Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Donna

Hello. I have a 11 week old maltese named Lexy. We brought her home when she was 8 weeks old. She has been on Eukanuba and Puppy Chow mixed since then and we have gradually switched her over to Puppy Chow only. Here is my problem. She vomits after she eats. Usually she just vomits once but this morning she vomited 4 times. We leave her food down at all times so she always has access to it, but she really gulps it down fast. I try talking to her while she eats to try to slow her down some but she still gulps. Could the vomiting be because of her eating to fast or could it be a medical problem. We are very concerned about this. She has no other symptoms as of diarrea, etc. Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance.

DISCUSSION:

Dear Donna:

You are right to be concerned about your puppy. The symptoms that you describe are sound like a liver shunt problem. This is a VERY serious, CONGENITAL defect. Please take your baby TOMORROW to the vet and ask him to examine her. He will have to run a bile acid test on her. If it is liver shunt, as I suspect, the breeder should be informed and should refund the purchase price in full. Good luck !
-Andrea Noel Snoel Maltese

If I were you, I would call my vet. Several things can be wrong, but no matter what the problem is, if the dog continues to vomit for longer than 48 hours, take the pup to the vet. Prolonged vomiting can make the animal become dehydrated. It is especially important not to let this go untreated in puppies because they can lose a lot of vitamens and nutrients at a crucial time in their lives, and the danger of dehydration is even greater for older dogs. The most common and obvious reason for vomiting is an upset tummy. Ask your vet about giving your pup a human antacid and whether to withold food for 12 hours and give the pup small amounts of water or ice cubes to lick. Vomiting can be a sign that the dog has internal parasites. Puppies will sometimes vomit up worms, along with food and mucus. Please take care that the pup doesn't become dehydrated while it is riding these episodes of vomiting out--Check with your vet if it goes on more than two days. I am a worry wort and have called my vet at 2 a.m. at times. I know if my puppy vomited 4 times in the a.m. I'd be in the vet's office to have a stool sample taken for parasites. I hope your puppy stops vomiting.
-Vicki

I have a new puppy as well. What you described concerns me. Please let us know what happens.
-Cindy

I had posted a message on the 30th of May, "very worried mom", describing alot of the symptoms you have mentioned. My Misha was spayed and 4 days following the operation she would vomit every thing I gave her including water! She eventually refused all food and was very lathargic and sad looking. She was brought to the vet, she needed alot of care and iv treatments. As it turns out she had an intusseption, her small intestine was telescoping into her large intestine and no food could pass through, she needed an operation and is now almost back to normal. The vet says this was caused by enteritis, an inflamation in the intestional tract. He says that there is no way to know what caused it, it may have been stress from the operation. I hope this information is helpful to you and we will say a prayer for Lexy. Please let us know how it turns out...
-Stacey