Why vomit? We don't understand..

[Jada's owner]

Hi there,

We have a 5 year old, female boxer/pitbull mix. And she vomits clear bile nightly.
Sometime before xmas, we brought her in to the Vet to have her Bloodshot eye checked out. He gave us some antibiotics and sent us home. On the last day of her antibiotics, she threw up.. (about ten days later??)
We brought her in again about the throw up, we had blood tests done and some recomondations based on her symptoms.. Basically, she's a perfectly happy, energetic, geeky, spaz, hungry and playfull dog, that trows up during the night..
Blood test yielded nothing, neither did xrays... We've tried starving her with a slow introduction to rice and chicken, starving her with a slow introduction to her new hypoalergenic food, we tried a tablet of Gaviscon nightly. We tried 2 tablets of natural ginger root Gravol (that worked the best) but all of this has done nothing.
She's fine till sometime during the night, between 4 and 6am, while sleeping she'll start to heave, we coax her to the hall (off the carpet) where she throws up her regular amount of clear bile. Then goes back to sleep. She doesn't seem depressed, she's still always hungry. Everything is still regular. whats going on? The Vet doesn't know what else to say.. and I know this can't be good for Jada.. Not to mention our home is looking and smelling like a pet shelter... Please help..

[twinmommy]

My dog does that when he's hungry...how often do you feed him? If you feed hime let's say twice in 24 hours, take the same ammount of food and split it over 3 feedings, but feed him every eight.(make sense?)

I'm not sure why when their stomach is "too empty" they become upset, maybe a vet would disagree with me, but the fact that you tell me he is always still hungry too tipped me off.

Let us know how he is

[Copper'sMom]

My dog does this quite often as well. He used to do it alot, but now it's not near as much. I found he did it more often after he had a drink--sometimes he was romping around but other times he was relaxing when this occured. He usually throws up without warning(projectile like). I know his tummy can be sensitive to foodsbut when that happens he throws up the food --not clear bile.

Is your dog throwing up large amounts of bile or small amounts?? Is it always the same time of day/night?

I don't know for sure, but I'm wondering if it is something like anorexia or bulimia(sp?) as far as the repeated vomitting. The body has gotten used to this "behaviour" so the body continues to do this. Do you know what I mean? I'm having trouble trying to put it in words! Even though the dog may not be anorexic or bulemic, it's the repetative INVOLUNTARY action. Has your vet mentioned anything like this??

[Lucky Rescue]

Agree with twinmommy. This is rather common in dogs fed once a day (vomiting bile).

And bulemia is a voluntary or forced vomiting, while anorexia is voluntary starvation - nothing to do with this situation.

[Copper'sMom]

Originally Posted by LuckyRescue

And bulemia is a voluntary or forced vomiting, while anorexia is voluntary starvation - nothing to do with this situation.

If the body has been doing this for sometime, and gets accustomed to the action involved, wouldn't the body start "automatically" doing this action -because it is used to it?? (i'm trying to think of another example to explain myself, if you don't understand what i'm saying!! Sometimes, I confuse myself! )

[goldenblaze]

Alot of info here that I didn't know, Thanks this is a great thread. I too wondered about this as Jordie often will do the same, I had no idea what caused this with him. He does eat his main meal at suppertime but food is down as we free feed. So what I understand it is nothing to worry about ..I know my dog can eat at anytime... he would rather wait for our food though.

[Iggette]

Is it possible that he is getting into anything during the night but not actually bringing it up ei: kitty litter bits?

My thoughts are with the food eating times as well......I know if I don't eat my breaky in the mornin I get feeling ill in a couple of hours until I eat

Can dogs get acid reflux? Do they have doggy rolaids?

Do you have a pic of your pup, my daughter just got a pit/boxer mix from a rescue curious what yours looks like

[sammiec]

Unless your vet has talked to you about feeding your dog human drugs, it's probably not the best thing to give Gaviscon and Graval to Jada. I would try more feedings, check and see if there is enough water through the night... if Jada is always hungry do not leave the food down for her. Just make sure that she gets a feeding about 1 hour or so before you go to bed. Try and keep her as calm as possible close to bed time... I know it's difficult with an active puppy!!! Please keep us updated on how she's doing!

[canine14]

My dog, Sara, was diagnosed with IBD at an early age. Raw diet and holistic kibble helped her. Her symptoms were diahrrea and vomiting (foodstuff). Now, her condition is managed, but she still throws up bile. Like TwinMommy said, it is usually during the night when she is hungry.

Lisa.

[Jada's owner]

Well, I did do some research and also discovered that spacing out the food time might help. We tried this and it did nothing to change the situation. We did three and four times a day, we increased her daily amount, and decreased it. We tried giving her water only with her diner, in case it was electrolites or something..
She never seems bothered by the whole thing, doesn't feel stressed before it happen since most of the time she's sleeping. It almost startles her, sometimes she pukes up just a bit, and that wakes her, then she makes for the hall and vomits.
The vomit is always clear bile with no food stuff. Lately its been a little more mucusy but still clear. Always the same amount, always when she sleeping. It makes no sence. She doesn't do it playing, chasing or tugging...

Here's a link for a foto of Jada, fresh from the ocean... waiting for me to toss the ball back in!

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/393776/4

...she's on the bottom