FAQ4

Here are some of the questions I have had in the past - and my answers:
this one is about the little IG who kept throwing up!
My friend's little IG called "Streaky" - taken in the kitchen, so I think he was waiting for some food to accidently drop on the floor!!! No, this is NOT the patient in question! Steaky has NO problem about eating, ha, ha!

Question:
I am at my wit's end. I have a 3 year old Italian Greyhound, who has frequent bouts of vomiting. This has been going on for quite some time and at first I assumed it was due to my indulging his every snacking whim. However, even after eliminating all junk food and carefully monitoring his regular food, he still has bouts of vomiting. Some days he is fine but other days he may vomit as many as 10 times. Usually in my bed! He seems otherwise healthy, energetic and playful. My vet seems to be as stumped as I.
He gets about 1/2 cup dry Iams mixed with 1/2 cup canned Iams for dinner. His only snacks are 1 Beggin Strip in the a.m. and 1 or 2 Iams bisquets when I come home from work. His dinner is usually around 7:00 p.m.
Answer:
Poor you! This doesn't sound funny at all! One thing that is very important for me to know is WHAT is he vomiting up? And also: how long time after a meal. Is it "just his food", in which case, is it fresh and hardly digested and how long has he had it in him before he is sick ? (Should it look MORE digested if several hours have gone by.) Or is it well digested and not seeming to have moved on it's way - suggesting a blockage in his stomach? Or is it just bile (digestive fluid) - all yellow - or is it just "white foam" which I also have seen mine do when feeling sick but otherwise OK. It is vital for being able to analyse what is the problem to know what the vomit consists of and how long time has passed since he ate.
To speed things up I am guessing that it is possibly yellow bile?
I can only guess. So I take this as being the most likely - and the most easily cured.
Because if yes, then this is a clear case of TOO FEW meals a day.
Sighthounds have a very "tucked up" and small stomach and thrive best on at least two meals a day, possibly a third - as indeed mine get.
These meals add up in total quantity to what you think he should have once a day, but divided up into three instead. (See, I am not advocating giving him MORE food, just "little and often".)
He could have a small breakfast, a very small lunch and a nice "big" dinner he can feel nice and comfy inside with, at around the time you eat yourselves. In other words 3 meals like the majority of humans!
This being all of the quality food that you think is right for him. But if all else fails, often changing a brand of food CAN help. What WE think is best, may not necessarily be best for the dog!
Dogs vary just like humans! (I give dry food too but always fill 2/3 up with lukewarm water. Try this if you don't already.) If you are out in the day, well there's little to be done unless a kind person would pop in at lunch time and walk your dog after having given this small lunch. But certainly he should have at least TWO proper meals a day - morning and evening
If he is going too long on an empty or almost empty stomach, he will have gnawing pains and an excessive accumulation of bile which he will be forced to throw up. (The stomach goes on working away even when nothing to tackle down in there - hence our own extreme hunger pains when we skip a meal!)
If you can give him his normal quantity spread over 3 meals, this would be ideal. And maybe for a while, cut out ANY extras completely - in case THEY are the cause - many of these "treats" are straight junk food when it comes to it - and very expensive too. My dogs love a carrot to gnaw on, or Chinese cabbage which they adore, or an apple - maybe other green-stuff would interest your IG as a pastime and game.
But I really can't help you any more without knowing all the circumstances surrounding his vomit, as I say what it looks like, and how long after eating etc etc.
ONE reason for vomiting CAN be worms. I take it he has been wormed recently? Another reason could be if he is stealing something and eating something he shouldn't? They are clever and cunning little things! Think if he's eating one of your pills just occasionally and it upsets him every time!
Or eating a particular house plant or a plant in your yard that upsets him?

Owner reply to the above answer:
Thanks for responding so quickly. Let's start with the most recent episode which was last night. His dinner was around 7:00-7:30. He woke me around 1:30 a.m. The mess in the bed was recognizable as his dry food. There were two piles of that. There were also two spots of a brownish liquid with no solids for a total of four separate vomit areas. However, last week when I arrived home from work there were several areas of a white foamy type. It was void of any food and it was the first time he ever spit up that type of mess. I think this episode was not the normal spitups he suffers due to the type and consistency and the fact that he did seem a bit lethargic. He was also drinking quite a bit of water. He was fine again the following day. I don't think it any of his episodes are bile as none are the yellowish color and more times than not, food is present in differing stages of digest. I hope these details will help solve this mystery. I am beginning to worry that he is not getting enough nourishment even though he sometimes will go 2 or 3 days without an episode. I will start with the smaller meals immediately and see if that helps.

Final answer:
It sounds worse than I had hoped - almost as if he has a blockage - but it's a good positive thing that it's NOT EVERY DAY: Which makes it more mysterious - he can't anyway, have a "foreign item" swallowed and stuck in his lower stomach, preventing food from passing on down, as this would I assume give a set "blockage" just every day of the week? And this is not the case - luckily.
Your description of him eating at 7.30 yet still able to throw it up at 1.30 in the morning (poor you!) sounds like he's not passing it on down as he should - and maybe eating TOO MUCH?
If it was my dog, I would remove all tit-bits and extras, bones, chews, biscuits or whatever, and go for the 3 meals a day plan. So he gets the same quantity, but spread out over these 3 meals. See if his food can then pass along down without "jamming up" as it's doing.
By sticking to the one brand of food, (which I assume has not gone past it's "sell by" date or anything?!) you narrow everything down.
REMEMBER: Dry food does often swell up quite a bit (try yourself to see this by putting his usual amount to soak in water for several hours.) It is deceptive and you are actually feeding about the double of what you see in the bowl - with many brands anyway.
An alternative would be to buy enough tins of your preferred brand to last a week or two and see how food that "slides on down with no swelling up later", works on him?
Is he a greedy eater? My IG simply "vacuums" his food up at 90 miles an hour and with very little chewing!
My theory is that he up to now has had his whole meal in one go every day at 7.30 and that over the hours this swells up to be too much for a little Iggie stomach to manage, and his stomach "goes on strike" and he gets sick. Dogs throw up very easily - this is normal.
If the small meals 3 times a day doesn't see a definite improvement, I think you will have to go to the vet. again. They can give him an X-ray - where they can give him a drink that can be seen on X-rays and then they can see if he's got anything wrong, a "polyp" or bulge or whatever, perhaps even been born with "a fault" in his digestive tract? (Has he always been like this or is it just the last few months?)
And of course there shouldn't be any rough or violent exercise after eating.
Let's hope this simple change in his way of life does work! If yes, then it should help right away!
Of course you worry it he's getting enough nourishment, but you can SEE on him if he's getting too skinny, no gloss to his coat, not playful and a sad dog etc. So don't worry too much, if he LOOKS and acts fine!

By the way a little tip:
Boil his water and cool it instead of giving it direct from the tap. They recommend this here for all stomach upsets.

HAPPY FOOTNOTE: This dog was completely cured on three smaller meals a day!

If anybody has any further questions regarding the above, or wants to discuss things in greater depth, you are welcome to mail to me at:
janetfm@sighthound.net

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