Evening snack alleviates puppy’s tummy troubles
Dear Dr. John, We have the most incredible well-bred Labrador retriever puppy that is now 4 months old. Our vet was out of town last week, so we took him in to an emergency center because he had been having intermittent vomiting in the mornings. We were concerned that as a puppy he might have gotten into something and caused a problem. He recently had worms and we had treated him for that but thought that might be contributing to the problem, too. None of our other Labs had ever had this problem. It turns out that he was just fine and we were told that he had bilious vomiting syndrome. We were urged to give him a little food to eat later at night before bedtime and that has stopped the issue. What causes this problem and how common is it? Any other ways to avoid it from happening? Thanks. — J.O.
Dear J.O., The smart thing you did was to have the puppy seen because young dogs, or any dogs for that matter, can ingest foreign bodies and create obstructions which can cause vomiting and more severe problems as well.
This condition can be seen in any age dog and even occasionally in cats. It is also known as reflux gastritis. Having an empty stomach and bile getting into the stomach causing inflammation leads to the vomiting that is observed. The diagnosis is made by process of elimination, and luckily the condition is not too big a problem.
There is no real way to avoid it from developing. Your puppy may well outgrow it.
Years ago, owners often were told to feed adult dogs once a day, and luckily this is no longer done. Dogs should have two meals a day or more, but in smaller volumes so as not to overfeed. Feeding a small amount later at night is the way to stop the problem from happening as you have found out. Often, I will also prescribe some Pepcid (famotidine) to help alleviate the condition.
Sounds like your pup is doing well now.