[Shasta220]

I completely feel you about being scared he might get injured. My dog, Otto, was quite the gulper. When he was only about 3mo old, he got a hold of a raw chicken bone (it was a leg bone, he had found the cat’s dinner…). I saw him take it, I ran over to him and told him to leave it (yup, this was before he knew the command “leave it”), but it was too late, he had broken it into 2 pieces then swallowed them. I thought for sure he wouldn’t make it through the night, but we kept an eye on him and he was completely fine.

The above suggestions to help with gulping are great. My current gulper, Loki, will get any of his raw meat frozen. He still eats it very fast, but at least he breaks it into kibble-sized pieces, as he doesn’t like swallowing large frozen things… Brrrrr!

I’ve never done a real raw diet with my dogs, I’ve only read the books and web pages. I hope you can get a good routine going with your guy, and I’m sure he’ll remember to chew soon 😉

[USA]

Hi Molzy

There will always be a risk in feeding a dog raw meaty bones. No one can guarantee you that a bone will never cause harm to your dog. Raw feeders want to feed their dog a similar diet to what wolves eat in the wild, believing it is the most natural and species appropriate.

One thing that I think is often overlooked is that when wolves consume bones they also consume the fur of the animal they are eating. The bone usually comes out the other end of the wolf wrapped in fur. The fur protects the inside of the wolf from being damaged as the bone makes its way through its digestive system.

For the gulping you could try feeding a large piece of frozen meat. The piece should be bigger than your dog’s head. This makes it almost impossible for your dog to just gulp down. Being frozen also makes it difficult to just swallow and could encourage your dog to chew. As long as you are able to take the piece away from your dog before it becomes small enough to swallow or when your dog has eaten enough, a frozen piece of meat larger than your dog’s head is an option.

Another option is raw boneless meat. This method has no danger of your dog being injured from bones. In this method you would have to add a calcium supplement to replace the calcium in the bones.

Reading a book like See Spot Live Longer (more geared to the beginner) or Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet (a little more advanced) both by Steve Brown will help you in preparing nutritionally balanced home prepared raw or cooked meals for your dogs.

I am not a fan of using a metal vice grips or a metal tube to stop your dog from gulping. I am worried that your dog might injure himself by chomping down on them or by trying to swallow the vice grips.

Good Luck with Quincy and LoJack!!!!

[KHouston]

Hallelujah! Other people with dogs with the same gulping/compulsion to eat grass, etc. I adopted a yellow lab 1.5 years ago. I am her fourth owner and I wonder now if this isn’t part of the reason her first two owners gave her up.

Her first episode was a year ago, right after Christmas. She filled her stomach with fibers from carpets and then tried to eat every toxic plant in my back yard — sago palms, acorns. Then she ate half a lace shirt and the legs off a pair of pajamas.

After a year in which I have learned to watch her carefully, I have concluded that there are both digestive and emotional components to this syndrome.

1) Stress can set off one of these episodes.

2) Digestive upset can set off stress and panic, which in turn sets off one of these episodes.

3) Treating both her acid stomach, digestive sensitivity AND her stress reaction to these problems can stop an episode from getting so severe she needs medical treatment.

The most effective thing has been to keep her on Prozac for her anxiety (you’d be anxious, too, if you kept getting given away!), a Prescription Diet for sensitive stomachs. And if she starts an episode, giving her a mix of valium-like medications (sorry, I forget the name of them — we just switched to a different mix).

She just had her first episode in a long time last night, probably the result of eating a bird. Normally they don’t upset her stomach but she really snarfed this one down before I could get it away. She doesn’t look like she feels good, but she is not making it worse by eating the laundry and poisoning herself.

(And yes, I ripped out all the poisonous plants in my back yard and replaced them with bamboo. Very, very expensive.)

[steve johnson]

My dog was having really bad bouts of wanting to go outside and eat grass and then would throw up. It was like the minute he saw the grass, he was obsessed with it. He would smack his lips and make a weird sound a few hours after eating like he was regurgitating. We also noticed that at night sometimes, he was panting. I did some research and found this article http://www.askariel.com/dog_cat_acid_reflux_treatment_a/277.htm about acid reflux in dogs. I tried the acid stomach product along with the digestive relief and it really got rid of the grass eating and stomach noises. I also started feeding smaller meals a couple times a day, like you all suggested too. Hope this helps!

[slappppy]

THANK YOU for all the comments – soooo helpful!!

I adopted a 2 year old 40 pound cattledog last month and her gulping started two days after – with a violent episode late one night. Went to a vet the next day and he said symptoms may be kennel cough (she was a shelter dog so no doubt has that too). And no, she didn’t gulp for the vet so he probably thought new dog owner was crazy.

