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3 months old toy poodle puppy pukes😭

3436 Views 54 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  Dechi
Hi everyone.First time using the app. I’m so worried right now and it’s very early in the morning, I didn’t know if I should go to the vet right now or wait for a bit longer.
My soon to be exactly 3 months old (in 5 days) toy poodle puppy pukes around 5 o’clock in the morning. It started a few days ago, she puked something that looked like undigested food and after an hour she puked again but this time it was yellowish liquid/white foam. So we went to the vet, they did some tests. She doesn’t have the parvovirus,infection in blood or basically anything that could cause a puppy to puke. The vet said that the only thing he didn’t do to check was endoscopy and since puppies might just puke sometimes, endoscopy is not needed atm.He also said that I don’t need to worry, and I should just feed her more during the day,and also gave us probiotic gel. But yesterday morning, she gagged and puked a tiny bit of yellowish liquid again. I thought that it might be happening because she is been hungry for too long so I fed her in tiny portions frequently for the rest of the day. And before bedtime I gave her extra kibbles.
Now this morning, around 5 o’clock, she puked muddy looking food, but she plays around, acts normal and still wants to eat and hasn’t lost her appetite. After puking I let her go out of the crate and she played, pooped completely normal and she slept again after an hour, so it seems like she doesn’t have anything else going on. And I don’t know why this is happening but considering how young she is, I just worry a lot. She’s still not done with vaccinations.
Do you guys have any advice or any idea why this might be happening? And what should I do to prevent this from happening again? Maybe she doesn’t like her food? I hope you share your experiences and suggestions with me😥
I’ll definitely call the vet but I don’t know if I should just rush to the clinic right now.
(She eats royal canin mini starter)
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Hi,

Unless she's continuously vomiting, I don't think the ER vet is necessary but definitely a call or visit again to the regular vet. It's true that some puppies will vomit with some regularity. The yellowish, foamy, frothy substance is bile. This can happen when their tummy is empty and gastric juices aggravate her GI system. For that, my vet had suggested giving a small portion of the days kcal/feeding portion shortly before bedtime.

How many meals a day are you giving her and when each day? I haven't read the hypoglycemia sticky thread in a while and I don't think this is the case, assuming your vet went over that with you, but it's worth looking thru that. If the food is what the breeder was feeding, then it's not likely to be the cause. If her food was changed not long before this started, or if it was changed but not transitioned slowly, that might be a factor.

The reassuring things are that she's otherwise acting normally.
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It's so hard to say when it's time to rush to the vet. I'm sorry. I wish I could make that decision easier for you. I know it's extra scary with such a small puppy.

Did the vet discuss hypoglycemia with you so you'd know the signs?

I will say that my mini Gracie had frequent morning vomiting aka bilious vomiting, but finding the right food (including treats) for her and giving her a bedtime snack really helped, as did avoiding all morning activity until she'd eaten a little breakfast. Is it possible your puppy is waking up and getting restless enough to trigger vomiting?

Peggy gets a 1/4 cup of kibble in her crate at bedtime, but Gracie did better with bland cereal, like Cheerios or puffed rice. (I'm not recommending this—in fact, one vet was rather horrified—but over time you figure out what works best for your dog.) I also have always ensured my dogs have 24/7 access to fresh water.
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Hi,

Unless she's continuously vomiting, I don't think the ER vet is necessary but definitely a call or visit again to the regular vet. It's true that some puppies will vomit with some regularity. The yellowish, foamy, frothy substance is bile. This can happen when their tummy is empty and gastric juices aggravate her GI system. For that, my vet had suggested giving a small portion of the days kcal/feeding portion shortly before bedtime.

How many meals a day are you giving her and when each day? I haven't read the hypoglycemia sticky thread in a while and I don't think this is the case, assuming your vet went over that with you, but it's worth looking thru that. If the food is what the breeder was feeding, then it's not likely to be the cause. If her food was changed not long before this started, or if it was changed but not transitioned slowly, that might be a factor.

The reassuring things are that she's otherwise acting normally.
Thank you so much for the reply! This morning she puked the food, not the yellowish liquid, I’m assuming it was what I fed her before the bedtime. If I don’t feed her before the bedtime then she pukes the bile, so I don’t really know what to do.. I normally feed her three times a day: 7 am,1 pm,7 pm. Each meal is 1/8 of the measurement cup.
Recently I started to divide meals and feed her every two hours in tiny portions + a bedtime snack. At this point I’m so confused, I don’t really know if this is not enough for her or maybe it’s too much.
It's so hard to say when it's time to rush to the vet. I'm sorry. I wish I could make that decision easier for you. I know it's extra scary with such a small puppy.

