[Karen T]

Hi have a gassy Standard Poodle. He belches frequently, which concerns me since he is deep chested and therefore prone to bloat. He also will sometimes regurgitate/throw up food that is still whole, as if he’s not chewing at all. And the stranger thing to me is that even if it is hours after having eaten, the food is still in it’s original shape and undigested…just wet and expanded a bit.

I currently feed him “Wellness Complete Health/ Chicken & Brown Rice for Large Breeds” He eats in a raised bowl most of the time….from what I’ve read I should eliminate that as the “raised bowl” way of thinking is changing. His other bowl is one that has dividers in it in order to slow him down. I restrict him from playing for an hour after meals.

Perhaps the belching is OK…at least the gas is releasing, but honestly it is LOUD. Louder than most humans. And I’m a worrier, having had an Akita die from bloat.

So, I’m asking for suggestions. I’m tending towards duck with potato or sweet potato, or oatmeal. I’m hoping for a larger kibble, but he apparently doesn’t chew the Wellness large kibble, so maybe that’s not important. Or maybe I should change to canned?

He’s 4 years old and has no other health issues beside the gas and occasional regurgitation of undigested kibble. The vet does not think it is mega esophagus, or anything serious but said if the regurgitation ever gets more frequent that he would run tests.

Any suggestions?

[Melissaandcrew]

Standards are not a huge mega e breed so that is probably not a huge concern as your vet said. They are however a huge bloat breed and I would be concerned about the belching. They can also have sensitive stomachs. Have you tried soaking his food to see if that helps? Sometimes smaller meals throughout the day can help as well. If he were mine I would try soaking it for a good 15min before feeding to see if that helps him digest. If not I would move on to a different form of food (he may have problems just digesting dry) You could get a a small bag of raw or dehydrated to try for a week My current standards have iron stomachs but some in the past had the same issue of vomitting undigested dry food if fed completely dry. Good luck

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Melissaandcrew.

[Susan]

Hi Karen, I have this problem with Patch, burping after meals & bring food up into his mouth & last year he was vomiting undigested kibble 8 hours after eating it..I also thought it was Mega Esophagus & asked the vet… have you seen the poor dogs that do suffer from Mega Esopagus, how they have to sit in specially made chairs when they eat & some are just pups…poor things..
All the kibbles that I’ve tried so far, I found the Wellness Simple Duck & Oatmeal to be excellent, its a meduim size kibble & it digests easily..Oatmeal & pumkin is excellent for tummy problems & easy to digest..
Holistic Select also made by Wellpet is another easy kibble to digest & easy on their tummys, the kibble is smaller but that is better if they swollow kibble whole, less to break down & digest being a smaller size kibble..
I do a kibble test, I get about 2 kibbles put in a glass of boiling water then I count to 40 then put 1 of the kibbles inbetween 2 teaspoons & push down, a good kibble will crush, a hard kibble will normally go flying out of the spoon & wont crush… kibbles with potato are harder, Ive found to be no good…
I also put his kibble in a bowl then I fill with cold water drain fill again & just soak for about 2-3 mins then drain water again, that way the kibble is just soft but still has its crunch & not all swollen & yuk to eat, I put the kibbles back into the cup & only add 1/4 into his bowl then another 1/4 of kibble that way he’s not gulping to much air..
With Wellness Simple Duck & Oatmeal he hasn’t bought up any kibble when he burps, but when he eats wet tin food it comes up into his mouth with the burp, any cooked foods that he eats comes into his mouth also…so Ive been putting his Tuna & pumkin on dry white bread toast, the toast seems to keep things down…
I think Patches stomach isn’t working properly & his food is just sitting in his stomach some days…How I know his stomach isnt working this morning Patch did his poo & the end of his poo was orange from pumkin & had grass that he ate 3 days ago, I know the last 2 days he has not eaten any grass or pumkin, so its taken 3 days to poo out his food, so I assumed things arent working properly, a lady on a different site recommended “Reglan” its a tablet that you give 1 hour before meals, this helps move the food along when the stomach isnt working properly, helps reflux, burping & nausea in dogs & humans…I’ll have to run it by Patches vet first but I might try him on the Motilium (you have Reglan in America we have Motilium) to see if this will help push his food thru instead of just sitting in his stomach & fermenting some days..
If you want to know if the food is passing thru properly, what I do is one morning for breakfast I will give Tuna & boiled pumkin on dry toast, the next morning I’ll just give wet tin kangaroo food for his breakfast, with the Tuna & Pumkin the poos are orange/brown, then try & work out how long its has taken for ur boy to digest & past that meal & then you’ll have more information to tell ur vet…
I hope this information will help your boy in some way…

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