Here’s what I’m doing and gauging it day by day:
– slower meals – not giving it to her all at once and using the funky food bowl with the ridges (yes, time factor with work, ugh).
-no dry kibble cause she seem to choke the pieces down (doesn’t chew – and yes, not great for the teeth and tartar but gulping is CRAZY to experience).
-probiotic powder and sometimes canned pumpkin mixed in with food (settles the stomach).
-started exercise right way (I think she was in shelters a long time. I’m a trail runner so got her on a routine fast. On days we workout, she seems much better than days we just do short walks. But yes, realize not everyone can do this in winter).
-got the Chinese tea pills after reading this post! Ha, not sure if these are the same pills used in this post but they are used to balance the stomach, basically making things right internally (and that’s what we want after 7 p.m., omg). This Dr has an alternative medicine/acupuncture place down the street and I called him at 10 p.m. during the 2nd episode. He came over on his bicycle in 10 mins with the pills! Again, have no idea here and giving it in limited doses as I’m not quite sure about it all.
— giving her love and reassurance all the time in case it is an emotional security thing.
–watching her with an eagle eye when we are outside – if I glance away for a nano second, I am pulling things out of her mouth/throat!

She still gulps a few days a week but it is more of a repeated swallowing thing (still odd though and not relaxing to watch). But not violent like it was.

Thanks again for the great tips!

[wparsons]

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.

[theBCnut]

Most dogs don’t chew, but I’ve heard many people think gulping the food contributes. My dogs burp when they eat too fast, so I tend to think air would/should come back up, not go all the way through. You can add water to slow them down and have them swallow less air, or you can pour the food on a cookie sheet so they have to pick it up one piece at a time. Yes, fresh fennel works the same, don’t over do it.

[anotheremily]

Well…I have been at the same thing as Molzy for the past almost 2 yrs…

I have a jack russell beagle mix. He is 5.5 yrs old. He was over weight , not anymore considering the circumstances….He went from 17 lbs when we got him to 27.5 lbs at highest and last yr this time was at 17, today he is at 21. Gulping has been going on so long I can’t remember when it started. He has had blood tests, xrays, barium xray, several meds for worming, He had an upper endoscopy…all leads us to nothing. So he was put on prilosec last Spetember (’13) and metoclopromide 3 xs a day. Ok…so he was being examined for all of these…worms, mega esophagus, pyloric stenosis, reverse sneezing, bloat, acid reflux, collapsed trachea…post nasal drip, and all the stuff everyone else has said here…He has none of that. He used to eat kibble, Canadae. Our other dogs eat that. We switched everyone last spring, summer to Taste of the Wild. Mind you all along I am continuing treating for all the other ailments…so his kibble would get crushed by me and wetted into a paste and a kong goes in his bowl to slow him down. He was on Purina EN for some time and that was when he lost weight. I made rice and fish and carrots and sweet potatoes and rice and veggies and dog food from our local butcher shop that is all hormone antibiotic free…then since he was doing so good we eased into taste of the wild…well that gets expensive with 4 dogs and feeding everyone seperate isn’t an option. So we went back to Canadae maybe a month or two ago…we are on our 3rd bag of it I think…And January 8th and January 10th my husband and I got NO sleep what so ever. Last night he gulped and filled with gas so bad I thought I was going to have to rush him to the pet er…No, he threw up, just like he did on the 8th right around 5 am. Last night it was barf at 4 then back to bed to sleep and he was all gurgly and snoring and I just wanted 1 hour of sleep…I moved him. Shouldn’t have done that, it sparked another episode. This is all so in such a small nutshell what I am writing, but today I took him to another local regualr vet office for just a 3rd pair of eyes to see what she thought. She thinks it’s digestive, perhaps a food allergy, something similar to celiac…Told me whe would show my video to the other vets in the practice and get back to me. Suggested I take him to Cornell, the Veterinary School. He could see more specialists there than at the local office with 1 specialist since she felt what was wrong with my dog is so rare. Rare until you research it and find all these people having the same problem…WHY is it only at night? He has little spats in the day sometimes but most of the action is at night. Why do none of have any REAL answers? What is in the kibble that we feed our dogs? I did some research a while back and I could go find the link and post them if you are interested but you have probably already seen them, about kibble and how people had this issue during the major dogfood recalls….a few years back…That spawned a TON of gulping and posts everywhere. I do not think this is partial seizures…The more i read and the more I talk to vets, I think it’s the food. I cannot feed him a raw diet, I can feed him partially cooked and plain food like I have in the past, I think the limited ingredient food is good for a short time. In the mean time I am going to have to come up with a fund raising campaign to take him to Cornell, because I have spent over $2000 as of the end of 2013 on this issue. I LOVE him dearly but I cannot spend anymore or charge anymore. I am getting nowhere, and I am so tired, literally. I don’t know what else to do…He is getting a new probiotic tonight and for food we are doing quinoa and salmon for a while. He will get NO chicken for a long time. Back to the butcher shop food after the salmon. So…I also got him some tramidole so he can sleep tonight and so can we…I will hang around here, it seems like a good place to bump ideas off of each other…I am interested in hearing more about the chinese medicine and will go back and read that posting more in depth tonight. It’s good to know we are not alone I guess. I am wondering is anyone has had ultrasounds or had their dog eat under fluoroscopy…those were suggested to me today along with a nutritionist and all these are available at the Vet College, for more than I can pay I am sure…lol

