Regular Puppy Vomit or Something Else?

[Mikkumi]

Hello!

We have a year old female Akita puppy. Ever since we got her she tends to vomit almost on a daily basis, usually from not having enough water (she's scared of her reflection in some of our pet bowls, we do provide water at all times), having too much water (she'll drink several gallons at a time if she can) or from drinking/eating and then running.

However, in the past one to two weeks, she has started vomiting late at night. Usually after 11:00 P.M, what's different about this is that it smells and kinda of looks like food, while at the same time not looking like food.

She does have a tendency to chew sticks and wood, but we noticed that was causing her to vomit and have worked to prevent that.

The past week we have tried everything; feeding her in the morning, feeding her in the evening, splitting up her feedings, locking her in her kennel for several hours after eating, not allowing her to roam the backyard freely without supervision - we've tried it all. She's still vomiting, she'll occasionally do it during the day but it's almost always at night.

We're getting tired of it because we already have other animals, it's to the point where I (I'm the teen in the house that deals with all the animals) am cleaning up animal messes 3-4 times daily. I stay up at night just to watch her because this vomit stains our carpet, it's really bad.

We just want to get some ideas of where to start to look for an answer, as of now it doesn't seem serious enough to take her to the veterinarian, and we are extremely tight on funds. Here's what I can tell you.

We feed her: Earthborn Holistic Dog Food, we also feed our two other dogs this, and our three cats the cat formula - they have no issues.

She eats: at about 11:00 A.M or 12:00 P.M, then is locked in her kennel for 2-3 hours after to avoid running (our last Akita died from a twisted stomach, we'd like to avoid that again). Today we tried feeding her at 5:00 P.M and she just threw up about 20 minutes ago at about 11:10 P.M.

She does not: have anymore access to sticks, mushrooms, or anything else she could possibly eat to cause this.

She is not: depressed, lethargic, anything that would indicate some sort of sickness. She has as much energy as a puppy can possibly have, the only time we notice a change in energy is after she has thrown up - but, who can blame her? Who doesn't feel crappy after having vomited?

I've included a picture of her vomit from tonight, because it does look so strange. It stains badly, it doesn't look like her food (we've seen her throw up her food), yet it smells like her food.

Link to picture here. Too large when I post it on the thread and I'm too tired to size it down right now.

Thanks in advanced for any assistance or input provided.

[Longblades]

She eats: at about 11:00 A.M or 12:00 P.M, then is locked in her kennel for 2-3 hours after to avoid running (our last Akita died from a twisted stomach, we'd like to avoid that again). Today we tried feeding her at 5:00 P.M and she just threw up about 20 minutes ago at about 11:10 P.M.

From this it's not clear to me what her feeding schedule is. It looks like she is only fed once a day but extremely erratically, one day at 11:00 am and another day at 12:00 pm? Should the bolded or be an and?

If she is not getting two meals a day at regular times then that's the first thing I'd try.

How long have you had her? How long has this been going on? I wonder if now she's one year old she does not need as much food. And she's vomitting up the extra instead of laying it on as fat as most do? This fits best with getting only one meal a day and it's just too much food for some dogs to eat all at once.

Have you tried a water bowl that itself is not reflective? I've heard of stainless steel bowls scaring dogs off their food as well as off water.

Oh, and I looked at the puke picture. Thank you for posting it separately. It looks very suspicious to me if it's only a few hours after she ate. After a few hours I'd think you'd still see formed kibbles, since dogs don't chew. It could indicate a digestive issue but I'm not a Vet.

Good luck. I think you may have to visit the Vet. Some will work out payment plans with you.

[Mikkumi]

Originally Posted by Longblades

From this it's not clear to me what her feeding schedule is. It looks like she is only fed once a day but extremely erratically, one day at 11:00 am and another day at 12:00 pm? Should the bolded or be an and?

If she is not getting two meals a day at regular times then that's the first thing I'd try.

How long have you had her? How long has this been going on? I wonder if now she's one year old she does not need as much food. And she's vomitting up the extra instead of laying it on as fat as most do? This fits best with getting only one meal a day and it's just too much food for some dogs to eat all at once.

Have you tried a water bowl that itself is not reflective? I've heard of stainless steel bowls scaring dogs off their food as well as off water.

Oh, and I looked at the puke picture. Thank you for posting it separately. It looks very suspicious to me if it's only a few hours after she ate. After a few hours I'd think you'd still see formed kibbles, since dogs don't chew. It could indicate a digestive issue but I'm not a Vet.

Good luck. I think you may have to visit the Vet. Some will work out payment plans with you.

Hi! Thank you for responding. We feed her sometime between 11:00 A.M and 12:00 P.M, which is only an hour difference.

We're going to try that, we read something about a Bilious Vomiting Syndrome in dogs and it says it's best to feed them early in the morning and late in the evening.

We've had her for about a year and two months, and she is about a year and four months old. This just started within the past two weeks, we've never had a problem before this except her regular vomiting from too much water. We used to have an Akita that would eat way more food than this one once a day, and we never had this problem. But, maybe it's just her. I'll mention it to my Dad.

Yes, we've tried that. She still gets scared of her reflection in the water even if we have a non-reflective bowl. She's gotten better, although, sometimes you can still see her jumping back from her bowl.

