Why does my dog throw up so much?

Discussion in 'Labrador Health' started by Luanne_TX, Feb 18, 2017.

  1. Luanne_TX

    Luanne_TX Registered Users

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2017
    Messages:
    13
    Location:
    Texas
    Hey y'all! I'm new, so I'm sorry if I mess up anything lol.

    I have an 11 month old black lab, who's mixed with a bit of Rottweiler. The past 2 or 3 months she's been throwing up, not for days on end, but at different times. It's always in the middle of the night.

    This past week though she has projectile vomited with no warning, as normally I'm able to get her off the bed in time so I can clean it off the wood floor. It's happened twice, once at 11pm, and just yesterday at 5pm, which is odd since she's never thrown up during the day.

    She is a very healthy dog, isn't lethargic, has had fairly normal stools and gets plenty of exercise. I do put a muzzle on her though when she is unsupervised outside that is covered with duct tape except for the nose and mouth area so she can get water. She has a very sensitive stomach, and loves to eat everything under the sun that she sees outside.

    I don't want to spend a lot of money on vet bills if I don't have to, and she doesn't seem sick, but it gets tiring waking up during the night to clean up her vomit.
     
  2. SwampDonkey

    SwampDonkey Registered Users

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2015
    Messages:
    8,126
    Location:
    leicestershire uk
    I would speak to a vet and try to find what the sickness problem is. there can be lots of reason fot this.

    I would not leave an unsupervised dog with a muzzle on incase they got something caught in it ot on it. I also don't understand why you would want to block the holes with duct tape. It's designed to have holes to keep you dog cool while wearing it and so they can breathe . if you limit the holes the could easily blocked. You dog must find this uncomfortable and frightening. It sounds very stressful for you dog.

    My dog suffered from colitis from an early age and has a very sensitive stomach. He was very ill and and was big worry for a while.I have trained him to leave things and supervise him when he's in an environment he could eat things. I have never used a muzzle for him because I knew as he got older he would scavange less and the training would work. He still gets diarrhoea occasionally but that usually down to stress and the usual doggies infections. I did not use a muzzle because I wanted him to learn not to eat anything with training if the muzzle comes off they still try to eat and never learn not too and didn't want a dog who had to go out with one perminantly.

    Vet bills are a problem I know but that's dogs for you.
     
    heidrun likes this.
  3. heidrun

    heidrun Supporting Member Forum Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2012
    Messages:
    2,626
    I agree with everything Swampdonkey has said. Only a vet can get to the bottom of your dog's sickness. What really concerns me is the duct tape over your dog's muzzle. That sounds horrendous and very dangerous. Dogs control their body temperature by panting so anything that hinders free airflow could easily lead to overheating which can be fatal. If your dog really has to wear a muzzle for whatever reason then please, please do not cover up the holes!
     
  4. heidrun

    heidrun Supporting Member Forum Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2012
    Messages:
    2,626
    Just to add, a dog should never ever wear a muzzle when unsupervised. It is dangerous.
     
  5. Naya

    Naya Registered Users

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2013
    Messages:
    9,628
    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    I agree with the above about the muzzle. It sounds like she has been sick quite a lot over the weeks. I would definately be going to the vets to get it investigated, especially if it's happening on a semi regular basis.
     
  6. drjs@5

    drjs@5 Registered Users

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2012
    Messages:
    15,335
    Location:
    Fife, Scotland
    I'm with these guys above.
    Absolutely fraught with danger for your dog obstructing the muzzle with tape!!!

    Are you unable to secure your garden/yard? Remove anything harmful? What kind of things is she scavenging?
    I really think repeat night time vomiting needs checked by a vet. It may be acid related, but could be something more serious.
    If you haven't already seen your vet, I think this is an essential first step. That and ditching the taped muzzle.
     
  7. Boogie

    Boogie Supporting Member Forum Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2014
    Messages:
    8,416

    Absolutely.

    The way to be sure a dog is safe is to go with them for their walks and have a safe garden for them at home.


    ...
     