Looking forward to staying in touch!
PS my dog’s name is Doug…(love that boy)

[Bunny]

I feel your pain LOL I thought I was alone 🙂

My girl has had random episodes of this for about a year. It really is a really scary thing to watch my poor puppy do. She too gulps, Licks the floor, Tries to eat anything off the floor she can, Licks the air, Swallows hard Repeatedly…

One time when I took her to an emergency vet for this he did an x-ray. I was worried she was bloating but the x-ray showed that the air was passing through. It also showed irritation in her duodenum.

I saw a scope specialist a couple times and he suggested the cause is her having a mild tonsillitis flare-up that is provoked by allergies, she has seasonal allergies. He gave me Sulcrate Which coats the stomach And an anti-acid To give in combination. This seems to fix the problems for a little while. She was good for about six months until tonight. It seems like psychology has a major play in it, like she panics because of how she is feeling and gets “stuck”…the only thing that takes her mind off of it is if I walk her so I took her for a walk and I gave her the Sulcrate…hopefully it fixes it yet again…but the walking I cannot stress how much this seems to help. Not fast, just an easy walk to get things moving, it works for people too 😉

The other suggestion he had is that this could also be either trachea irritation caused by stomach acid (I too use a harness as well, as she pulls really hard in a collar) or post nasal drip from her runny nose from allergies. But judging on experiences I would agree with him as I explained above…

The pondering continues and I am glad to see this thread and hope all gulping pups get better soon 🙂

[Billy Duangnapa]

Molzy, you said he was adopted then was fine for the FIRST TWO WEEKS..Then boarded and then developed the issue? So he is probably confused with his home and family? Sounds like anxiety, the changing of homes and medicines confuse the dog…could be some nausea/stomach acid but I think it might be psychological…

If all tests are passed and clear, the licking and swallowing can be for a variety of reasons; my golden does this before he sleeps, after he eats, when he wakes up, usually 3-4 swallows. Dogs do this to for some or all of the following 1.) calm down for sleep 2.) relieve nausea 3.)relieve stomach upsets/acid 4.)dry throat 5.) anxiety 6.)serious ailment or blockage. If its not a serious physical ailment then dogs are similar to humans once they pick up a habit that they can use to help cope with life they will continue it.

If they problem is from stomach acid and is diet related then try boiled rice, potatoes, with shredded chicken breast. Yams, celery, carrots, bananas and oatmeal seem to help too.

If the problem is psychological, meaning for example, my dog got carsick and threw up, and then within a couple of weeks was attacked by 2 dogs and had someone in the family get hospitalized as well. This left him with extremely high anxiety on what was going on. So perhaps, this type of licking, swallowing is way for him to cope. But taking him for long walks throughout the day has made the situation better; introducing him to new scents. Next, he is a retriever, so taking him to play fetch at the beach reminded him of who he is and it seems to have calmed his night issues as I have a feeling he is waking up with nightmares and does a lot of this gulping.

In short, physical activity is extremely important, they need to be active for hours throughout the day as opposed to traditionally just being in the house; this will make them stronger and settle their issues! If you need to hire a dog walker to help, you need to do it for the pooch! Good luck!

[cbgmom]

Unfortunately, I have yet to hear of any vet who has been able to diagnose this let alone treat it. I have heard of lots of people spending lots of $$ on testing only to show everything as normal. I’m sure there must be some vets out there who may be familiar with this — but I haven’t heard of one yet.

I’m not even sure it is the trachea but it certainly seems to be something in that area and I know many dogs and specific breeds have sensitive tracheas. It isn’t collapsed trachea but I would sort of treat it as such.

To start, maybe try to strengthen his body with supplements: an anti-inflammatory as well as a cartilage and connective tissue support (with glucosamine and chondroitin). That might be a start?

I don’t know if there would be any long term consequences. You just took his collar off so he needs some time to heal. Hopefully, he hasn’t had any permanent injury but certainly time will tell. I do believe you are on the right track now!

No apologies! I hope he is OK. It is very upsetting to watch… they do seem frantic and scared while they go through it. 🙁

[Molzy]

Thanks!

I don’t think I can say yet, but I do think you’re on to something. My boyfriend has noticed that he’ll start gulping if he rests his head a certain way where his throat has pressure on it, I can’t believe I didn’t think to take the collar off sooner! I have him in the harness all the time now, no collar at all. Is there anything a vet can do for trachea damage? Quincy’s issues started after we adopted him and then had to board him, I know the humane society used a choke collar on him, and he is very afraid of the man we boarded him with (will NOT be going back there!), so who knows what happened at either of those places or in his previous home (where they claimed he wasn’t house trained because he’d go in the house if they didn’t let him out when he asked).

