My boyfriend's family just got a new puppy - he is 9 weeks old - and just recently he has begun to throw up after eating. When he throws up it's all solid food. I suspect, as do they, that he is eating too fast and suggested feeding him slower. Putting a little at a time in the bowl and after he finishes, then adding more until he reaches the amount he is supposed to have for each meal. Also, they have been adding water to the food to make it easier for him to digest but that hasn't helped. They haven't tried the feeding him slower method yet (I just suggested it today) but I figured I would reach out to you all and see if there was anything else I could find out about this behavior.
Does anyone have any other suggestions or success stories? I never had this problem with Koda so I was hoping someone could help me to advise them. :) Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many pet places sell a pet bowl that has a big hump or two in it. It makes the dogs "work around' the hump to eat and slows them down. Some have used very large, clean rocks to accomplish the same thing, in a regular bowl. You can also hand feed for a while to see if it is the gulping or the food. If he was in a litter where he needed to eat combat style, then I agree he is probably just woofing down his food to fast!
Thanks! I saw quite a few on Amazon (including this one actually). I am just concerned with it being plastic because I heard that plastic holds bacteria and germs better (because it is porous) than a stainless steel or ceramic one. I'm sure short term it would probably be ok though.
Your concerns are valid regarding the plastic, I just saw the post and was going to jump on the first mention of it but scanned down and found it here. There is a stainless steel one but it can be challenging to find and off the top of my head I cannot recall where I saw it but will look later. You will likely have better luck obtaining a puppy dish ~ http://homeandkennel.petedge.com/ProSelect-Stainless-Steel-Puppy-Fe.... I also saw a product at the recent Global show in Orlando that was a stainless steel ball that you simply place in their food, I liked it very much and certainly over the tennis/gold ball that some use that also harbors the gross stuff.
If there seem to be no health concerns I would add this is not that unusual. Sometimes minimizing the water gulping near feeding helps as the two are often linked. If the pup has just come home it is probably eating fast because of the competition for food with its littermates and hopefully with a bit of time he will have the realization nobody else is going to take it. I do have more on this but apologize I will have to pop in later as I must go tend to the 2 and 4 legged kiddos here and great the day.
Last year our three month old puppy was throwing up after eating because he had eaten a nylon sock that was stuck in his stomach! He needed surgery to remove it. Our puppy was always eating socks, etc. so I had to keep a close eye on him and keep the house picked up! Thankfully he does not eat socks anymore!
OMG that's horrible! They watch this puppy like a hawk so I am pretty sure he didn't ingest something like that, but wow, that is definitely something to keep an eye out for! I am sooo happy your puppy is doing well now. :)