Vomiting in dogs: pink, yellow, with foam or blood. Possible causes and help for your pet

Vomiting in dogs can occur for a variety of reasons; not all of them require immediate veterinary attention. Sometimes this act of reflex emptying of the stomach is physiological in nature. For example, this is how puppies burp after overeating milk. Physiological vomiting goes away on its own. Pathological vomiting is a less pleasant phenomenon, indicating problems with the pet’s health, requiring diagnosis and treatment. In our article, we have collected all the information about this unpleasant pathology that dog owners need to know.

Causes of vomiting in dogs

A dog's gag reflex can be caused by many reasons, but the most common are:

• infectious diseases accompanied by increased body temperature and intoxication of the body;
• poisoning from low-quality food, medicines, chemicals;
• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• foreign bodies entering the dog’s body;
• overfeeding your pet;
• infection with worms;
• diseases of the central nervous system;
• severe stress;
• allergic reactions;
• heatstroke resulting from overheating in the sun or prolonged exposure to a stuffy room.

A single vomiting does not pose a serious threat to the health of the pet, but if the dog vomits too often, and various impurities are observed in the vomit, then such a reflex is considered pathological and requires immediate veterinary intervention.

What to do if the attack does not stop?

In a situation where the dog’s gastrointestinal tract has eliminated the entire volume of food, and vomiting continues, give it water to rinse its stomach. Possible reasons:

• Most likely, some of the food remaining on the “bell” irritates it, causing a vomiting reflex.
• Violation of the water-salt balance , and as a result, loss of fluid caused a spasmodic chain reaction. In other words – convulsions. The dog should be wrapped in a warm towel in the stomach area or a heating pad should be placed.
• Extremely severe poisoning , during which the enzymatic composition of gastric juice shifted to the “protective stage”. This happens after poisoning.

Do not try to stop the vomiting, but visit a veterinarian. Until the time of the visit, do not feed your pet or give water, as it may also be perceived as poison. The veterinarian will diagnose and prescribe a course of treatment.

Types of vomiting

Vomiting is not a disease of any kind, but is considered only a separate symptom for various disorders, both completely harmless to the dog’s life and those representing a severe pathological process.

The following types of vomiting may occur in dogs:

• mixed with blood;
• with white foam;
• containing bile.

Vomiting blood

Bloody vomiting is a very dangerous condition that threatens the life of your pet. If scarlet and liquid blood is present in the vomit, the animal is most likely suffering from bleeding in the mouth, larynx or esophagus.

Brown blood indicates problems with the liver, the development of a cancerous tumor, kidney failure, or a foreign object (nails, sharp bone fragments) entering the stomach.

Sometimes bloody vomiting is the main symptom of infectious diseases such as leptospirosis, hepatitis, enteritis. Poisoning with rat poison or heavy metals can provoke the appearance of blood in the vomit.

Vomiting foam

When a pet vomits white foam, many owners begin to get scared and worry greatly about the animal. The presence of foamy inclusions in vomit is completely normal, as it is a protective reaction of the stomach to the production of gastric juice.

After food enters the main digestive organ, its walls begin to produce mucus. If the mucous film does not cover the walls of the stomach, hydrochloric acid will damage the organ. Mucus turns into foam when it interacts with air.

Rare cases of vomiting with foam are absolutely not dangerous to the dog’s health, but when such a symptom appears periodically, the pet has obvious digestive problems and the dog should be shown to a doctor.

Vomiting bile

It is almost impossible to independently determine the reasons for the appearance of bile in the vomit, since this symptom indicates many disorders and diseases of the dog’s body.

The most common causes of vomiting bile:

• chronic stomach diseases, such as gastritis or ulcers;
• infection of the dog with helminths;
• infectious liver diseases;
• overfeeding the animal.

The most dangerous causes of vomiting with bile are liver diseases and stomach ulcers, since in the absence of timely diagnosis it is very difficult to get rid of these pathologies. Only after carrying out the necessary tests and establishing the exact cause can you begin to treat the problem.

Natural remedies that can help

For a dog who is vomiting water, there are a few things you can try on your own to help calm the stomach. However, a calming stomach does not mean that the problem that caused the vomiting has been resolved. Regardless of whether these remedies help your dog's stomach upset, make sure your dog is in a clear state of health by bringing him to the vet as quickly as possible.