I feel terrible, I just went to move him on the couch and didn’t think about it, and I think I caused a little attack by hitting his throat. I feel TERRIBLE, I have never noticed such a direct link before.

Do you think there are long term more serious issues to consider with this? Sorry for all the questions!

[cbgmom]

Hi Molzy,

Notice any changes with switching to a harness? May still be a little early — I hope it is helpful for Quincy. I don’t even have Casey wear a collar for his tags — they are all on his harness. The food I fed to him never irritated him, just the treats. Quincy seems to have more damage to either the trachea or esophagus (or whatever causes these unfortunate spasms). I fed him grain free kibble (alternated between Orijen, Taste of the Wild, etc) mixed with Kirkland’s premium wet. However, Casey has recently developed a series of other health concerns so I am transitioning him now to commercial raw. I am hoping to learn enough to go the homemade route but for now, that’s what I’ve been feeding. Honest Kitchen certainly seems like a very good food choice for Quincy especially considering you can make it pretty soupy if nec.

I have not found a single person whose vet was able to diagnose this condition. Casey’s first attack was at 4 months and I ran over to the vet thinking he had something stuck in his throat. She insisted (even though my gut was telling me she was wrong and I told her as much) that frantic grass eating was nausea and he likely had something stuck in his stomach, even though it couldn’t be seen in an xray. $1,100 and an overnight stay for nothing. A few days later, I was walking him and my neighbor said, “I think that collar is bothering him” and I realized that may be the cause.

I don’t have any other real hints except during vet appts., remind your vet and techs that he has some kind of real sensitivity around his trachea. Casey is feisty and they would restrain him around the head (as well as other areas), which is pretty common. One visit he was gulping for a month afterwards. Now I tell them not to hold him there.

Anyway, keep me posted with how he is doing!

[Molzy]

Thanks cbgmom! I switched him to his harness as soon as I saw this post two days ago (on my phone, which is why I didn’t reply then, sorry!). What do you feed your dog for his normal food?

It’s so hard to tell what sets Quincy off. We were doing great for a few weeks (only mine episodes), and then early this week he had a particularly bad attack, throwing up multiple times one night. The Pepcid seems like it might be helping, hard to tell. Hopefully the harness will make a difference too. Poor guy hasn’t gotten treats in months now because I live in fear of setting off an attack, but I have decided to try some freeze dried beef this weekend.

My vet doesn’t take me seriously about it, since he has no other symptoms and has yet to gulp at the vets. I guess I’m thankful to not be spending my WHOLE paycheck at the vets (our other dog has had two surgeries in the past two weeks for entropion, and then again when he ripped his surgical site open), but it kills me to watch him when he starts panicking!

I’ll try the harness for now, please share any other helpful hints! I joined the Facebook group a few months ago, but I couldn’t post to it? I sent a message and the went responded, but I would love to be able to contact all the members.

[cbgmom]

My dog has had bouts of this too… frantically trying to get outside to eat grass until he threw up… gulping, bobbing, licking. First I found that it was primarily due to his collar. I removed it entirely and only use a harness. I know you said that you use a harness or gentle leader for walking but he wears a collar outside. Why don’t you try switching to a harness all of the time and see if you have any improvement? We have a cord (2 connected actually– you can get at home depot) that we have around a tree and connect it to his chest harness. That had the symptoms improve tremendously. It can also occur when he eats certain harder treats. I only give him soft chew treats and bully sticks now. The bully sticks don’t bother him. When he has an episode (which is very rare now), I give him a Pepcid once or twice a day with his food (for acid which can also irritate his trachea). My dog is about 45 pds so one tablet is his dose. Some dogs have very sensitive tracheas. If he had any damage to that area (choke collars, mean owners who pull by collar) or any hereditary condition, that may add to the problem. There is actually a Facebook page for Gulping Dogs! Not that much information, but you are not alone! Good luck!

[theBCnut]

He might be eating too fast or gulping air. Is it real soon after he eats? One of mine used to do that in the morning. I always figured that his tummy was so empty that he was inhaling his food. I started giving him just a handful of his food, then a bit later a little more, and then the rest of it. He stopped vomitting. I eventually started just pouring his kibble all over the bottom of his crate to make him eat slower. I also started saving a small amount of his evening meal to give right at bed time so he wasn’t going as long before getting more food in his stomach.

[Molzy]

Quick update. In the past month he has had two episodes. One was 10 days ago, when he managed to eat our other dogs vomit before we could get to him (have I mentioned that this dog will eat ANYTHING??). That episode lasted about 5 days, but it was not helped when he also was given free range to a pile of compost (friend said that the yard was dog proof, failing to mention that her dog ignores their open compost pile).

