Help! My dog keeps vomiting :(

[jesn]

My dog has been vomiting every couple of days for about 2.5 weeks. I've already brought him to two different vets who ran blood tests, fecal test etc on him and they can't tell me what's wrong. They think its a bacterial infection and prescribed him diarrhea and vomit prevention medication. They also put him on Hill's I/D for the time being and while on Hill's, he stopped vomiting and having diarrhea. But I just don't think Hill's is a really good diet for him so I started feeding him cooked food once he recovered. A really bland diet of minced pork, peas, carrots and brown rice mixed with a little digestive enzymes (Fresh Digest) and salmon oil. The reason I feed pork is because thats the protein used in Hill's and I figured he's not allergic to it. But after 2 days of being on this diet, I found a pool of his vomited food again this morning! I'm really upset that he keeps vomiting even though I try to feed him a quality diet instead of the crap in Science Diet. Is my dog just meant to stay on Science Diet??? I can't really ask my vets this question because they think Science Diet IS a really high-quality food and that there's nothing wrong with corn and soybean and all that crap thats in it. Please help!

[gumbychow]

hello jesn
It is not normal for a dog to vomit.
He can be other complications requiring another visit to your veterinarian.
But in the meantime you can feed your dog with rice. (boiled, natural rice + water)
This will stabilize his stomach.
Ensure that you drink water
and he didn't diarrhea
a +

[JasonandNat]

Sounds like your baby has a tummy problem. Our ShenLung has had such since he was a pup and various kinds of stress really push it to the forefront. Over time it improves in both vomiting and diarrhea being less frequency. We found that rich foods cause the most problems, especially fish. We do continue to give him some, but carefully increasing over time. We also found that is key for him to eat at least twice daily to keep things controllable. Our fur-kids are 3 now and ShenLung is 80% stable over the last 6mths. Hope this helps some.

[Victory]

First make sure the rice is well cooked, I mean like over cooked for a human, the grains should be mushy, easy to mash with your finger. The hard outer shell of the rice grain is difficult for them to digest. A dog's digestive track is short, very short and the wrong food will run through them without being digested. Second if you are feeding pork make sure it is super lean, over cook the vegies as well, and don't feed too many carrots, (that will give even a human the runs) Also, you might try fasting him for a day, just water no food at all, until the diahreia stops. Then give him a tablespoon of plain, yogurt, (high quality, organic yogurt is good, and/or a table spoon of Solid Gold's green cow. This a natural way to put the flora and enzymes back into his gut. Feed him small amounts of food, for a while to see how he handles it.

Okay, here's a more serious part. I don't want to alarm you but I have to mention it. You don't say how old your chow is, but chows have a 20% higher chance of having stomach cancer. The only test for it is a biopsy. Have them do a ultra sound of his stomach first, if there is thickening of the stomach wall, then the biopsy should be done. I've had two with this disease, and vomiting/diarehia were the first symptoms along with weight loss, (which is hard to see on a chow cause of all the fur.) I really hope your boy just has a touchy tummy and not this disease.

[jesn]

Thank you for your replies! I'm hoping my dog just has a really touchy tummy too...

@Victory: My pup is only 6 months old! If it was stomach cancer, would the symptoms emerge this early on? I use very lean high quality pork mince but I added a little pork fat to it because I read that pork fat is actually a good source of fat. It was a really small amount maybe 1/2 tbsp? I also add some salmon oil and digestive enzymes. But it might have been too rich. I'll cut out the pork fat and cook down the rice like you said next time and see how that goes with him. I did use to overdose on carrots because I thought the more the better! Lol I definitely don't do that now I try to keep his food 65% meat, 20% carb and 15% veggies. When do you think I should request for an ultrasound for his stomach? Just in case... and I'm a paranoid parent thats for sure...

@JasonandNat: May I know what you are feeding ShenLung currently?

[Merlin]

But after 2 days of being on this diet,

It takes different stomach enzymes to digest different foods, and if your dog's stomach has been conditioned to one type of food, then it is perfectly normal and acceptable for him to toss up his food if he cannot produce the enzymes to digest new foods. Consider using digestive enzymes to help your situation.

Vomiting IS a normal part of canine digestion and dogs regularly eat things they can't process, they throw it up, re-masticate it and try to digest it again.

Please see the treatease at:
http://rawchow.merlinshope.com/index.php?topic=6.0

( I don't feel like re-writing the entire thing).

If your chow is puking ONLY whenever you switch food, in itself it's not unusual . the treatease tells the workaround for that - and it is a very very common reaction.
( short of there being something in the food you are feeding him that contains something disagreeable)
If you are home cooking foods and NOT adding spices and salt, or any other un natural addivitve then you need to ease the dog over to this diet so he can produce the necessary enzymes to digest any new food.

Best of luck.

[jacqui]

Everyone has given very good advice but may I add that if hes vomiting you should be giving him white rice not brown because white rice is easier to digest.
If he were well brown rice is great but not if hes still vomiting.
Also,I just wanted to mention I've had 2 male Chows that have had Irritable Bowel Disease ( IBD). You could ask the vet about that too.
Best of luck to you and please keep us posted.

