Dog vomiting bile, recent change in food

[AnnmarieF]

Hi,

My dog Luna has been vomiting bile in the morning on and off around every ten days for about six months. It started when I changed her food in hopes of her losing weight. I don't know if that was a coincidence or not. She was eating orijen original. I switched her to a combo of the orijen senior food and wisdom dog food. The vomiting started maybe three weeks after I changed her food. Her vet had me try just giving her either 16 oz. of chicken or beef a day. I thought it might be helping but she still started the vomiting again after a couple of weeks and she seemed to be constipated. I have tried different foods but she is still vomiting bile.

Thank you

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi Annmarie-

Welcome to the HA! forum and thanks so much for making your first post.

Luna's health challenges are a perfect place to discuss the significance of her (or any) symptoms.

Symptoms are clues that there is an internal cellular imbalance.

There are lots of physiologic reasons for symptoms to occur, but they all share one underlying abnormality.

The one uniting factor is that 100% of the cells in Luna's body need energy to work properly.

Any decrease in energy, or imbalance in it's supply, is like a car trying to run without gas.

This energy (seen by vitality) and its balance can be seen and assessed by you every day. You see this in Luna's BEAM (Behavior, Energy, Appetite, Mood).

There's much more about how to measure and use BEAM in the Holistic Fun-damentals course, several webinars in your resource area, as well as in blog posts like:

Optimize Your Pet's Quality Of Life Using BEAM

4 simple symptoms - behavior, energy, appetite, and mood - could help you track and increase your pet's health

www.holisticactions.com

There's a lot that we'll need to know to help guide you in a way that can reduce and eliminate the vomiting that started after the diet upgrade.

First is, how's her BEAM both before, during and after the vomiting clue?

Second is whether she has had much of a varied diet throughout her life?

Third is the complete context for the symptom? For example, what else is going on, has she had any recent senior blood or urine tests, what's her life like (activity and engagement level), etc.

Aruna has created a great forum posting guide to help use the forum:

How to describe your case

When posting on forum, follow the guidelines below. That way you will describe your pet's case in detail and our faculty will not need to ask clarifying questions. Here are the guidelines: Create one forum thread per pet. If you have more than one case, create a thread for each animal. Your...

www.holisticactions.com

Please get back with us whenever you get a chance.

 

[AnnmarieF]

Hi,
Luna is a nine year old female. Adopted on 6/1/2012 at three months old. Aussie, Collie mix. Spayed on 8/27/2012. She is 75 pounds. Her BEAM is for the most part good, except that for the last 6 months she has been vomiting bile on and off in the early mornings. After she vomits she usually doesn't want to eat for a while. She is still in good spirits and likes to play in the yard. It started around the time I switched her food from Orijen, which she has been eating her entire life, to the Orijen senior and Wisdom. She drinks filtered water, I use clearly filtered. I'm not sure if I sure add minerals since some might be taken out by the filter. I also had added Ion* gut support for pets for a short period of time, but stopped incase that was making her sick. Took her to vet who said to just give her either chicken of beef, 16oz a day split in 3 meals or Purina EN naturals, which I tried once and it made her so sick, she vomited more than she had previously all together. So I stuck with either chicken or beef, I thought it was helping but after 10 days or so she vomited again. I was also concerned she was constipated from only eating meat. After that, I tried meat and Dr. Harvey's miracle premix. Still vomiting every couple of weeks, sometimes more. I just bought a dog food called Sunday's, it's an air dried food. Want to wait to try it because she just got sick again. She does have some issues with being very sensitive, in example, if we go for a walk in the woods and she hears any noises, like a bang or a bird screeching she heads right back to the car. She won't always go for her walk, sometimes we'll get to the woods and she'll sniff around the parking lot and just walk back to the car and sit down. The same with walks in the neighborhood, sometimes she is happy to go, and other times she just refuses. I have tried to figure out why, and make some connections, but no luck. My daughter has severe anxiety, which causes a lot of mood swings and has affected Luna as well. She did have demodectic mange a couple of months after she was spay. I did not give her the clavamox the vet prescribed, but used some MP oil and diatomaceous earth. I do not give her anything for heartworms or fleas. I am having a hard time figuring out how to download and send past records, I will work on that, but her most recent blood work was done on 5/20/21 and it was good.

Thank you, Annmarie

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Thanks for the additional info. Annmarie.

