Every poodle-owner knows that they might have to deal with their dog vomiting from time to time, but have you ever wondered what caused your poodle to vomit?
So, I did a little research and found out that your poodle vomits the most common reason for a diet change. Other not so common reasons include an underlying health condition, swallowing a foreign object and eating what ought not to be eaten in the first place.
Whether it is due an underlying health condition or it’s your dog simply trying to get rid of something that shouldn’t have been eaten in the first place, it does get quite messy, and cleaning a puddle of vomit from your poodle friend is certainly not a task that anyone is looking forward to.
This article provides all the information you need when it comes to poodles vomiting, what causes them, what you should do in such a situation, when should you seek medical help, and much more.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
Is My Poodle Vomiting, Gagging, Or Regurgitating?
How do I know if my poodle is vomiting, gagging or regurgitating?
Vomiting, gagging and regurgitating all have one thing in common; all of these actions try to bring back the food.
You need to understand the difference between these three to diagnose your dog and make further decisions properly. You may use the description of these terms below to find out what they mean and decide what to do next.
Vomiting often starts with drooling as it is one of the primary signs of nausea. What differentiates your poodle vomiting from regurgitation is the contraction in the stomach region.
When your poodle vomits, it doesn’t simply blurt out the food or drink that has been ingested. The dog’s belly will heave, which helps them bring out ingested items in the form of vomit.
Poodle owners often mistake their dog vomiting as regurgitation. When your dog regurgitates, the contents are puked out with little to no effort, and you will also not see any contractions in the stomach region.
Occasional regurgitation is not something to be concerned with. However, if it happens too often, you may want to visit a vet to make sure your poodle is not suffering from any esophageal issues or a digestion problem elsewhere.
Poodle gagging is entirely different from regurgitating and vomiting as often time it involves coughing rather than blurting out the contents of your dog’s stomach. It is usually caused by esophagus issues and may result in blurting out mucus or a foamy substance.
What differentiates poodle gagging from vomiting and regurgitating is the apparent motion in your poodle’s chest. There is also no motion in your dog’s stomach.
Signs That Your Poodle Is About To Vomit
Identifying the signs of a poodle that will vomit can alert you in time so that you can send your dog outdoors, which will help save you from dealing with a messy situation.
Certain signs can alert you to imminent vomiting:
- Excessive Drooling
- Swallow loudly or excessively
- Lick their lips
- Eating Grass
When Should You Take Your Vomiting Poodle To The Vet?
There are a lot of reasons that may cause your poodle to vomit. Some might be serious reasons such as pancreatitis, kidney disease, liver disease and stomach cancer.
At the same time, other reasons might not be as severe in comparison, such as a sudden change in diet, swallowing a foreign object, eating too fast and eating grass.
A Red Toy Poodle Getting Checked Out By A Vet
As a poodle-owner, you should have all the information to make the right call when your poodle gets sick and starts vomiting.
To help you with that, we have compiled a questionnaire to help you decide and decide fast whether to take your dog to the vet or not.
If the answer to any of the questions is yes, we recommend seeking help from a vet immediately.
- Did your poodle recently swallow a foreign object such as a dog’s toy, children’s toys, cloth, rock, plastic packaging, wood, stick, tissues, etc. ?
- Are there worms, parasites, foreign objects such as pieces of plastic, wood, etc. present in the vomit?
- Is there blood present in the vomit?
- Could your dog have ingested a toxic substance?
- Does your poodle have other health issues such as liver disease, heart disease, or kidney disease? Are they on any medication to prevent or cure a health issue?
- Is your dog uncomfortable and uneasy, almost as if she needs to vomit, is there any swelling in the stomach region or the stomach’s side? Has your dog previously suffered from a severe disease such as pancreatitis, liver, heart, or kidney disease?
- Has your poodle had multiple vomiting episodes in less than four hours?
These are some of the questions you should ask yourself if your poodle starts to vomit.
If your answer to anyone or multiple questions is yes, you should seek help from a vet immediately to avoid any mishappening and make sure your poodle has a fast and safe recovery.
