Vomiting is a clinical sign common to multiple pathologies. It is often intuitively associated with the presence of a gastric disease, however, there are many other causes outside the stomach, even outside the digestive system, that can cause vomiting in puppies. Among the main causes that can cause a puppy to vomit are various digestive diseases, pathologies and substances that stimulate the vomiting center, and psychogenic causes such as fear, stress or pain.
If you are wondering why your puppy vomits, we recommend that you read the following article on our site where we explain what they are the main causes of vomiting in puppies.
Causes of vomiting in puppies
Vomiting is the active expulsion of the contents of the stomach and/or the first part of the small intestine through the mouth. Vomiting is often intuitively associated with the presence of gastric disease. However, there are various causes outside the stomach, and even outside the digestive system, that can cause vomiting as a clinical sign. Below, we list the main causes that can cause vomiting in puppies.
Digestive diseases
These pathologies can affect different sections of the digestive tract, including the stomach, the small intestine and/or the large intestine. Digestive disorders that can cause vomiting in puppies are:
- Obstructive disorders: due to ingestion of foreign bodies (typical of very nervous puppies) or due to congenital disorders such as pyloric stenosis. Pyloric stenosis is a congenital disorder typical of brachycephalic breeds, such as the boxer or the bulldog, which usually manifests itself in puppies after weaning.
- Enteric infections: viral, bacterial or parasitic. In puppies, the most common infections are caused by viruses such as parvovirus, coronavirus, canine distemper virus or canine viral hepatitis. These processes usually appear after 6-14 weeks of life, when maternal immunity begins to decline. Puppies are also more predisposed to parasites such as coccidiosis, giardiasis or trichuriasis due to their immune immaturity. Here you can find more information about Coccidiosis in dogs, symptoms, treatment and contagion.
- Inflammatory diseases: can affect the stomach (gastritis), small intestine (enteritis), or large intestine (colitis).
Vomiting center stimulation
The vomiting center is located at the level of the brainstem and is responsible for regulating the vomiting mechanism. This center can be stimulated by substances present in the blood or by some pathologies such as:
- Neurological pathologies: such as encephalitis, meningitis, cerebral edema, cerebral haemorrhages, increased intracranial pressure, vestibular inflammatory lesions, etc. Read more about Encephalitis in dogs, symptoms and treatment and Meningitis in dogs, symptoms and treatments, in these other articles that we recommend.
- Drugs: such as general anesthetics, cardiac glycosides (such as digoxin), anticholinergic drugs, and emetic drugs (such as apomorphine).
- Toxic substances: such as lead, zinc or ethylene glycol present in antifreeze fluids.
Psychogenic causes
Psychogenic causes include fear, stress and pain We must bear in mind that puppies are especially sensitive to stressful situations, which can trigger vomiting. Likewise, pain, especially pain related to the abdominal viscera (peritonitis, pancreatitis, etc.) stimulates pain receptors and can cause vomiting.
Maybe this article on Remedies to reduce stress in dogs can help you.
Difference between vomiting and regurgitation
First of all, it is important to differentiate whether our puppy is vomiting or regurgitating. Therefore, now we are going to see the differences between vomiting and regurgitation:
- Vomiting: This is an active process that is preceded by nausea and retching. Nausea is difficult to detect, since it only manifests itself with a slight depression of the animal, hypersalivation and repeated swallowing movements. On the other hand, the retching is usually more evident, since deep inspiratory movements are usually produced with strong contractions of the abdomen. On the other hand, we will be able to differentiate vomiting since it is about gastric content or the first portions of the small intestine, so it usually contains food remains, bile and foamAlso, since it comes from the stomach, it has an acidic pH.
- Regurgitation: consists of the retrograde and passive exit of food, which is not preceded by nausea or vomiting. It is content that has not reached the stomach, so it usually contains only food mixed with salivaIn addition, it has a basic pH. This clinical sign is usually indicative of a pathology at the level of the esophagus.
Differentiating between vomiting and regurgitation can be somewhat complex, so it is important that you pay attention to all the points that we have mentioned so that you can provide the greatest amount of information to your veterinarian. In this way, you will be able to discern which is the specific clinical sign that your puppy presents.
You may also be interested in this other article where we clarify your doubts if you ask why My puppy does not eat and vomits.