  8. Luanne_TX

    Luanne_TX Registered Users

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2017
    Messages:
    13
    Location:
    Texas
    Like I said, I leave the nose and mouth area uncovered. She's still able to pant and drink water and she's gotten used to the muzzle. I had to put duct tape over the holes because she would scrape it along the ground and get all kinds of things through them.

    She eats everything such as rocks, sticks, grass, pinecones, and even ant piles. The problem is that if she even eats a handful of grass, she throws it up and acts a little sick for a few hours.

    I have trained her to leave it, and she doesn't it so perfectly, but once I leave her outside alone she doesn't understand that she's not supposed to eat everything.
     
  9. Kelsey&Axel

    Kelsey&Axel Registered Users

    Joined:
    May 5, 2016
    Messages:
    1,504
    Location:
    Canada
    Is she vomiting up just bile? If so then feed her a bit more at dinner or give her a snack before bed. I have to be very careful with Odie my Pomeranian, if I don't feed exactly what he needs then he throws up before breakfast or dinner, just bile.

    I also have the same problem with Odie trying to eat EVERYTHING outside. (Though he is much better then he used to be) We have spent a couple thousand dollars at the vet after what has been eaten. The vet even suggested a muzzle for times when we go to our cabin, because he has a thing for mushrooms and there are hundreds of mushrooms in the yard there. But I have never used a muzzle. I just go and supervise him and keep him on leash when we go for walks. Even at home I do not let him in the yard unsupervised but I give him freedom to sniff around and be a dog. My lab is outside a lot unsupervised but I did everything different with him because I learned from my mistakes. I never fussed when he would put something in his mouth, I would distract him with a toy or game.

    Definitely keep working on your leave it cue. I just feel like if you restrict them with a muzzle, they will never learn. As soon as they go out without a muzzle they will go crazy trying to eat everything.

    My lab used to eat rocks, he grew out of that. He used to eat grass too. Also grew out of that. He does eat sticks and swallows them whole. But I think if you make a big fuss out of it then they WANT to do it because they know they shouldn't. Little rebels... so now when Axel goes for something he shouldn't I just casually throw a ball or walk away and he always follows.

    I would suggest getting rid of the muzzle and going outside armed with treats and her favourite toy and work on distracting away from what she wants to eat. Eventually she will get used to being around things and not care to have it in her mouth, and she will find you more interesting, which should be the main goal anyways.

    So do your training outside, play games outside, do a lot of things outside that you would do inside. Even feed her meals outside. Make outside in the yard not as exciting for her.
     
    drjs@5 and Rosie like this.
  10. Luanne_TX

    Luanne_TX Registered Users

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2017
    Messages:
    13
    Location:
    Texas
    Yeah she is. I give her food in the morning when we eat breakfast but most of the time she won't eat it or she takes a few nibbles out of it. She wont eat at all unless she's had exercise. Generally we feed her again around 1, and we give her 3 cups of food. She won't eat again for the rest of the day, even though she spends all day outside running around.

    I have tried to ignore her and not give her attention when she eats off the ground. I don't think she's in it for the attention, since she keeps on vacuuming everything up. I do practice outside and with distractions. The problem though is that I have to do work on the ranch and during that time the dogs run around the pasture. But she is distracted while she's playing so that keeps her from eating.

    I know I should probably keep her in an area where I can supervise her, but I feel awful when she's not able to run through the fields and just be a dog. I can try throwing a ball and see how that works out since she loves to play fetch. I don't know if I already mentioned it but I don't put a muzzle on her when I'm outside, only on the rare occasions that we aren't home and she's outside.

    She has access to the outside 24/7. We take the dogs outside with us during the day and they have free will to go inside or out through a doggy door. I guess I'm just worried since I've never had a dog who eats this much, and although I haven't had to take her to the vet yet, I don't want anything to happen.
     
  11. Emily_BabbelHund

    Emily_BabbelHund Longest on the Forum without an actual dog

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2016
    Messages:
    3,959
    Location:
    Regensburg, Germany (Bavaria)
    I really second all the concern voiced here about the muzzle situation. Muzzles can be good tools, but never unsupervised and if for more than a short period of time or always during exercise, a basket muzzle (with the free flow of air as designed) is the only safe choice.

