# Tiny vomiting, sometimes with food, when he drinks lots of water?



## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

*Tiny spit-up, maybe regurgitation, sometimes with food, when he drinks lots of water?*

Okay, so I just wanted some opinions. I brought this up with my vet and she said it was probably just backward sneezing-- which is a thing Chihuahuas apparently do that sounds scary as freak and is totally normal. :scratch:
After comparing the two sounds though, they are a little different. He does backward sneeze plenty, but there is also this thing he does right after he drinks a lot of water or drinks really fast. It's a similar but slightly different noise and is followed by him spitting up a small puddle of goo, probably saliva and water mixed. It sometimes contains a few pieces of kibble in various stages of sogginess, but not always. The puddle is usually pretty tiny, but on rare occasions when he downed a TON it was a fair size.

Should I be worried? Is this common for Chis? is his throat / stomach just a little too tiny, causing him to cough some of it back up?

Thanks guys! x:


EDIT: I'm having trouble deciphering whether it is vomit or regurgitation. Sometimes he acts like he knows it's coming, with heaving etc... sometimes it's just sudden-- like this morning when I picked him up and he just randomly spit up on me or when he just randomly spit up while he was on his puppy pad because I had told him to go potty. There was no retching before-hand in either of those cases. I'm also pretty sure it's not all of his stomach contents.... just the water, sometimes with a few pieces of kibble but definitely not all of the food in his stomach.


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Are you feeding the kibble dry?
Try feeding it soaked


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

It is dry Nutro Ultra for Toy Breeds, with one Nutro berry treat very carefully crumbled up into it with any large berry pieces removed to prevent choking. ( I gave him a piece with a larger berry piece in it once and he had trouble swallowing it and started hacking trying to get it out of his throat. ) I will try it soaked this evening. I know you use warm water... do you pre-soak it before the meal? and for how long? 
Do you think the rough texture could be irritating him or something?


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Dry kibble is not good for any dog, adding water will make it easier to digest.
When dry kibble hits the stomach it soaks up liquid and swells. Cheaper kibbles made from plant based materials will swell up a lot more than better kibbles with a higher meat content.
It also keeps them in a permanent state of dehydration, so they drink large quantities of water to compensate.
Just add the water five minutes before you serve the food, you can't keep soaked food, so treat it as fresh once it is soaked (keep it in the fridge and throw out after a day or so)
Alternatively look for a good quality food that isn't kibble. There are some great canned, frozen and dehydrated foods on the market now


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

Thanks! He is a picky eater, so I am not sure if he will take other foods; he loved canned wet food though, so I think he will still eat it pre-soaked. The food he was being fed by his previous owner was very bad for him, full of filler and poor ingredients, so I was trying to find a healthier food. I did some research, but it's so hard to tell what's good and what's just bull / promotion.... do you think the food soaked would be okay, or is there another food you'd more suggest?

When we first got him, he would have nothing to do with meat or cheese... when he took to the berries, we decided to try a more fruits and veggies diet just to get him eating SOMETHING.... but now that we have fixed his eating habits, maybe he would be more open? Ultra does have meat in it listed as the very first ingredient, but I'm not sure if it's enough. 

We buy his food from petsmart right now, so it would be helpful if they carry it there-- but we have a lot of health food stores here, some of which have small dog isles which may carry the foods if Pet Smart doesn't have them. I'd be willing to hunt and could talk to the hubbie about paying a little extra if the food offers nutrition that is worth it.


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

Also, do you think that's what is causing the spit-up then? Or do you think they are two separate issues? I want to make sure he is a good healthy boy who can live as long and happy of a life as possible.


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Personally I wouldn't feed kibble at all, it is too processed and too far way from 'real' food.
The one you are feeding isn't bad though as kibbles go, Dog Food Advisor gives it 4.5 stars. Nutro Ultra Dog Food | Review and Rating

Increasing the moisture content should stop the regurgitation and cuts down the chances of bloat.
I would try and feed a good variety rather than relying on one brand. As long as they are introduced carefully it is better to offer several types of food, different protein sources, wet as well as dry, fresh as well as processed.


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

Great! and a helpful website too! 
I will check it out and see what I can find in the stores that is on the positive list. I think a mix of foods would be perfectly up his alley, and allow the fruit/veggie side to entice him while also getting him to eat some additional meats alongside it. I'll soak the food and try to get some more sources into the mix; I'll give the soaked food a few days and leave some feedback on it.... the mixed food might be slower depending on time allowance, but I'll get to it ASAP.

thanks for the feedback!


