Wretching

[Bridget and Lupin]

So all day today Lupin has been wretching.  More often than not its not productive, but I have probably cleaned up 6 puddles of water/mucus. She is more mellow than usual, but is eating and pottying normally. Should I call the vet tomorrow or just watch her? 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Bridget and Lupin]

Thanks and NO KIDDING!  :-)

[Cathy, Fozzie & Shaggy]

Great to hear Lupin is doing well!

[Traz, Karen & Dale]

Bridget, glad to hear that Lupin is doing well.  Traz had to undergo emergency surgery last week for bloat and a twisted stomach.  One of the symptoms that he had was unproductive vomiting.  This is not to scare you, but you might want to read up on bloat just in case he has other symptoms.  Certain breeds of dogs are prone to bloat and unfortunately, high chested dogs, like Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, Poodles are some of those breeds.  IF a dog has bloat, time is of the essence in getting them to the vet.  Thank goodness Traz is recovering and doing pretty well.  It was a very scary situation and we are so happy that he is still here to share his story.  Take care :-)

[Bridget and Lupin]

I've always had Labs and bloat scares the crap out of me.  I am SO glad Traz is on the mend.  Now I'm kind of scared and am going to go look up symptoms again.  I think, though, if she had that that the s*** would have hit the fan by now, but I'm going to look it up anyway......  What were Traz's other symptoms and how long did the unproductive vomiting go on before you took him in?

[Traz, Karen & Dale]

Bridget, Traz is 14 months old.  Like any youngster, he LOVES to play and puts a lot of energy into his playing that he wears himself out.  He's been a healthy boy, not overweight, current on his shots, active, happy, etc.  We had a couple times when he would lose his meal, but we contributed it to him running around too soon after eating.  It was only in the past month or so that we noticed him dry heaving on occasion.  Yes, it did have us a little concerned, but we figured he had just overdone it playing.  The heaving stopped after a minute or so and he seemed fine.  We went on a short vacation last month in our new RV and he threw up in his crate.  We figured that was because he was stressed from being in a new environment (the moving RV) and his stomach was upset.

Ok, fast forward to the bloat incident.....Traz was at his doggy daycare when this occurred.  Luckily, the staff noticed that he wasn't acting normal and they called us.  They said he had eaten about 15 to 30 minutes before and was playing with the other dogs.  All of a sudden, he started chasing his tail and whimpering.  When they went to check on him, he was panting really hard, whimpered when touched him and just didn't look right.  They thought he might have been stung by a bee.  Traz wouldn't stand up so they had to lift him into the car so he could be transported to the vet.  Traz was in shock (gums were pale) by the time he got to the vet, heart was racing and he was in a lot of pain.  After they accessed him (IV, oxygen, xrays), we were told he needed immediate surgery to untwist his stomach and save his life.  The diagnosis was Gastric dilatation volvulus (also known as bloat or a twisted stomach).  Here is the wikipedia definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_dilatation_volvulus

Hopefully it is not the same thing with Lupin, but just to be on the safe side, I would suggest talking to your vet about what he is doing.  I hope all my wordiness answered your questions.  Best wishes to you and Lupin.