chunks

Hey! I hope somebody can answer a question. I don't think it's a biggie - but lately Max has been sort of coughing up chunks of food. It's not really like he's vomiting - it's usually several hours after he eats, and the food comes up mostly undigested, like maybe it's just been sitting at the back of his throat.

The first time was a couple of days ago - we were running down the stairs, so his head was lower than his stomach. We stopped really quickly and pieces of food just kind of fell out. They were pretty solid (ie cleaned up with vacuum cleaner, not nop).

Could this be an esophogus problem?

Sometimes Leather gets food stuck in between her lips and her gums. Could that be it? Have you noticed him eating grass or acting odd?

I'm sorry I can't tell you what causes it, but I can tell you that Angus used to do it when we fed him Pedigree many years ago.
Hours later he would throw up piles of unchewed & undigested food (and the food had doubled in size). Ever since then we have never bought low grade food. I just think it doesn't digest well.
But that's just my 2 cents.

Kito has been doing the same thing, in fact I was going to post about it.
Does Max make a gagging sound too, and nothing comes out??
It has happened a few times lately, and he is eating Nutro and Sensible Choice (from Royal Canin), and it hasn't been switched.
Hubby thinks it's because I give him a little canned food with his dry:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Either way, I'm taking Abbey for her checkup on Friday, and was planning to ask my vet about it.

problem. A way to tell would be to have Xrays made of the esophagus. A possible solution to your problem is to make the food mushy by adding water. If there is a constriction then that would give the food a better chance at passage.

This is not to be confused with the dog gagging with nothing coming back up- probable cause a "collasping thrachea", or even chronic bronchitis.

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Originally posted by dragondawg
A possible solution to your problem is to make the food mushy by adding water.

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You have to be careful when doing that though. It's pretty risky unless the dog eats it fast and right away. You'd be surprised how quickly the bacteria accumulates when you mix dry food with water..

I’d ask your vet, but I personally don’t think it’s a problem. Chester seems to go through phases where he does this very thing (often), but then it may not happen again for a year . I don’t know what it’s caused by, but it seems to come and go with Chester at least.

Hopefully it's just a phase - but if it's not I'll try adding water about 10 minutes before he eats. I want to try that before taking him to the vet.

We feed Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul dog food, which is supposedly just about the highest quality you can get. So it's not a problem of low-grade dog food.

He never gags - it just sort of unexpectedly comes out. I don't even think he knows it's coming. He'll be running around acting hyper then suddenly it's just there.

Wolfsoul, yes he has been eating grass, but he's been doing it since we got him. Every time we go for a hike, both he and Jake eat a little grass. Otherwise they're fine.

He is taking antibiotics for his porcupine attack - maybe that has something to do with it??

Rocky has been spitting up chunks of food since he was
a puppy.
I had an x-ray taken but the vet said it looked fine,
and since Rocky maintains a good weight the vet
was not concerned, so I stopped worrying.
I switched dog foods twice, (both foods high quality)
and his current dog food he spits up much less.

I also feed him 2 meals instead of one and add
warm water.
We still do not let him get excited after he eats,
or it comes up.

If Max starts loosing weight etc. and he spits
up often, I would bring it to the vets attention.

Nebo has done that a couple of times. He'll just be acting normal, and I turn around and there's puke. Well, it's really not puke, just like chunks of dog food or treats and a bit of water. I've never seen him really gag it just kind of comes out...

It's happened maybe 2-3 times, and he's never acted sick at all before or after. The one time was right after a very long and winding car ride, and another was after playing, so I suspect that had something to do with it...

Yeah - when Max does it, it's always after he's been running around or playing.

Since he's at risk for gastric torsion, I feed him twice a day and make him rest for at least 1/2 hour after he eats. The food never comes up until several hours after he eats it.

But it's comforting to know that it's pretty common and all your dogs are doing fine.