1. Ginger . Giving your dog a ginger cookie or ginger supplement capsule can help soothe their stomach so they don't keep vomiting. Talk to your veterinarian to see how much you should give your puppy.
2. Chicken . If your dog is vomiting water and shows a lack of interest in food, try giving him shredded cooked chicken without seasoning. You can even mix it a little with rice. Give the chicken to your dog immediately after cooking, waiting for the food to cool first. They'll love the taste, plus it's packed with many of the nutrients they need to feel good again.
3. Pumpkin . Pumpkin is high in fiber, which is great for digestion and can help settle the stomach after your dog has been vomiting. You can either mix pumpkin with her food, or just give her pumpkin only. Just be sure to give your dog canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling. The latter is filled with sugar and spices, which can cause even more vomiting problems.
4. Broth . Just as a tasty broth can help soothe an upset stomach in humans, it can do the same for dogs.
5. Rice . Rice is another food that can soothe digestion and possibly stop your dog from vomiting. Just mix a cup of white rice with three liters of boiling water, let it cool at 20 minus. Give your dog a little straight and a little more over a few hours. You can also serve the rice with the chicken suggested above.

There is no need to panic if your dog periodically vomits water. Maybe she's just doing it because she drank the water too quickly. But if this vomiting seems to be a chronic problem, try some of the above-mentioned home remedies. And if they don't work, contact your veterinarian to determine the problem and see what can be done about it.

Vomiting after eating grass

Most dog owners have noticed more than once that the animal periodically eats grass on the street, after which the pet begins vomiting bile. There is nothing dangerous in this procedure; this is how dogs clean their stomachs.

If a dog begins to cleanse its body daily or 3-4 times a week, then the animal feels uncomfortable and something is bothering it. Frequent cleaning of the stomach indicates the presence of worms in the dog or eating low-quality (fatty and spicy food).

The problem is solved simply: in case of helminthic infestations, the dog is dewormed, and if there is an excess of fat in the diet, the pet is transferred to a more dietary and proper diet.

Vomiting up undigested food

On average, the time from food intake to entering the intestines in puppies is from 3 to 5 hours. This figure depends on the type of food.

• Dry food takes longer to digest; on average, the journey to the intestines takes five hours.
• For natural food it’s faster – about three hours.

The final digestion of food takes:

• With natural feeding, six hours.
• When feeding dry food, final digestion takes an average of eight hours.

Reference! You need to understand the difference between vomiting and regurgitation.

1. Vomiting is accompanied by strong salivation and has many different causes. When vomiting, the animal most often changes in behavior, and anxiety is noticeable. During this process, the whole body is involved, the puppy may back away and hunch over.
2. Regurgitation does not cause much discomfort for the dog. Most often in puppies this is due to overeating.

First aid for a dog vomiting

When vomiting, first of all, you should never scold your pet, because the process of food mass leaving the stomach is uncontrollable. Vomiting is a cleansing of the body from various poisons and toxins, so it is forbidden to stop it on your own.

If the dog is wearing equipment in the form of a tight collar or muzzle, it must be removed, this will facilitate the process of vomiting.

In order to more accurately diagnose the disease, the owner must remember everything that happened to the animal (what he drank and ate, whether there was communication with other relatives) in great detail. You should also pay attention to factors such as:

1. When vomiting occurs (before or after feeding the pet, often or in rare cases the dog vomits, etc.).
2. Type of vomit: consistency and color, presence of parasites, mucus, blood, bile, foreign bodies, bone fragments.
3. Is vomiting accompanied by thirst, refusal of food, weakness, fever, discharge from the eyes and nose, diarrhea, cramps, bloating of the stomach and intestines, cough.

Most symptoms (diarrhea, fever, vomiting) indicate the development of an acute infectious disease. Many diseases end in death, especially in puppies, young and old dogs, which means the help of a veterinarian is needed in the very near future.

How to help an animal with vomiting:

1. Completely put the dog on a starvation diet (do not give food for 24 hours). The water also needs to be removed, but to prevent dehydration, offer the dog to lick ice or drink 2 teaspoons of water per 1 kg of the animal’s weight throughout the day. If the urge to vomit is over, you can feed your pet some liquid food. The dog is kept on a diet diet for the next 2-3 days, then the normal menu is allowed back.
2. If the cause of vomiting is a sudden change in diet, you should return to your dog’s usual feeding. The introduction of new food is carried out gradually and only by the end of the week the animal is completely transferred to the new food.
3. If the cause of vomiting lies in eating grass, no assistance measures need to be taken. As soon as the dog’s body is cleansed of harmful substances, gastric emptying will stop.
4. Vomiting that lasts for several days requires treatment only by a veterinarian.

