Let's Talk Vomit

[Cherry]

Cherry's allergies are kicking her booty right now. She's super itchy. Managing it with Cephalexin (she's been on this for around 3 months now), Benadryl, Fish Oil, Vit C, Vit E and occasionally Temeril P when it is really bad. Gave her one this am because she's starting to tear her face up. Sigh.

The past week, between 4 to 6 am, Cherry wakes up and retches. It takes her a little bit to get the bile up. When it does come out, it is yellowish and foamy. No food, just the foam. Not much, maybe a fist sized amount. She does this 3 to 4 times and I clean it up, she pouts and we go back to bed.

She's pooping normal, perfect poops. More tired than usual but she's been on Benadryl and her allergies wear her out. I hate Benadryl, she's a zombie dog on it. She's a food hog, I mean this dog is SUPER food driven. Her appetite has gone down a lot the past 2 weeks. She's eating her dry food but is very reluctant to eat spoonfuls of can food with her meds in them. Maybe because she smells the pills but she usually gets really excited to eat and I've been having to kinda talk her into the kitchen at dinner time. She always reminds me on the dot when it is breakfast and dinner and she hasn't been. She's drinking normally though.

Allergy related? Or something worse? I need to get her levels posted on here, I really want to get her on thyroid medication. Had her tested and she was a 1. 1-4 is normal but she shows clinical signs of hypothyroidism.

My poor baby just can't get a break. Calling the vet to get her in this week.

[jamielvsaustin]

Bailey does this if we mess up and go too long without feeding her. I'm wondering if for Cherry it's just all the different stuff that's making her feel gross...and then either an empty stomach or a stomach with different meds is unsettling. I know it's not recommended but could you free feed her? She's your only dog correct? Could you put her amount of food down for the day and let her decide when to eat? Or do you think she won't understand eating makes her belly feel better?

Is she on Buffalo Blue? I've read quite a few comments on her, and other places, that recently people have been having issues with their dogs not eating...or not feeling well with BB.

I hope she gets back to her normal self soon. I know how much it sucks to see them out of sorts. The other day Trooper had an off day and he was completely quiet. He's never quiet. The next day he was fine, but for that one day I was a little nervous.

[Cherry]

She's not a candidate for free feeding at all, she would eat all day. She's eating once I put her food in front of her (minus the can food) but she's not excited about it. She sits and eats it all though, no matter how much or how little is in there. It is more a chore than a happy time and it worries me because she's always been soooo excited for meals. She gets 1 cup in the am and 1 in the pm and her pills with both meals. She eats around 7am and 5pm. The pills say 12 hours apart and most of the time, I give them before the 12 hrs. I'm going to stretch it tonight and give the food and meds to her later. Maybe I'm just giving her too much and with her allergies being this bad, she can't handle it? I dunno.

She eats Nature's Variety Instinct Salmon Formula. Maybe it is a bad bag, her face has been really itchy since we started the bag, maybe there's more mites than usual in it.

I hate when she's feeling yucky. She was happy this am on our walk though, she perked up a bit.

[pblove]

have ytou been giving the antibiotics after meals, that antibiotic will make them throw up if given with out food

[FransterDoo]

Her stomach is empty and irritated at that point and so he vomits bile.

When do you feed dinner? You should consider giving her a pre-bedtime snack that she'll enjoy.

[barefootxen]

I agree with the empty-stomach assertion. Xen also does this. No food, sometimes grass, just bile. Like clockwork, if she's gone maybe 10 hours without food. She'll usually vomit twice, and I'll give her a handful of kibble (if it's super early in the morning) or her regular meal.

[Misskiwi67]

Why not try skipping the Benadryl and using the Temaril-P instead?

Temaril P is a combination antihistamine and LOW-dose prednisolone. Its so low dose, I don't use the stuff as its about 1/4 the dose I generally recommend for severe allergies.

I'd try that for a few days and see if she doesn't perk up a bit. I wouldn't worry about one vomiting episode, but the change in attitude about the meals is concerning. Remember to wean the temaril-P according to the label instructions, its a low dose, but still higher than physiologic levels.


