[thecmist]

My dog has been having a problem with Acid Reflux and was put on Prilosec and ID dog food for 2 weeks.. I was feeding her Natures Variety Instinct Limited Ingrediant, but since the acid reflux she can’t be on it because of the Higher Protein and Fat Content.. Any suggestions are appreciated..

[Hound Dog Mom]

I’ve always heard that dogs with acid reflux should eat 3 – 4 small meals per day, rather than one or two larger meals and that the food should be low in fiber. Wet foods (canned, dehydrated, raw, etc.) are preferable to dry for dogs with acid reflux – if you feed dry wet it prior to feeding. I’ve also heard that supplementation with probiotics, digestive enzymes and unfiltered apple cider vinegar can help.

[thecmist]

Thanks Hound Dog! I have been feeding her 3 small meals a day and with the medication its under control. Her two week course of meds ends this week and we’re hoping the reflux will end. I just don’t want to keep her on ID gastro food, its not the best quality food and can’t switch her back to her old food.. Need other food suggestions from anyone out there with dogs who also suffer with acid reflux.

Thanks!

[theBCnut]

Acid reflux meds treat the symptoms without trying to solve the problem and sometimes that makes the problem worse. Your dog should be weaned off the prilosec over the course of a few days, not stopped abruptly. My dog had to be feed small meals a often as I could for a while. The thing that seemed to help the most was 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar per cup of food and soaking the food. It seems counter-intuitive to add more acid to the dogs stomach when they appear to have an acid overload problem, but really the opposite is at work. High grain diets alter the normal pH of the stomach and the sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach is acid sensitive so isn’t closing all the way. My dog was having problems with this as a 8- 10 week old pup, when we changed his diet to high protein and started adding the vinegar, he ceased to have problems with vomiting anymore, and hasn’t since. He is now 14 months old.

[sisu]

I have a 14 year old who has acid reflux since she was 3. If the situation persists I encourage you to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist who can scope the dog to determine if the cause is due to a weakened sphincter muscle between the stomach and esophagus. There is a surgical procedure to correct the condition. I wish vets would have taken me seriously when I mentioned the acid reflux as it is now too late for her to have the surgery.

As a raw feeder the journey we have taken has been against my belief in a high meat protein diet. Although fed 3-4 times per day there came a point were she could not tolerate the amount of meat needed to maintain weight without the severe reflux that was damaging her throat and mouth. Natures Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey did not work. After several brands and combinations I learned chicken, turkey or fish were the easiest for her to digest. Those proteins in a high calorie grain inclusive formula have proven to be the best option. She is currently doing very well on Innova Turkey and Chicken which is 548 calories per cup. The food is moistened to the point the kibble is fully expanded. It is almost mush when stirred. The food is fed 3 times per day as close to 8 hours apart as possible to avoid placing undue pressure on the weakened sphincter muscle.

I have also been adding Mercola probiotics and digestive enzymes. Neither has been added for the past 2 days and there is no difference.

Since Misty’s condition is due to the weakened sphincter muscle, not acid production, Apple Cider Vinegar did not work for her.

Before going to a primarily grain based diet as our situation requires try some of the 3 star grain free brands that would have lower protein and fat than Natures Variety Instinct. Some have 2 lb. packages which would allow you to try without investing in food that may not work. Donate any food that cannot be used to a shelter or local rescue.

[April Z]

My dog was diagnosed with acid reflux and esophagitis based on symptoms (was not scoped) I’ll spare the whole long story and give facts hopefully it will help someone
Symptoms:
Episodes of licking anything and everything along with it he had pica(eating anything)
Hyper-salivating
Weight loss

Things that worked….
Natural balance chicken and sweet potato dry split into three meals SOAKED for hours
-canned I/D worked great but too expensive for 60lb dog
Reglan (metocloprimide) hour before breakfast and dinner
Pepcid with breakfast and dinner
Twice a day sucralfate suspension on empty stomach

Eight weeks of all that seemed to help. Was able to take away all meds but I continued to feed three soaked meals. I make sure dinner is early because sleeping shortly after the sphincter relaxes too much causing the reflux

Hope that helps. Good luck….

