Help Needed! 6 month Bulldog vomiting and passing out

[Bartthebulldog]

Hello all,

First post here. My wife and I have a 6 month old English bulldog, Bart. His overall health is great but starting a few days ago we have had weird vomiting issues that only happen in the morning during breakfast. He starts eating his breakfast very fast like always but before he even eats very much he starts acting like he is going to vomit, then he vomits and passes out while he is vomiting. After a few seconds he is back up and acting like nothing happened.

He was still interested in food both times so after a few hours I fed him a lighter amount very, very slowly and he did fine no issues. The fainting I believe is because he cannot get enough air while he's vomiting. It is very scary when this happens. We already had him eating with a large metal ball in his food to slow his eating down and now we have switched to a large cupcake cooking sheet that slows him down even more.

We have an appointment scheduled with our vet who is a bulldog specialist but I wanted to hear if anyone else has had issues like this? I think we can rule out an obstruction because he acts 100% fine the rest of the day and his stools are normal. Any insight would be great.

Thanks

-Bart

 

[Christie H]

Have you also tried raising his food bowl? This also helps with air intake and digestion.You should get a lot of good feedback here.

 

[TyTysmom]

Hello all,

First post here. My wife and I have a 6 month old English bulldog, Bart. His overall health is great but starting a few days ago we have had weird vomiting issues that only happen in the morning during breakfast. He starts eating his breakfast very fast like always but before he even eats very much he starts acting like he is going to vomit, then he vomits and passes out while he is vomiting. After a few seconds he is back up and acting like nothing happened.

He was still interested in food both times so after a few hours I fed him a lighter amount very, very slowly and he did fine no issues. The fainting I believe is because he cannot get enough air while he's vomiting. It is very scary when this happens. We already had him eating with a large metal ball in his food to slow his eating down and now we have switched to a large cupcake cooking sheet that slows him down even more.

We have an appointment scheduled with our vet who is a bulldog specialist but I wanted to hear if anyone else has had issues like this? I think we can rule out an obstruction because he acts 100% fine the rest of the day and his stools are normal. Any insight would be great.

Thanks

-Bart

Oh my goodness, how scary! Poor Bart! While I have no experience with the passing out, I can tell you that I do with obstructions, and even though there are no signs & stools are normal doesn't mean there isn't an obstruction. Tyson was vomiting, but it was almost 2 weeks after he had eaten socks. (Which we didn't know he did) and it wasn't exactly a month later that he vomited up the first one. He ate a total of 3. 2 came up & one we had to have surgically removed. He was eating normally, pooping normally & acting normal up until the very end (prior to surgery)

Other possibilities are of course eating too fast, which you mentioned, and have you had his soft pallete looked at? Could be that. When he throws up, is the food still whole? Like regurgitation? I would have the vet go ahead and do xrays and/or ultrasound just to rule out the obstruction. (While even those 2 didn't catch the socks in Tyson - it was the barium swallow that finally did) - but most times an xray can.. if the item is not that dense.

Please keep us updated on Bart and on what the vet says. Positive thoughts & prayers your way!

 

[Bartthebulldog]

Have you also tried raising his food bowl? This also helps with air intake and digestion.You should get a lot of good feedback here.

We have not tried raising the bowl yet. thank you for the suggestion, we will try that right away!

 

[Bartthebulldog]

Oh my goodness, how scary! Poor Bart! While I have no experience with the passing out, I can tell you that I do with obstructions, and even though there are no signs & stools are normal doesn't mean there isn't an obstruction. Tyson was vomiting, but it was almost 2 weeks after he had eaten socks. (Which we didn't know he did) and it wasn't exactly a month later that he vomited up the first one. He ate a total of 3. 2 came up & one we had to have surgically removed. He was eating normally, pooping normally & acting normal up until the very end (prior to surgery)

Other possibilities are of course eating too fast, which you mentioned, and have you had his soft pallete looked at? Could be that. When he throws up, is the food still whole? Like regurgitation? I would have the vet go ahead and do xrays and/or ultrasound just to rule out the obstruction. (While even those 2 didn't catch the socks in Tyson - it was the barium swallow that finally did) - but most times an xray can.. if the item is not that dense.

Please keep us updated on Bart and on what the vet says. Positive thoughts & prayers your way!

Thank you for the info! I will make sure the vet checks for obstructions which Im sure they will anyways with an issue like this. He likes to get in to everything so it is very possible he did swallow something bad.

As for the soft palette, I was thinking this is the cause. The vet mentioned it to us during our previous puppy visits but he was not concerned at the time. he told us he would most likely want to laser it at the same time as the neutering so he only had to go under one time.

 

[2BullyMama]

Palate issue was my thought too, but if it is only at breakfast... not during other meals at all?

 

[ddnene]

You have been given some great advice… I add warm water to my bullies kibble to help slow them down. About an 1/8th of a cup, and I let the kibble sit for a few minutes to make a gravy. Keep us posted on your baby...

 

[Bartthebulldog]

Palate issue was my thought too, but if it is only at breakfast... not during other meals at all?

He had this issue once at dinner a few months ago and that was it just one isolated incident but now this week it has started again and only been at breakfast each day. He ate breakfast again a few hours later each time and dinner each day with no issues.

 

[TyTysmom]

[MENTION=13773]Bartthebulldog[/MENTION] - Does Bart go to see the vet today? Please let us know how it goes!

 

[2BullyMama]

He had this issue once at dinner a few months ago and that was it just one isolated incident but now this week it has started again and only been at breakfast each day. He ate breakfast again a few hours later each time and dinner each day with no issues.

Definitley seems to be a palate issue.... morning may be more of an issue due to build up of phelm through the night while sleeping ..... please keep us posted

 

[Bartthebulldog]

Bart is doing better right now. He ate dinner last night and breakfast this morning with no issues. We fed him elevated on a stool and I think this really helped. We are going to get an elevated dog dish this weekend. We cannot get in to see our vet until next Wednesday so we are going to wait to see him about the pallet until then unless he throws up again in the meantime. Thanks for the help and we will keep you guys posted.

 

[Libra926]

Also you might try a slow feed ball. Basically a ball that goes in the dish to slow them down.

Orion has vomited and passed out after. I think it has to do with the lack of air during the episode.

 

[dolphin]

Also you might try a slow feed ball. Basically a ball that goes in the dish to slow them down.

Orion has vomited and passed out after. I think it has to do with the lack of air during the episode.

 

[Bartthebulldog]

Also you might try a slow feed ball. Basically a ball that goes in the dish to slow them down.

Orion has vomited and passed out after. I think it has to do with the lack of air during the episode.

Yes, we have tried the slow feed ball. We have been using one for a while and it seemed to help a lot.

I think the combination of an elevated dish with the slow feed ball will do the trick at least for now.

 

[Libra926]

Yes, we have tried the slow feed ball. We have been using one for a while and it seemed to help a lot.

I think the combination of an elevated dish with the slow feed ball will do the trick at least for now.

Just to let you know, with O we have to use two of the balls. A large one and a smaller one because she never does anything the easy way.