I would not treat a thyroid of 1.0 without a Michigan State Panel to confirm borderline hypothyroid. Its MUCH more likely her thyroid is borderline secondary to her other health issues, and adding thyroid medications will only complicate things.

[Cherry]

Thanks for the replies, y'all! It definitely makes sense. She eats around 430 and doesn't get fed again till 7-8, that's a long time without food, especially while taking meds. I'm going to feed her a little later and do a mid day and midnight snack. I always give all her meds with her meals, otherwise she has a hard time taking them.

Misskiwi, I do when it gets serious but the vet said I could even do the regular weaning dose and do 1 Temeril P every other day with her Cephalexin for maintenance during her bad months. Or something along those lines. It doesn't give her any side effects and she's herself on it, unlike when so doped up on Benadryl. We stopped the Atopica months ago, he's all for getting her back on it and doing Cephalexin but I would rather do Temeril P when I have to or for maintenance during her bad months than every single day Atopica suppressing her immune system. Temeril P also has more of an effect for her, a lot of the time I have to do Atopica and steroids every once in awhile.

I can't wait till winter...she's not nearly as itchy.

Thanks for the info about the thyroid, her vet said the same exact thing when I called him. He said not to worry about bringing her in right now unless she starts to develop an infection. Going to do the Temaril P and hopefully she starts feeling better. Came home and she got her foot inside her huge soft cone (dunno how...she's flexible) and she has bloody scratches around both eyes, forehead and cheeks. The Temeril P usually works really fast though so she should be ok in a couple days.

Bout to give her a bath....maybe it'll give her some relief. And maybe she will actually be excited to eat since she's going to have to wait for dinner tonight!!!

[Cherry]

Some pics of my poor boo. I included some of her tail because she's lost a bunch of hair and the skin is all scaly and gray since she had a really deep pyoderma there. She's got a vet appt for tomorrow so he can look at the tail. He wanted to save me the vet office fee but I don't care, I feel like I should bring her in. Her hair on her bum is getting thin also. She's really dry as well, poor thing. The amount of hair that came off her while I was brushing her was astonishing.

Didn't wanna make another thread for this because I bet half this subforum is Cherry's threads

Every single mark has only been there for 3 days now. The face was today. Not leaving the house without her having her plastic cone on, the soft cone is just too flexible.



This is fairly new: hyperpigmentation




Hard to see but her hair is thinning on her rump, on the sides of her tail





Even if she is all beat up, she LOVES her balcony.

[dogs4jen]

She's super-cute. What about adding an antacid to her diet? Maybe Misskiwi can say if it would be worth a try. I was worried about Roscoe because he barfed up some bile a couple of times too, so I started using the antacid his knee surgeon had him on again, famotodine, just regular otc human pepcid. He gets half of a 20 mg tablet a day. So far he hasn't barfed anymore, but I've also taken him off the meloxicam he was on.

[Leslie H]

I cured Xanny of the 4 AM pukies by giving her a few dog biscuits before bed, and after breakfast. I feed raw, and I think it leaves her empty late at night.

[Cherry]

I gave her a handful of food at midnight, fed her at 6pm and gave her meds with her 6pm meal. No vomiting this am!! Yay! Thanks a ton, y'all.

She's a lot less red already as well and less itchy. I <3 Temeril P and Eqyss Shampoo!

[star_frances]

Poor sweet bubba =(
Feel better soon.

[dogs4jen]

I'm glad it worked. The pepcid seems to be working for Roscoe. My husband said after Roscoe woke us up at four in the morning with barfing sounds, "There's a reason alarm clocks don't have a barfing dog sound."

[Cherry]

LOL It really is one of the worst ways to be woken up. Going into absolute panic mode at 4am is no fun. She still hasn't thrown up once since we've been giving her some treats/kibble before bed! And we've even cut her kibble down. (She's a fatty and is on a diet) She is all hivey right now but I'm dog sitting and they play A LOT and he came to me with hives so I think that may be why. Bathed them both but they are still all hivey. She isn't all cut up anymore though, yay for Temeril P!