15yr old Border Collie/Spitz Mix - Vomiting

I am very concerned about my 15yr old baby, she started throwing up her food about 2-3 hours after eating. This has been going on for the last three weeks. I called the vet and he suggested that I change her food to Hills Science Diet for sensitive stomach, so I did. I have two dogs so if I had to change food for one it goes for both because they eat out of each others bowlsl

This is the fourth day, days 1-3 were good no vomiting until tonight. She vomited all of what she ate about 2 hrs after eating. I don't know if she eats to fast or what, she ate a little more tonight than the nights before. She was begging me for more food, I felt bad because she seemed hungry

I only give her about 1 1/2 cups because she weighs about 23lbs and I give my 7 yr old 2-3 cups because she weighs like 70 lbs.

What can I do to help her? I feel so helpless :shrug:

Has she had any recent blood panels done? If not, the first thing I'd do, considering that she's 15, is to make a vet appt for bloodwork. Is it possible she's eaten something that she might be having a hard time passing? A long time ago, one of our dogs ate enough dry grass to have it form a ball in the stomach--he ended up throwing up a couple hours after every meal, too, but couldn't throw up the grass or pass it through.

Meanwhile, I'd look for a food with less grains and corn in it than the Hills SD. She might have developed an intolerance for all the carbs. Once you've found a food, switch her to it slowly. Do you feed her only once a day? Sometimes splitting the food up into two or more smaller meals can make it easier for a dog to digest it.

Good luck with your sweetie :goodvibes: Please keep us posted on how she's doing!

Both of my dogs have epilepsy. They both get fed at around 5:30pm only once a day. My husband thinks she is eating to fast becuase of my other younger but larger dog. Missy is 15 and Malibu is 7. Missy acts normal and i am not noticing any bile, blood or anything else. She doesn't get into anything like eating objects, grass ect. unlike my Malibu, she eats anything including her own waste if left alone with it..:yuck:

They both seem to really love the Hills and it seems to be doing good even for my younger dog, noticing less poo :)

I called my vet and he didn't seem to think it was anything serious so I did what he said, I love my vet, he is the best and knows my dogs well. I trust him, but i was scared thinking giving her age this was a sign of her going. I cant fathem the thought of loosing her. I asked Dr. Matt about tests but he said lets change her food and monitor it...

I will take your advice a start feeding them in the morning and evening to see if it helps...thanks for your reply and experience..its nice to be able to chat with others about our beloved pets. both of mine were shelter puppies :lovestruck:

At 15 years old, she really should be having at the very least, a blood test done :shrug:. If not to rule out anything happening right now, at least to get an idea of her general health. It's really surprising your vet hasn't even asked to see her :confused:. You're right, given her age, anything can be going on.

As for feeding your dogs so that they don't get into each others' food bowls...can you feed them in separate rooms? Or just stand between them?

If Missy is still vomiting tonight, the switch in foods is not helping and you're no further ahead in finding out what's going on. For the price of a bag of Hills, you can have a blood test done :shrug:.

:fingerscr for Missy.

I am going to call the vet today to see about getting a blood test done, I am very worried just because she is vomiting and has been ding this gagging thing like shes going to vomit but doesnt....hopefully nothing bad shows up, she is my baby, like a child and i can't bear the thought of anything happening to her...she is so sweet and full of life aned want her to continue to live a happy and full rest of her years being comfortable.

i love her so much, shes a snuggler and love to be right in my lap no matter what im doing, even right now as i am typing on my laptop she is laying right between my legs and just being Missy :angel: she is my little ray of sunshine and no matter what mood i wake up in or come home from work in she always puts a smile on my face and in my heart....:angel2: my best friend.

Missy is the all black one and Malibu is the younger of the two and of course the dogs playmate Nameless our cat!:pawprint:

So your vet hasn't checked for any kind of a blockage? I would definitely agree with at least the bloodwork. Vomiting can be an indicator of many different problems.

As for the food - dogs are carnivores and their systems aren't really equipped to properly digest tons of grains. Take a look at the ingredient list on the food the vet sold you - where is the meat?? Certainly not first, or second, or even third on the list. In fact the only "meat" is the 'chicken by-product meal' which is 4th. IMO that hardly qualifies as meat. I don't really blame vets for their lack of nutritional knowledge - it's not a major part of the curriculum and what training they do get comes from places like Hill's/Science Diet. The reason you are seeing smaller poops is because of the stool hardners in the food.

I just really want to encourage you to follow some other posters suggestions regarding the blood work. Vomiting isn't normal. This is a sensitive topic for me since I recently lost a 14 1/2 year-old dog. His first symptom was vomiting. In our case, things came on quickly. He had good bloodwork and then two weeks later everything was off the chart. An ultrasound revealed a large mass in the liver and we had to let him go. My vet is great and saw my dog twice a week during his last few weeks of life while we were trying to figure out what was happening. My dog who passed from kidney failure also had initial symptoms of vomiting. Both these cases were followed by anorexia. If an organ is beginning to fail, the toxins in the body aren't being removed so the dog gets nauseated causing vomiting. Health issues seem to progress rapidly in the geriatric patient. I will keep your sweet Missy in my thoughts. This is definitely worth a vet check.

Thanks for the photos. You have a lovely pet family. :lovestruck:

What lovely furkids you have. I agree that a geriatric blood panel needs to be set up. Even if there's nothing going on today it gives your vet a basis for any future events. The continuous vomiting is not a good thing and the vet really should see her to try to figure it out. And I agree that you should be looking at a food that has better protein and less carbs (grains like corn).
Good luck to your sweet little girl. Oh yes, if she's eating too fast you can always put her food on a cookie sheet or plate so it's not all piled up for her to grab mouthfuls. Spreading it out she needs to pick them up one at a time, it will slow her down (but that's probably not the mail culprit here).

Well, went to the vet, blood work completed, could find nothing....vet stated that she probablly had a stomach flu and sure as junk, my younger dog started doing the vomiting thing for about a week, then the poo's started.

I am so glad that my dogs were only dealing with the "Stomach Flu" which is what the vet said after I took Malibu in to the vet....he stated that he is seeing more and more of these types of cases....and wanted me to be wary of the H1N1 now being found in dogs and now cats.

So i make sure that we all wash and sanitize our hands before and after playing, feeding etc with our dogs and the kitty.

Now the cat is sick as well....all pets are on the Brat diet and when this is done, i will introduce thier NEW food back into thier diet.

Missy is so much better.

Thanks to all for the support and prayers and now I have a new family to go to when I am concerned about my Children :angel2::dog::cat::thumbs up