1 year old Australian Sheppard Mix throwing up bile

I am just wondering if anyone has any ideas/suggestions for us. Our 1 year old Australian Sheppard Cross began throwing up approximately 4 weeks ago (off and on) usually just bile (anywhere between 5 and 8 hours after eating). This started after she ran full speed into a pond and I am sure she swallowed some water.

We have taken her to the vet who suggested feeding her bland food (rice and this prescription food) and for the most part this has helped -- but, she still seems to throw up once or twice a week (bile). We have had xrays taken (to see if their was a blockage) but they came back clear -- plus she is pooing fine -- so I didn't think that would be the cause. At first I thought it had something to do with the water (but the throwing up has not gone away).

She also seems to have lost a lot of energy (not all of her energy) but certainly enough that she seems like a different dog. But -- she is also 1 years old now -- so maybe this has something to do with the energy loss. Also, maybe the change in diet has caused her to become less energetic (she used to remind us of Marley). Some other recent changes to her is the obedience training that we are doing. We started the class about 2 weeks prior to her becoming sick and losing her energy. She seems like a very behaved puppy now (not sure if it the energy loss or the training). We walk her on a training collar (a prong collar) to help with the pulling and jumping (this has worked).

Anyway -- we are worried parents. She weighed approx. 45 pounds before and quickly lost 5 pounds (we were obviously not feeding her a lot -- plus the change in diet). She is now up to 42 pounds (which is good). It seems like she has acid reflux (is this possible)? Occasionally it seems like she may throw up a little in her mouth, swallow this back down, and lick a lot. I don't know -- the vet suggested blood work (maybe this will find something).

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas -- please let me know. Sorry for the long post!.

Thanks in advance.

If you want to feed bland food - try boiled chicken with the rice. Most of the dog foods that are sold at the vet's office are not very good quality.

How often are you feeding and what are you feeding? Usually vomiting bile means a tummy is empty and requires some fillin'.

Thanks for the quick Reply!!

She is eating Hills Prescription Diet I/D -- wet formula. We feed her about a can and a half to two cans (as prescribed by our vet). She is drinking regularly (well - maybe a little less, but she is less energetic) and she is eating ice cubes occasionally.

Prior to the sickness she was eating the Wellness Puppy Dry Food. We did recently (and I though slowly) started to change her over to Wellness adult dry food -- maybe we transitioned this to quickly. But, I thought that she would primarily throw up the food if we transitioned her to quickly -- not bile -- many hours after eating.

I don't think she was throwing up because she was underfed. I think she was actually eating quite a bit. It really seems to me like some sort of stomach problem (acid reflux or something). When we first brought her in the dr. did give her a shot of pepcid (this seemed to work -- for a few days).

How much of the dry and how often?

The Hill's that you are feeding has both corn and soy - neither of which will I feed to my dogs. You would be better off feeding chicken and rice (unless your pup has an allergy to chicken).

I agree with LavenderRott- if we accidentally sleep in on the weekends and Molly doesn't get her breakfast on time :eek: (oops... trust me, has only happened a few times!) she will throw up bile because of her empty stomach.
At first we thought it was due to her new food, but then we noticed the pattern- she only threw up a yellowy bile when her stomach was empty. Maybe you could feed your dog the same amount per day, but spread that amount into 3 feedings?
I would also suggest switching to a high quality food. :thumbs up

Thanks for the reply. I don't think the bile has anything to do with her stomach being empty. She eats a lot. I agree, the I/D food is probably not the best and I will switch to the Chicken and Rice.

The dry food she eats is the Wellness Brand -- research that I have done shows that this is a High Quality Brand of dog food. We were feeding her twice a day (morning around 7:00am and afternoon around 5:00/5:30pm). She had lots of energy while eating this food, and occasionally had treats in between (milk bones, rollover, etc.). I really don't think this throwing up has anything to do with her being hungry. Like I said, since the first time she threw up bile it seems like she is consistently throwing up a little bit in her mouth and swallowing it (full tummy or not).

She has gone close to a week without throwing up, so I think we will start feeding her chicken and rice and than slowly introduce the dry food back into her diet.