[Ducas]

My dog, a mutt with characteristics of pit/lab/boxer/retriever, began throwing up white foam yesterday afternoon. She is about a year old. I came home from work to find medium sized foam spots all over the house, probably 5 or 6 in all. Then she seemed fine the rest of the night. We went for a walk, she tried to chase animals, was excited to be outside, and she ate when she came home. Then around 1 AM she started vomitting again and did so about every half hour until like 5:30. She would wake up, get clearly anxious for a few seconds, run to a towel we had on the floor and gag up what looks like thick saliva. Around 4 AM the white turned yellow and then back to almost white again (pale yellow). We're thinking she has Kennel Cough as that is what a lot of the research is showing. But she's not consistently coughing, just when she gags the stuff up. No food came up either, just the foam. Shes thrown up in the past when she ate something that didn't agree with her, and thrown up food before as well. But shes never done it this much? I'm worried it's Bloat, or even Rabies. She bit a groundhog yesterday (not a full clenching bite, but like a pounce) and it turned around to defend itself but my wife pulled the dog away and the vermin ran. Could she have caught something from that? This happend maybe 3 or 4 hours before the first signs. She has her rabies vaccine, will that help? She has a vet apt today at 1:30 so we're getting her checked, I'm just looking for some more specific info on what to expect. And if it's rabies, can it be treated?? Working myself up a little bit here...

Thanks for any help!

 

[Bluemchen]

I don't think symptoms of any disease would come on as quickly as this if the problem was caused by the wild animal encounter!

It's good that she will be looked at by her vet today! He will probably ask questions if she may have eaten anything she shouldn't have, or if you've switched her food (sometimes even a new bag of the same food can cause problems), what you use to wash the floors, laundry soap, chemicals around the house or yard, or neighborhood....flea treatments?

Just to put your mind at ease a little bit, my Cocker Spaniel Poodle mix has been doing this gagging up foam since we've had her. The vet was not concerned, since she is fine for months, and then she may do this on and off for a couple of days/nights, and then it will settle down again.

Hopefully it's nothing, but if it is something that needs treatment the vet is the right place to go! I'll be thinking of you and your dog!

 

[QuestsMom]

With our boy, when we first got him he'd get hungry at night and his stomach would increase the digestive acid. If he didn't get food, it'd build up until he puked it up. We gave him a treat before bed and it helped. We continued for a couple weeks and eventually he stopped needing it.

Hope it all goes well at the vet!

 

[Dawnben]

sounds like empty stomach syndrome although the vets call it this.
Bilious Vomiting Syndrome in Dogs | petMD

 

[TiggerBounce]

Yup, probably "empty stomach syndrome".

Notice how every time you've described it happening, it's been a while since she had food in her stomach. If you fed her in the morning and you got home from work, 8 hours later, her stomach was empty and she vomited bile. Same thing. At 1am, that's probably several hours past her dinner time and her stomach was empty again.

My suggestion would be to split her food up into several meals, rather than just feeding 2. Feed her in the morning and see if you can get home to feed her a lunch meal, or see if your neighbor or spouse/partner can. You could also feed her a larger meal in the morning so it lasts longer. Feed a bit when you get home, feed dinner, feed before bed. If she has something in her stomach, she won't vomit bile like that.

 

[LuvMyFluff]

I agree with the above....A before bedtime snack often helps!

 

[Ducas]

Thanks everyone! We took her to the vet and he checked her lungs and stomach, said he didn't hear anything happening in there but could tell she had some kind of allergy going on in her throat. He said that was causing a gag which eventually stirred up some stomach acids and caused it to keep happening. He then gave her a shot and told us to get some baby cough meds along with kaopectate and use as needed, though we have not needed to. Our only concern is that now (2 1/2 days later) she is excessively thirsty and peeing like crazy! Is this a normal side effect from an allergy shot? I asked my wife and she was not sure exactly what the shot was, though I've read it may have been prednisone? I've also read that this is a side effect of prednisone, but would that be the case 2 days later? She hasn't had an accident in the house in probably 8 months (since she was a real pup) and has had 3 so far. Should we be worried or is this a normal side effect of the meds leaving the system?

Thanks again! Hoping we get back to normal soon!