Why is my dog vomiting bile?
Dear Dr. Barchas,
I have found my question asked by many dog
owners on the Internet, but it is never answered
by a professional veterinarian, so I’m hoping you
can address it in this site.
For months I have seen my one-year-old Miniature
Pinscher vomit a bright yellow foam-like, while at
the same time slimy substance. It happens
about twice every month and I have not been able
to find any pattern in it. It always occurs after
a mildly violent movement of her stomach as she
tries to get it out. This morning she did it again
together with diarrhea and the only thing I could
attribute it is just a couple of popcorn pieces
that she ate yesterday (maybe about three or
four). Otherwise she is only on pet food (Nutro
Natural Choice) and is a normal, active dog.
Please advise as to what may cause this type of
vomiting. She’s not a big eater, but she does eat
little pieces of food all day, so I don’t
understand why she would be vomiting bile in the
morning.
Thank you very much,
Maria – “Lana’s” mom.
Florida
First, the good news: I very strongly doubt that Lana has a serious medical problem that is causing her to vomit in the morning. There are some major diseases that can cause young dogs to vomit bile occasionally, but they are very rare. Since you do not mention other symptoms such as chronic lethargy or failure to grow properly, I’ll bet that Lana’s overall health is fine.
If Lana is like most of the dogs and cats I see for this problem, it will be very hard to determine precisely what is causing her to vomit. In fact, I have (at the request of my clients) done very thorough diagnostic evaluations on many pets with symptoms exactly like you describe. And usually we don’t get an answer.
So, what might be going on here, and what can you do about it?
You mention that Lana only vomits in the morning. Based on your description of what she brings up, it sounds like she is vomiting bile. That means she’s vomiting when her stomach is empty.
There is a chance that the problem is caused by excess acid that accumulates in Lana’s stomach overnight. The acid can irritate the stomach, leading to vomiting. Diarrhea might occur occasionally too if the irritation spreads throughout her system.
As well, Lana might suffer from a very mild form of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD. Dogs and cats with IBD develop chronic irritation in their intestines, which may cause them vomit or have diarrhea at unpredictable intervals.
In either case, there are some simple steps you can consider. You can try giving Lana a snack or treat just before bedtime. If she has a little bit of food in her stomach during the night, less acid may develop.
Also, you may want to consider gradually switching her diet. Nutro is a fine food, and I do not think that it is at fault for this problem. However, there is a chance that the diet you are currently using simply does not agree with Lana. Therefore, changing foods (perhaps to a highly digestible “sensitive stomach” formula) may have an impact on the problem.
There are stomach calming medicines that might help with this problem, too. However, I would be very reluctant to medicate her without trying out the above recommendations first.
Finally, I should mention that there is a good chance that Lana will outgrow this problem in a year or two. Many dogs do.
You have questions. 
I was told that my dog has acid reflux and to give him Pepcid AD. Can this hurt my dog?
My 7-1/2 old Scottish Terrier is vomiting bile every morning. He started about 2 yrs. ago but only sporadically. It grew to be more often and for the past 2 weeks he has vomited bile every single morning. I have taken him to our vets both in IL and FL and they both put him on several medications and various food changes, but he does not any better. We are most concerned but don’t know what else to do. He has had MRI’s, various blood tests and a needle biopsy of his liver. The blood tests showed elevated liver enzymes, but otherwise he was normal. He appears happy and
playful.
Hi, I have a 4 year old male min pin too. He does exactly what you have described. I see some time has passed since this posting and I was wondering if you have found a remedy? Just wondering if yours is a tiny min pin as well? Mine, vomits that same yellowish, foamy, sour bile almost daily. Otherwise, he eats great, plays fine, seems normal. Any help would be great. Thanks
my bull-mastive and lab beagle mix has been vomiting yellow foam all the time and she wont gain weight she stays the same and she cant hold it in when she has to go to the bathroom i dont know what to do she has been very moody lately when our cats eat her food she growls at them and when we get onto her she growls at us so i dont know what to do can u give me some advise
My vet recommended Pepcid AC, also, and it works! I have a 44# Boxer-Pitt Mix and she had bile every day. She was on 1 pill every night after her dinner and the bile was gone within a few weeks. I kept her on that pill daily for at least a year and now for the last 2 years she’s been getting 1 pill every other day. Where your dog is a Min-Pin, he’ll probably only need 1/4 of a pill. Check with your veterinarian, of course, before doing this! This Pepcid AC is the lowest dose one.
Hi. One of my dogs does the same thing..always vomiting yellow bile in the morning, usually about twice a week. she is fine otherwise..playing and going to the bathroom okay. The weird thing is that she never did this before she had stomach surgery about 5 months ago..and she has not eaten the same since. she just picks tiny pieces of her food out over the course of the day, and has lost a large amount of weight because of it. Considering she was a 9 month old puppy at the time, this is distressing… When the vet did her surgery, he told me there were no obstructions, but she DID have a few sore ulcer-like spots on her small intestines. Considering she had survived parvo a few months earlier, we both agreed that was probably the culprit. But it still bothered me in the back of my mind…Wouldn’t those have healed already? And why, after her surgery did she stop eating normally? And now she vomits occasionally in the morning… I searched on the internet and most chalk it up as “irritated empty stomachs” or “wrong type of food”. But i did find one interesting post on this website: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/disaster/msg042026341177.html
The person says “We have a dog that suffered from what we were told was a ’sensitive stomach’ for years. She would vomit yellow bile a couple of times per week early in the morning before she ate. Through an online forum and visiting with long-time breeders, I learned just how prevalent H. Pylori bacteria (the nasty stuff that causes ulcers and some stomach cancers) is in dogs…My (former)regular vet laughed at the idea. Another vet (who is now my regular vet!) tested the dog, placed her on a course of antibiotics and Tagamet, and no more problems in over two years. She felt better than she had in a long time. I can’t believe how much more energy she had– what we thought was a minor inconvenience could have killed her if we had not looked into it. A friend’s dog died suddenly from what was later determined to be a ruptured stomach. Upon necropsy, his stomach lining was bright red and riddled with ulcers. The only sign something was wrong was occasional vomiting of yellow bile. Her other dog was promptly treated for H. Pylori and has stopped vomiting yellow bile as well.”