Did the vet discuss hypoglycemia with you so you'd know the signs?

I will say that my mini Gracie had frequent morning vomiting aka bilious vomiting, but finding the right food (including treats) for her and giving her a bedtime snack really helped, as did avoiding all morning activity until she'd eaten a little breakfast. Is it possible your puppy is waking up and getting restless enough to trigger vomiting?

Peggy gets a 1/4 cup of kibble in her crate at bedtime, but Gracie did better with bland cereal, like Cheerios or puffed rice. (I'm not recommending this—in fact, one vet was rather horrified—but over time you figure out what works best for your dog.) I also have always ensured my dogs have 24/7 access to fresh water.
We didn’t specifically talk about hypoglycemia with the vet, but if it’s diagnosed by taking a blood sample, they took one and it was completely clear.
She wakes up to puke, at five in the morning. She pukes while she is still in her crate so I don’t think it’s the physical activity. I’m questioning if I’m feeding her the perfect amount. Because yesterday morning she puked the yellowish liquid which means she had an empty stomach, but this morning she puked the food she ate before she slept.
She is nearly three months old, she weighs 1.5kgs. I feed her three times a day, each meal 1/8-2/8 of the measurement cup.
Thanks a lot for the reply. I am really worried and it helps to hear opinions from experienced people. I’ll definitely research hypoglycaemia and see if she has other symptoms.
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Gracie's morning pukes were sometimes pure bile, sometimes undigested food.

Serving size will depend on the brand and formula of food you're feeding, so it's best to look at the label and use that number as a starting point. Then you monitor her weight and hunger levels to ensure she's not getting too much or too little. (I personally like to give puppies as much as they want, assuming they don't have any issue with wolfing food or gorging themselves.)

I looked at the online feeding guide for Royal Canin Mini Starter, but it only goes up to 8 weeks. And the description states it's only intended for that very early period of growth.

It's possible it's just too rich now for your little girl. Have you purchased her next stage of food so you can begin slowly transitioning her?
Gracie's morning pukes were sometimes pure bile, sometimes undigested food.

Serving size will depend on the brand and formula of food you're feeding, so it's best to look at the label and use that number as a starting point. Then you monitor her weight and hunger levels to ensure she's not getting too much or too little. (I personally like to give puppies as much as they want, assuming they don't have any issue with wolfing food or gorging themselves.)

I looked at the online feeding guide for Royal Canin Mini Starter, but it only goes up to 8 weeks. And the description states it's only intended for that very early period of growth.

It's possible it's just too rich now for your little girl. Have you purchased her next stage of food so you can begin slowly transitioning her?
The breeder and the vet didn’t say anything about that at all! I think this might be it ,thank you so much, I’ll ask the vet for the next stage of food. Thanks again.
If this is happening every day, my first thought would be the food that she’s on - maybe try a bland diet of chicken and rice for two days and see if it still happens on this? I know everyone does it differently, but I would also still be feeding 4 meals a day for a 3 month old toy poodle just because they’re so small (and then transition to 3 meals at around the 4 month mark). When Noodle needs a bland diet, I usually do about 30g of chicken and rice per meal at roughly 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm, then a tiny bit before bed (but Noodle is a little oversized so if you have a tiny toy you may need less). Hope this helps!
I would change her food. Food intolerance can cause a dog to vomit. Since dogs are most often allergic/intolerant to meat, try a different protein. Chicken and beef are often problematic. You could try fish, like salmon, or a different meat.
If this is happening every day, my first thought would be the food that she’s on - maybe try a bland diet of chicken and rice for two days and see if it still happens on this? I know everyone does it differently, but I would also still be feeding 4 meals a day for a 3 month old toy poodle just because they’re so small (and then transition to 3 meals at around the 4 month mark). When Noodle needs a bland diet, I usually do about 30g of chicken and rice per meal at roughly 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm, then a tiny bit before bed (but Noodle is a little oversized so if you have a tiny toy you may need less). Hope this helps!
It doesn’t happen everyday but nowadays it’s for sure that she has an upset tummy so it might be a good idea to try a bland diet. Thank you for sharing your own solutions. I hope Noodle is doing amazing! Thank you so much again.
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I would change her food. Food intolerance can cause a dog to vomit. Since dogs are most often allergic/intolerance to meat, try a different protein. Chicken and beef are often problematic. You could try fish, like salmon, or a different meat.
I will definitely start researching for food. From what everyone’s saying I think it’s the best if I should just see how it’ll be like with a different kibble. Thank you so much!
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Update:
We went to see the vet because she puked again right after eating. Vet actually couldn’t find a proper reason for the case, but she said that dobby’s immune system should get stronger. Poor thing had to have two shots, one for immune system and one for nausea and puking. After we came home she was breathing so fast, it was super concerning, I thought she was having an allergic reaction or something, so I sent a video to the vet again and she said that it might be because she’s got so afraid. After laying down with her and petting her constantly, and also rubbing her paws with some water just in case it’s because of the heat, she’s better, breathing fine right now. But it took her an hour to get better. Vet said she’ll sleep most of the day probably, and also gave us canned food for today and maybe for tomorrow.
About the vitamin shots, she is supposed to take two more of them, one on Saturday and another one on Thursday. But after seeing how she reacted (shaking terribly, breathing super fast) I don’t think i want her to have them. But since it’s what the vet says, I’m sure she knows much more than I do. But I’m still super confused about that as well..
I really hope her puking stops and whatever’s causing this ends soon. I don’t want any pets to be sick and in pain.
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Yeah, so I had a similar experience right when my Basil was 12 weeks too (Spoo) of trial and error to figure out what I needed to do differently