[Merlin]

You are not limited to white rice. |Yes it's true that white rice is an easily digested grain, but so are many others , and several others are far more nutrious, and just as easily assimilated, like oatmeal, spelt or buckwheat, boiled potatoes even.
Unlike white rice, Oatmeal is a complexe carboyhdrate ( which is far more desirable over plain fast burning carbs), and is absolutely far more nutritious. White rice is high in sugar, which causes it's own set of problems, oatmeal is not. Buckwheat cereal would be another good choice as well.

With your home cooking you may be introducing new foods too fast. If you find something the dog does well on, keep feeding it for at least 10 days, then gradually add a new food component, so that you can better guage the various possible food reactions and remember do not feed your dog at the same time everyday when introducing new foods, that is part of the problem.

[jesn]

Hi Jacqui,
I did quite a bit of research once my dog started having these bouts of diarrhea and vomiting.. but it seems that its a symptom for a bazillion other diseases and illnesses and frankly my research made me really worried and scared. I wish vets were more competent like the doctors for us humans who insist on more tests to diagnose the problem but it seems that all the vets I've been to have been quite content to wait and monitor instead of running other tests. IBD turned up a lot in my research but many sources said that the symptoms seldom turn up in very young dogs and my puppy is only 6 months old! I think that is one reason why the vets ruled out a lot of serious illnesses, because he is so young. How old were your dogs when they were diagnosed with IBD? Today, in the car after a visit to the groomers, my dog vomited a sticky white foam again. This is the first time its happened in the car. Usually it happens in the morning before eating and I think it might be stomach acid reflux so I have been feeding 4 meals a day instead of his usual 2 so that he can have a little food first thing in the morning and before he sleeps at night too. I'm not too worried about the vomit in the car because I think grooming visits are always a bit stressful and he might have been a little car sick. Nevertheless, I'm concerned that he appears to have some issues with his GI tract

Thanks for all your advice! I guess I'll just have to keep monitoring him. Pork seems to be a good protein for him surprisingly. Lots of people dont seem to recommend it as a protein source but I've been finding that he seems to digest it better than beef. Beef is definitely a no-no for him. But pork and chicken seem to be fairly effective right now.

[jacqui]

Yes,I agree that IBD happens more so in older dogs but my first male Chow was about 6 years old and my 2nd boy was about 3 years old when they were diagnosed with IBD. I had a little female Chow who would vomit from time to time and the vet had me give her Pepcid AD a half hour before meals.
You could ask your vet about something like that.
I hope over time your boy gets better.Its very frustrating I know. You sound very commited to helping him and I'm happy about that.Do not give up!
I think Chows have very sensitive systems,I am hoping that your vet can help you with your boy.Please let us know how hes doing.....

[Victory]

the white sticky emesis sounds like a stress thing to me. My Firesong, (who normally has a cast iron tummy) will vomit when she gets over excited, normally white, foamy and sticky.

I agree with Merlin. Watch introducing new foods too fast. Also cook ALL grains fully and completely.

and over the counter pepcid can help.

Most of the stomach cancer is in younger dogs actually, ones under 10, my first was not quite 9 and the other was just 6 years old. So it is a problem than happen fast. As he is six months old he should be gaining weight even with tummy issues, my Dreamdancer has a touchy tummy too, he's 5 now, but he continued to gain weight and grow even when we were dealing with his many allergies and food issues. If your boy is still growing and has an appeitite then he probably doesn't have that cancer, (weight loss and loss of appeitite are prime symptoms)
Chows like most pure breeds are subject to allergies, which can and do include food allergies. My boy can't tolerate chicken or any poultry, but does well on beef...yours doesn't do well with beef...beef is a harder to digest meat, with a different fat content.

And yes, adding too much fat and oil to his diet isn't good for him, canine systems aren't really geared for that, bland is best. No salt, (like Merlin said) have you tried going organic with him? That can help too. Less corn in the meat, (most commercially produced pigs, chickens, turkeys and beef cattle are fed high corn diets this affects the meat produced and not just with a high incidence of e-coli) try him on free range chickn and turkey see if that helps some.

It's a pain, but you'll get it...honest.

[Merlin]

PORK

There is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with pork. It's an excellent meat to serve to your dog at any time.
I think some people get hung up on old stigmatisms.

[jesn]

i'm happy to report that my homecooked meals seem to have done the trick! i'm so glad he's doing well on quality healthy food! His bad breath has totally gone away, his coat is so much brighter and less dry and no more diarrhea or vomiting! and this is within a short week and a half! currently i have him now on pork/chicken with peas/carrots/long beans. i add a 1/2 tsp of digestive enzymes and 2 pumps of salmon oil to his meals. i think i'm going to stick with this mix of food for a while and slowly introduce other proteins/veggies to his diet by adding a little at a time. i'm so relieved that i finally found something he does well on. His stools are still a little loose but i think its mainly because i add way too much carrots to his meals (its hard to resist using up the carrots because i really hate to have to store a little remaining carrot oops) but overall he looks a great deal healthier! Thanks for all your advice.

[jacqui]

Thats great news! I hope he continues to recover and keep up the good work!