[Jenn H]

There are different causes of GERD which can require different treatments/diets. If you can afford it I strongly suggest you get you get your dog scoped to find the actual cause. It could be megaesphogus like you assume or a hiatal hernia or a couple other things.
In the mean time some things seem to work across the board. The low fat foods and 4-6 small meals. Avoid all grains, starchy vegs, legumes, refined sugar. Give pumpkin or squash instead. Raw, unpasteurized honey. No/low fat cottage cheese or kefir. Naturopath options like enzymes & probios.
Some think it’s a good idea to feed from a raised bowl. I had a dog with very mild reflux who was fed from a raised bowl. He eventually died of bloat. Which I later found out that there can be (not always) a connection between reflux & bloat. No one has yet to figure out weather a raised bowl is good or bad for dogs, it is suggested to raise the bowl only a couple inches from the floor. Dogs are designed to eat standing up from the ground, but some need a very slightly elevated dish. (I tend to agree feeding dogs & horses with ground feeders. It is more natural.)

I have a dog right now who has some GI issues as a result of a lot of antibiotic treatments. The longer she goes without a meal, the more likely she is to have a rumbling belly, nausea, discomfort, etc. Smaller meals throughout the day helped her a lot when she was really sick.

[Jenn H]

Oh a couple more things I forgot to mention…
For some reason adding water to food can make GERD worse.
And bone broth is another good thing to help the lining of the gut and the intestinal cells that promote healing.

[Suzanne F]

I used to feed raw, but now I feed canned only. For now it’s Wild Calling rotational diet Bison, alligator and rabbit. Wild calling is like 92% protein and no carbs. He eats sweet potato or yams and dehydrated pumpkin & cranberry by Diggin FirmUp on occasion. He’s not a fan of canned pumpkin. The doctor did a blood test to test for allergies and I did Dr Dods saliva test to test for food intolerances. He has many of both. Since I’ve made the changes he’s more willing to eat and less reflux. Also switch between Apple cider vinegar powder capsules and Zantac 150 mugs 2 times a day, ProPlan FortiFlora probiotics once a day. I feed him 3 times a day and a snack before bed. The empty stomach can make him throw up bile or or a white foam. Hope this helps. If you have any suggestions I’m all ears.

[Susan W]

This is usually due to a weight issue. Try withholding food for one to two days, and thereafter following a dietary regimen of low-fat, low-protein meals given in small, frequent feedings. Dietary fat and protein should be limited, as fat decreases the strength of the muscle between the stomach and esophagus, while protein stimulates the secretion of gastric acid. Recommended food choices would be VeRUS Opticoat or Adult maintenance.

[steve johnson]

My rescue dog Barney was throwing up in the mornings and I took him to the vet a bunch of times. We tried the prescription diets they recommended but it didn’t help. In our case, I think it was the dry kibble causing the problem–it was a good brand Orijen, but maybe it didn’t agree with him. I was reading about acid reflux on this site http://www.askariel.com/dog_cat_acid_reflux_treatment_a/277.htm and I switched him to a raw frozen diet. We ordered the Gastro ULC and Power Probiotic and followed the diet suggestion that the nutritionist gave us. Barney is eating Primal raw frozen rabbit with some Natural Balance canned fish/sweet potato. The vitamins did seem to help. He still has an occasional bad day, but nothing like before.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by steve johnson.

[Stefan A]

My dog is only 2 years old and I heard in the case of acid relux, no grains are allowed and only low fat food. I contacted my vet and he told me to try Antacid tablets – Sodium Bicarbonate by Rugby. He says I can put half of the tablet into the banana piece and try to give him. Any probiotics feedback?

https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_multi_gastroesophageal_reflux essaydune.com https://www.thedogbakery.com/blogs/news/acid-reflux-in-dogs-diet-dos-and-donts

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Stefan A. Reason: typos

[anonymous]

Ask your vet about Pepcid (prn) for acid reflux.

Re: “I heard in the case of acid relux, no grains are allowed and only low fat food”.

Not sure about this, please confer with your vet.

My friend’s dog has acid reflux/sensitive stomach issues and is doing well on Nutrisource chicken and rice (dry) as a base with a little boiled chicken mixed in and a little water added to the kibble.

I would stop searching the internet for answers, if your regular vet hasn’t been helpful within a reasonable amount of time consider consulting a veterinary internal medicine specialist.
First, see if you can work with your vet, additional testing may be indicated to get to the root of the problem, see what he recommends.

PS: Consider a prescription food if your vet recommends it, at least till the dog is stable.