-First puke (~6:30am) on our morning walk, nasty yellow bile stuff. Google said it could be because she's not eating enough. Okay, bump up her food, I agree that I wasn't feeding her my Dr's recommended 1 1/2 cups 3x/day. She wasn't clearing her bowl so it didn't make sense to me to over-feed her (insert parent guilt)
-Second puke ~1 week later, chicken, her normal kibble, soft carrots from the garden - all normal food in her diet. I concluded she ate it too fast (because Dad made a too delicious breakfast for his spoiled baby girl, of course), so now I switched to a slow feeder (like the ones on Amazon) and brought the volume down a little. She had a play-date in an hour, so I just gave her 1/4-1/2 cup of kibble and nothing came back up after. Okay.
-Third puke, yellow frothy - 8:30am @ ~79 degrees after a hard fetch session - I concluded it might be heat related.. okay, be more mindful to take more breaks and drink more water. This was scary to me because she wouldn't eat for ~4 hours after our hard morning exercise session and just wanted to sleep in the cold bathroom. I thought she would do anything for chicken, but she wasn't eating. So of course "the worst case scenarios" run through my head. She ended up getting her appetite back around 1pm after hand-feeding her chicken, but I was still worried.

So by the next day after her 3rd puke, we were in for our Dr's check-in for vaccines and I'm just come with a whole list of panic-striken-I've-already-played-the-worst-case-scenario and I'm on the brink of a nasty cry (maybe you've felt the same).

My Dr consoled me, said I'm doing my best, and that it's not uncommon for puppies to puke.

It's been about 5 weeks and Basil hasn't had a mysterious throw-up since.... (She ate a dead beetle under grandpa's "supervision" recently, but that's not related to this.)

So, I'm willing to bet that you're doing your best and it will eventually stop... I just can't explain why. My puppy stopped puking shrug so maybe your will too. I know it's scary.
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Beckie has had many similar episodes and they were most likely caused by food intolerance. I could never foresee when they would happen. It’s been 3 years and I still haven’t found the cause but I’m very actively trying to find out, We’re seeing a dermatologist soon and she’s been on a strict food diet for the summer, because she had an episode in June.

Hopefully your pup gets better soon !
Yeah, so I had a similar experience right when my Basil was 12 weeks too (Spoo) of trial and error to figure out what I needed to do differently

-First puke (~6:30am) on our morning walk, nasty yellow bile stuff. Google said it could be because she's not eating enough. Okay, bump up her food, I agree that I wasn't feeding her my Dr's recommended 1 1/2 cups 3x/day. She wasn't clearing her bowl so it didn't make sense to me to over-feed her (insert parent guilt)
-Second puke ~1 week later, chicken, her normal kibble, soft carrots from the garden - all normal food in her diet. I concluded she ate it too fast (because Dad made a too delicious breakfast for his spoiled baby girl, of course), so now I switched to a slow feeder (like the ones on Amazon) and brought the volume down a little. She had a play-date in an hour, so I just gave her 1/4-1/2 cup of kibble and nothing came back up after. Okay.
-Third puke, yellow frothy - 8:30am @ ~79 degrees after a hard fetch session - I concluded it might be heat related.. okay, be more mindful to take more breaks and drink more water. This was scary to me because she wouldn't eat for ~4 hours after our hard morning exercise session and just wanted to sleep in the cold bathroom. I thought she would do anything for chicken, but she wasn't eating. So of course "the worst case scenarios" run through my head. She ended up getting her appetite back around 1pm after hand-feeding her chicken, but I was still worried.

