# Empty stomach vomiting?



## Harmonybear (Oct 24, 2007)

I know that some dogs, especially toy breeds like Luna, will vomit on an empty stomach. This is because their stomachs have too much acid in them.

My question is how do you _tell_ if that's the reason your dog is throwing up? Luna has thrown up twice this past week in the middle of the night, about 8 or 9 hours after her last meal. Both times she was throwing up just bile, with a bit of hair in it. The first time, we gave her just a tiny handful of food, and she was fine. This time, we didn't give her any food. She threw up again 4.5 hours later.

Should we be feeding her closer to bedtime? Should I give her breakfast this morning? I'm boiling some chicken and white rice just in case.

Just for the record, we already have a vet appt scheduled for tomorrow (for shots), so I'm not going to call them unless it gets really bad. No need to see them two days in a row unless it's serious.

Thanks so much.

Edited to add: Luna is certainly acting _hungry_. She keeps going to the place where she eats, then going to where the chicken is boiling, then to the trash can. Now she's on my lap and frantically trying to get out so she can go beg again.


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## rogueslg71 (Dec 6, 2007)

my lhasa apso throws up when she hasnt eaten in a while, which makes me worry when she skips meals. i try to give her a small biscuit in the morning before i leave to 'hold her over' and that seems to work. theres really no way i know for sure thats why shes vomitting, but i guess that is why because when i make sure she eats a regularly (even if its a snack biscuit or some of her dry food), she doesnt throw up. 

if you feed her only once a day maybe you could try to split the same amount into 2 smaller meals and you can feed her closer to bed time too. i normally feed arisu at around 7-8 pm and then bed time is 10 pm and she does fine. i also heard that dogs sleep better on a full stomach, dont know if its true or not but arisu has no problem rolling over and sleeping like a baby at night!


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

If your dog is under 6 months it would be best to feed three times per day. After 6 months they can usually go with two meals per day. Small dogs are prone to hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. My dogs get fed at 6AM and about 5PM, and seem to do fine. I also leave out an interactive toy that you fill with kibble. As they roll the ball the kibble comes out of a hole in the ball. It's good exercise and it helps with a bit of snacking between meals.


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## Annamarie (Oct 14, 2007)

also watch how many treats she gets. my min pin will skip meals eat grass and throw up spittle when he gets too many treats. we pretty much have to feed him his dog food and only one tiny treat a day.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

My male (Standard Poodle) will throw up bile in the mornings unless he's given a snack before bed. I give him a couple of spoonfuls of cottage cheese, or plain live culture yogurt.


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2007)

our dog when she was a pupy used to do that too, and the vet told us that maybe its because she didn't get enough food, often enough. We had been trying to get her to 2 times a day, and she had been doing 3. We did slowly wean her off of 3 times a day, and when we tried the same with 2 to 1 times a day, she started it up again. SO we decided that feeding her twice a day was better. Granted she is a bigger dog, about 50 lbs, but she was the runt of the litter, and has always been a little bit on the weak stomached side. 

Sometimes when she gets too many treats, even when we are trying to TRAIN her it gets too much for her and she gets very "gassy".


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## Alpha (Aug 24, 2006)

Roxy was a "morning puker". Usually I try to feed them late at night, only a few hours before going to bed and if they're hungry and fed earlier, Roxy gets a cup or two of strawberry (low aspertame) yogurt and that seems to work just fine.

I'm not sure if a vet can "diagnose" it as a problem, but it's best to rule other more serious problems out first.

If feeding her a snack before bed stops the puking, then I guess you can only assume that that's the problem and the fix!

That's how I figured it out with Roxy. Someone had mentioned that feeding her a snack before bed time may help, we did it and it worked.


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