# Puppy being sick (throwing up)



## Anarane01 (Mar 11, 2012)

Hi all!

So, my little vizzy (Poppy) is now 5 1/2 months old. At first, things were ok - she was a bit finicky, but for the most part would eat meals.

Recently though, she's started ignoring her food. Some days she'll eat a 400g tin of puppy food with biscuits twice a day (which is great). Other days (like yesterday for example) she won't touch her breakfast - despite us picking it up and trying again with it later. Then in the evening, because she won't eat her breakfast, we don't give more food for her to waste, we are persevering with the breakfast meal. But still she isn't interested. She did finally eat about 2/3 of it at about 10.30pm, and the rest was gone when we let her out of her crate this morning.

This in itself is a worry, but then 2 minutes into our walk this morning she threw up. Mostly bile, but with a little bit of food in. Then she was sick again 30 seconds later.

She has thrown up before - she started doing it after just a couple of weeks of having her. It's usually on a weekend if we have a lie in. We put it down to her routine getting a little messed up, along with the fact that she doesn't like to eat until about midday on a weekend (that's if she eats at all).

She was eating Eukanuba when we first got her, but she went off that very quickly. We've tried 2 or 3 different wet foods and about 6 different dry foods, from the most expensive stuff to the very cheapest, and everything we could find in between.
We thought we'd finally found something she liked - she wolfed it down the first few days we gave her this particular food. It's Pets At Home (PAH) own brand puppy food - meat chunks in a light gravy, and PAH dry puppy biscuits. She even spits out treats these days!

SO. Any tips on encouraging her to eat what we put in front of her?
And is it the fact that she's not eating that's making her sick? Or could there be something else wrong?


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Hi,

You don't say how much she weighs or more to the point if she is very thin. Bearing in mind that puppies of this age are growing very fast and tend to be a little thin. How many meals a day are you trying to feed her?

Does she pick up sticks and stuiff in the garden and chew/eat them? This can often make them sick, but obviously if it is happening more than a few times I would consult my vet.

I am assuming that as she is only 51/2 months that you are trying to feed her three meals a day???? As she isn't eating very well I would probably only offer 2 meals (morning and evening) and don't give her anything in between to try and make her hungry. The other thing I would do is add a portion of raw meat ( ground /minced beef) to her regular food and mix it in well - see if that encourages her. I have yet to know a dog that can resist raw meat - that is what is natural for them.

Love the name - so appropriate for a Vizsla. One of my homebred horses is called Poppy and she is gorgeous


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## Anarane01 (Mar 11, 2012)

Thanks for your reply.

She does actually appear to be underweight for her age and size - I looked into other posts about the size of a pup of her age and most seem to be around the 23/25lb mark. She is only 19lb though... She doesn't look especially skinny though - you can see her ribs, but no more than any other vizzy I've ever come across.

We were doing 3 meals a day, but to try to get her hungry we dropped it to 2 - 8am and 8pm every day.

She doesn't actually eat much that she isn't meant to eat - she likes to lick moisture off grass during walks, but always spits grass out, and when she plays with sticks she always spits the broken bits out again.

I did actually try the raw meat thing 2 weeks ago - turkey hearts - she ate half of it then appeared to get bored. She didn't return to finish the meal - I had to bin what was left the next morning.

She has been wormed frequently, so I know it's not that. I'm just concerned that she's not that interested in food, and that she's underweight, and that she throws up in the morning.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

I wouldn't worry about what weight she should be for her age - go by how she looks to you.

How are her energy levels?? Does she drool a lot, or have problems swallowing??

I was just reading an article re health issues in different breeds and came across this article on the Vizsla website under health issues. PLEASE do not think I am suggesting that your puppy might have this condition, but as it is a Viszla specific condition I think is good if all us new puppy owners are aware of the condition - as caught early it can be controlled.

http://www.hungarianvizslaclub.org.uk/Health.html

http://www.vizslamyositis.blogspot.co.uk/ 

It seems to me that you have been very sensible in handling this problem. It is very frustrating when you get a puppy that is a fussy eater. If she were mine I think I would just have her checked out at the vet if the sickness continues, just to put my mind at rest.

Keep us posted


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

The vomiting is due to her empty stomach being upset. You need to get some food in that pup!