Now this said, he also ate some turkey this past weekend without any ill effects (unless they are showing up 72 hours later). In the past, he has also gotten a granola bar and package of brat buns without any noticeable effects. This dog is extremely food motivated, and can jump onto the counter (all 4 feet) with ease. At home we don’t leave things on the counter anymore, but have run into trouble when traveling (finding stuff in the car, or surfing other people’s counters). We are learning to constantly supervise him, and all of these mishaps have been our fault for underestimating him!

Anyways, Now tonight, he has been gulping again and threw up once. I am fairly certain he hasn’t gotten into anything, but he could possibly have eaten bird seed or cat litter while I showered this morning (both are behind a baby gate which he has proven he can easily jump over).

Tomorrow I should be receiving a box of Honest Kitchen Keen and a bottle of slippery elm powder. I will update again in a few weeks with my results, just in case others with this issue are following this thread. We will also be calling the vet again tomorrow to get their opinion on what tests we should be running.

I should mention, he’s been on chicken soup canned this whole month, with NaturVet enzymes. About 3 weeks ago I started adding 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to each can of food as well. I had stuck with two meals a day, but will be in increasing to three once I start the Honest Kitchen.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Molzy.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Molzy.

[pugmomsandy]

pacer1978

Since you’ve already introduced raw into the diet, just try out a raw meaty bone and see how they do. I have small dogs and started with chicken wings and necks. And then went to chicken legs. I do have 2 that chomp their bones pretty well and one that does a so-so job at it but in 2 years of raw meaty bones, he hasn’t had any issues. You can attach a large vice clamp onto a RMB or tie part of it to a broom stick or something like that so he can’t gulp the whole thing down and hopefully learns to not gulp. If gulping is a problem, then I would feed grinds and nothing harder than chicken bones. I would say that chicken necks and duck necks and very small turkey necks (about 1 inch diameter or less) are ok to slightly gulp down. This is what my 30 lb dog does! You can always whack the neck with a hammer first. If you want to incorporate raw and still feed kibble and other commercial products, then I would suggest chicken, turkey or duck necks 3 times a week and then maybe a couple meals of just ground meats/organ/calcium supplement (or commercial raw). Baby back pork ribs are also easy to break so that might be an option too. Frankly, I don’t think there is anything “sharp” in a small poultry neck bone so that might be a good bone for you to use. You can also buy a large leg bone just for them to enjoy chewing on instead of eating it.

[theBCnut]

Even when I’m doing 20% I want the calcium/phosphorus at least close to balanced and I still add a vit E stabilized fish oil or oily fish.

For a dog that is entrenched in the habit of gulping it’s food, I would not feed whole bones, unless it was in something that was too big for the dog to swallow it. I would use grinds or premixes and boneless meats. That being said, I believe a dog can be trained to eat properly, but you have to be willing to take the time.

[Mom2Cavs]

Molzy, it does sound to me like an acid stomach problem, but I’m not a vet….
This site has some good supplements for acid stomach and digestion problems and some good articles, too. http://www.askariel.com I have a dog that has allergies and has mild occurrences of licking, swallowing. I have used these supplements when that happens with success.

[Molzy]

Thanks mmt. I’ll talk to my vet, we will probably be doing more testing if we can’t get it under control. So far, our vet hasn’t wanted to jump into all the tests simply because he’s trying to save us a little money, so we are taking it one step at a time. I do think it his has something to do with food, as he does have less episodes on canned food so far. Next steps will be trying dehydrated or raw food to try and nail down a fix.

Thanks again!

[mmt]

Yes, he was diagnosed with Liver Qi Stagnation. I guess it’s common in people and pets and is commonly thought to be IBD. A natural medicine vet/acupuncturist might have some recommendations. I don’t think food is much of a player in getting this disease under control but who knows, maybe your dog has a different issue. I definitely would talk to a vet about trying Omeprazole (Prilosec) for general acid reduction. When they put a scope down my dog’s throat it was totally raw and burnt from acid reflux. I still use it sometimes when he seems to be swallowing more. Very best of luck to you!

[Molzy]

Thanks mmt. So, was your dog diagnosed with a specific condition? I live in a small town, and for the first time in 25 years I am not near a vet school. I don’t think my chances of finding a Chinese doctor around here are great, but I can try to bring him to one the next time I’m visiting my mom in the big city!

The wet food appears to be helping for now. He did throw up once in the last week. Nottingham sure if he ate something I didn’t see or what. Otherwise we’ve only had some swallowing, no gulping.

Sorry to hear you’ve been through this, it sucks watching them panic!

