my dane is throwing up, not bloating, though

[DaneMommy]

Yesterday, my dane kept coughing/gagging.  He would cough real hard, like he had something stuff in his throat.  We looked in his throat as far as we could, and didn't see anything.  Then, earlier today, he ate and was fine.  He played a little with my husband, and hasn't acted weird.  Then, a few hours ago, he ate again, and maybe 30-45 minutes later, he threw up his food.  Some kinda looked digested, but maybe it was just chewed up.  Then, he ate again, and the same thing happened about 30-45 minutes later.  He wasn't being very active either time, he just got up from the couch and threw up both times.  Does this seem like an emergency, or just an upset tummy?  Any help is appreciated!!!

[trish195]

My Lab is 9yrs had has been gagging and coughing for 6 months now. We took him to MSU animal Hospital last week to have some test run. The test and X-rays came back with something we didn't want to hear.He was diagnosed with Decreased motility of his esophagus.This is due to Nerve degeneration,which also has caused Laryngeal Paralysis.We he eats some have his food sits in his Esophagus and causes him to gag.It can aslo cause Pneumonia,which he has now.There is no cure for this disorder,,treatment is having him eat 3 small meals a day sitting up,and sitting up 20 mins after he eats.He still has some really bad eposides. So I hope with time that feeding him the way were told we help him,its really hard to watch him go through the gagging and coughing.In the future he may have to have a tie back sugery for the Laryngeal paralysis.This would be to help him breath better.

[katew888]

My dog swallowed a scarf last month and did this same thing after he ate for 24 hours: Eat, throw up, play, eat, throw up, play.  At the time, I had no clue he'd eaten the scarf, except for tiny threads that would show up in the vomit, making me suspicious.  Since he is epileptic and needs to hold his medicine down we went to the ER vet who put him on an IV for his meds, and to the regular vet the next morning who took an x-ray and confirmed the belly full of SOMETHING.  We spent the afternoon at an endoscopy specialist who then suggested surgery bc the foreign body was further digested in the the tummy and more likely to cause an obstruction, so we scheduled him for surgery the next morning.  That night he passed the 14inch long scarf.  A $900 poop.

Since he is throwing up, the foreign body is likely still far enough up in his tummy and so it has not been digested; a good sign as far as a potential obstruction goes.  The scare is when it moves further into the digestive system, if it is in fact a foreign object (sounds pretty suspect).  Your best bet is to get an Xray first thing in the morning to assess what damage may be coming, or to see if it looks like something that will pass (say, a scarf ;)

Good luck!!  

[peekawho]

  Vomiting that occurs 30-45 min after eating can often be from an obstruction.  If he's still doing it, he needs to go to to the vet right away.  

Dogs can easily ingest foreign bodies and partially or completely obstruct.  Their intestines can also fold in on themselves, called an intussception, and create the same effect.  

I'd vote for going to the vet.

[arachnaphob]

I try to think of my dogs as a 2 or 3 year old child.  If it's serious enough to take the child to the doctor then it's serious enough to take my dog to the vet. I figure they can't tell you whats wrong at 2 or 3 so you have to make that decision for them based on what you see and what you're intuition tells you.  The same goes for my dogs.

Best of luck.

Chirley