[braingonebad]

Since you offered, I'm taking you up. Hope you don't mind.


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My 9yr old Pomeranian female (my avatar pic) has been vomitting. Not tons, but often for a few days now. She is still active, eating, going potty, etc. She seems all normal except for the throwing up thing.

There does not seem to be anything inside or out that she could be getting into - too small to get at the trash.

Have not changed her diet. The other two dogs, 4 yr old male pom, 5 yr old male papillon are not sick at all. Millie is way over weight, and does *cough* quite a lot, other than that, always healthy since we got her - at Christmas. We adopted her and only know so much about her past.

The other pom does that cough thing too, but not as much as she does.

Any idea why she is sick? The weather? Age?

Should she see our vet or wait and see?

Maybe she's having an issue with the food? Purina little bites - we don't know what she ate before (looks like whatever she wanted, lol).

Thanks for any advice.

[Notaclue]

I am inclined to recommend a vet visit because....
1) History. Rescue animals history is so often unknown and there may be a condition that has been brewing but left untreated because it was was not fully manifesting (sub-clinical), the previous owner did not appreciate, could not afford to treat.
2) Age. I hate to say it but 9 is getting up there. It would be really helpful to have baseline blood work (CBC and chemistry panel) even if it turns up normal it can be invaluable in the future as well.
3) Duration. Cats vomit regularly which is of no real concern but dogs not much so. A few days without an obvious cause-garbage can raid for example-is not okay.
4) Cough. This may or may not be related but my first reaction was worms/heartworm, as it could explain both the cough and the vomiting (of course there are other things but rescue, vomit, cough it was my reflex thought)

With this recession and what vets charge you hate to go in if you don't have to. That being said you have a few "small" reasons that by themselves don't really justify going in (unless money is no object at all) but combined it seems a visit is needed.

I do have a few questions. In relation to eating when does the vomiting occur? What is being vomited? Water? Food particles? Any signs of exercise intolerance?

I will PM you too.

Please let me know how Millie does if we don't connect today.

love and hugs B

[braingonebad]

Millie, being about 17lbs - I know, ginormous! she should be 10 - 12lbs, tops - does not romp a lot, but is pretty spunky for her size. She is acting normally spunky despite her tummy troubles.

The only things we know of her hx are age, that she had a tumor removed - still had a 6 inch incision when we got her, noncancerous (it was biopsied) - and her prior owner gave her up due to advanced alzhiemers.

Prior to that owner's health issues she seemed to have been well cared for with regular vet care, heart worm, flea stuff, bathed, groomed, walked, etc.

Maybe not so much in the last year or two, but up till then, she was taken care of as much as any dog. Never left in a kennel to the best of our knowledge (from what the rescue group could determine, talking to the relatives, the family had cared for her).

We had no reason to assume she'd had kennel borne illnesses, and their (rescue's) vet and our vet both gave vaccines just in case.

She seems mostly to spit up a short while after eating, and it looks like her food, not very digested. She is drinking normal amounts of water and taking the usual potty breaks, eyes look bright, not runny, but her nose is dry and warm.

I will do as you say and call the vet. It's not like money is no object... but I don't want her suffering either. You do what's best for em, if you love em.

Meanwhile, I think I'll take the food away since she just keeps eating and barfing, lol.


Thanks for your response. I'll let ya know what happens.

[Notaclue]

Interesting..any chance she is eating too fast? She just sounds so damn healthy and that is a good history!!!! Often times they are strays found on the street but clearly not the case here.

Sometimes dog eat too fast as the feel competition and/or are just little piggies-the stomach says hey this is not even chewed and sends it back up. If this may be the case you could try feeding separately and small meals over the weekend-just trying to convey I don't think you have to run in for an emergency/after-hours appointment.

Millie so lucky to have you!
Take care,
B

[braingonebad]

Update...

I called her vet, and she said to give either Pepcid or Pepto. Well, tell that to Millie. Been around that block a few times, and even i could not get either of those in her.

She would let me give her Tums, though. Close enough.

I was also told to take up her food for 12 hours, not feed her anything at all, and see how she did. She did fine, not one single vomit. Good.

Then she was allowed to eat just a little, to see if she kept that down with another dose of Tums. And she did.


I made sure her bowls were fresh, washed, clean food etc. You never know, stuff could have gotten in there. She got a bath too.. and I weighed her, she was down 2lbs (15lbs).

But so far, no more throwing up. Then it dawned on me, only thing diff is the dog treats. Since not having any, she does not seem to be coughing very much at all, has not thrown up once. I have not given her any more Tums and she is fine.

Must be something in the dog bones that was bugging her, and it took all this time to get to the point of making her actually sick.

Ah well, we'll need to find a different treat I guess.

Still keeping an eye on her in case status changes.

[billie]

Looks like you are getting problem under control. I was going to suggest hairballs, as that seems to be what makes my cat throw up some times. Don't know if dogs get them or not, but she does look somewhat long-haired. Anyway, it looks like you got the problem under control so far. I'm happy. Dogs can be like our children.
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[geemarie]

I'd would definitely see the vet. It could be worms. Or she could have swallowed something.Good luck to you.

[braingonebad]

I don't know if dogs get hairballs. Not that I know, but anything is possible I guess. My vet did ask if she grooms herself. Not much, but she licks her feet a little.

I was worried maybe something from that, something from the dirt outside? Glad I don't put much on the lawn...

I am gonna get all of them to the vet anyway. Just in case. But she's just fine now. Not even coughing much. Little dogs - especially Poms - will do that. (It's more like a honk than a cough.) At least that's what the breeders and rescues tell me . Weak tracheas, supposedly, and they say not to leave their collars on, some you have to use a harness to walk. But maybe allergies are part of it too.

At any rate, we are not buying the bulk mini bones at Anderson's any more.

Another concern was that tumor hx. I was thinking she's so big, could there be another tumor in her abdomen somewhere causing this? So I want to get her looked at even if she does seem to be okay right now.

[suev]

This sounds exactly what I went through with my dog. Went through all the steps you described - and it came down to the treats. My vet said that there is often a lot of fat in processed treats (even rawhide can be included in this for some dogs), and that it can set a up a 'pancreatitis'. Basically pancrease can't keep up - so instead of neutrallizing the fat - it tells the tummy not to send any more downstream. Most often in older dogs - even if they've been on the same treat for years.

Once irritated the digestive system needs intervention, ie. a complete rest and tums usually does it. I'll bet if you stick to non-processed treats and no rawhide, you'll have no more incidents.

Good luck - - Millie's a lucky rescue dog to have found you!

[Hockey]

To add to SueV's excellent advice on treats, I would say make sure they're made in the USA, Canada or one of the European Union Countries. So many of these things now come from China so heaven knows what's in them.