If the answer to all of the above questions is No, then it is safe to treat your poodle at home. However, if you see no improvements in 12 hours, make sure you take your poodle to a vet and get them checked out.
What Causes Poodle Vomiting
What Causes Poodle Vomiting
There can be a lot of reasons why your poodle might be vomiting. Some are serious while the other not as much.
Listed below are some of the reasons that may cause your poodle to vomit divided into two categories: Occasional Vomiting & Persistent Vomiting.
Persistent Poodle Vomiting is when your poodle has had multiple vomiting episodes (more than three episodes in less than four hours). Listed below are some of the common reasons that may trigger your poodle to vomit persistently.
- Exposure to some toxin or a toxic substance
- Stomach Ulcers
- Pancreatic Disease
- Liver Disease
- Upset Stomach
- Stomach Cancer
- Kidney Disease
- Heart Disease
- Addison’s Disease (common Disease in poodles)
- Bloating
- Serious Illness In The Past
- Bloating
- Physical Trauma
- Shock
- Dehydration
Occasional Poodle Vomiting is when your poodle vomits once or twice, is older than six months, doesn’t have any of the illnesses mentioned under persistent vomiting. Common causes for occasional poodle vomiting include:
- Eating grass
- Sudden change in diet
- Empty Stomach
- Exercising on a full stomach
- Ate the food too fast
- Eating the inedible
Caring For A Vomiting Poodle At Home
A Toy Poodle Owner Caring For Her Vomiting Poodle
A White Toy Poodle Owner Caring For Her Vomiting Poodle
To deal with persistent poodle vomiting, you have to make sure of a couple of things:
💡 Control Your Poodle’s Diet For 24 Hours: If your poodle is vomiting, you should control their food and water intake and carefully introduce it back slowly, in phases.
If your poodle is vomiting, you should control their food and water intake and carefully introduce it back slowly, in phases.
Giving your poodle water after they vomit is common mistake dog owners make.
When you give your dog water after they puke, there is always a possibility of triggering the gag reflex, causing them to vomit even more.
As natural as it seems to feed your poodle, you should control your dog’s water intake for a faster recovery.
Hold back food and water for at least 12 hours; this will give your poodle’s digestive system some to rest and recover.
Poodles older than six months won’t get dehydrated if you don’t give them water for 12 hours, so there is no need to worry or feel guilty.
After 12 hours, give your poodle some water based on their weight.
Recommended Water Dosage For A Vomiting Poodle
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After giving your poodle water, wait for an hour, and if they have not vomited, give them double the amount of water that you initially gave.
Give your poodle a bland meal consisting of three parts of cooked rice and 1 part boiled chicken that is lightly salted.
Poodle Eating A Bland Diet After Vomiting
Adding spices, bones or fat is not recommended as we aim to put as little stress on your poodle as possible.
Keep an eye on your poodle. If they don’t vomit again after eating their meal, give them more of that same bland meal and water every three hours.
If, at any point, your poodle starts feeling sick or if the condition starts to worsen, make sure you call the vet immediately.
However, if your poodle shows signs of improvement and does not vomit, double the amount of the same bland diet the next day.
After two days, you can start mixing the food you regularly feed and the bland diet to slowly re-introduce the food. If you change their diet, suddenly, it might cause them to vomit.
To identify if your dog is in shock, look for these signs:
- Rapid breathing
- Increased heart rate
- Severe Allergic Reaction
- Trauma
- Heat Stroke
- Pale mucous membranes
To check for pale mucous membranes, lift the lip and check the gums’ colour and the under the lip. A healthy gum is pink and smooth all the way through.
If your dog is in shock, wrap them around in a blanket and not cover the face. Make sure nothing is restricting the airflow. If the situation worsens, make sure to call the vet immediately.
💡 Check If Your Poodle Is In Shock: If your poodle is in shock, you must recognize the signs and get help as soon as you can.
To make sure your poodle is not dehydrated, follow the steps provided below:
- Perform a skin elasticity test – When a dog is dehydrated, the skin loses its elasticity. To test this, gently pinch your dog’s skin under their shoulder and let go. Notice how quickly it retracts. Under normal conditions, the dog’s skin should retract almost immediately, but it takes a few seconds in the case of a dehydrated dog. In extreme cases, the skin loses all elasticity and doesn’t contract at all. In such a case, consult a vet immediately.
