I signed up because I’ve been through this exact issue with my beloved basset hound, and I think I have a handle on it.
His episodes began at about 1 year of age, and would happen seemingly at random, sometimes every few days, other times weeks apart. The first time it happened was pretty terrifying, and after a late night emergency vet visit and $500 later, I didn’t feel any better informed than when I started.
Eventually I stumbled across a forum post where it was suggested that in some dogs an empty stomach can lead to overproduction of stomach acid, which causes stomach discomfort and irritation of the esophagus.
What has worked wonders for Patton (my basset) has been to make sure he never goes too long without eating something. We’ve settled into a pretty good schedule of normal meals for breakfast and dinner, with a couple additional small snack-sized meals at night.
It goes like this (all dry food):
7:30 am – 1 cup
5:30 pm – 1 cup
9 pm – 1/3 – 1/2 cup
10pm to midnight (just before bed) – 1/8 – 1/4 cup
This has pretty much completely cleared up the problem for Patton. I also keep 10mg famotidine tablets (Pepcid, but generic is much cheaper) on hand, and whenever he has an episode or seems gassy, he gets one. This is what the vet prescribed after his first visit, with an inconclusive diagnosis, so I know it’s safe to give him.
In the last year and a half, he’s had maybe 3 or 4 episodes, and all I do is give him about a 1/2 cup of food and a Pepcid, and he’s back to normal within 10-15 minutes.
I hope this helps. I know how scary this can be, and how helpless I felt to help my best friend.