Have you tried stopping the Wisdom food?

Does she get any sauerkraut, kimchi or other fermented foods?

Did Dr. Alvarez see any changes on her exams (the notes you attached don't have the actual exam findings)?

You are 100% correct that your daughter's (or any) emotional "stuff" can be a trigger for symptoms like this.

Actually all symptoms are a result of subtle energetic shifts in the body.

You may therefore want to start treatment with a *trained* vet homeopath.

In the meantime, you definitely can continue to work on increasing her vitality and cellular energy with fresh (vs. processed) food, breathing, happiness, etc. and supporting her with an HA (hyaluronic acid) supplement like this:

Vitalize Alimend® - HomeVet

Vitalize Alimend K9 is a natural product that provides 24/7 stomach comfort and relieves many common canine gastric issues without altering stomach pH. It works with the dog’s biology, not against it like “antis” (anti-nausea medicines, anti-vomiting, etc.)! Vitalize Alimend K9 eases canine...

www.homevet.com

 

[AnnmarieF]

Hi,
I stopped the Wisdom awhile ago. I have been giving her ground beef or chicken mixed with Dr. Harvey's miracle premix for a couple of months, but just recently stopped. At the moment I'm just giving her some ground beef with some sweet potatoes. I haven't tried any fermented foods. I just ordered the Vitalize Alimend. Dr. Alvarez didn't find anything during her exam. Her blood work was good and her heartworm was negative as well as the parasitology. At this point, I need a plan on what to feed her. I would love to bring her in, are you or Dr. Christina seeing patients? I will set up a phone appointment to talk first.
Thank you

 

[Dr. Christina]

Dear Annmarie,
One of the challenges veterinarians who are merely conventionally trained face is that if the tests do not indicate a problem, they have little to offer.

Even holistic vets can be challenged by sporadic symptoms, so patience will be needed.

This may be a bit of work, but it will be useful to help you and your veterinary homeopath, or maybe @Dr. Sue Howell help you. Make a timeline.
First, go back to before you switched to the Wisdom. Had there been any vomiting then?
Second, once the vomiting started. How was your daughter doing at that time? Was there any house construction? Or neighborhood spraying or construction? How soon did the vomiting start after the switch? How often was it then? Was it always in the morning with yellow vomit? Which food did you switch to?
Third, move through time. List the different foods you tried. Was there less vomiting on any one of them? Did you try feeding at different times? Sometimes morning vomiting can be temporarily helped by feeding a small amount late at night.

Throughout the time line, notice any thing else related to the days she is vomiting - does the energy level change or different behaviors occur; phase of the moon, COVID issues, etc.

Looking at all of this you may realize a trigger for the vomiting.
Sunday's seems to have good ingredients, but I am not familiar with it.
While waiting to schedule an appointment with a homeopathic,TCVM or chiropractic vet, try feeding some different proteins for a few meals each to see what they do. Eggs - raw or scrambled. Raw goats milk. Cooked, then raw chicken. Fish and shellfish. For a short time do not worry about balancing the diet.

Try Dr. Jeff's suggested Vitalize Alimend. Because of the anxiety, buy some Rescue Remedy from a local health food store, put 4 drops in an ounce of water and use it in many ways - put a few drops where she sleeps, in her mouth (if not stressful to her), on her paws, rub a bit into the inner side of the ear flap, put some on your hands when you pet her. Try this for 2 weeks to see if the anxiety decreases.

Definitely take the Fun-damentals course as Dr. Jeff suggested, and do a search in the forum for foods and for vomiting to see what others have said.

I am no longer being the phone call homeopathic vet. Dr. Jeff will respond tomorrow, after Yom Kippur ends. You may also want to check out @Dr. Sue Howell's Empower Hour videos as she can do remote work for dietary issues. (https://thrivepetvet.com/)

Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Thanks for your great reply Dr. Christina!

Annemarie, I am indeed seeing pets of All-Access members, such as yourself.

Primarily though this is for individualized homeopathy which may be more than you need. Your free 15 minute calls combined with Dr. Alvarez's care may be sufficient.