    Wanted to add, however, that if she is part Rottie then you may just have a normal dodgy tummy Rottie on your hands. This is not something breed descriptions will tell you, but get a bunch of Rottie people together and you'll nearly always come up with stories about how delicate their little tummies are. Mine did much better on a home-made diet vs. kibble but he still had his projectile vomit and (worse) projectile poo days. And yes, 95% of the time, the vomit is late at night/wee hours of the morning. It does kind of make you want to curl quietly in a corner and sob in frustration sometimes.

    It is essential to first get your dog really checked out properly by a vet to rule everything else out. And better sooner than later both for your dog's sake and for your bank account's sake - I guarantee you that procrastinating will make the end bill much bigger if it's something that needs seeing to.

    But if the vet really doesn't find anything else wrong, it could simply be the way she's built. In this case a careful diet, low stress and lots of good physical and mental exercise may help. The muzzle in fact may be counterproductive if it's ratcheting up her stress level...that could have a correlation with the vomiting bouts. Also really, really essential (as others have already said) to safety proof your yard and work on positive training to help her avoid the temptation of picking stuff up she shouldn't.

    Hope it all works out for the both of you!
     
  12. Luanne_TX

    Luanne_TX Registered Users

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2017
    Messages:
    13
    Location:
    Texas
    Thanks for the advice, I've had plenty of Rottweilers and I currently have one now but I don't think they're quite the eaters as labs are so I haven't really experienced a rottie stomach lol.

    If it really is a bad idea to leave a muzzle on her unsupervised, then the only option I have is to keep her inside. I do have tools and such outside since I do live on a ranch so it's almost impossible to entirely safe proof it, but anything dangerous for dogs is put high on a shelf or in a different pasture.

    I keep my other dogs on a homemade diet as well consisting of boiled, unseasoned, boneless chicken and a few vegetables. When I took my dog to the vet at 6 months she recommended I switch her to sensitive stomach food which she has been on since. But it doesn't help her stomach at all. I talked to the vet again early January but she couldn't recommend anything, just told me to keep Dixie off the home cooked diet.
     
  13. Emily_BabbelHund

    Emily_BabbelHund Longest on the Forum without an actual dog

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2016
    Messages:
    3,959
    Location:
    Regensburg, Germany (Bavaria)
    Hey, maybe you are lucky - or I've been unlucky! I've just heard it from so many people (plus 18 years of cleaning up the projectile whatever myself) that I just thought "Rottie tummy" was par for the course.

    Argh! Even wonderful vets can be total goobs about not feeding kibble. :mad: I finally just stopped ever mentioning what my dogs ate if the subject came up. Seems you have nothing to lose to at least try to go back to the home made diet. I was surprised to learn here on the forum that apparently some dogs are very sensitive to chicken, so maybe try a different protein source to see if it helps?
     
  14. Emily_BabbelHund

    Emily_BabbelHund Longest on the Forum without an actual dog

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2016
    Messages:
    3,959
    Location:
    Regensburg, Germany (Bavaria)
    Oh - forgot - I also had really good results with a probiotic. They are controversial (there's no real studies to back them up apparently) and hard to find one that is effective as the ingredients aren't controlled, but for my dog they helped a lot.
     
  15. Luanne_TX

    Luanne_TX Registered Users

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2017
    Messages:
    13
    Location:
    Texas
    I just called a different vet hospital and asked a few questions and they told me it sounds like she has food allergies. They told me to check the food label for some of the ingredients to watch out for and the warning signs of food allergies, and it sounds just like her! Which would make sense because it started about 2-3 months ago a little bit after switching to kibble. So I'm definitely switching her back to home cooked food.

    I'm still not sure why she vomits everything she eats outside though, it's probably what you said about Rottweilers. But yes a lot of vets can be very picky about what you do with dogs. When I was a kid my parents had 15-20 dogs on their ranch at a time and they all lived to 16+ years and we never took them to vets. In fact the oldest was a gsd we had that just passed away at 18. It's crazy how good food and good exercise can really make your dog so healthy.
     
    Emily_BabbelHund likes this.

Share This Page