Why Does My Dog Throw Up in the Morning? [ANSWERED]

Dealing with cleaning a dog’s vomit every morning could be very frustrating. Aside from this, you could also begin to get worried about your dog’s health. If you notice your dog keeps throwing up every morning, then it is high time you visited a veterinarian to have your dog examined.

Since your dog’s stomach is mostly empty in the morning, bile, mucus, and fluid have piled up, resulting in frothy, orange, or brown vomit rather than a visible ejection of food. Your dog might throw up in the morning because it has inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, or gastric reflux. 

It is not typical for a dog to vomit first thing in the morning. To establish the source of your dog’s morning sickness, you should get it examined by a veterinarian. Your dog might have to be served smaller portions more frequently to relieve stomach trouble.

Dog Throws Up Every Morning

Dogs throwing up is not an uncommon behavior to many owners. Even healthy dogs sometimes throw up due to eating or drinking too fast. This behavior is not something owners should be worried about, as it is likely to happen just once in a while.

However, if a dog begins to throw up regularly, perhaps every morning, you need to get worried. This is not normal behavior, and it often indicates bile, gastrointestinal, or other health problems. So, if you ever notice this in your dog, you are best advised to get your dog urgent medical care. Explained below are some possible causes why a dog could throw up in the morning.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

IBD is a common cause that is responsible for dogs throwing up. IBD is a condition that develops when a dog’s intestinal tracts get irritated, making it difficult for food to get digested properly. There are different causes of IBD, such as bacteria, wake immune system, genetics, and allergies.

Since dogs suffering from IBD cannot properly digest food, they often tend to vomit the undigested food whenever they are in a state of inactivity for a long while. Hence, the reason they usually vomit every morning after a long sleep. The extent to which IBD has affected a dog’s intestinal tract could also make it experience diarrhea, loss of weight, reduced appetite, and chronic vomiting.

If you notice these symptoms in your dog, you must take it to a vet for proper diagnosis. Blood and fecal samples, including ultrasound or X-ray, may be needed for necessary tests and scans. For treatment, supplements and medications like metronidazole and corticosteroids could be recommended.

Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is a condition that often leads to the inflammation of a dog’s pancreas, which then causes a dog to have diarrhea, abdominal pains, and vomiting. Sometimes, it often occurs due to the intake of fatty food. If you notice your dog’s vomit is yellowish (bile) within two days after eating fatty food, it is a sign of pancreatitis.

Other symptoms of pancreatitis include weakness, lethargy, and reduced appetite. To help dogs suffering from this condition, you need to take them to a vet.

Gastric Reflux

Gastric reflux, also known as gastroesophageal reflux, is another common reason dogs throw up in the morning. Gastric reflux is when intestine fluids flow from a dog’s stomach to the esophagus. Naturally, a dog’s stomach produces a gastric acid that helps break down food intake into smaller bits, then absorbed into the small intestine through the peristalsis.

However, when a dog’s peristalsis becomes relaxed, the esophagus sphincter becomes opened, leading to the backward flow of the food intake and gastric acid from the dog’s stomach to its esophagus. In turn, this could make the dog vomit or regurgitate. This condition is common in younger dogs due to the underdevelopment of their esophagus sphincter.

Some other symptoms of gastric reflux include mouth odor, burping, drooling, restlessness, decreased appetite, difficulties when eating, and vomiting bile. A vet should be consulted for proper diagnosis and treatment of gastric reflux. An esophagoscopy procedure could be performed to detect any form of bleeding or damage in the esophagus.

Colitis

This is gastric distress that hinders a dog from processing food normally. Colitis often leads to the inflammation of some parts of a dog’s bowel system, leading to diarrhea, flatulence, and vomiting.

Common causes of colitis in dogs include infections, parasites, stress, injury to the colon, pancreatitis, allergic colitis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Also, if your dog has been outside to feed on contaminated food or recently contacted an infected dog, it could develop colitis.

If your dog has been outside lately, it suddenly begins to display some of these symptoms, which might indicate colitis. So, you must speak to your vet about it for proper treatment.

Why Does My Dog Throw Up Bile In The Morning?

When a dog’s stomach is empty, gastric acids can irritate the stomach lining, resulting in yellow bile. It is vital not to ignore yellow bile as a symptom of hunger because it could be a yellow foreign body or chemical your dog has consumed. Liver illness, bilious vomiting syndrome, indigestion, and other conditions may cause yellow bile.

After throwing up, keep an eye out for weakness, fatigue, and loss of appetite in your dog. When your dog vomits bile in the morning, it might be because it has bilious vomiting syndrome. In dogs, bilious vomiting syndrome causes puking due to a stomach inflammation caused by the presence of bile.

It is often known as duodenal-gastric reflux and gastritis reflux syndrome. After not eating all night, dogs with this illness often throw up in the morning; feeding late at night is the treatment. Vomiting yellow bile is usually followed by some symptoms of stomach trouble, including nausea, lethargy, loss of appetite, heaving, abdominal spasms, and diarrhea.

Some other causes of dogs throwing up bile in the morning include cancer or tumor, Addison’s disease, allergies, dietary indiscretion, and viral infections. Hypoadrenocorticism is an endocrine or hormonal disorder that can result in electrolyte imbalances, diarrhea, and throwing up of bile in your dog.

Bones, toys, and huge hairballs can cause intestinal blockage. When a dog’s stomach empties, their regular vomiting will become throwing up bile. However, it is best to manage the problem before it gets to this point. A blockage can be indicated by severe stomach pain or severe loss of energy; surgery is the usual form of treatment.

Morning vomiting sessions normally do not cause any other noticeable symptoms in the dog, and the dog stays cheerful, hungry, and energetic after. However, a veterinarian should be consulted to determine the exact reason and make a correct diagnosis.

Senior Dog Vomits Every Morning

If your senior dog is vomiting every morning, you might need to alert your veterinarian. To establish the severity of the vomiting, your veterinarian will most certainly ask questions like when it first started, how often it happens, and what the vomit looks like. As a dog grows older, it might begin to have some medical conditions which might cause it to vomit every morning.

Those conditions are intestinal parasites, pancreatitis, viral infections, acute kidney disease or failure, foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract, ingestion of toxic substances, bloat, gallbladder inflammation, infected uterus, acute liver disease or failure, and heatstroke.

Your veterinarian might recommend a blood test, biopsy, x-ray, endoscopy, fecal tests, and ultrasound.

Keep reading: How To Tire Out My Dog – Different Fun & Healthy Activities

Final Thoughts

Dogs are the top common pets that people have; as a dog owner, it is necessary to study your dog so that you can quickly notice when there is a problem. When your dog starts throwing up every morning, you should know something is wrong. Do not try to self-medicate the dog or assume the cause for such action; rather, take your dog to the veterinarian immediately for a diagnosis and treatment.

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