Throwing up after meals

[sriley]

I have two males pups...one is three weeks older than the other. Sarge, my youngest boy, has occasionally been throwing up after his meals. I know it's nothing serious as Sarge has been assessed by a vet. This isn't a constant problem, but when he does get sick, it's always shortly after meals (usually within 5 or 10 minutes) and the food comes back up the same way it went down -- whole pieces of kibble. I feed both pups at the same time and their dishes are side by each. Is Sarge just gulping his food down because he feels he's competing with Chief? I always watch them closely when they eat to ensure that one doesn't try to get the other pup's food. I've noticed that whenever I supplement their dry kibble with raw, he never gets sick. I'm wondering if the moisture from the raw forces him to slow down when he's eating since the raw tends to stick to the dish. I really don't want to start feeding raw at every meal, but I hate to see Sarge get sick. I'm feeding them Orijen Large Breed Puppy. Any thoughts on why Sarge might be getting sick? My instincts tell me he's just eating too fast, but I'm interesting in hearing other theories from other Boxer owners who have experienced something like this.

[kayboxer]

With the raw it takes longer to chew up the meat and bone so he isn't just gulping it down. He is probably just gulping down his kibble too fast. You might try speading it out on a cookie sheet, or putting a ball in his bowl so he has to move it around to get to the food and can't eat quite as fast. My oldest used to do this, I did the cookie sheet method and it worked for us. Good luck!

[bdivell]

my guy would eat so fast he would throw up , i just break it up into 3 meals 1 cup each meal before i was feeding 2 with 1.5 each
he hasnt thrown up since since i have changed his meal plan

[gmacleod]

It may be too-fast eating, or it may be that this dog just doesn't tolerate kibble very well (which is actually not that unusual - a fully dehydrated diet is FAR from the easiest or most natural thing in the world for his digestive system to cope with).

Things you could try:

• slow down his speed of eating, by either putting large heavy balls/rocks in his food bowl, trying a specialist bowl designed to slow speed of eating, or ditching the food bowl altogether in favour of spreading the kibble out on a cookie sheet or a towel which will force him to eat it bit by bit;
• when you can't feed raw (keep in mind that it is a seriously beneficial addition to the diet, not just there to make the food more appealing), then you might try pre-moistening his kibble, so that he is not having to cope with dehydrated food (note: this is NOT suitable for kibble preserved with citric acid, but any other preservative should not be a problem);
• dump the kibble in favour of better quality and more natural food (that is, hydrated food, whether raw or homecooked).

[HostelDog]

We had a similar problem with our pup and the vet advised us to spilt her feeds into 5 small meals a day (she was previously getting 4). This worked for us and she now vomits only occasionaly, for example if she has a 'mad one' soon after eating, which is to be expected i guess!