Here are a few tricks to try:

Mix in hot chicken/beef broth with her food. Let it sit until the broth has soaked into the kibble before you offer it to her.

Mix in cottage cheese with her food (works best if you can grind the kibble smaller first). 

Some other good supplements for keeping weight up are ground beef, plain yogurt, & sweet potatoes. These can be given as treats or with food.


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

It sounds like you are feeding her wet food, right? When she doesn't eat it in the morning do you put it in the fridge until you try giving it to her again later? I think canned wet food is perishable after it's opened so I just wanted to ask, though I'm sure you are. If for some reason you're not, she could be vomiting because the food has gone bad.


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## Lincolns Parents (Aug 6, 2011)

Have you checked with her vet to rule out any food allergies? 

What does your vet recommend you do for your pup?

Hope she gets better soon....poor baby.


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## Anarane01 (Mar 11, 2012)

hotmischief said:


> How are her energy levels?? Does she drool a lot, or have problems swallowing??


No problems like that thankfully - she doesn't drool at all, and she happily swallows tripe sticks or pig ears.



hotmischief said:


> It seems to me that you have been very sensible in handling this problem. It is very frustrating when you get a puppy that is a fussy eater. If she were mine I think I would just have her checked out at the vet if the sickness continues, just to put my mind at rest.


Thank you. I'm thinking I will take her to the vet tomorrow anyway, just in case - I'd never forgive myself if something were really wrong and I ignored the signs...



threefsh said:


> The vomiting is due to her empty stomach being upset. You need to get some food in that pup!


That has been our suspicion - we googled it and found a lot of posts about puppies being sick if their stomach is empty due to the acid irritating the lining of the stomach.

Thank you for the suggestions. I saw another suggection about trying baby food (only those without onion or garlic in), so I've bought a couple of jars to try tonight. If they don't work, I'll give the kibble in broth a go 



flynnandlunasmom said:


> It sounds like you are feeding her wet food, right? When she doesn't eat it in the morning do you put it in the fridge until you try giving it to her again later? I think canned wet food is perishable after it's opened so I just wanted to ask, though I'm sure you are. If for some reason you're not, she could be vomiting because the food has gone bad.


She gets crated during the day, so after her walk, her food gets put in the crate with her. I always check the food before trying it again in the evening - I'm pretty good at detecting bad food.
Initially we were giving her fresh food for every meal, regardless of whether she'd eaten the previous meal, and she still threw up the next morning, so I think it might be the empty stomach issue.



Lincolns said:


> Have you checked with her vet to rule out any food allergies?
> 
> What does your vet recommend you do for your pup?


Not yet - I was hoping this was a common issue with pups (or at least with this breed), so I could get advice without spending a fortune on check ups! However it doesn't seem like a particularly common problem, so I'll be taking her tomorrow to see our vet.
Thank you all for your help - I'll let you know what happens


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## SerCopper (Nov 1, 2011)

Have you tried fish (salmon) based food with her or some cooked chicken? Is it really on where you are right now? My guy won't eat much when it's really hot...


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Lots of good suggestions (especially making sure with the vet), so I'm going to try a few other angles.

First - will she eat kibble from your hand? Savannah was/is picky, but once she gets started eating, she will eat her fill. Her fill was not necessarily everything I put down in front of her, but she would eat enough to keep me from worrying if I could just get her started.

Second - if you spill the food out onto the floor, will she eat any of it? We went through a very long phase where she hated her bowl. At work, she still eats out of an upside down frisbee. I assume because it has no sides and possibly because it is plastic so there are no distracting reflections like a metal bowl.

Third - have you tried teaching her 'catch' with kibble? If she is just bored with eating, then getting her to focus on catching a piece of kibble at a time might get her started enough for her to realize she is hungry. You might also have some luck with 'find' games; although our success with them was mixed.

Hope you figure out a working solution for you both soon!


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## kclose (Apr 30, 2012)

The vomiting is due to low blood sugar due to lack of food. Try feeding her 3 times a day (2 larger meals in the morning and evening and an afternoon snack about 1/2 cup). This started happening to our boy, Woodford. He would vomit before breakfast and it was just bile. Now that he gets a small afternoon snack, he does just fine. As far as her not eating her food, try mixing some wet and dry, or boiled chicken or plain white rice. Maybe try a different, more flavorful food.


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