Puppy Dry Heaving

[JengaCupboard]

Puppy occasionally dry heaves (maybe once a week) and usually in the mornings although can be before or after food (but more frequently before). Definitely full body heaving but usually nothing comes up or a small amount of saliva. Usually 1-3 'bouts' of heaving in quick succession, then fine.

He's absolutely fine in himself in terms of eating/toileting and behavior.

He does have a tendency to try and eat everything (labels/sticks/mud) etc if you're not watching him constantly and he does bite himself a little more than usual as we're currently dealing with itchy skin/allergy issues.

No excessive drooling to indicate nausea.

My immediate thoughts are acid reflux if he hasn't eaten (hungry) or stuff like leaf fragments or hair stuck in his throat.

If you google dry heaving symptoms it doesn't make for very good reading so before I consult the vet I thought i'd see if anyone has experienced anything similar? Thanks!

How old is it? How many times a day are you feeding? For before is it just breakfast or before other mealtimes? On the after does the pup eat quickly?

@MrsWinters he's around 6 months. Its generally before breakfast and not at any other times I don't think, so i'm leading with hunger. He doesn't eat until about 8.30am and eats 3no times a day currently based on vet recommendation. He doesn't eat overly quickly; I do have a slow feeder but he looses interest if anything - generally eats well from a normal bowl.

He's up around 6am so i'm trying a few biscuits first thing to see if that makes a difference. I don't want to feed earlier as current times work with our car travel and exercise routine.

My dog does the same if he's hungry, the vet gave him some anti acid type meds which helped a bit.

Our dog is fussy with his food so I have to try and convince him to eat in the mornings 🙄

Sounds like hunger to me as well. What time is your last meal? Could you push that later or try a small handful of biscuits before bed rather that being forced to go earlier in the morning?

Last meal is around half seven currently but could push it out a bit later. He goes to bed about half 9 so with a last toilet trip I don’t want to feed too late.

Our dog does similar if her stomach is empty for too long, its to do with acid build up. Our vet told us to space out feeds evenly so she doesn't have a long time overnight without food. So we feed just before bed 10pm ish, then first thing and she usually has something during the day too.