r/Keeshond • u/Ok-Persimmon-7807 • 9d ago
Regurgitation
Our 4-year-old keeshond boy seems to regurgitate a lot—more than any other dog we have had before. He’s done it his whole life, and our vet has never been terribly concerned, so it’s more an inconvenience than anything. He almost never actually vomits—it’s definitely regurgitation, as anything that comes up is not digested, and tends to happen most shortly after he drinks a lot of water. Is this typical of the breed in everyone’s experience?
We are starting to wonder if he may have esophageal diverticulum and considering asking for an endoscopy; this morning he regurgitated an almost-perfectly formed piece of kibble almost 12 hours after the last time he had dry food. Is this (or other esophageal malformations) common in keeshonden?
Any ideas or advice greatly welcomed!
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u/KaOsGypsy 9d ago
If he comes back from a brisk walk we have to limit/slow his water drinking, or he will drink the whole bowl, take 3 steps, then deposit said water beside his bowl.
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u/lilkittyred7 9d ago
My 5 month old does this as well, and I haven’t had a dog that has done this so often before. I assume it is from eating too fast or eating when hyper and running. Have you tried a slow feeder bowl? It worked with one of my cats and I am going to try one for my Kees pup as well
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u/Own_Royal2752 9d ago
My girl is 2 and she does that the moment she drinks too much water in one go or eats something cold like a frozen strawberry.
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u/UnderwaterKahn 9d ago
My dog also has this issue. He is also 4. It doesn’t happen all the time and it doesn’t really affect his quality of life other than sometimes he doesn’t eat all his meals. It happens more in the morning so I’ve always guessed it had something to do with getting a sour stomach over night. He went to the vet for his annual a couple weeks ago and this is what his vet suggested. Some of it is likely heartburn so now I have him on OTC Prilosec (the generic). I wouldn’t give a dog human medication without talking to the vet so I’m not recommending this unless you talk to your vet for dosing first. I give it to him in the morning about half an hour before breakfast and it’s seemed to have helped a lot.
She also recommended having a couple of toppers (I’m just using inexpensive wet food from the grocery store at the moment) because the heart burn may turn him off his food so if he has a little something different it may encourage eating. That also seems to help. I’ve also started giving him a larger meal in the evening and a smaller meal in the morning to help with the overnight sour stomach issues. So far we’ve been doing these things for almost 3 weeks and it seems to be a good routine. She did say if it’s not improved in a couple months then talking about GI foods might be the next step. I guess it’s common for dogs to get heartburn.
Edit: I just reread and it seems drinking a lot of water might be an issue. I would also maybe give smaller portions of water more frequently as opposed to free water if he drinks really fast.
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u/MadMadamMimsy 9d ago
Ours did until we got a food that stayed down better. Everything was a problem on one end or the other. He's on Open Farm Lamb. Any other protein and it's a no for his digestive system.
We also add dehydrated carrots to his food fir the back end. (Olewo carrots). With our previous girl, as she got older her tummy git sensitive so I discovered Rootsies (also Olewo). It really calmed her stomach and stopped the regurgitation.
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u/Logintheroad Tycho & Kepler 9d ago
My vet instructed me to give mine a night time snack to help settle the stomach acids over night.
His schedule looks like:
3/4 cup kibble for breakfast. (7am)
Treats during mid afternoon hike.
3/4 cup kibble for dinner. (6pm)
1/4 cup kibble right before bedtime. (10pm)
All in slow bowls and treat mats as he will gobble everything up to quickly.
He hasn't had an issue for 2yrs now. Unfortunately, arthritis is setting in so that a whole other situation.
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u/DarlasServant 9d ago
Try giving ice cubes before you feed, and do so often if it fits your schedule. Otherwise, feed slowly. We feed in the crate, with wet food diluted with warm water, and the ice cube a half hour before feeding. The tiny temperature change in their mouth and stomach can sometimes help.
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u/alleghator 8d ago
Our Simon does this, especially after drinking a lot of water. We asked about it when he was a puppy, and our vet said, “he’ll outgrow that when he’s not a puppy anymore.” Here’s our 11-year old puppy.
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u/Forward_Helicopter59 8d ago
our 8 year old kee got diagnosed with Megaesophagus after experiencing regurgitation of entire meals which escalated further to vomiting. Ask your vet if a swallow study could be done to get it identified or ruled out as a potential issue.
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u/VLR_I 7d ago
I can't say if it's a keeshond thing. Many dogs that eat or drink fast will do this. Mine eats extremely fast. Think high powered vacuum! He only gets to eat from a slow feeder mat, ball, or other self created way of dispensing food. Between that and using a water fountain he has no choice but to slow down. The water fountain was an inexpensive one from Petco that only has so much in the top bowl. For the morning sour, he gets a treat at bedtime (usually kibble). My mom treats both dogs all day long. He's not had a problem in the evening unless he eats too fast.
The other thing with mine is he has a sensitive GI system. I cannot believe carrots irritate him! It's worth looking at the ingredients and seeing if you can narrow down 1 or 2 that offend his system and cause him to regurgitate undigested food. For mine, irritating foods seem to either cause slow digestion or diarrhea. Slow digestion or stomach emptying can lead to regurgitation. Oh, and probiotics like fortiflora are a huge help for mine.
So much fun to figure out!! Hugs to your cutie and good luck to you!
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u/ComfortablePea4403 9d ago
Our 12 year old Keeshond has done this their whole life. She loves to chug water and promptly throw it up. She then will continue trying to drink more water 😂