If you'd like to provide further context before our first call, here's my new client info. form:

New Client Questionaire

 

[LilF]

Hi Annmarie and welcome. I know you will feel support and get a lot of information here that will hopefully bring you to better mornings. I sympathize with you because my dog Gabby was vomiting bile as well for a while. It has been a tough year but think we are on the right track. You said that Luna's blood was good---so her albumin was normal? And her liver enzymes? How about her thyroid level? Have you done any food sensitivity testing? Dr Dodds, Hemopet does that. If you haven't already, keep a journal of when it happens so you can see patterns over the long term. My dog had increase in frequency in her bilious vomiting as her albumin declined. I saw it decline over a year and the vets kept saying don't worry, it was normal. Like Dr. Christina was saying that they don't see a problem till the test is abnormal. I kept telling them something was going on and nobody listened to me. So after a year of declining albumin and increased vomiting, the level dipped to abnormal and she got a presumptive diagnosis of Protein losing enteropathy of the intestine. I had to rule out the liver through testing etc... Have you done a bile acids test? Keep copies of her blood work and do comparisons on your own. That is how I tracked Gabby's declining albumin over time. The vets do not have time to do this. You can note changes or patterns. So after a long road with my Gabby, I started to home cook for her in January. Her albumin dropped to a 1.5 which is really bad. Her latest testing brings her to a 2.6 which is a tenth of a point away from normal. Diet is critical. Maybe Luna has a food allergy. My Gabby cannot eat high fat or raw right now. She ate the other dog's raw meal and threw up after not having done so in 4 months. So I feed her cooked bison (cooked very slow on low heat to avoid the glycation end products that are inflammatory ) squash and some green vegetables like dandelion, cooked kale etc.. I feed her Open Farm gently cooked turkey with the Bison and also 2 gently scrambled eggs per day (1 yolk). This works for her. She used to eat a raw diet. She also gets some gut supplements like glutamine and vital nutrients GI repair. It helped immensely to narrow in on what was going on versus treating it with a band aid. She was still vomiting with a small bit of food before bed. I know this works for some dogs. It has been a hard year trying to get to the cause of things. It is a lot of effort to cook every 3 days. It is hard to know what to do next and I hear your frustration with trying different foods which is why I mentioned the food sensitivity test. Hope there is something here for you to try or think about. I look forward to hearing any new updates.

 

[AnnmarieF]

Thanks for your great reply Dr. Christina!

Annemarie, I am indeed seeing pets of All-Access members, such as yourself.

Primarily though this is for individualized homeopathy which may be more than you need. Your free 15 minute calls combined with Dr. Alvarez's care may be sufficient.

If you'd like to provide further context before our first call, here's my new client info. form:

New Client Questionaire

Hi Dr. Jeff,
What is the best way for me to set up an in person appointment?

Thank you, Annmarie

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi Annemarie-

After you submit the new client info I’ll be able to let you know about how much time we’ll need.

 

[AnnmarieF]

Luna, my 9 year old dog, has been diagnosed with a mural mass distorting her small intestinal wall, most likely a malignant neoplasia. I made an appointment with Dr. Jeff, but was wondering if anyone else has gone through this. Not sue what to feed her to make it easier to pass through. I have been pureeing meat for her and she really likes it. Hasn’t vomited since Thursday.
Thank you, Annmarie

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi Annmarie.

Keep focusing on what she loves especially pureed raw meats and maybe try some fresh or freeze-dried hearts.

Has she seen an oncologist yet (for a full diagnosis and to learn your treatment options)?

We'll talk further when we meet.

 

[AnnmarieF]

Hi,
Do you recommend she see an oncologist? She has only seen her regular vet and had the ultrasound. I made an appointment with you for the 10th
Thank you, Annmarie

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Morning Annmarie-

Yes, I do.

The reason being that it's super helpful to collect all of your treatment options while you decide what to do.

This is the essence of Holistic Medical Decision Making (HMDM) step 2.

Where step 1 is deciding on your goal, e.g. getting the best quality of life for Luna by reducing symptoms (e.g. with chemotherapeutics) or rather by treating the inner imbalance that created the symptoms in the first place (usually an energetic treatment like homeopathy or TCVM), step 2 is gathering all of the conventional + holistic info., and step 3 is implementing a holistic action.

HMDM2.pdf

drive.google.com

We will discuss further when I see you, but perhaps call Dr. Alvarez's office this am and see if she can get you in to see Dr. Thalheim (or another oncologist that she works with) in the next few weeks.

Lindsay Thalheim | Cornell University Veterinary Specialists | Stamford, CT

www.cuvs.org