Once the cause of vomiting is known, the doctor will prescribe medications such as:

• No-spa (eliminates spasms and pain in the stomach),
• Omez (reduces acid production in the stomach),
• Metoclopramide (acts on the vomiting center of the brain),
• Smecta (relieves toxins and poisons).

If the animal is severely dehydrated, it will be necessary to replace the lost fluid with intravenous drips.

Important! Under no circumstances should you prescribe medications yourself!

Since an incorrectly calculated dosage of medications will lead to even greater poisoning of the body and increased vomiting. For the same reason, the use of any alternative medicine recipes is strictly prohibited.

Feed ingredients that cause nausea

1. First of all, synthetic filler . Pay attention to the first element in the feed. According to standards, ingredients are arranged in descending order by weight. If soy comes first, this is the most abundant component in the feed. Good fillers are cereals, corn fiber, poultry bone meal. Cheap food uses “plant by-products” - this is a low-quality base that can cause nausea.
2. Flavor enhancers. Sometimes they are added to feed and canned meat. A classic example is monosodium glutamate, which causes irritation of the gastric mucosa.
3. Ash. These are all inorganic elements (mineralized structures and vitamins) with which the feed is enriched. If their proportion in the food is too large, the stomach will reject them, just like a coin or stone that a dog might accidentally swallow.

How to choose a quality one?

• Pay attention to the price category and class . So-called premium food is not a treat for every day, so the price is quite high.
• Manufacturer. Trust trusted companies, test new brands with caution.
• Study the composition based on the instructions above.
• If your pet is growing up, neutered, active, or aged, choose food with the appropriate name .

Diet

Regardless of what caused the frequent vomiting, a sick animal needs a special diet.

• After a 24-hour fast, the pet should be fed boiled rice (2 tablespoons of cereal every 2 hours during the day).
• If vomiting no longer occurs, you can add boiled turkey or chicken (without skin) to the diet, and you can feed the dog with special medicated food.
• After 3-4 days of the diet, you are allowed to return to your usual diet. Sometimes the diet needs to be followed for several months or even for life, depending on the diagnosis made by the veterinarian.

What to do if you feel sick every time?

If vomiting accompanies every meal, the reasons may be the following :

• incorrectly selected food;
• gastrointestinal diseases;
• there is still undigested food in the intestines;
• foreign object in the stomach or intestines;
• allergies to certain foods;
• taking vitamins or medications.

When to see a doctor

In many cases, vomiting in dogs goes away on its own, without the intervention of a veterinarian, but if certain symptoms appear, it is not safe to delay a visit to the veterinarian.

You should immediately take your pet to a doctor if:

1. There is an admixture of blood in the vomit.
2. The urge is repeated after a short period of time.
3. The animal's urination has become more frequent.
4. Yellowing or blanching of the gums and mucous membranes of the eyes is observed.
5. Excessive lethargy and weakness.
6. Abdominal pain and bloating.
7. Prolonged diarrhea or constipation.
8. Feverish conditions.
9. Cramps.
10. Sharp weight loss.
11. Complete refusal of food and water.

If you provide your pet with quality veterinary care in a timely manner, you can save the dog’s life, but unfortunately, most owners prefer to wait until the vomiting goes away on its own or try to help their pet using folk methods. Any self-medication is extremely dangerous for the dog’s health and can only hasten tragic consequences.

Diagnostics in a veterinary clinic

Initially, a veterinarian can determine the degree of danger of regurgitation for a pet by the state of the vomit:

1. Half-digested food is not a cause for concern.
2. The presence of blood can be a symptom of various diseases, such as cancer.
3. An admixture of bile and feces is the first sign of intestinal obstruction.
4. A strong odor of ammonia appears when kidney function is impaired, uremia.

For a more accurate diagnosis, the veterinary clinic will take a blood test, perform an ultrasound and x-ray of the abdominal organs.

Video on the topic

Before you get a pet, in particular a dog, you need to be sure that you can handle it and be able to help it in a difficult situation. Many dogs have individual characteristics, for example, intolerance to certain foods, frequent allergies, and epileptic seizures.

It is advisable to know about this right away, read more literature about your dog breed and be ready to take the first action in case of problems with your pet’s health. Don't forget that a dog is a full-fledged member of your family and requires equal attention, love, care and respect.