I wonder if the IBD the vet was talking about could be caused by this bacterium? It is an interesting thought. I am currently looking into this…as I know my pup had ulcerations before the surgery and is vomiting the yellow bile. I hope this gives some food for thought…judging from the amount of dog-owner posts online, vomiting yellow bile in the morning is a very common thing. Any thoughts/comments/info. on this? (Sorry post is solong..)
DR. Barchas, My 2 year old Rhodesian Richback sleeps as much as 15 or 16 hours a day when she is in the house.Is this normal for the breed? When she is outside she is very active with our other dogs until they all decide to have a rest. Thanks JH Tenn.
My 14 week old malamute/husky mix does this every morning and it sounds like his stomach is hollow when retching. I am going to try the bedtime snack and see how it goes
My goldendoodle was tested for everything for this as well and through a biopsy they found he had h pyloris and treated him with antibiotics and he stopped throwing up.
Ask your vet about h phyloris!
My shih tzu (14lb) gets 5mg of Pepcid twice a day which helps her tummy (1/2 of the regular strength). It won’t hurt her. You can also give your dogs rolaids. I feed her a combination of wet EN (prescription food), brown rice and chicken. She used to gag and vomit yellow bile every day but is better now. My vet never mentioned h phyloris. It is definitely something to look into. Thanks!
my lab is one years old and three days ago he got sick and has been throwing up yellow stinky stuff an he wont eat anything he only drinks a lil bit of water an he lost weight i can see his bones now someone please help me i dont know what to do for him
my dog brownie a one year old german shepard has been throwing up yellow stuff and hasnt been eatin she only drinks! what can this be? she is usually an active dog but now all she does is sleep and cant get up half the time!! im worried and i need answers
I have a 3 year old Chi-Pom that vomited bile when she was younger, but then she started up again just yesterday morning. She’s a very active girl who eats well, so I didn’t want to give her medications like I did when she was younger. Knowing that excess bile is a digestive problem, I gave her some digestive enzymes and probiotics with her food, which has seemed to help a lot. lol it even seems like she loves me even more for giving them to her! =)
Years ago, when my miniature Dachshund was a pup, her vet said to feed her more than once a day, although that was standard practice. He said when he saw vomiting of bile in small dogs, he was convinced that the issue was low blood sugar (which is now thought to be a contributor to human pregnancy morning sickness). If either of my dogs does this, and the smallest does seem to do it more often, maybe one morning a month, I give them some warmed soy milk. I warm about 4 oz. with 1/8 tsp. of sugar in it. They each get 2 oz and seem to really like it. The vomiting stops as soon as the dog drinks the soy milk, and in an hour or so, he/she eats their regular dog food. They always have dry dog food available, but when they vomit, they don’t want to eat it. Hope this helps!
My 11 year old chocolate lab has episodes about every 3 weeks where he gets diarrea and throws up yellow bile. I stop food and water for 24 hours and then start him on a course of steamed rice mixed with pumpkin pie filling. Nearly instantly he is pooping solid and acting fine. He eats Nutro dog food lamb & rice. Funny, I noticed another post mentioned the same diet. After I get his stomach settled with the rice diet I am switching foods to see.
Thanks everyone so much! I just was made aware that my 1 yr. old Rat/JR mix is doing the same thing in the mornings.
All of your comments are very helpful and give me a sense of relief!
my 4 year old minature jack russel terrier keps bringing up yellow vile i dont know why and niether do my family we dont know weather its something hes ate or has got a problem what do i do?
I have 5 y/o miniature dachshund… she has started recently vomiting what appears to be brown bile in her crate during the day. She eats around 6:30-7 in the evening, some times as late as 8 or 9 if there is food left in her bowl, and she eats a cup of food. So she doesn’t have trouble at night. I take her out in the morning, then she’s crated 3 days out of the week while my husband and I are at both at work. Just recently she started the vomiting, and I suspect it’s from her not having an empty stomach… this article has been helpful. I’m going to try giving her part of her food in the morning before I leave for work… hopefully this will help!
Linda C Have been reading all the comments on this site by so many concerned owners of different pets and yes it did relieve me a bit . My 7 yr old Yorkie who is 8 1/2 lbs had been vomiting a yellow sticky bile every morning, before eating anything for the past 3 days. She did vomit again tonight as I was late getting in and feeding her. The vet has had her on rice and hamburg boiled and now is giving her the pepsid one quarter of a 10 mg tablet twice a day. Seems everyone is right the empty stomach thing. I am not familiar with h pyloris, but will check it out. I will also try giving her a light snack before bedtime. I will also mention these ideas to my vet. She did the whole blood test routine yesterday and found only the billy reubin to be slightly high but nothing significant. She usually is like a goat and almost never has vomited, so this is a real issue to me, she has been a bit listless at times, but who wouldn’t be not feeling well. Please keep the comments coming and future updates everyone. It takes the edge off being he lpless. I lost 2 yorkies to other issues within a month of each other and fear the worst everytime she gets under the weather for any reason. Thanks, thanks again