Many dog owners have certainly experienced their dog showing signs of nausea and vomiting. Vomiting in dogs is not always due to dangerous causes. In the article, you can find out how you can distinguish the symptoms of a harmless occurrence of the disease from those of a seriously dangerous situation for your furry friend!
Vomiting in dogs – what are the causes?
Sensitive Stomach
When your dog vomits, it’s not always for a dangerous reason. Younger dogs and puppies in particular often throw out the contents of their stomachs, as they are particularly sensitive to new types of food or foreign objects. In most cases, vomiting in dogs even fulfills a cleaning function of the stomach and is sometimes deliberately caused by the animal, for example by your dog eating grass or wood.
However, occasional vomiting can also have other causes. For example, intolerance to new types of food or hasty eating with subsequent overexertion. Circulatory problems also mean that dogs can vomit, which is common in the warm summer months. Hormone changes, for example during heat, can also be accompanied by vomiting or your animal suffers from stress. Because psychological problems in your dog, which can be triggered by traumatic events, other dominant dogs, or being alone, are also reasons for an illness.
Chronic diseases
In addition to the occasional vomiting, your furry friend can also suffer from a chronic illness. A worm or giardia infestation can often be the trigger for a persistent illness. What is the general condition of your animal? Always monitor this in order to detect infectious diseases at an early stage, because distemper, leishmaniasis, and leptospirosis are often associated with vomiting in dogs. Other serious causes can be tumors or heart disease, as well as kidney problems or stomach ulcers. A dog will also vomit if it suffers from poisoning, liver disease, or inflammatory processes in the body or gastrointestinal tract.
What Helps Vomiting in Dogs?
If the dog has vomited, it should first fast for about 24 hours. After that, a bland diet of chicken, rice, cottage cheese, and carrots is recommended.
Inflammation, medication, etc as a cause of vomiting in dogs
There may also be encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, or an ear infection that stimulates the dog’s vomiting center and causes nausea. If the dog has to take medication, they can also trigger the urge to vomit. The most common causes of vomiting in dogs are in the stomach, liver, pancreas, and intestines.
Problems with these organs often result from eating too quickly, food intolerance, spoiled food, swallowing foreign bodies, poisoning, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, inflammation of the gastric mucosa, infectious diseases caused by viruses, bacteria or parasites, diseases of the liver or kidneys, inflammation of the pancreas, diabetes, tumors or adrenal insufficiency.
Difference between chronic and acute vomiting
A distinction must be made between acute and chronic vomiting. In most cases, acute vomiting is less of a concern and is short-lived. When dogs vomit for a period of two weeks or longer, it is chronic vomiting. In this case, the cause should be found out urgently and treated by a veterinarian.
What to do if my dog has diarrhea and vomiting?
If diarrhea and vomiting come together, it is better to see a veterinarian, as in this case there could be an underlying medical condition.
How do you know when a dog is vomiting?
The first signs of vomiting in dogs are general restlessness, combined with yawning and smacking, and increased salivation. Just before vomiting, the dog stands with its head down, its mouth closed and its back arched. You can see that the abdominal muscles contract, which creates excess pressure in the abdominal area. The excess pressure pushes the contents of the stomach out. This can be food or mucus, but also foreign objects such as grass or wood.
When the dog has eaten foreign objects, vomiting is a normal bodily defense mechanism that allows things to be rid of the body that does not belong. Anyone who has ever watched a dog vomit might have noticed that the process is very tiring for the four-legged friend. Like humans, dogs lose a large amount of fluid when they vomit, which can lead to dehydration, which can be particularly dangerous for puppies and older dogs.
If a dog vomits primarily after eating grass, the vomiting is of no concern. Serious health problems could only be caused if the four-legged friend vomits bile or even blood more often and the vomiting occurs frequently. In the case of more serious causes, the animals usually also show other symptoms, such as a change in behavior, listlessness, lethargy, or restlessness.
Vomiting in dogs – an overview of common symptoms
- smacking
- Empty swallow
- Increased salivation
- Contraction of abdominal muscles and diaphragm
- Attempts to choke with the mouth closed
- Ejection of stomach contents with open mouth
How do you make a dog vomit?
At best, it should be left to the vet to make the dog vomit. If it has to be done quickly, for example, because poisoning is suspected, there are special medications for this. Alternatively, the dog can be made to vomit with saltwater or oil.
The correct diagnosis – some tips
You know your four-legged friend best. How is his general health? How often does your dog vomit? This already says a lot about the possible causes and diseases. If in doubt, examine your dog’s vomit – if it smells abnormal, poison could be a reason for vomiting. If there is yellow bile, blood or black crumbs in the sputum, your pet is most likely suffering from an inflammation of the digestive tract. Fresh blood in the vomit, which is accompanied by severe diarrhea and loss of appetite, usually indicates an inflammation of the small intestine in your four-legged friend. Is your dog throwing up poo? Then your animal is most likely suffering from a dangerous intestinal obstruction.
