Puppy throwing up.

by Aaron
(Cliton NC)

I read the section on dog's vomiting from this website, but I didn't see any cases which where quite like my dog.

I have a 4 month old lab/sheherd mix puppy. He eats every day.. and drinks every day too. He is becomming house trained, and he is very playful. The perfect addition to our family.

The only problem is, sometimes at night, he will vomit one, or two.. sometimes three times. This does not happen Every night, and it can be a week or so inbetweem episodes. He goes through the heaving/muscle spasm thing, but never throws up more than what I would describe as one of his mouth's full. Anyway, generally when he does that, he immediately tries to lick it up ( i usually put him outside at that point so he can't) He never goes outside unattended, and is never left in the house unattended, so he can't get into anything he shouldnt be eating. I have tried changing his food, (even bought the more expensive, low protien food) and tried changing his meal times. (generally feed him first thing in the morning, rarely give him any human foods, and in the case where he gets human food, it is either chicken, or beef boiled with no salt/butter/garlic).

I have noticed he tends to over eat.. but he never throws up after being fed, it's not until several hours later.

What might it be? Something that requires emergency attention?

P.S. He also get gassy sometimes.. So much so you can hear the gas moving about inside the poor little thing. And there is no sign of worms in his feces/vomit.




Hi Aaron
Well, that certainly is a tricky one. You're right in that it doesn't 'fit' with the most common types of puppy vomiting that you see on my Puppy Vomiting page.

It also seems as though you've covered most of the possible causes of his vomiting, such as food intolerance, eating odd or unsuitable stuff, and so on.

There are several other things that can cause this sort of occasional vomiting including gastrointestinal problems such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Disease), pancreatic problems, overgrowth of bacterial, colitis and more. They're treatable, it's just a case of figuring out what is going on.

As your pup is eating and drinking normally, and seems happy and healthy other than this, I don't think it's an emergency situation. But I would definitely recommend having your vet examine your puppy. Getting an accurate diagnosis is important.

I wish you the best of luck and hope that you can get to the bottom of this soon.