As for the picture, my Dad is 99% sure it's her bile which can't be good for her at all. We're going to try something with her food, since we read a lady whose dog starting having this problem and she just discovered it was rancid food. I swear I saw my dog throw up the same way a couple days ago, so that could make sense. Thanks for the assistance!

We're going to avoid the Vet as long as possible, but we also won't let her suffer. If we feel she steadily gets worse, then we'll take her. We live in a rural town and our regular vet won't take payments, along with the two other vets in the area. The only one that might possibly take payments is an hour away. If we have to, we'll just go to our regular vet and have to use a credit card.

[Barkingdog]

This could be a sign of bloat , and you should bring your puppy to vet if you had not already done so.

[Longblades]

By "take her" I assume you mean Put To Sleep and I think you are a long way from that, yet. You could at least release her to a rescue, a breed specific rescue preferably, if vetting is so far out of question due to finances.

Bile is greenish yellow. That photo does not look like bile. However a bit of bile in a small morning puke is a common side effect of night time hungries which is solved for many by giving a small bedtime snack.

The rancid food is a good idea. Is this since you started a new bag? Sometimes it's not even that the food is bad but that the company has changed ingredients and now there is one that does not agree with her. Sadly, companies have changed ingredients and not put the change on the label on the bag.

This link below is pretty up to date on food recalls. Otherwise you could contact the manufacturer, if the food is suspect.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

Good luck. Please take her to your Vet along with a first thing in the morning urine sample, a stool sample, a vomit sample and the name and lot number of the food bag. check that they want these things when you make the appt. It won't be a cheap Vet visit, they will probably want to do blood work as well. At her age aren't her vaccinations due? Her rabies? Do NOT have them administered when she is sick. You should only vaccinate a healthy animal.

LOL, yep that 11 am to 12 pm switch is one I have a hard time with in my mind. It is only an hour. But you should still try feeding earlier in the morning and again in the evening. My dog's schedule is 7 am and 5 pm. He doesn't need a bedtime snack.

[Mikkumi]

Originally Posted by Longblades

By "take her" I assume you mean Put To Sleep and I think you are a long way from that, yet. You could at least release her to a rescue, a breed specific rescue preferably, if vetting is so far out of question due to finances.

Bile is greenish yellow. That photo does not look like bile. However a bit of bile in a small morning puke is a common side effect of night time hungries which is solved for many by giving a small bedtime snack.

The rancid food is a good idea. Is this since you started a new bag? Sometimes it's not even that the food is bad but that the company has changed ingredients and now there is one that does not agree with her. Sadly, companies have changed ingredients and not put the change on the label on the bag.

This link below is pretty up to date on food recalls. Otherwise you could contact the manufacturer, if the food is suspect.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

Good luck. Please take her to your Vet along with a first thing in the morning urine sample, a stool sample, a vomit sample and the name and lot number of the food bag. check that they want these things when you make the appt. It won't be a cheap Vet visit, they will probably want to do blood work as well. At her age aren't her vaccinations due? Her rabies? Do NOT have them administered when she is sick. You should only vaccinate a healthy animal.

LOL, yep that 11 am to 12 pm switch is one I have a hard time with in my mind. It is only an hour. But you should still try feeding earlier in the morning and again in the evening. My dog's schedule is 7 am and 5 pm. He doesn't need a bedtime snack.

We are pretty familiar with dogs and three of the members in our family have worked with vets, we are a good ways away from any serious vet emergency. A vet is an option, just not our first option. We won't get rid of her, she was a $700 gift from all my Dad's kids for his birthday last year.

Okay, not bile, I'll mention that to my Dad as well.

We're thinking rancid food for two reasons, 1) We switched the flavor of food and 2) We switched the store that we bought it from. We are switching back to her original food and the original store today. We're hoping that will solve the problem as this did seem to start with our new bag of food a few weeks ago.

We'll do our best, like I said we are familiar and we don't think it's vet time, yet. But it's not totally ruled out. Her vaccinations are due next month, and yes, we are aware that only healthy dogs should be vaccinated.

I'll tell my Dad about the feeding, one thing is that we don't want to switch up too many things at once or we won't be able to tell which one made a difference. It sounds like we are going to switch her food back and try that for about a week, if there is no significant difference then we'll try the feeding times.

Thank you!

[Mikkumi]

Update: We switched the food back today and fed her at 5:00 P.M. It's 10 minutes to midnight and she has not thrown up so far, if she's going to throw up it'll be between now and 12:30. Finger's crossed we solved it!

Thank you for the assistance! It helped point us in the right direction for answers.

[Longblades]

So? Still good? Fingers crossed and bated breath here.

[Mikkumi]

Originally Posted by Longblades

So? Still good? Fingers crossed and bated breath here.

Still good! That's the first night in maybe a week she hasn't thrown up. Finger's crossed we solved the problem.

[Mikkumi]

Last night she didn't throw up either, only two nights in a row but that seems good. We're really thinking it was either A) Rancid food (most likely) or B) An allergy to the different food. Last time I'll post here. Thanks again for the help!

[Barkingdog]

You mean you are not going to stick around and give people advice too ?