In all of these cases, a veterinarian should be consulted, who can determine the exact cause by means of blood tests, gastroscopy, fecal examinations or X-rays and ultrasound images, and who can prescribe a precise therapy.
ATTENTION: If your dog tries to vomit several times in vain, this could be a sign of a torsion in the dog’s stomach. This life-threatening condition is fatal if left untreated and must be treated immediately with an emergency operation at the veterinarian.
The following applies in all cases: keep calm and give your dog the best possible help. If you are unsure, do not hesitate to consult a veterinarian.
Vomiting in dogs – prevent and treat correctly
Don’t panic!
At first there is no reason to panic if the dog throws up. In most cases it is simply a matter of cleaning out the stomach and dogs are generally more likely to vomit than humans. Especially if there are plant parts in the vomit, it is not a big cause for concern. But in all other cases, too, it is important to remain calm. Dogs are much more aware of their human’s energy than we are, so panic can easily spread to the dog and further worsen its physical condition.
Instead of panicking, it is important to find out the cause of the vomiting, which is mainly done by examining the vomit closely. Simple home remedies, such as giving a bland diet for a few days, often help to make the dog feel better again.
Lent to calm the stomach
A fasting period of 24 hours helps your pet with occasional vomiting, because your dog’s stomach can calm down during this time. Lean, easily digestible food, such as cooked chicken, rice or cottage cheese, are proven home remedies. They do not stress the dog’s stomach and are easily digestible. If your fur nose’s symptoms haven’t improved after a day, you should see a veterinarian. Feed your dog smaller amounts of food several times a day. In this way, the dog’s stomach does not have to produce excessive gastric juice, as this can lead to digestive problems and ultimately to vomiting.
Since the dog loses a lot of liquid through vomiting, it is important to ensure that it drinks enough. Sometimes he may need to be encouraged to do so.
What to give the dog food when vomiting?
Boiled chicken with rice, cottage cheese, and carrots is best for the dog as a bland diet for vomiting.
Anti-snare as a preventive measure
Does your dog wolf down his food? An anti-sling bowl can help prevent it. The food may not be optimally designed for your dog. Here, a feed check or advice will help to find the perfect food for your four-legged friend.
If the dog starts to feel nauseous and vomit after a change in diet, it may be that the dog does not tolerate the food. Basically, a feed change should only be carried out slowly and in small steps in order not to unnecessarily burden the digestive tract of the four-legged friend.
Beware of snow
Many dogs love to eat snow in winter. However, this can sometimes be problematic for your health. On the one hand, problems with the gastrointestinal tract can arise if the dog eats dirty snow. For example, snow can be contaminated with road salt, which can attack the dog’s mucous membranes. But even if the snow is clean, dogs with sensitive gastrointestinal tracts can develop what is known as snow gastritis.
Snow gastritis is an inflammation of the gastric mucosa, which can manifest itself in both vomiting and diarrhea, sometimes with blood, and general exhaustion. If the dog shows severe symptoms or if mild symptoms do not go away after two days at the latest, the veterinarian should be consulted. In order to prevent snow gastritis in general, dogs can learn from puppyhood that eating snow is forbidden.
When should you go to the vet if your dog vomits?
A veterinarian should be consulted if the dog vomits repeatedly, if there is blood or feces in the vomit, and if the dog shows general signs of illness such as apathy or incoordination.
When is a visit to a vet necessary?
In order to know whether a visit to the vet is necessary when the dog is vomiting, the main thing to do is to examine the vomit and also to consider the overall condition of the dog. If there is blood or feces in the vomit, the vet should be consulted in any case. Even if the dog vomits more frequently and even after a fasting phase of 24 hours, it is advisable to go to the vet. The same applies if the dog changes its behavior and appears apathetic.
If there is a suspicion that the dog might have swallowed poison, you should stop thinking about it and go to the vet immediately. In this case, every minute counts for the rescue of the four-legged friend. In some cases, dogs with poisoning are referred to specialists.
Since vomiting in dogs can have many different causes, the diagnosis is often not very easy and a whole series of tests may be necessary to find the right cause. It is very important for the veterinarian that the human gives a detailed preliminary report and informs the doctor of what the dog ate, when, and how. The same applies to the description of the vomiting itself. During the clinical examination, the vet examines the blood and the faeces of the four-legged friend. Ultrasound or X-ray examinations may also be carried out. If the vomiting is chronic, the vet will do an endoscopy or perhaps diagnostic surgery.
