Foster Dog Vomiting.

[greytpets]

I have a new foster dog. She is an 11 & 1/4 year old greyhound who appears to be in good health. I've had her to the vets & had a blood test done ahead of desexing her & apart from one liver enzyme which is slightly elevated been told she is in good health & the surgery to desex her can go ahead.

However she tends to vomit after eating. She eats well & they are mostly small vomits (sometimes after drinking as well) but there have been several large vomits. I have wormed her & she has no diarrhoea. The vets don't seem to be very concerned by this. I thought it might be just because of diet change (she has gone from a poor quality diet to a good quality one) but it doesn't seem to be improving.

To me this is not normal. What do others think? Thanks.

[Guest Ams]

Dogs with egaesophagus vomit after eating and drinking?

http://www.caninemegaesophagus.org/

[persephone]

Certainly doesn't appear normal poor old girl ...perhaps that is why she is homeless?

[jensgreys]

Never seen this in any greyhound I have had here..doesn't sound normal to me.

[Erny]

My previous avatar girl "Kal" (bhcs) swallowed a large piece of bone which stuck in the oesophagus. It was a long drawn out and dramatic sequence of events to remove it, but remove it we did. But it did cause nerve damage to the area of the oesophagus it was stuck in (close to the stomach). I later found that if she ate too much or too large a mouth fulls, she would vomit/regurg up because the food would get close to the nerve damaged oesophagus and then wouldn't go any further because the muscular spasm in that spot wouldn't move the food any further down. It could prove quite painful for her if the food did get caught in or around that area.

Anyway, I found that I needed to make her food quite mushy so that it would slide down more of its own accord if necessary and that solved that dilemma.

Because this is a rescue I guess we don't know the dog's history nor whether something similar could have remotely happened to her. But if you make her food a bit liquid/mushy and see if that makes a difference it might prove to be an indicator?

ETA: My theory doesn't really work when it comes to the water vomit, so in all likelihood I'm wrong. But I've already written up the post so figured I might as well let it go through .

[greytpets]

Thanks for the replies. She had her first bout of diarrhoea today but I'm not sure it's related to the vomiting. I'll ask the vets again to check out any causes for the vomiting. She's booked for desexing on Monday & I'm dreading that as most older females I've had after desexing tend to vomit in the first 24hrs post surgery & they haven't had a history of it.

She is a lovely girl otherwise. BTW Persephone she was not homeless, she has just spent her life in racing kennels waiting for a chance to become a pet. So far she is loving every minute of it!

[persephone]

Oh - they kept her for 11 years??? Is that unusual?

[Guest Ams]

If she has D & V then IMO she should not be undergoing desex on Monday. Her immune system is already working hard and to subject her to anaesthetic may be too much for her system to cope with. Usually dogs that have had diahorrea (sp?) and vomitting are given a week to ten days to recover before desex.

[greytpets]

Oh - they kept her for 11 years??? Is that unusual?

No, not all that unusual. Brood bitches are especially likey to be kept that long. We recently had one breeder who dumped 3 old brood bitches, we have rehomed 2 with one still to go (she is the youngest - nearly 9). This dog was not one of them she has just been sitting in kennels (but hasn't been with her owners - they passed her on a long time ago) waiting for years.

It is very hard (but not impossible ) to find homes for old girls like this so we usually only take on one at a time.

[Shmurps]

I love the oldies. I hope she is ok.

[jensgreys]

Sadly it's not only brood bitches they keep until very old age. Two of our old girls got put into GAP at 9 and 10.5yrs and neither had raced or been bred with just kept. I don't think the last 9 yr old girl we took in had seen another living person in her life except her owner. A year later and she is still petrified of kids and just learning to trust our adult son who is a very quietly spoken man, she is starting to come out of her shell a bit with some women. Saying that though she is living a very happy and playful life with us and our other greyhounds. She adores us all just not other people.

Greytpets I am surprised they are going to desex her after a few days of vomiting and now diarrhoea. She will be dehydrated and the old girls often suffer enough with desexing without being unwell before they start.

[greytpets]

That's the funny thing Jensgreys because she is not sick in anyway. She is bright & happy, eating & drinking well & has only had the one bout of diarrhoea (because I gave some different food).

On the whole the vomits are small, not enough to be really concerned about (according to the vet) but enough to be noticable when you have to clean them up.

[Erny]

On the whole the vomits are small, not enough to be really concerned about (according to the vet) but enough to be noticable when you have to clean them up.

I'm not a Vet, but I wouldn't have thought that the size of the vomit is the major concern, but that the vomiting is ongoing. Certainly (in my books) an indicator that something is amiss. Frequent vomit can't be good for the oesophagus either (acid?).

[k9angel]

Oh - they kept her for 11 years??? Is that unusual?

No, not all that unusual. Brood bitches are especially likey to be kept that long. We recently had one breeder who dumped 3 old brood bitches, we have rehomed 2 with one still to go (she is the youngest - nearly 9). This dog was not one of them she has just been sitting in kennels (but hasn't been with her owners - they passed her on a long time ago) waiting for years.

It is very hard (but not impossible ) to find homes for old girls like this so we usually only take on one at a time.

Good on you for giving the oldies a go.

I hope you find out what is wrong with her.

When she is eating, is she eating slowly or gulping it down? I know when I bought Jasmine, ALaska and LOgan home they would often have a vomitt after their meal because the poor buggers were used of competing for their dinner and although fed seperately were still hoffing it down.

It went on for quiet some time with Jasmine but she is fine now. She has slowed right down and doesn't do it anymore.

Just a thought.

[anniek]

Well there's definately something wrong with the old girl. Greytpets brought her over for a visit today and she doesn't like cheese

But apart from that, she's as happy and lively as any 7 or 8 year old