So by the next day after her 3rd puke, we were in for our Dr's check-in for vaccines and I'm just come with a whole list of panic-striken-I've-already-played-the-worst-case-scenario and I'm on the brink of a nasty cry (maybe you've felt the same).

My Dr consoled me, said I'm doing my best, and that it's not uncommon for puppies to puke.

It's been about 5 weeks and Basil hasn't had a mysterious throw-up since.... (She ate a dead beetle under grandpa's "supervision" recently, but that's not related to this.)

So, I'm willing to bet that you're doing your best and it will eventually stop... I just can't explain why. My puppy stopped puking shrug so maybe your will too. I know it's scary.
I’m so glad that Basil stopped puking now. It really is scary when your pup is having an issue because of an unknown reason and no matter what you do, you’re just not able to prevent it from happening 100%. I am so anxious and she’s constantly under my supervision but even when I am watching her all the time, I can’t help but think that something is wrong with her and every sound that she makes that’s slightly weird, I find myself contemplating if I should call the vet already.
Your situation with puking made me feel more hopeful though, I hope it’s something that Dobby will grow out of as well. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It means a lot.
Beckie has had many similar episodes and they were most likely caused by food intolerance. I could never foresee when they would happen. It’s been 3 years and I still haven’t found the cause but I’m very actively trying to find out, We’re seeing a dermatologist soon and she’s been on a strict food diet for the summer, because she had an episode in June.

Hopefully your pup gets better soon !
Although I’m deeply sorry for Beckie, it feels nice to know that I’m not alone and that many dogs/puppies actually puke for no reason at all. I really think it’s about her food as well, maybe some dogs are just more sensitive than others when it comes to what they’re eating. So far Dobby hasn’t been a food motivated dog and that’s completely okay, as long as there isn’t an underlying cause.
Hope our lovely pets get better soon and thanks a lot for the reply.
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Do you moisten the kibble? Given how tiny a small puppy's tummy is I suspect simply the swelling of the kibble as digestion starts could be enough to induce vomiting. I would be tempted to move her to a wet food, feeding at least three times a day for another few months.
Do you moisten the kibble? Given how tiny a small puppy's tummy is I suspect simply the swelling of the kibble as digestion starts could be enough to induce vomiting. I would be tempted to move her to a wet food, feeding at least three times a day for another few months.
She’s having wet food right now. I hope she doesn’t completely quit on having kibbles. Thank you so much for recommendation.
Do remember to transition food slowly, as long as she's keeping most of it down. Otherwise you might trigger diarrhea, which (especially when combined with vomiting) could quickly lead to dehydration. The one time I broke this rule was when Peggy couldn't keep any of the food down that her breeder sent home with her. After a few days of that, I put her on straight boiled white chicken as a tummy reset, and then slowly added a little new kibble to each chicken meal until eventually it was just the new kibble. Of course, toys do have that extra risk of hypoglycemia, so best to consult with your vet on diet changes.

And I'd be worried, too, about that reaction to the shot. My mini was once given an overdose by a vet, who miscalculated for her small size. Don't assume vets can't make mistakes. Express your concerns and advocate for your little girl.

Hoping she's feeling better tomorrow morning.
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Do remember to transition food slowly, as long as she's keeping most of it down. Otherwise you might trigger diarrhea, which (especially when combined with vomiting) could quickly lead to dehydration. The one time I broke this rule was when Peggy couldn't keep any of the food down that her breeder sent home with her. After a few days of that, I put her on straight boiled white chicken as a tummy reset, and then slowly added a little new kibble to each chicken meal until eventually it was just the new kibble. Of course, toys do have that extra risk of hypoglycemia, so best to consult with your vet on diet changes.

And I'd be worried, too, about that reaction to the shot. My mini was once given an overdose by a vet, who miscalculated for her small size. Don't assume vets can't make mistakes. Express your concerns and advocate for your little girl.

Hoping she's feeling better tomorrow morning.
She’ll get the second dosage tomorrow, I don’t think that reaction to the shot was normal, it was like a side affect. I also thought of an overdose. I’ll definitely share my concerns with the vet.
Dobby’s been eating a special kind of canned food for sick tummies,she’s been super into it for today at least. At least she doesn’t puke that..
I don’t really know why people are against canned food, everyone says I should stick to the kibbles but right now Dobby can’t keep kibbles in her stomach.
I hope she doesn’t puke again and doesn’t show a reaction to the shot tomorrow. Thanks for the reply and sharing your opinions.
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