[mmt]

Hi. Sadly, I know exactly what you are talking about. The wretching and gagging and swallowoing. It is the worst thing to watch. I’m lucky enough to live near a vet school. After thousands of dollars in tests, 5 different types of medicine and a prescription vet diet, I thought my lab mix was on the mend. Then it happened again one night after I saw sympotoms during the day for a few weeks previously. Very long story short (about 1.5 years of vet visits), the only thing that helped him was Chinese herbs. I went to a Comparative Medicine Dr at the vet school and she diagnosed him right away and tried acupuncture but said he needed too many sessions, it wasn’t feasible. She then prescribed him Chinese herbs in the form of teapills and he has not had another session (knock on wood!!!). The teapills started working in about one day. Every once in a while, we still deal with episodes of swallowing BUT nothing like what used to happen. It is pretty infrequent and manageable. He is still on a motility drug twice a day but the Dr hopes that we will get to the point, with the right diet, where we only manage flare ups and he isn’t regularly on any drug.
This is the worst, most heart breaking thing to watch. Good luck to you. I’d get to a Chinese Med Dr asap.

[aimee]

Thanks for keeping us updated. Hope he continues to do well.

[Molzy]

Thanks for the advice everyone! So far he’s been ok on canned foot, I am currently working on switching him over to Chicken Soup cans, and if that works I will start considering raw.

Aimee, I have heard that it may be seizure related, or allergy induced seizures. I will ask my vet about it. I’ve found I can talk him out of an attack if I catch him at the beginning. The wet diet seems to be helping a lot.

Thanks again for your advice!

[crazy4cats]

Hi Molzy-
Unfortunately, I do not have any advise for you. But, I’m really hoping that you find a solution. This dog is so lucky that your family rescued him. A lot of families probably would have returned him by now. I have no doubt that you will be successful at getting him better. I’m wishing you the best!

[aimee]

Hi Molzy,

I don’t know if you came across this as possibly being a seizure disorder but I found a few references describing behavior like you are seeing that were diagnosed as a form of seizure. You may want to ask your vet about this.

“Clinical signs commonly associated with sialadenosis included retching and gulping…… Response to treatment with phenobarbital was rapid, although most dogs required continuous treatment to prevent recurrence of clinical signs.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22570898

The dog’s pupils were dilated, and it protruded and retracted its tongue frequently while swallowing or gulping(“glugging”). The dog ingested clumps of hair and other debris lying on the floor and tore up and ingested a portion of the linoleum flooring in the kitchen.

Bouts of the behavior had increased in frequency in the 2 months preceding examination and
tended to occur in the evening….. provisional diagnosis of partial seizure disorder was made on the basis of the clinical signs.

http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.2004.225.1339

Hope this helps Good Luck

[Molzy]

Thanks for the responses!

We feed at about 6:45am and 6pm every day. They were on Merrick lamb and rice, but he is now on I/D canned food. It occurs about 4 hours after dinner, but again, not every night. And once it starts, he will do it during the day and all night as well, until he gets randomly better. We started a calendar now so I am keeping track of food, exercise and gulping and vomiting episodes to find a pattern.

I will try your suggestions for sure, thanks!

And I do have a video on my phone for our next vet visit, but I am first trying a strict week of the canned food with water to make it soupy, and nothing else. We will see how it goes.

[neezerfan]

Can you video the gulping episode next time it happens? That might help the vet figure out whats happening.

[theBCnut]

First question. Do you feed at the same time every day? How many hours after feeding does this occur? Have you tried giving multiple small meals? This does sound like a digestion issue. He sounds like he is having some kind of stomach pain.

Try multiple small meals. Try adding digestive enzymes to each meal. Try giving him a probiotic supplement. Try feeding at a different time. Try feeding at a time when he will not be able to play afterwards. Try adding water to his food. Try a grain free food.

It may take some detective work to figure this out. Sorry I don’t have any definite answers.

[Molzy]

Hello! I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this post.

We adopted an Australian Cattle Dog (Quincy) at the end of July. He is a year-and-a-half old neutered male, and we were told he was given up due to not being housebroken. I am beginning to suspect that the real reason may have be what I can only describe as his gulping disorder.

For the first two weeks at home he was totally fine. We switched him from Science Diet to Merrick Lamb and Rice, which he gets twice a day. We did have to board him about two weeks after adopting him due to a family wedding, and it was after this that he started his first episode of gulping/swallowing. Usually at night, he will begin frantically swallowing and gulping. Quincy will frantically search the house for carpet fibers to pull up, and will eventually vomit and then re-eat his food if we don’t get to it in time. This went on for about a week the first time – we brought him to the vet, they said he looked fine, and that it was probably just all the changes in his life. I did give him a gas-x one night, because he was swallowing so much air I was concerned about bloat. He ate some carpet this first time, when I fell asleep with him out of his kennel (he normally sleeps in bed with us, but when he is having these bouts I have learned to kennel him so that he can’t get into anything). He threw the carpet up about 3 days after that.