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Keeping meals interesting by having plenty of variety overall is the best way to stop dogs becoming fussy.
I certainly wouldn't want to eat the same thing for every single meal, and dogs are the same.
Mine get something different at every meal (I feed raw) and they are all very enthusiastic eaters lol (Read greedy little piglets) Definitely no fussy Chis here


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

Oh! and one more thing! Is tap water okay?
I was confident in the safety of the tap water at my old home.... but I'm not sure if the inner part of the city uses the same source as the small towns on the outer limits did. Since we moved here, my husband is constantly asking if I think the water tastes like Chlorine.... I don't worry hard enough about subjecting ourselves to it, but I worry more about subjecting animals to it since they are generally more sensitive.... especially such a tiny pup.... do you think using a filter or getting bottled would be better? or do you think tap is okay?

Given how environmental and natural most of the folks in our city are, I would think they would make a pretty conscious effort to avoid anything incredibly harmful... but one never knows these days, not to mention I am pretty sure that businesses like apartment complexes can have varying filtration habits... :/



I just gave him his first pre-soaked bowl, and he still ate all of it. He spat up a little at first, but I think it was because he tried to scarf it down and maybe couldn't do so the way he had with the dry pieces.


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

My chi, Zarita, has had regurgitation since puppyhood. She wouldn't vomit, with the heaving etc, it just came up. She takes Pepcid for it, vet recommended. It does help. She was evaluated as a 2-3 yr old for this at a specialty clinic who agreed with my vet's ideas. All tests were negative!


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

thanks Susan, that is encouraging! If it persists I will have a vet check him out. I am glad your girl has been doing well though.


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## Momo (Nov 9, 2015)

Mine does the same thing, but he likes to drink a lot of water at once. Sometimes he will just have a sneezing fit afterwards, sometimes if it's in the morning on an empty stomach he will throw up some of the water. He used to be worse drinking about half a bowl right after eating dinner and then throw up afterwards while running around the house. Luckily he doesn't do that anymore.


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## MelodyoftheForest (Sep 11, 2015)

I agree with soaking the kibble. I like to feed enough water with the food that my animals don't drink water much. I used to put the kibble and the same amount (by volume) of water in a dish, cover it, and put it in the fridge. I would feed twice a day and after each meal I would prep the next. This gets it very soft and mushy, so it makes a good, less expensive alternative to feeding wet food.

I also just have to say that this made me think of Hilary Harmar's Chihuahua book. She has a long and fascinating section on the history of Chihuahuas and other Mexican dog breeds. She spent time in Mexico in the 1950s, and her observations of what made a Chi a Chi are very interesting. Your post made me think of this because one of the distinguishing characteristics she listed was a peculiar noise they make when they drink water! 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## n'rahbie (Jan 18, 2016)

Thanks for the feedback and the sources! 
That sounds like a really fascinating read-- I'll have to track down her writings! 

I got his food fairly soaked yesterday evening and used a little more water today as well-- this time to the point that there was a little pool at the bottom. He was a little more hesitant to take it this time, but still did great! So far he has been doing better... so fingers crossed. 

He has not gone back to absolutely gulping his water yet either, so maybe it will solve that issue as well! If he started getting too eager again, I might try raising the dish just lightly enough that he has to put a little effort into getting the water so it will slow him down. I'll avoid this if I can though!


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## rla1996 (Feb 3, 2016)

My Drifter is 10 months old and had the same type of issue. I called it urpping up water, because with him is seemed like he'd drink a lot very quickly then "burp up" water shortly after. I went onto Amazon and bought him a Contech Drink Better water bowl. Its a water bowl with a float in it and has a small hole in the center of the float. It allows the dog to drink water without gulping. I also started only letting him drink for 30 seconds at a time wait a few minutes then 30 seconds again. At the 30 second mark I'd tell him "that's enough". I did this for about 2 months. Now he drinks from the bowl on his own, without me telling him "that's enough", and he no longer urrps up water. I'm not sure if he outgrew the issue, or learned to drink less at a time by me telling him to stop but he doesn't do it anymore. 

***On a side note: its also stopped our boxer from Dribbling water all over the kitchen floor when he drinks. He used to stand up with the last mouthful of water without swallowing it. That's stopped because he can no longer get a mouth full of water at once.


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