When I took Kody into the vet, the vet said that the most common thing they saw was for dogs to be throwing up. The bits of blood didn't indicate to her that anything life threatening had to be going on. He threw up again this morning but there was no food in it, I looked on the internet and dogs throwing up on an empty stomach seems to be common, and is usually attributed to generalized "stomach issues". Kody is processing both food and water so I'm not concerned about anything life threatening at this time. I also don't think it's a blockage related issue because of this.
But it's up to me to try to figure out what's going on. As an engineer I know "bugs" always happen for a reason. I know it's not natural for dogs to throw up this way, so it's time to debug Kody's sickness.
Here are things that have changed recently and what I'm doing to change them back:
dishwashing pods
I used to wash dishes by hand, but recently started using the dishwasher and Cascade dishwashing pods. I meant to move to a more natural detergent, but hadn't gotten around to it. Those pods contain phosphates which would cause exactly these symptoms. Kody eats his lunch off of those and licks them clean. I bet the companies never tested a 14 pound human licking dishes every day. I also washed his kongs in the dishwasher, and they could absorb more of the chemicals.- First, I switched to Seventh Generation dishwasher gel which doesn't have phosphates and is labelled as non-toxic. Second, I am going to wash Kody's dishes by had again using Seventh Generation hand dish washing soap which I have always used without problem.
treat overload
I have been trying out many different treats and kong stuffers to see what Kody likes. I think it's been too much. If you're even going to switch your dog's food you're supposed to do it slowly to be gentle on their stomach so what I was doing was not good.- Although I didn't stray far from this, Kody will now get the same lunch, dinner, and treats that he used to, with a couple of exceptions. I have replace oatmeal with rice because it's even a little milder. I will use chicken as training treats since that seems to be his favorite anyway. If he gets better we will try re-introducing just a few of the most healthy treats for diversity. These treats weren't an issue in the past, but I want to give Kody time to heal.
toy stuffing
A couple of weeks ago Kody ate a bunch of tan stuffing from a toy then threw it all back up again. It was a lot of stuffing that came out, so that may have caused quite a bit of distress to his stomach.- I'm going to keep a closer eye on Kody with toys and probably put stuffed toys on a hold until he's feeling better. This hasn't been an issue before, but I'll watch out for any tan stuffing.
squeakers
About a week ago, Kody ate the little cloth sack that enclose some squeakers. It passed through him (I was looking for it) so that's good, but the vet said that may have done some damage also.- Again, I'll keep a closer eye on Kody. We have what I call "the treats for squeakers program" in place, which usually works fine. But Kody is still a little rough on the squeakers and I don't trust him with them. I guess I'll go with my gut and remove squeakers myself.
So basically, I am going to control Kody's "inputs" as tightly as I can so he starts feeling better. If he doesn't get better, and I can't think of anything else to do, we'll go back to the vet.
This stuff is so hard for me, I will do anything for Kody. I hope I can help him start feeling better again.