What Does it Mean When My Dog Throws Up?

If you own a dog, you’ll be no stranger to the complaint ‘my dog keeps throwing up and has diarrhea’. It’s a sad fact of life that many dogs are just as vulnerable to upset stomachs as we are, and if you want to be a caring owner for your dog it’s well worth finding out what it means when they throw up.

Dogs can throw up for lots of different reasons, so today we’re highlighting some of the most common.

Throwing Up After Meals

If your dog regularly throws up undigested food after eating, then it could mean that they’re eating too much, too fast! Fortunately, this isn’t often a serious problem, you just need to slow them down.

If you’ve got more than one dog, it might be the case that the fast eater is anxious around feeding times, and feels like they have to bolt their food or risk losing out. Try feeding your dogs separately (ideally in different rooms, with a closed door between them) to help lessen the stress.

If this doesn’t help, or you only have one dog, then they’re simply a fast eater! You can try specially shaped bowls that make them work for each mouthful a bit more, spreading their food out on a baking tray and compacting it down, or even putting a tennis ball in the bowl to get in the way. If these measures don’t solve the problem, it might be time to visit the vet, as difficulty holding food down can have dangerous long term effects.

Throwing Up in the Morning

If you often find that your dog has thrown up in the morning, then it may be time to take a look at their feeding schedule. Dogs’ digestive systems don’t stop, and if they don’t have any food to digest, it can cause a surfeit of bile, which is uncomfortable and leads to them vomiting a green-tinged liquid or foam. If this is how your canine companion greets you in the morning, you need to schedule a small meal just before bedtime to make sure they have something in their stomach overnight.

More Serious Problems

Vomiting in dogs can also be a sign of a more serious problem. If it’s not easily explained by the issues discussed above, then it could be due to their eating spoiled, toxic or infested food. Sometimes this just causes a short bout of nausea you can nurse your dog through with fresh water and easily digestible food substitutes, but it could also be a symptom of an intestinal parasite infection, poisoning or kidney and liver problems.

If you’re worried about how much your dog is sick or how long the problem lasts, you shouldn’t hesitate to call the vet!

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