Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog: Vomiting ~ CookingFood.Org

Nothing gets an owner moving faster than the sound of their dog heaving. If you're lucky, you manage to let your dog out in time. Or you might come home from work to a puddle of vomit by the door.

Dogs are built to vomit.

Which is a good thing, considering the kinds of stuff they get into. If something doesn't sit right after it's gone down, back out it comes. That is a good thing, particularly when there is a clear reason you can either think of or discover in the vomit itself.

The signs of impending doom might include your dog drooling, licking their lips (or the furniture, the rugs, themselves) and swallowing excessively. Some seek to eat grass.

If my dog vomits just once, looks and acts normal, and I can put my finger on the cause, I don't get overly worried.

Things my dogs threw up over time include dead mice, pieces of sticks, rocks, pieces of plastic, a sock (we really dodged a bullet there), grass, and horse poop mixed with hay .... Yes, I do worry when I find assorted inedible items in the puke. But as far as I can tell, it all came back out and didn't cause further trouble.

I don't encourage my dogs to eat these things but I can't watch them every second of every day either.

“Drop it” or “leave it” commands are great if you're at the right place at the right time. But this has even backfired on me when Cookie discovered that grabbing sticks is a way to acquire more treats. She'd drop one and accept her treat only to turn around and grab another one. Eventually it turned out that ignoring her stick-grabbing behavior was more successful.

With inedible items you have to worry about obstructions or perforations.

This was one of the reasons we got pet health insurance. Having a lot of free time outside, it is inevitable that the guys will ingest something inappropriate from time to time. As long as it safely makes its way back out, you're in the clear.

If your dog keeps vomiting and/or exhibits signs of distress, it's time to be on your way to the vet.

Signs that you should call your vet include:

vomiting more than once or twice
projectile vomiting (a sign of possible gastrointestinal obstruction)
poor appetite
diarrhea
lethargy
weight loss associated with chronic vomiting, inability to keep food down, or lack of interest in the food
changes in drinking and urinary habits
abdominal pain
abdominal enlargement or distension especially concerning if happening quickly over an hour
blood in the vomit (partially digested blood looks like coffee grounds; fresh blood is bright red)
attempting to vomit but nothing comes out
evidence of poison in the vomit (e.g., packaging or bright green dyes that are included in some types of rat poison)

While there is a serious gross factor involved, examining your dog's vomit might give you important clues as to what's going on. See article What's in the Vomit.

Dogs do seem to conduct scientific studies on the edibility of almost everything in their environment, but it’s important to remember that their vomiting might have nothing to do with what they recently ate.

While vomiting is often caused by a problem in the GI tract itself, the issue might be originating somewhere else all together.

Problems within the GI tract that cause vomiting include:

dietary indiscretion
foreign bodies
intestinal obstruction
food intolerance/food allergies
parasites (roundworms, hookworms, Giardia, coccidia, etc.)
viral infections (canine parvovirus, coronavirus, canine distemper, etc.)
bacterial infections (Salmonella, E. coli, etc.)
intussusception (telescoping of the intestines which causes a functional obstruction)
tumors/growths in the GI tract
ulcers in the GI tract

Problems outside the GI tract that can cause vomiting include:

kidney disease/kidney failure
liver disease/liver failure
heart disease
pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
pyometra (infection of the uterus)
severe diabetes mellitus
Addison’s disease (a disease of the adrenal gland)
toxins/poisons
medications

Do you know what your dog is telling you about their health?

Learn how to detect and interpret the signs of a potential problem.

An award-winning guide to better understanding what your dog is telling you about their health, Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, is available in paperback and Kindle. Each chapter includes notes on when it is an emergency.