A question we get often.
Seeing humans throw up is never a fun activity, the same goes with your dog. What makes it harder with dogs, is you can’t communicate with words. With humans, you quickly know if it’s alcohol related or food poisoning etc.
Is Your Dog Vomiting or Regurgitating?
Vomiting involves the contraction of the stomach muscles and is generally a lot more painful. Regurgitating is matter coming from the mouth/esophagus.
Note: both can happen after eating and drinking.
Check The Vomit
It’s not pretty, but when you see your dog throwing up, take a look to see what it is. Is it water, bile or food?
This in addition to the time of day in relation to the last time they eat helps you diagnose the issue.
If it’s first thing in the morning before breakfast, they might have swallowed something nasty overnight, but if it’s right after feeding time then it could simply be overeating. All important information that can help a vet – if the issue gets that far.
Keep Nil To Mouth
When you first notice your dog vomiting, you need to remove all access to food and water. After the vomiting, the stomach needs to settle down, which food and water won’t always help with.
If the vomiting has stopped for an hour or so, feel free to give your dog a little bit of water as they will be dehydrated. Make sure to monitor the situation carefully.
Why Do Dogs Throw Up?
Vomiting is something dog need, as they’re known to eat anything and vomiting helps minimize the mistake. Anytime you see your dog something nasty, you can usually expect to see it come up shortly after. Motion sickness in dogs is a thing too!
Other more serious reasons include an inflamed stomach, blocked intestines, bowel disease, parasites, toxic inhalation, and cancer to name a few. Notice how similar we are to dogs.
Should I Take My Dog To The Vet
Your dog vomiting doesn’t always mean a trip to the vet as it’s usually a minor problem. If the vomiting persists over the course of a few hours, get in touch with a vet and they’ll be able to help diagnose the issue.
See your dog in distress is heartbreaking when you add in the fact we can’t communicate on a verbal level it can be quite scary. Dogs love to eat however, thankfully this makes most cases of vomiting harmless in the long run.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t take it lightly, however, as vomiting can also be a symptom of something more serious meaning you need to take more action.