- Gum Check – Lift your dog’s lip and inspect their gums. A health gum is smooth all over and pinks in colour. Next, place your finger on your dog’s gum and press it gently. It should appear white. Release it and notice how much time it takes for the colour to restore. It restores almost immediately under normal conditions, but in the case of a dehydrated dog, it takes up to 5 seconds.
If your dog is dehydrated, make sure you re-hydrate them slowly. Give them ice cubes to lick and small sips of water every few minutes. You can also give your dog electrolytes.
If your dog refuses to drink water for any reason, be sure to reach out to a vet and seek help immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my poodle eating grass?
If your poodle is eating grass, it might not always result in them puking. According to research, only 25% of dogs that ate grass vomited. The exact reason why a dog eats grass is still not known. However, some dog behaviour researchers believe that dogs use grass to induce vomit the same way we humans use Ipecac syrup to induce vomit in case of emergency.Other experts believe that grass is eaten to comfort an upset stomach.
If your poodle vomits after eating grass, don’t let them!If, however, your poodle shows no signs of nausea, then it just might be that your poodle likes to graze.
In that case, be extra careful not to let your dog graze if you spray insecticides or pesticides on your grass as that might prove to be harmful to your dog.
Why is poodle vomiting white foam?
If your poodle is vomiting clear liquid or white foamy like substance, it might not necessarily be an excess of water causing the issue, which dog owners assume by default. The clear liquid or foamy white substance that you see is your dog vomiting gastric juices that help with the digestive process.
There are a few possible reasons why your poodle might be throwing up clear liquid.1. Your poodle hasn’t eaten – If your dog doesn’t eat, the stomach still contains gastric juices. Those gastric juices are acidic in nature and help in breaking down the food. If there is no food to be digested, gastric juices will cause a burning sensation in the stomach, causing your dog to throw up.
2. Your dog drank a lot of water – If your dog drank a lot of water, give them some time to rest. Avoid taking them out for a run or exercise as it might upset the balance and cause them to throw up.
Why is poodle vomiting yellow bile?
Before we get into why your dog is vomiting bile, we should first understand what bile is and what exactly it’s function is in your poodle’s body.
Bile is a basic fluid produced by your dog’s liver and stored in the gall bladder. It is a greenish-yellow fluid that is produced to assist in the digestion of food.
What may cause your dog to puke bile is an empty stomach. Even if your dog does not eat anything, the liver will still produce bile. Even though bile isn’t acidic, it still irritates the inner stomach lining, which causes your dog to puke it out.To avoid this, make sure you follow a routine to feed your poodle and give them sufficient water.
Why is poodle vomiting on an empty stomach?
Your poodle vomiting on an empty stomach might not be due to a health issue.
If your dog is fine otherwise but vomits if they haven’t eaten recently, then it is something researchers call “bilious vomit.”
What it means is your dog is vomiting a gastric juice called bile that is produced by the liver to help in the digestion process. To avoid this, routinely feed your poodle and try not to miss any meals.
Why is poodle vomiting hours after eating?
If your poodle is vomiting hours after eating their meal, it might be an underlying health issue.
Blurting out food hours after eating might be caused because the stomach isn’t emptying the contents into the small intestine. Consult your vet to find out why this is happening.
References
Hart, B. (2008). Why do dogs and cats eat grass? Veterinary Medicine
J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. (2004). Position Paper: Ipecac Syrup, Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology American Academy of Clinical Toxicology & European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists
CB;, F. (2016, March 23). Bilious Vomiting Syndrome in Dogs: Retrospective Study of 20 Cases (2002-2012). Retrieved September 01, 2020
I found your most excellently written article to be most useful. Thanks.
🐩<–Little Lucy Lou, Toy Poo
Thanks for your kind words, David!
My 9 months old poodle is giving me a hard time – throwing up bile in the morning or during the night, throwing up all his food right after eating, diarrhea in the morning ( not every day) and throwing up hours after.