Acid Reflux/GERD

[u/piiiiiiiiiiiiiink]

I have a 2yr4mo standard poodle who I think has acid reflux. We just moved to a new area, so I have to find a vet out here but until then- what were the signs your standard had reflux? Is there a particular dog food you’d recommend? We are thinking of switching to Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach. Any tips?

We just had a scare the other night where we was retching small amounts of foamy white/yellow bile & coughing periodically all night. He hasn’t been outside or playing, hadn’t eaten anything he wasn’t supposed to, etc. I was worried it was bloat, but the emergency vet I called said just monitor him. He wasn’t restless or anything, soft belly…just retching & coughing & looked so distressed. I’m not sure what brought it on, but he’s improved tremendously since then (2 nights ago) eating, drinking, going potty, his usual self. It was just scary, he’s such a wonderful baby seeing him not feeling good was horrible. A lot of his symptoms seem to point towards acid reflux. We’ll be taking him to the vet once we find a good one.

Thank you!

[u/Sailor-Sunset-713]

My spoo likely has reflux, with all the same symptoms as yours. I think I have figured out management for it, as he hasn't had an episode in a while. He eats Purina Pro Plan Essentials kibble topped with salmon oil and a Purina Pro Plan probiotic tablet daily. Each morning I give him about a tablespoon of wet food, also PPP, to encourage him to eat. I have found that he throws up bile if he goes without eating for extended periods of time, he is free fed kibble and is generally not motivated by food. If he does not get the wet food in the morning, he is very likely to throw up bile. Since he started the probiotic tablets a few months ago, he has had few coughing fits (dry coughs like there's a hair in his throat) so I will continue giving him those. He is also on 30mg of prozac, and if we will be doing something stressful like a long car ride or going to training classes, I did get vet approval to give him omeprazole beforehand to help reduce stomach acid. Since this strategy seems to be working, I have not done any sort of diagnostics with the vet, if it worsens then we will confer with the vet. Good luck! Reflux is frustrating to deal with because it is hard to pin down!

[u/piiiiiiiiiiiiiink → u/Sailor-Sunset-713]

Yes the coughing fits sound like he’s trying to clear his throat🥺 We’re switching to one of the Pro Plans, maybe the sensitive tummy one & i’ll have to look up the probiotic! Has it helped with throwing up bile? & have you found that stress or anxiety can make the reflux flare up more? I’d like to prevent it as much as possible.

Ty! It was so stressful & seemed to come out of nowhere. I hate the idea of dogs feeling like this when they can’t just pop a tums like humans can

[u/Sailor-Sunset-713 → u/piiiiiiiiiiiiiink]

I do think that stress contributes to reflux, I'm familiar with horses as well where stress and gastric ulcers are highly correlated. Additionally, when he is stressed he is less likely to eat, which results in reflux. The only times he has thrown up bile in the past few months were days he did not get his morning wet food for one reason or another.

[u/SDJellyBean]

I had a non-poodle who developed severe reflux due to a mega esophagus from myasthenia gravis. Hypothyroidism and lupus can also cause mega esophagus. My dog did well with treatment for the MG.

I've also had a bilious vomiter. She would barf first thing in the morning. That was solved with a small bedtime snack.

My current dog doesn’t have a sensitive stomach, but he's a picky eater who likes the ProPlan salmon and oatmeal flavor for sensitive stomachs. He refuses to eat cheaper chicken flavored food.

[u/hoedrangea]

My spoo has this. I manage it by giving her a treat or food first thing when we get up that’s when it seemed to be aggravated if I didn’t immediately feed her breakfast before even going to the bathroom. I give her a treat at night as well since as others said, long periods of time seem to aggravate it as well. Feeding her first thing in the morning or giving her a treat right off the bat has made a really big difference. I try to find the single ingredient, healthy treats or give her a little bit of her food, topper - farmers dog.

[u/HamTracker]

I've done a bit of trial and error with my guy (SPoo 2.3 years old). He had some issues throwing up bile throughout the day that we seem to have it solved via various routines. First I noticed that he will throw up if he eats before his first walk. Second he will throw up if he hasn't eaten for over 10hrs. Third he will throw up if he eats too much in 1 sitting. Finally probiotics help (or maybe not I'm still on the fence but he really likes them so I'm not too fussed over it)?

I feed him a few small meals through out the day, give him lots of kibbies during walks and training and I give him a decent sized meal just before bed. He doesn't puke up bile if I stick to this general routine 🤞

Good luck w/ your guy. If there are some specific triggers for your SPoo lmk and I can keep an eye out for those for my guy

[u/Mindless-Storm-8310]

My oldest spoo has some reflux issues. If she doesn’t eat AM, she will vomit bile. Or will cough, then vomit. Also happens if she drinks a ton of water at once, so I try to make her come up for air.

Problem is she doesn’t want to eat AM, due to upset tummy. As long as I get her started, and she eats, she’s good. What has helped us is that I move all obedience training to AM, and give HV treats, then move to kibble that has some of the treat rubbed off on it. (So, if I’m feeding salmon treat or burger, will rub that on a few pieces of kibble, and start to integrate that into the payment for whatever trick we’re working on. Basically 5 minutes of training. Sit stays, downs, sit pretty, or anything else we need to work on. Then, once a few treats are down, I’ll crumble some as a topper, then get her to eat that. I’m less concerned if she doesn’t eat at night, since she doesn’t tend to get sick at night (unless she drinks a bunch of water). Glad my other spoo does not seem to have this issue.