Types of vomiting in puppies
Once we have confirmed that our puppy is vomiting and not regurgitating, we can look at some characteristics of the type of vomiting that will help guide the diagnosis:
- Types of vomiting depending on the content: there are different types of vomiting depending on the content, so we must observe if it is bilious vomiting (greenish due to the presence of bile), fecaloid (faeces-like), if it contains undigested or partially digested food, if it has traces of fresh (red) or digested (dark) blood, and if it contains foam or mucus.
- Properties of vomiting according to the duration of the process: we can speak of an acute episode of vomiting when it lasts less than 4-5 days, and chronic vomiting when it lasts more than 5 days. Acute processes are usually associated with poisoning, drugs or visceral pain, while chronic processes are usually associated with digestive pathologies, neurology or psychogenic causes.
- Types of vomiting according to the relationship with food intake: we must check if the vomiting occurs immediately after eating the food, after some time (usually 1-2 hours, but can be longer) or if it doesn't seem to have any apparent relation to food.
- Distinctions of vomiting according to the time of day it occurs: in pathologies such as antral gastritis, vomiting is typical fasting first thing in the morning.
- Characteristics of the emesis phase: Emesis is the phase in which gastric contents are expelled. We must pay attention to this phase since there are certain pathologies that cause very explosive vomiting (such as pyloric stenosis).
What to do if my puppy vomits?
When your puppy presents a pattern of vomiting, regardless of its type, it is important that you go to your veterinarian as soon as possible to initiate a diagnostic protocol to determine the cause and establish the most appropriate treatment.
Vomiting has a series of clinical consequences that can be especially serious in puppies, since they are weaker and more immature animals. In these cases, it is important to act quickly as delaying diagnosis and treatment will complicate the animal's prognosis. Among the main clinical consequences of vomiting in puppies are:
- Dehydration, electrolyte and acid-base imbalance: Vomiting causes loss of fluids (causing dehydration) and electrolytes (essentially chlorine, sodium and potassium). In addition, dehydration causes a metabolic acidosis. Check out this post on our site to find out the Signs of dehydration in dogs.
- Malnutrition and weight loss: mainly in case of chronic vomiting. These consequences can be especially serious in puppies, as they lose body condition very quickly. Take a look at this article on the Care and feeding of a malnourished dog so you can learn more about the subject.
- Respiratory disorders: During vomiting, some of the contents may be diverted into the respiratory tract and cause aspiration pneumonia. Find out more information about Pneumonia in dogs, contagion, care and treatment in this article that we recommend.
What to give a puppy if he vomits?
Next, we are going to go into detail about what to give a puppy if it vomits and thus take care of it in the best way.
Feeding
Regarding nutrition, it should be noted that in most processes that cause vomiting fasting is not recommended, since This can delay the recovery of the digestive system. The ideal is to establish a highly digestible diet, with little fat and little fiber. To do this, you can opt for a homemade diet (for example, based on rice and cooked chicken) or you can use gastrointestinal feed specifically designed for dogs with digestive pathologies. Regardless of the option you choose, it is important that you distribute the food in more feedings throughout the day to avoid overloading the digestive system (it does not mean that the amount of food should be increased, it should simply be distributed in more feedings).
Despite the fact that fasting is not indicated in most processes that cause vomiting, there are some very specific cases, where it is recommended to establish an absolute diet (fasting). In these cases, we would be talking about pathologies such as:
- Pyloric stenosis or pyloric spasm.
- The pyloric sphincter of the stomach is closed: in this case the food is prevented from progressing towards the intestine. Therefore, fasting should be maintained until the pylorus is open and allows the passage of food.
Should I give antiemetics to a vomiting puppy?
You may intuitively think that vomiting can be resolved by administering an antiemetic drug (which suppresses vomiting). In some cases, such as pancreatitis or some types of gastroenteritis, it may be an adequate symptomatic treatment. However, on other occasions, the administration of antiemetics to a vomiting animal can have fatal consequences
On the one hand, we must bear in mind that vomiting can be a defense mechanism used by the body to eliminate toxic substances, foreign bodies or infectious agents from the body. Therefore, in these cases the use of antiemetics will be counterproductive On the other hand, there are pathologies such as pyloric stenosis in which the administration of central antiemetics can reach causing the stomach to rupture Therefore, you should never administer an antiemetic drug to your puppy if it has not been previously prescribed by your veterinarian.
