

  throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact Really weird, the only times Ari has EVER thrown up were twice and both times because she was overheated and drank water too quickly (I thought I learned the first time to pull up here water, but the second time I didn't....). However yesterday at 5:30 she threw up in my car and it was ALL undigested kibble - the last time she ate was at 12pm.  BTW I couldn't pull over fast enough, and she reate it all within 20 seconds.  She seemed fine last night, ate her dinner fine, breakfast fine this morning.  Her nose was cold and wet, eyes clear.  But it was odd.  She's never been car sick so I don't think it was that.  I'm keeping my eye on her, but she seems fine and in good spirits...so I shouldn't be too concerned I guess? FWIW she's been eating California natural Lamb and rice (puppy food) for a while now with great results (as far as her poops and skin are concerned), and I'd rather not change....but seeing all that undigested kibble had me concerned that she's not absorbing enough nutrients from the food.   ~Sharon

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• 09-04-2008 11:08 AM

  In reply to the_gopher

  luvmyswissy Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 1,663 Points 25	Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact It's probaly nothing just a little car sickness.  But, if it happened again I would be weary of intestinal blockage and keep a close eye if the dog is throwing up each time you feed it he could have ate something you don't know of that is causing a blockage of some kind and should go to the Vet of course.
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• 09-04-2008 11:16 AM

  In reply to luvmyswissy

  the_gopher Joined on 08-02-2006 New Hampshire Posts 1,180 Points 0

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact  Yeah with Ari I'm always worried she ate something that I couldn't get out of her mouth fast enough, or didn't see her hover down.  I watch her like a hawk, but in the time it takes for me to sneeze she could have gobbled something up.  Thus far she kept down dinner last night, and breakfast this morning, poops looked fine and she is currently giving me the death stare (she's bored in her kennel and I'm *cough* at work).  I'd let her out, but lately she's developed a taste for wires, and I have no patience today to work with her on this.  Speaking of which I should get back to work!  Hehe. ~Sharon

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• 09-04-2008 11:29 AM

  In reply to the_gopher

  willowchow Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 6,543 Points 300

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact It's probaby nothing but what makes me raise an eyebrow is that nothing had left her stomach in over five hours.  Dogs normally digest very quickly, like five hours for the whole process I believe.  The food was just sitting there.  So, maybe her stomach was just a little bit off yesterday, not enough to make her feel really sick and then the car ride just did her in.  But, I'd keep an eye on that happening in that manner again.  The food shouldn't be sitting like that

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• 09-04-2008 11:39 AM

  In reply to willowchow

  the_gopher Joined on 08-02-2006 New Hampshire Posts 1,180 Points 0

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact willowchow: It's probaby nothing but what makes me raise an eyebrow is that nothing had left her stomach in over five hours.  Dogs normally digest very quickly, like five hours for the whole process I believe.  The food was just sitting there.  So, maybe her stomach was just a little bit off yesterday, not enough to make her feel really sick and then the car ride just did her in.  But, I'd keep an eye on that happening in that manner again.  The food shouldn't be sitting like that   Yeah this concerns me greatly.  I believe kibble takes a little longer to digest, but 5 1/2 hours later and I saw whole kibble in there, but mostly just mushed kibble (couldn't look too long I was driving!).  Maybe she just was off yesterday, but I'm concerned about kibble just sitting there not benefitting her.  I wouldn't mind seeing if California Natural has a canned variety and trying that out - maybe that would be more easily digestable?  Canned is expensive, but whereas she's the only dog in the house, it's easily doable.     ~Sharon

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• 09-04-2008 12:25 PM

  In reply to the_gopher

  the_gopher Joined on 08-02-2006 New Hampshire Posts 1,180 Points 0	Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact  She just threw up again, oddly enough 5 1/2 hours after she had last eaten just like last night.  Off to the vets shortly. ~Sharon
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• 09-04-2008 1:00 PM

  In reply to the_gopher

  willowchow Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 6,543 Points 300	Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact Oh, good luck, I'm sure it's nothing serious.  That food must not be agreeing with her for some reason.  Willow's had that happen with two different dry foods but the vomiting was much sooner after eating.  I do give all canned now myself so if you can (and it works for her) it's always much better for them anyway.
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• 09-04-2008 3:08 PM

  In reply to willowchow

  calliecritturs Joined on 09-10-2007 Central Florida Posts 7,735 Points 2,075

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact Kibble takes a LONG time to digest -- like 12 hours or longer.  First the body has to reconsistute it -- adding water to break it down -- and it has to roll it over and over to process the protein  -- dog digestion works quite different than ours from what I've been instructed by my vets (both regular and holistic).    But they digest homecooked and canned faster by far than kibble.

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• 09-04-2008 5:58 PM

  In reply to calliecritturs

  the_gopher Joined on 08-02-2006 New Hampshire Posts 1,180 Points 0

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact Good to know about how long kibble takes to digest.I might look into canned, but depending on expenses - I don't know (found out this afternoon there's a good possibility I'll be laid off from work...) Results from the vet, inconclusive xrays, but they are leaning towards optimisim that nothing is obstructing her intestines.  They gave her anti-nasuea shots in hopes she'll keep down dinner and breakfast.   She's eating dinner now, I made it soupy for her and let the kibble soak up the water.  She's definitively calmer today than normal, which for me is a big sign she's not feeling good.  After all Ari is normally up my butt, shooting me dirty looks (when she's bored) and rearing to go.   ~Sharon

