Dog Throwing Up Bile

AnimalLover

Any advice on the following would be great:

I have a problem with my 2.5 yr old German Shephard throwing up neon yellow bile occassionaly. I would say that it happens probably 1-2 times a month. It is always at the end of the night or around 2-5 in the morning.

She eats at 5-7 am every day, once day, and I feed her according to the recommendations on the Sciene Diet packaging.

I have been reading on the internet that this could be caused by hunger. Should I try splitting her food up into two meals? My Husky gets feed the same way and I have no problems.

They always act like they are starving, but I figured that was them just begging for treats since they aren't underweight.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

myminpins

Yes, it is probably due to hunger. Splitting up meals may help. I have to give one of my minpins a "snack" every night before bed or she does this in the middle of the night

A word of advice - Science Diet is very poor quality food. If you're interested in changing foods, there's tons of info in the food forum

LeRoymydog

This is very common in the bulldog breed, so I have lots of experience with this. Feed him your regular schedule feedings, but before bed, give him a large milkbone (or any type of dog treat) right before bed.

My dogs now expect a bone before bed.

AnimalLover

Thank you both for your advice. I am going to start splitting up the meals and see if that helps.

On the food issue. I guess I didn't realize that Science Diet was a problem, I thought that it was alot better than the other foods in the store.

I read the post on the review of dog foods, for the amount of food that we go throught for a German Shephard and a Husky, I don't think that we can afford those suggested dog foods.

This is probably a post for a different thread, but is there a less expensive option? Science Diet only (HA!) usually costs about $35 for a 40lb bag.

spotted nikes

Even Chicken Soup for the Dog food is better and cheaper.

Definitely feed twice a day.

poodleholic

Yellow bile = empty stomach. My male has to be given a small snack before bedtime to prevent him from gagging and puking up that nasty bile in the mornings, even though he's fed twice a day, + snacks.

Chicken Soup runs $35 for a 35 lb. bag where I live. It's a very good food, and very reasonably priced.

I feed Innova EVO, both the Red Meat and the Chicken, so that can get pretty spendy with 4 dogs (3 Standard Poodles, 1 Shih Tzu). I supplement the kibble with fresh ground meat (beef sirloin, bison, venison, + chicken), which, when bought on sale and frozen, can reduce the food bill. For snacks and treats, I choose human food over the dog products, with the exception of Natural Balance Food Rolls (also relatively inexpensive for treats, or adding to kibble). Sardines in olive oil, hard boiled eggs, low fat cottage cheese, live culture yogurt, etc., all of which are inexpensive, but wholesome.

lillie20

I split meals into 3. The last one right before bed. Also, give pepcid, yes, per my vets recommendation. Bile would occur weekly, and now 2 months and all is well. If I was an hour late feeding in the morning, bile would usually occur. Now on weekends, feed later at nite which lets me sleep past 6.