It seems this may be common in Australian Cattle Dogs. I have a female 2-1/2 years old. We’ve had her since she was 8 weeks old. About a year ago she started these bouts of licking. She liked to eat hair and things like that so initially I thought she had hair stuck in her throat. But as she is getting older the bouts are getting more serious. She had another attack last night. My son was up with her all night. She’s frantic during the attacks and runs around the house trying to eat anything in sight. We do let her outside as she eats grass and that either makes the attack subside or makes her throw up. If it subsides she comes back in and is able to sleep for a couple of hours and then will have another attack. This will go on all night until about 6 am. Then the attacks will completely stop until the next night about 9 pm. They usually last for a couple of nights then go away for a while. She hadn’t had an episode in a while and last night I gave her some caramel popcorn… a few pieces as a treat. I guess that was bad as her attack started about an hour after I gave her the treat. Tonight it started again but she is sleeping peacefully under my bed right now.
Why do these things always start at night? And disappear during the day? Its so sad because she is frantic and wants help during her attacks. She is breathing heavy and licking and gulping and running all over the place. When I get her to lay down and try to calm her down, her stomach is gurgling and making all kinds of noises so I know it must be very uncomfortable. From these forums it seems pretty common and I can’t believe more vets have not heard of it. I was going to try to treat her naturally before I got a vet involved. I recently changed her food to grain free food and she loves it. But she eats it so fast (like others here have described).
Just knowing it is pretty common is very comforting. Thank you all for posting so much helpful information. I hope all of you find the right system that will work for your dog. I think every dog probably will need something different as every human’s body is different. Please keep updating with what is going on with your dog…. the good bad and ugly. Together maybe we can help our babies lead pain free stress free lives!