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• 09-04-2008 6:30 PM

  In reply to the_gopher

  cakana Joined on 09-10-2007 Cathy in Northern CA Posts 7,083 Points 360

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact Sorry that you're dealing with the possibility of a layoff. I know how stressful that can be. Did the vet suggest putting her on a bland diet (boiled hamburger & rice) to see how she does? I would consider that if she throws up anymore today or tomorrow. It might be that she's got something upsetting her tummy and just needs something easy to digest for a bit. Hopefully she'll keep down her dinner though and you won't have to worry. I agree with Callies comments about kibble taking a long time to digest. Sassy has only thrown up a couple times, but it's been long after eating and yet it still looked like mushy but chunky kibble. ~ Cathy ~

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• 09-04-2008 7:09 PM

  In reply to cakana

  willowchow Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 6,543 Points 300	Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact Well, I believe it may take longer for them to digest completely but it shouldn't be taking longer than five hours for the food to just leave the stomach--not with the potency of their digestive acids, etc.
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• 09-04-2008 8:08 PM

  In reply to willowchow

  calliecritturs Joined on 09-10-2007 Central Florida Posts 7,735 Points 2,075

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact According to Dr. D it actually does.  I try really hard to "time" that kind of stuff because one of my first huge clues that Muffin's kidneys were crashing was when he threw up food he'd eaten 12 hours prior completely undigested.  (and that was COOKED food).  So any time anybuddy throws up my mind immediately tries to calculate how 'digested' the food should be and does it match what I'm seeing.  She's a teaching vet and she gave me a whole 'lecture' last year on how their food rolls over in their stomach while the enzymes IN the stomach extract and digest things before it goes to the small intestine, etc.  But that's why kibble is so hard to digest -- because it's so processed (pureed all together and then the water extracted from it -- it's extruded thru a giant "cookie press" (called, what else, an "extruder") in 'bites' and then dried hard.  So the stomach actually has a lot of work to break it down.  Now that will vary with the kind of food and the protein content AND how the dog eats, how much it drinks, and it's general metabolism.  So I'm not saying 5 hours is 'normal' -- not at all.  I'm saying "it depends".  But Lori's right - it should be the FIRST thing to tell the vet!!

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• 09-04-2008 8:12 PM

  In reply to the_gopher

  luvmyswissy Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 1,663 Points 25

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact the_gopher: Results from the vet, inconclusive xrays, but they are leaning towards optimisim that nothing is obstructing her intestines.  They gave her anti-nasuea shots in hopes she'll keep down dinner and breakfast.   Good luck and I am sure it is nothing.  The bland diet of rice and boiled chop meat is a good idea.  When we suspected that River had an obstruction my Vet preformed a sonogram - he said it would be more conclusive than Xrays..   Just wanted to mention it. Keep us posted on the baby.

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• 09-04-2008 8:19 PM

  In reply to luvmyswissy

  the_gopher Joined on 08-02-2006 New Hampshire Posts 1,180 Points 0

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact  Thanks everyone.  Right now Ari is pretty sedate, sleepy, hasn't gotten bitey with me once - now while that would sound great, it just plum has me worried.  She ate dinner right around 6pm, and so far so good.  She was definitively happy to see dinner, so I take that as a good sign!  But she wasn't even really interested in a walk, so we're just doing potty runs and that's that.  Mostly she just wants to sit on top of me, get her ears scratched, kiss my chin and cuddle.  I'm ok with that, but she'd best be back to her annoying, bratty self come tomorrow LOL!  Hmmm I will definitively keep a sonogram in mind, ESPECIALLY if they are thinking of doing invasive surgery.  I'd rather get a sonogram done first, before we start cutting her open and it turns out to be something else.  I'll do whatever it takes to make her feel better, I'd get by on rice and beans if needed (thankfully SO is employed, but if I lose my job it'll be just scraping by).  I wasn't able to make it to the grocery store, but I'll pick up some lean beef and rice and give her that for a bit.  Or I can pick up from the vets some bland diet to give her, that we gave her for a few days during a bad diareah episode.   Poor thing, right now she's laying on top of my feet looking pretty sad and pathetic.  Although she did perk up when she saw people outside who gave her some loving and she was downright wiggly...so she's not feeling too terrible at least!   ~Sharon

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• 09-04-2008 8:34 PM

  In reply to the_gopher

  calliecritturs Joined on 09-10-2007 Central Florida Posts 7,735 Points 2,075

  Re: throwing up kibbble, HOURS later Reply Contact A sonogram/ultrasound will show things FAR better than an x-ray.  An x-ray is just one dimensional -- you may know there is some *thing* ~pointing right THERE~ but ... how 'deep'?  But more to the point, an x-ray won't show stuff like fibers -- so an obstruction of fabric won't show -- rocks will.  Does that make sense? A friend of mine had a little poodle years ago - he was NOT a chewer.  But he got sick (senior dog - he was about 10 at that time) and they went from diagnosis to diagnosis - from pancreatitis to everything and back again.  And he just got sicker and sicker.  They could see part of the intestine was 'empty' but couldn't see because of the layers what or where. This was probably 10 years ago -- ultrasounds rarely done then.  But before they just did exploratory surgery on a senior dog they found a place with a machine and did one -- and YEP -- ***RIGHT THERE*** Cedar had habitually crawled in behind the sofa on the enclosed "front porch".  They stored an old hammock back there and apparently the last person to use it had spilled something yummy and Cedar had chewed the cotton fibers of that hammock and ingested just enough of it to block himself totally. Cotton doesn't show on x-rays.  This wasn't a dog who was a chewer and it had been not even seriously considered because he was SO *NOT* a chewer.  But it was my first lesson in "any dog CAN ..." and that sometimes that expensive procedure can save you money in the long run -- had they don't the ultrasound days previously it would have resulted in far less hospital charges.  He did make it ... because he had great care.  At least in this day and age, it's not so unusual.

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