Help! Throwing up after eating snow.....

[Sandy]

In the summer, Toby started throwing up after eating ice.  Easy solution - I didn't give him ice anymore.  Now, however, it's winter, and there is snow.  Every stinking time Toby goes outside he eats snow.  Then he comes into the house and pukes.  On the carpet.  Every single time.  I cannot clean up dog vomit 5 times a day all winter long.  Any suggestions?  I'm going crazy, and it's only  December.....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Either he has to be supervised while he's outside, so you can either give a "leave it" correction or use a leash correction, or he'll have to be muzzled when he goes outside.

Ice shouldn't be making him vomit, though, unless he's eating pounds of it. Have you asked the vet about this?

[Sandy]

I have not talked to the vet, no.  It just started happening more frequently this week-end.  We haven't had snow until now. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

But back in the summer, he was also vomiting from eating ice cubes?

[Sandy]

Actually, yes, he was.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I actually found a few discussions on this in some other dog forums, but nobody knew the cause. Apparently Toby is not the only one who has this problem. But I don't have a clue as to why this would happen. Other than preventing him from doing it, I don't know what you can do to stop it.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Does he do it almost immediately after coming back inside?  If so, if you can't keep him from eating it, you could bring him straight back into the crate or onto a tile floor area until he does his thing.  I would ask the vet about it though.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Quincy used to love eating ice cubes when he was a puppy but I had to stop giving them to him as they used to make him throw up. I didn't give him any for a long time but now he has one occassionally with no issues. He also eats snow but it doesn't make him throw up.

[Katie, John & Parker pup]

Until you said he did it with ice cubes, I was gonna say maybe he was ingesting the de-icing salt or some chemical with the snow that was making him sick...that is odd...I hope you find out what causes it!

[Linda, Guinness, Molly, Snickers]

We just moved so this is our first winter with snow.  Guinness loves to chase balls so we started throwing snowballs to see what he would do.  He chases them and its funny to see the look on his face when his "ball" dissapears into the rest of the snow but we soon realized that if he catches them he throws up.  Every single time.  Luckily he doesn't eat the snow on his own so we just stopped throwing snowballs and no problem.  I think the muzzle is a good idea, no way I would want to clean dog vomit several times a day, plus it can't be good for him to throw up so often.

[Sandy]

Does anyone think switching to a dog food easier on Toby's stomach would help this situation?  Seriously - I"m getting really angry at him, and I know it's not his fault, but I am REALLY tired of cleaning up dog puke.  Next step is buying a muzzle I guess.  I e-mailed the vet today, but haven't heard back yet on whether he has any suggestions.  With a yard full of snow, there's just no way I can stop him from eating it.  Even on a leash in the yard, his head is down in the snow immediately.