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  1. #1
    Puppy SimonMom's Avatar
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    Occassional vomiting

    Hello All,

    Our Simon is an eight year old yellow lab retriever. He has always been in good health. We have no other pets. He is never outside unsupervised and goes out regularly/daily with each family member and plays etc. We take him for walks at least 4 times a week. He is about 10 - 15 pounds over weight says the doc, he is a fairly tall lab compared to some I have seen and weighs in at 105. But he really doesn't have a big round belly nor does it sag.

    This past summer the occasional vomiting started. Before that, we might see the yellow bile if he ate something that didn't agree with him but that wasn't frequent. However, in August he started to vomit undigested food. It was about 3 - 4 times in two weeks time so we put him on rice and boiled lean beef. When he vomited one of those meals up, we made a trip to the vet. Our vet took lots of blood samples and we brought a stool sample and they did a complete screening of everything. Nothing came back unusual though his phosphate was a little bit elevated but the doctor said not in any danger zones and nothing that went along with that to indicate any major health issues. They assumed it was something he ate. We changed his food from Iams to Blue Buffalo after that and it seemed like the problem went away.

    Then he started again, just two times in a month and half and again pretty much undigested food. We changed his diet again to a new food called Natural Balance by Dick Van Patten. That was again after the rice and lean beef for a few days. He again seemed fine and now we have noticed twice in the last month small vomiting with partially undigested food. We have curbed down anything he eats. He gets very few treats and only blue buffalo bars broken in half and maybe 1 full bar over the course of 2 days. We monitor how much he eats and do not leave a full bowl of food all the time like we used to. He gets 4 feedings a day though the bowl stays down for him and he doesn't always eat to complete finish for each of those meals. (I hope that made sense.)

    There is nothing else going on with him, he is active, alert, still weighing in at 105 (unfortunately), still runs around outside with us. We are at a bit of a loss as to what is going on. He goes again to the vets for his regular check up next week. We have tried to keep track of what happens before he vomits but there is no pattern. The ONLY thing that we think could be possible is that the bugger is getting rabbit poops when he goes outside. We walk with him but there might be times he sneaks. I know he has liked to do that many times.

    Other info just because, he has stainless steel bowls, cleaned regularly and has his bowls are up in a stand and has for years, to keep his neck from having to be down low. We even have a bowl that has the bumps so he doesn't gulp his food. We also bought bottled water, though we are on a well and wondered if there was something up with that - though nothing has happened to any family and we use a filter for the water.

    I apologize this is so long, just wanted to cover everything and hope that maybe someone has some input. I know labs can be the kind of dog that likes to get into things and can eat strange stuff but the last time he ever ate something he should not have was a sock when he was 7 months. He is really always around someone so there really isn't anything he could get into that we don't know about.

    Thanks for reading and I do appreciate any suggestions or thoughts.

    -Simon's Mom

  2. #2
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    Sending good thoughts that you'll get to the bottom of this.

    My guys have sensitive stomachs and undigested food vomit always correlates to some new supplement I've tried.

    Blue Buffalo doesn't seem to have a very good reputation....if you've been giving those treat bars all along, perhaps stop them and see what happens.

    I've always given a bit of plain non-fat yogurt with meals...that might help, too.

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    SimonMom (11-29-2016)

  4. #3
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Digestive problems can be very frustrating; hard to find the reason.

    My first thought was something he ate which is stuck in his tummy, not able to pass further. Food can get though but not the object. I've heard of it happening. Did the vet do an x-ray?

    Other than that and what Sundance said, I'm stumped too. Sending good thoughts.
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  5. #4
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Hi,

    I hate it when my dogs throw up, and fortunately it doesn't happen often. Since you're going to the vet for a regular check up next week, I guess try to recall what's going on around the time that he throws up to help distinguish whether he's vomiting or regurgitating his food. Is My Dog Vomiting or Regurgitating? Vomiting versus Regurgitating in Pets
    Maybe that will help the vet determine what might be causing it. If he did swallow something he shouldn't have, it does not have to have been recent and I know my own dogs can be fast and sneaky about swallowing something they shouldn't have gotten hold of. We had a member here several years ago, before the crash, whose lab starting doing some regurgitation and they found all or part of a tennis ball in his stomach that appeared to have been there for a long time that was causing an intermittent obstruction to the food moving out of the stomach. She had no idea he'd ever swallowed anything. If Simon has never had x-rays, I'd probably ask for that this time. Good luck, I hope you figure it out!

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  7. #5
    Puppy SimonMom's Avatar
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    Thank you all. I clicked on the link of the difference between vomiting and regurgitation and this is definitely regurgitating! I am so appreciative to know that. It might help using the correct context.

    The last time we were in, the vet did not believe there was an obstruction but he did not do an xray and I will talk to him about that this time. Based on the fact that dogs can have something sitting there for a while was definitely not something I realized. It really cannot hurt. Do they have to put them under just to do an xray? That scares me a bit - I won't lie.

    Thanks again!

  8. #6
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SimonMom View Post
    Do they have to put them under just to do an xray? That scares me a bit - I won't lie.
    Depends on the dog. If the dog is calm(ish) then there is no need for him to be sedated.
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  10. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by SimonMom View Post
    Thank you all. I clicked on the link of the difference between vomiting and regurgitation and this is definitely regurgitating! I am so appreciative to know that. It might help using the correct context.

    The last time we were in, the vet did not believe there was an obstruction but he did not do an xray and I will talk to him about that this time. Based on the fact that dogs can have something sitting there for a while was definitely not something I realized. It really cannot hurt. Do they have to put them under just to do an xray? That scares me a bit - I won't lie.

    Thanks again!
    None of my dogs (Labs and these two mutts) have needed to be sedated for x-rays for any reason except dental.

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    SimonMom (11-29-2016)

 



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