At that point, we thought he just had a sensitive stomach. So, when we switched his food again (our other dog has an iron stomach, and had done well with us rotating food, so we already had a bag of grain-free salmon from Nutrisource), we weren’t all surprised when the symptoms started up again. This time I gave him a couple of doses of pepto-bismol to ease his tummy troubles, and about 6 days later he stopped vomiting. I should note – when he vomits, it seems associated with these bursts of gulping/swallowing/licking. I thought it was him having an upset stomach and panicking about it, but the vet thought it was odd that he is willing to eat his vomit right away, and that a nauseous dog wouldn’t do that? I am beginning to think that the actual issue is the gulping/swallowing, and the vomiting may be a side effect of that, rather than the other way around.

I switched him to rice and boiled chicken, and he seemed to get better. We put him back on Merrick (chicken and rice this time, because they were out of lamb and rice), and he did fine for about a week. Then last week, he threw up again (he had had a minor bout of swallowing, but nothing like he normally gets). We fasted him for 36 hours, and brought him to the vet. Again, his stool and activity is normal. The vet gave him an anti-nausea shot, and sent us home with some anti-nausea pills and canned science diet ID (for gastro-intestinal health). He was fine for about 3 days, and then last night had one of his worst bouts of swallowing/gulping yet. He didn’t throw up at all (that I know of, I did fall asleep for a little while), but did try to eat a rope toy. I kenneled him for the night, and this morning he ate grass like crazy.

His bouts tend to start at night when we’re going to bed, and he works himself up into a frenzy. Once it starts, it tends to last for multiple days, and kenneling him seems to work to calm him down a little. Our other dog (LoJack) has been totally fine through all of this. They are never outside without my supervision, and he doesn’t get human food (except for the two occasions he has stolen it off of the counter). I haven’t been feeding treats for a few weeks now, but tonight had to give him some zukes at training class. The only other thing would be that he did start HeartGuard and Frontline, but both of those started after his initial attacks. One last thing I should mention is that he plays a LOT with my other dog, and they usually wrestle and play tug of war every night before bed, but will often stop for >2 hours before going to bed. I haven’t felt like there was any correlation between them playing and one of these attacks. When we walk he is on a gentle leader or harness, but he is on his collar when on his tie-out in the yard. I remove the dog’s collars when they’re wrestling so that they don’t hurt each other.

Has anyone dealt with similar symptoms? What did you do? My Internet searches have found that others have this issue but I haven’t found anyone who has solved it. We will probably do blood work and an X-ray next to rule out anything normal, but I want opinions from others on possible nutritional changes that could help. I refuse to switch to science diet unless I absolutely must. I’m considering trying raw, but currently scared of anything that might upset him, since I’ve been cleaning vomit for the past month it seems! I do natures variety raw with my cat, and our other dog has been on grain free nutrisource or merrick for the past year.

Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it!

[Mom2Cavs]

Merrick was one I was thinking of….there’s also Acana Ranchlands and Orijen Regional Red. I’m not sure about the size of those kibbles but I think they’re bigger than Merrick. Earthborn also has Great Plains Feast and the kibble is bigger than Merrick. On their site they might even have a kibble size chart with pics that you can look at. 4Health has a new grain free Beef formula that has fairly large size kibble. They’re made by Ainsworth. One solution to the gulping/swallowing whole would be to buy a “slowdown” bowl. I used to have one for my Shih-Poo, Desi, who inhaled any food he ate. It helped a lot. Also, you could put a rock, or ball in the bowl so the dog has to eat around it. Some people put food on a sheet pan to make the dog eat slower, as well. I hope this helps a little. 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[beaglemom]

Just wanted to share with the people I know will understand that my dogs just had their first raw meaty bones for dinner tonight! Each had a duck neck that my husband and I held the whole time, since I didn’t want any gulping. Once they both stopped playing tug of war with us, they got the idea and got down to chewing. I must admit that every single one of the questions that Hound Dog Mom posted in the original post on this thread went through my mind, haha… was that piece too big? Are they chewing enough? Etc. Aside from my tendency to worry too much, it was definitely satisfying to watch them be “true carnivores”, crunching and grinding away. They’re both happily sleeping/digesting now… I’m very hopeful it agrees with them so I can continue to increase the variety of RMBs in their diet!

[crazy4cats]

Oh boy, I hope Moose brings up something soon. I totally know what it feels like waiting and worrying. One of mine also swallowed a glove. My previous dog would occasionally chew things up, especially when young. But, I think my two now will try to eat and swallow anything! I try and keep them occupied with an occasional bully stick in a vice grip and also raw marrow bones. However, I do worry about chipped teeth with the raw bones, but so far so good.

Good Luck!

[DieselJunki]

I’ll have to try the vice grips and watch to see how well they work. I’m not sure how big he’d have to be to get a whole thigh down but I wish he would have gotten it on video. That must have been something to see. I still have a few bully sticks laying around the house as well, will definitely have to try this out on those, Moose really does love them.

