an unusual abundance of brown smelly vomit by my 5 month old puppy

by jacquelin
(fresno, ca)

I found my puppy when he was about 2 months old he's been to the vet up to date on shots just recently had his last series and rabies shot as well as last treatment of "jarnia or gernia" (spelling not right) but that was 6 days ago and today he just let out an abundance of vomit.

This was not quarter size or a little bigger it was as if a human vomited it was spread out and dark brown with a few little mushy chunks and it smelled horrible. He recently started the habit of poop picking where he drags it inside but I've never caught him eat it not saying he hasn't he eats everything but that vomit worried me.

Should I be worried?



Hi Jacquelin
It's difficult to say whether this is something that indicates a serious issue, or he's just got an upset tummy from eating 'junk'.

As your pup has had all his puppy shots and has been dewormed, and I think treated for Giardia if I'm guessing right, he should be fairly safe from the worst dog illnesses. Of course there are no guarantees though.

If he drags poop around, chances are he eats it too, that's not terribly unusual either. It could be that which has made him sick, or that and eating all sorts of other stuff he shouldn't if he's inclined to do so.

I'd recommend waiting a little while to see if he vomits again, and how he seems in general. Repeated vomiting needs to be evaluated by a vet, but a 'one off' episode like this isn't necessarily serious. I'd also recommend that you make sure he gets plenty of water as he may be dehydrated if he lost a lot of fluids when he vomited. Take a look at my Puppy Vomiting page for more info and advice on this.

A pup like this needs to be restricted in terms of the access he has to stuff he can eat. Don't allow him to roam your yard or property, and 'puppy proof' the indoors as much as possible. Make sure he has plenty of safe, sturdy chew toys to play with, lots of supervised exercise, and use a crate to contain him when you can't be watching him.

If he recovers and seems to be behaving normally fairly quickly, I wouldn't worry too much, but if he vomits repeatedly or has repeated episodes of diarrhea, or seem sick in any other way, have your vet check him out asap.

Best of luck, hope he's doing much better soon.