First off, thanks for adopting a senior dog! She is one lucky girl! Sorry to hear you’re having troubles.
I have been struggling with a similar issue with a dog we adopted in July, Quincy, a year-old cattle dog. While Quincy isn’t officially diagnosed, it is the best answer I’ve come up with for his symptoms (my vet is not concerned because he has never lost his appetite or shown other negative effects…he just swallows/gulps obsessively during an “attack”). His attacks will last multiple days once started, and seem to get worse due to a build up of gas from swallowing air (he will get bad gas and the belches after a day or so).
Patty, we tried Braggs and we were still having issues. Quincy gets 1 cup of Honest Kitchen mixed with almost two cups of water. I was adding a little over a tablespoon, was I adding too much? We did this almost every day for over a month.
We are now trying Pepcid (but I don’t want this to be a long term solution – I just needed a week or two to calm down and stop feeling defeated by this thing!). No major attacks, a little swallowing here and there. I don’t think it’s the miracle I was hoping for, so I will probably wean him off after he’s been on it for a week (he is 40lbs and gets half a tablet, 30 minutes before each meal).
He is definitely better since switching him to a wet food, on kibble he will have MAJOR attacks where he gulps until vomiting. The severity and frequency has decreased since August when we switched him to canned food. We also add a probiotic/enzyme to his food, but if anyone has a recommendation for a specific brand I would appreciate it!
I’ve read that smaller meals spaced out is best. I have hesitated to try this only because I don’t know if my job will always allow me to come home at work, but I will probably start trying that next week, since right now I work 5 minutes from home.
Good luck, it is very hard to watch them when they aren’t feeling good!
