While caring for your four-legged friend brings you so many kisses, laughs, and rewards, tough situations can pop up from time to time. Many pet parents have experienced the worry of a sick pet, and most dogs will experience vomiting during their lifetime. Vomiting or throwing up is not a disease, but it can be a sign of an underlying illness or, in some cases, a serious health problem. In this article, we’re going to talk about simple home remedies to soothe your dog’s vomiting, common causes, and the difference between vomiting and regurgitation.
Vomiting Or Regurgitation? Different Types of Dog Vomit
It can be hard to tell if your dog is vomiting or experiencing regurgitation. Regurgitation is less common and typically caused by esophageal contraction or dysfunction right after your dog eats. Regurgitated food will look similar to fresh food and can be coated in mucus because it hasn’t been digested yet. Vomiting, on the other hand, is caused by abdominal muscle contraction. During a vomiting episode, your dog might tense up, gag, or heave. In most cases, your dog will vomit partially digested food that may contain a clear yellow or green liquid.
Why Do Dogs Throw Up? 3 Common Causes of Vomiting
These common causes, while not life-threatening, can be uncomfortable for your dog. Motion sickness during a car ride or plane trip can make your dog nauseous enough to vomit. Behavioral causes like stress, anxiety, or excitement can encourage your dog to eat too fast. Calm Chews can help naturally calm your pet and prevent these behaviors that can affect your dog’s digestion. Food allergies or sensitivity to certain proteins, like beef, may lead to an upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, gas, or constipation.
Potentially Dangerous Causes of Vomiting
These causes can be life-threatening, so it’s important to look out for them if your dog is vomiting.
Gastroenteritis and indigestion caused by eating table scraps and garbage can lead to chronic vomiting in severe cases.
Pancreatitis can develop when your dog eats rich, fatty foods. This inflammatory condition can be deadly without treatment and cause vomiting, painful stomachs, and diarrhea.
Intestinal blockage can happen if your dog swallows small toys, socks, sticks, rocks, and other items. Bring your pup to the vet immediately if you think they’ve ingested a foreign object.
Infections, including bacteria, viruses like puppy-prone parvovirus, and parasites like roundworms, can infect your dog’s digestive system and cause vomiting.
Toxin ingestion from cleaning products, pesticides, human medications, certain foods, and popular houseplants can cause your dog to throw up. If you think your pup has ingested a toxin, call the vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center right away.
Underlying diseases like kidney disease, liver failure, cancer, or gastric ulcers can also cause vomiting in your dog.
Stay Or Go? When To Visit The Vet
If your dog has a single vomiting episode and otherwise seems normal, you most likely don’t need to rush to your vet right away. But seek veterinary care immediately if your dog exhibits any of the following signs: excessive or continued vomiting that lasts for more than 24 hours, lack of appetite, lethargy, vomiting blood, a bloated or painful abdomen, fever, foaming at the mouth, or diarrhea. Regardless of the underlying reason for your dog’s vomiting, pets with multiple vomiting episodes can experience dehydration and an electrolyte problem, so be sure to include hydration as part of their care.
Not sure how to help your dog? Here are some of my favorite home remedies.
Natural Home Remedies For Dog Vomiting And Not Eating
As long as you get the go-ahead from your veterinarian, you can use home remedies and supplements to help calm your dog’s stomach and even help prevent vomiting episodes in the future. In addition to giving your dog access to fresh, clean water, you can try these remedies to support your pet’s hydration and overall belly health. Offer your dog ice chips every few hours. Give them small amounts of bone broth for tasty and easily digestible nutritional support and hydration. You can simply mix it with warm water and pour it over their food or serve it as a nourishing drink. Encourage your dog to drink their water by placing bone broth ice cubes in their bowl and give your dog probiotic powder to help reset their tummy-taming gut flora.
If your dog is vomiting due to mild indigestion or other minor stomach problems, you can serve them a bland diet after a 12 to 24-hour fasting period. Ask your veterinarian to determine how long your dog should fast. Occasional vomiting episodes may not be a cause for concern, but including natural remedies in their recovery can help keep your pup healthy so they’ll be replenished and ready to play and snuggle in no time.
