Content
- Dog vomiting yellow foam - gastritis
- What can you do if your dog has gastritis?
- Are there any other substances that irritate the gastric mucosa?
- Is it possible to prevent this type of vomiting from white or yellowish foam?
- Dog vomits white fluid - heart problems
- How do you know if this is the cause of vomiting?
- Dog vomiting white foam - kennel cough
- How to avoid kennel cough?
- Dog vomits white foam - collapse of trachea
- Can we prevent tracheal collapse?
- white foam vomit
Vomiting in puppies is, like many other clinical signs, common in many diseases or a consequence of processes that are not related to any pathology.
In this PeritoAnimal article, we will recap some of the most frequent causes: Dog vomiting white foam - causes, symptoms and treatment!
Dog vomiting yellow foam - gastritis
True vomiting, that is, when the matter accumulated in the stomach it goes out to the outside, it can have several origins, being the inflammation of the gastric mucosa (gastritis) the most common. If a dog suffers from gastritis caused by a virus, you will see in his vomit that day's food remains.
But, as with humans, after a few hours of starting to vomit, a yellowish or white liquid will appear. Although there's nothing left in the stomach, the vomiting doesn't stop and what we see is a mixture of gastric juices.
What can you do if your dog has gastritis?
Regarding gastritis, it is important to highlight that the causes of irritation and inflammation of the gastric mucosa are multiple. We must investigate the concrete cause of vomiting. It is common for the veterinarian to advise a period of fasting (depending on race and age); a gastric protector to reduce stomach acidity and an anti-emetic (a drug to reduce vomiting).
Oral administration is not very effective. For this reason, the veterinarian usually opts for injectable administrations at the beginning and asks the tutor to continue the treatment at home orally.
It's not just typical gastroenteritis viruses that cause vomiting. This problem can also be caused by accidental ingestion of irritating products (such as poisonous plants for dogs). You should provide as much data as possible to the veterinarian because a complete history is very helpful, especially in these cases, to reach a diagnosis.
If the puppy vomits too much, it can lose essential substances for the body's balance (electrolytes such as chlorine and potassium) and smaller puppies can become dehydrated very quickly.
Are there any other substances that irritate the gastric mucosa?
The liver and kidneys are part of the dog's body clearance system. When any one of them fails, residues can be created that irritate the gastric mucosa.
Kidney or liver failure often results in vomiting without food content and with a yellowish or whitish appearance. If your puppy is already some age and these vomits are accompanied by other signs (to urinate more, drink more, loss of appetite, apathy...) it is possible that the origin is an alteration in the renal or hepatic system.
Is it possible to prevent this type of vomiting from white or yellowish foam?
In the case of viral gastritis, we have no other remedy but wait for the virus to disappear. It usually appears abruptly and disappears in a few hours, but while this does not happen, you must ensure that the dog does not dehydrate and administer the drugs that the veterinarian prescribed.
If the source of vomiting is an irritation, such as when eating part of a slightly toxic plant, the solution passes through identify the responsible and prevent our dog's access to it. A stomach protector may be needed to decrease the production of gastric acids.
In cases where white foam vomit is caused by a kidney or liver problem, there's not much you can do to prevent it from happening. The only thing you can do is follow the treatment your veterinarian has advised.
What you can do is detect the problem early when there is still time to act according to the disease. Carrying out annual checks on puppies over 7 or 8 years of age, depending on the breed, may reveal initial cases of renal failure (complete blood analytics). We advise you to read the article on chronic kidney failure in cats as the vomiting mechanism is the same in a dog.
Dog vomits white fluid - heart problems
Often, the first symptom of heart disease in dogs is a hoarse and dry cough. At the end of this violent coughing episode, the dog vomits a white foam that looks like "beaten egg white".
Sometimes we confuse this cough with kennel cough and, at other times, we think that the dog may be choking on something... But this sign could be of a sick heart that started to increase in size due to the impossibility of complying with the its function (accumulates blood in the chambers and, when not able to pump, ends up dilating).
This increase in size can compress the trachea causing irritation, which causes this cough followed by vomiting of white foam, although the mechanism by which heart problems produce coughing and vomiting is more complex.
How do you know if this is the cause of vomiting?
Although not exhaustively, we usually find this type of white foam vomit in older dogs or in dogs that are not elderly but have a genetic predisposition to heart problems such as: shih tzu, yorkshire terrier, maltese bichon, king charles cavalier, boxer...
We don't always notice when our dog has difficulty finishing his walks, he breathes too much and/or there is a cough followed by vomiting with white foam. All this information can help the veterinarian a lot, together with the complementary tests (auscultation, x-ray, echocardiography...) to arrive at a correct diagnosis.
Treatment varies widely, as are the different possibilities for heart problems. One example is valve stenosis (they close or open badly) but there are many other possibilities.
Generally, the cough with associated vomiting ends a few days after starting a treatment common to almost all cardiac processes, antihypertensives (enalapril, benazepril) and a mild diuretic to not overload the weak heart (spironolactone, chlorothiazide... ) accompanied by a special diet for heart patients.
Dog vomiting white foam - kennel cough
Kennel cough is another type of irritation of the trachea that causes a dry cough and frothy vomit at the end.
It is important to review any data that may help the veterinarian to distinguish this type of illness from heart failure or ingestion of a foreign body. Is there a piece of something missing at home? A physical exploration will confirm, but sometimes they are so tiny things that we don't even know they were in our kitchen or in our bedroom.
How to avoid kennel cough?
In the article about kennel cough, you will find vaccination plans and precautions to be taken in times of higher incidence of this infectious disease. The treatment that eliminates white foam vomiting depends on the case, the dog's age and previous illnesses. The veterinarian may find it appropriate to prescribe an anti-inflammatory along with an antitussive. In more severe cases, an antibiotic may be needed.
Dog vomits white foam - collapse of trachea
The collapse of the trachea can also produce vomiting of white foam, as it causes difficulty in breathing and a consequent coughing attack. If your dog is a breed predisposed to this disease, is already a certain age and all possible causes of vomiting have been ruled out, it is possible that this tracheal alteration is the culprit.
Can we prevent tracheal collapse?
Tracheal collapse is a matter of each race, the quality of the tracheal cartilage rings and other things beyond our control. However, you should put the dog in a harness in place of a collar, keep the dog at the ideal weight, and not subject him to strenuous exercise. Thus can control the symptoms.
The veterinarian may find it necessary, in severe cases, to administer bronchodilators so that the air passes through the trachea and reaches the lungs more easily.
white foam vomit
This may sound strange but some breeds like the shih tzu, yorkshire terrier, poodle and maltese bichon have a small trachea (with or without collapse) and the heart can be large in nature (especially in brachycephalic puppies like pugs). The valves of the heart usually degenerate causing cardiac changes, making them perfect candidates for vomiting white foam, simply by being themselves.
The white foam vomit gold medal should probably be awarded to the bulldog, simply because (or for all the food he ate). You must separate the water from the food, the feeder must be high, and you must avoid stress or anxiety after the animal eats. But seeing the tutor come home is usually enough to trigger vomiting, either food or white foam if the stomach is empty.
As you can see, white foam vomit can have multiple sources. As always, PeritoAnimal advises that, during the veterinary consultation, you provide as much information as possible to help the veterinarian determine the cause.
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.