[anonymous]

Re: probiotics

/forums/topic/puppy-throws-up-intermittently-for-the-past-3-months/#post-145258

[Shelby L]

So my dog began having these issues after his lipase levels spiked (causing severe vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite) when he was about 1.5 years old. The vet said he was close to having pancreatitis and he was immediately put on low fat food. Then a few months later, the acid reflux arrived. Major gulping episodes where he just swallows frantically and runs to me for comfort would begin, and all he would want to do was be let outside to eat grass. The vet told me to let him eat the grass but not too much or it could cause a blockage. After a year of battling this, he’s a dry food that has 6% fat (currently Solid Gold Holistic food for seniors, but I am switching him to Diamond Care Weight Management), soaked in warm water, with 2 probiotics and some Hills Prescription I/D wet food mixed in. I usually only feed twice a day but I’m thinking I’ll start doing 3 as he is still having episodes once a week or so. I also always have Pepcid and omerprazole on hand (Pepcid 10mg with dinner if I think an episode might happen at night, omerprazole if an episode happens in the morning because it’s 24 hour and stronger. Goodluck everyone, it’s such a tricky condition and from my experience, vets always think it’s something else. I’ve had to do all the research and trial and error on my own.

[Nellie P]

Shelby L you can’t give omeprizole as needed, because it takes a week to start working. You also have to be really careful if you’re giving Prilosec OTC as the pills are time released, so you should try to keep your dog from chewing them if possible. One of my dogs is on it and I have to push the pill towards the back of her mouth so she swallows it instead of chews. Medications that you can give for quick relief from symptoms are Pepcid or Pepto-bismol, but if your dog is on a systemic steroid like prednisone don’t give Pepto.
My two chihuahuas (they’re related, aunt and niece) both have acid reflux issues. My youngest Nilla has been to the vet so many times for GI issues. Her symptoms have ranged from nausea to diarrhea. There really hasn’t been much of a pattern to her symptoms, except that she’s most likely to have an episode at night or after a playtime with my other chihuahua. The really upsetting thing is that when she gets one of these episodes she often paces. She’ll run back and forth the length of our apt until total exhaustion. If we try to stop her she will fight us to keep pacing. We took her to an internal medicine vet, who said it could be acid reflux or IBS. We have noticed that both dogs lick the air and blankets, and Nilla burps quite a lot. Both dogs’ also have extremely loud bowel sounds, and their abdomens feel bloated in the hours after eating. Both dogs eat Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein Dry Kibble for small breeds and occasionally get a RC HP cat treat. I probably give gas-ex every day to at least one, but usually both of them. Nilla takes Prilosec, and has been on prednisone for the last several couple months, and my other dog Minxie takes Pepcid twice a day. Nilla has had an ultrasound which showed nothing abnormal, but I’ve been hesitant to get her scoped since it requires anesthesia. Nothing seems to work long-term for either dog’s symptoms, and I think the longest either dog has been symptom free was a week, but the symptoms always come back. Both dogs are fairly young (Minxie is 2 yrs and Nilla is 1.5 yrs) and it’s horrible that they can’t even enjoy playing since they get sick afterwards. I read in several posts that wetting their food might help so I will definitely try that. I gave probiotics in the beginning and it didn’t seem to do anything, but my vet gave a different kind so I will try them. I haven’t tried them yet, because the vet told me I couldn’t give the probiotic and metronidazole together. But we haven’t given the metro in a while so I’ll give the probiotic a try. I will also give apple cider vinegar a try, but I’m not sure of the dosage since both my dogs weigh about 4.5 lbs each. Has anyone had any luck with those food bowls that are designed to make dogs eat slower? Nilla tends to try to really quickly gulp her food down, which is definitely not helping her burping and gas problems. Sorry this post is so long. If anyone has any other suggestions they think might help, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

[Ana W]

I hope your dog are doing better!

[mart S]

Twilio API alternative https://leadmanagement.reviews/

[Jc C]

Hello
I know this is an old post but my chorkie now 5 years old… Had the symptoms of every morning needing to put to frantically eat grass, lip licking air at night, etc.

2 months before she has pancreatitis over 1 week…

What works is
1- chicken legs human grade from grocery store boiled
2- I get the pure chicken raw dog food formula
3- 4 leaf rover Gut Guard and Protect which are soil based probiotics and heals the gut lining
4- a tiny bit of white rice to bind
5-a tiny bit of puree pumpkin

So I mix the chicken leg with the pure chicken raw formula which has some ground bone and organ… And cook them with the tiny bit of rice.

No more problems.

The pure chicken formula was too high in fat but chicken leg only was lacking some nutrients

Hope this helps.

The acid reflux was caused by when I fed her flax seed, brown rice and vegetables which are hard for dogs to digest.

[Author]

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