How to Care for a Dog After It Has Just Vomited - Determining and Eliminating the Cause of Vomiting

1. Distinguish between vomiting and regurgitation to determine proper treatment. Dogs can often regurgitate, raise undigested food with no abdominal effort, without showing signs of other illnesses.[11] If your dog regurgitates, he may just need his food to be raised off the floor so that gravity helps pass the food down into his stomach. However, if your dog forcefully vomits (acute vomiting) the contents of his stomach, this means his muscles are contracting. You'll notice your dog hunched up and the vomit will probably smell foul.[12]
- Regurgitation is usually a sign of esophageal issues or other problems in the early stages of the digestive process. For example, often dogs eat too much too quickly. In this case, the food your dog expels will usually be undigested and tubular in shape.[13]
- If your dog regularly regurgitates food, he may have a long term medical condition so put his food up on a chair, but also let your vet assess him.[14]

2. Consider the causes of vomiting. Think about your dog's recent diet, behaviour, emotions, and environmental conditions to determine what might be causing your dog's vomiting. For example, think about recent walks and whether your dog may have scavenged a carcass or eaten discarded food. Vomiting can be a common symptom of "garbage gut" where your dog eats things that aren't healthy which causes his body to force out the spoilt food. However, if he keeps vomiting, there may be a more serious cause including:[15][16]
- Bacterial infections in the gastrointestinal tract
- Intestinal parasites
- Severe constipation
- Acute kidney failure
- Acute liver failure
- Colitis
- Parvovirus
- Gall bladder inflammation
- Pancreatitis
- Ingestion of a poisonous substance
- Heatstroke
- An infected uterus
- A reaction to medicine
- Cancer

3. Assess whether the vomiting was a one-off or occurred multiple times. If your dog vomits once, eats normally and has normal bowel movements, the vomiting was probably an isolated incident. If he vomits more than once throughout the day or if it continues beyond one day, take him to the vet immediately.[17]
- Continued and repetitive vomiting should be investigated more fully by a vet. Your vet should be able to diagnose the condition by conducting a range of tests, including X-rays, bloodwork, fecal analysis, urinalysis, ultrasound imaging, and/or a barium study.[18]

4. Examine the vomit to determine a cause of vomiting. Look at the vomit for foreign objects like wrappers, pieces of a plastic bag, bone fragments (you should not give your dog real bones as this are often implicated in vomiting episodes), etc. [19] If you see blood in the vomit, take your dog to the vet immediately since severe blood loss can happen quickly and be fatal.
- If there are no foreign objects, look at the shape and consistency of the vomit. Is it undigested food or is it more liquid in form? Write down what you observe so you will be able to tell your vet if the vomiting continues. It may help your vet diagnose your dog if you can show a photo or sample of the vomit.[20] A photo can also let the vet see the volume of vomitus which may influence treatment.