Cat and Dog Vomiting Care

In this lesson, we'll be covering an often-familiar site for anyone with children or pets – vomiting. At the end of the lesson, we'll provide you with a Word about the three human foods you never want to feed your pets.

Vomiting is one of the most common symptoms in dogs that may or may not be problematic, as vomiting can be caused by a variety of problems and for numerous reasons.

What kind of clues should you be looking for? Look around to see if any of your pet's (or children's) toys are suddenly missing. Are there items or areas of the house that have recently been chewed on by your pet.

If your pet is also lethargic or has some vital signs that are abnormal, this could be an early sign of a severe problem and could warrant a trip to the vet.

However, if your pet is otherwise doing and feeling fine and behaving normally, you might want to begin by imposing a skipped meal and see how your pet responds to that. If your pet's vomiting hasn't gone away after a full day, then this is when you should consider a trip to your vet for further evaluation.

Bloat (GDV)

Bloat or gastric dilatation-volvulus, also thankfully known as GDV, is a medical condition that affects dogs in which the stomach becomes overstretched and rotated by excessive gas content.

This is a life-threatening condition in pets and occurs most often in dog breeds that are considered large or very large. Signs of GDV tend to come on very suddenly and produce anxiousness or agitation in the dog. Other signs of GDV include:

• Excessive drooling
• Attempted vomiting that doesn't produce anything, like dry heaves
• Distended midsection or belly
• Vital sign abnormalities

Three Human Foods You Never want to Feed Your Pets

Master pet first aid and CPR instructor Arden Moore, in a recent video (at the bottom of the page), shares with us her: 3 Surprising Human Foods Never to Give Your Dog.

Dogs are kind of like children; everything they can get their paws on tends to get examined by their mouths. They'll try and eat almost anything, regardless of whether or not it's actually edible. And this applies more than anything else to tasty human foods.

However, what's good for us, isn't always good for them.

There is a list of human foods that can be dangerous to dogs, but at the top of that list are three delicious human foods that you may not have considered a danger, which is exactly why we're sharing this with you now.

Avocados

Avocados aren't just delicious, they're really healthy for humans, as they contain a lot of healthy fat and fiber and a bunch of healthful vitamins and minerals. But they also contain persin.

Persin is a fungicidal toxin present in avocados. It's safe for humans, but not for dogs. In dogs, persin can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but also pancreatitis, heart damage, and even death.

Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia nuts are pricey and delicious and also quite healthy. Healthy for humans, that is. In dogs, macadamia nuts can cause muscle tremors, vomiting, and even paralysis.

Sugar-Free Peanut Butter

Dogs love peanut butter. There's just no way around that. And most peanut butter is safe for dogs. However, there's a common ingredient in sugar-free peanut butter that isn't dog safe, and its name is xylitol.

Xylitol is an artificial sweetener. Honestly, you're better off eating sugar than the fake sugars … but this isn't about that. In dogs, xylitol isn't just unhealthy, it's unsafe, as it can trigger seizures, liver failure, and even death in some dogs.

When buying peanut butter that you plan on sharing with man's (and woman's) best friend, read the label carefully and make sure it doesn't contain any xylitol. Your dog will thank you!