Now to get a pair of big enough vice grips where Moose won’t think that might be a snack as well. I found bits of a plastic fork in his poo this morning… sigh, he must have picked that up at the campground we were at yesterday.

He locked himself in the work truck 2 mornings ago (It was running and stays running all day with the A/C on for him), well my foreman (who happens to be my boyfriend which is why Moose gets to come to work) had bought a slim jim for himself and stuck it in his door where he usually puts it. I watched in horror as Moose ate the whole thing, plastic and all. It was just as I described about him getting half of it down his throat while still chewing the other half to get it down. After he had devoured the slim jim and began working on a hat and glove we finally got the door unlocked with the antenna. He is acting normal and having regular bowl movements but I am waiting for that to come back out, I’ve looked everyday, I wouldn’t think plastic could be digested and just expected to find bits of it or a long piece in his stool eventually. So far nothing…

[crazy4cats]

Hi Patty-
It’s amazing, isn’t it? I’m sure my dogs would have tried. I was very surprised at what my pups tried to swallow when I brought them home. I knew they would try to chew everything, but I didn’t realize they would actually swallow things whole! Fortunately, they passed everything they swallowed out of one end or the other. One of them mostly threw things up and the other again, fortunately, had their items pass all the way through. I had a lot of anxiety those days and still have some even though we’ve learned to close all doors and keep most things picked up. It’s pretty difficult, though, when I have one teenage boy still at home.

I still don’t trust the dogs with a bully stick. They get one about once a week and my husband tightly grips them tightly in the grips. So far they have not got them out of the grips and we keep an eye on them.

One of my friends has a Burmese Mountain dog. (Not sure of the spelling). Her dog ate her daughter’s whole nursing bra while she was staying with mom and dad because her husband was deployed over seas. Needless to say, he ended up in surgery and has part of his intestines removed. My oh my, what we do for our dogs!

So, I do highly recommend the vise grips to anyone concerned about their dogs swallowing instead of chewing their treats or whatever it may be that fits in the grips. Skinny treats are hard to grip. But, you do still have to keep an eye on them, of course.

[theBCnut]

The person I know used them raw feeding. He has a huge Pit that swallowed a whole chicken thigh. He read about using vise grips on one of the raw feeding sites. It really worked for him. He says he used the vise grips for about three months and then he stopped. The dog learned to chew his bones. I’ve never seen the dog, but how big would he have to be to swallow a whole thigh!?!

[crazy4cats]

Hi All-
I was the one who recommended using vise grips a while back. I have two 80 lb. lab mix puppies who are big time gulpers. They are coming up on two years old in July so they are improving a little bit. When we first got them they not only chewed every thing in sight they also swallowed it. Actually there was little chewing, just swallowing. One of them has actually pooped out three or four socks. They can’t really have any toys or dog beds for fear they might swallow and get an obstruction. Same thing with chewy treats such as bully sticks. So, anyway, I read somewhere about using vise grips with chew treats in order to stop dogs from swallowing their treats whole before they chew them up. And I have to tell you, they work great. We have been using them with mostly bully sticks for about a year and no broken teeth and no bully stick obstruction. We just take them away from them when it gets down to the nub and then give them that last little piece. Believe me they want it too! You would think we never feed them when it comes to food and snacks. 🙂

[theBCnut]

My dogs tend to know what they are chewing on so if I needed that trick I don’t think it would be a problem, but for a dog that would chew on anything or a dog that is clueless, it would probably be a bad idea. Fortunately I don’t know too many of those.

[soho]

Using vise grips doesn’t sound very safe. The vise grips could cure the dog of having any teeth as well as cure the gulping!

[theBCnut]

I heard that someone cured his dog of gulping by attaching vise grips to whatever the dog was given to eat. The dog had to gnaw around the vise grips.

[DieselJunki]

So Moose is most definitely a gulper. He will have something half way down his throat almost whole and still be chewing the rest in his mouth then swallow it down. He did that to his quail last night. He also does that to his bully sticks. He chews them until they are soft, gets the soft part down his throat and continues to chew the hard part until it’s soft, then repeats the process till the whole thing is almost down his throat. I of course end up pulling it out once I see this happening which is why I no longer give him bully sticks. He does this with pigs ears but it’s not quite as bad.

How on earth do you deal with this? I would imagine he has a hard time ripping things with his front teeth as his underbite is about a half an inch longer than his top jaw.

[theBCnut]

Leave it whole. You want to make sure that she learns she has to gnaw on it. If you give her small pieces she might decide gulping it is a good idea. Some people have to hold on to it or attach vise grips or something to it to slow their dogs down to start with. They do learn to slow down and chew though.

[theBCnut]

Feeding raw meaty bones helps to make the stool harder which helps to naturally release the anal glands. You need to really watch your dog when you first start feeding bones to make sure your dog chews up the bones instead of gulping. Starting with chicken necks works well or if you have a large dog turkey necks.