Do you have a dog that throws up once in a while?

[Ohiogal]

and you can't figure out why?

Did you know that one of the side effects of Heartgard is vomiting?

My very alert husband looked this up today. According to the Heartgard website, vomiting can be a side effect of Heartgard.

Our 60-lb. Lab, Sophie, has been vomiting maybe once a week this summer .... we were at a loss as to why because we give her high quality food and we're always in the yard with her to make sure she doesn't get into anything she shouldn't (as much as possible, if you're a dog owner you know what I mean).

Today Sophie was due for her heartworm pill. We have a package of Heartgard for dogs 51-100 lbs. since she weighs 60. My husband got to thinking that here we were giving a 60 lb. dog enough medication to suffice for a 100 lb. dog. So maybe she was getting too much Heartgard and that was why she was throwing up. He is a retired math teacher and he figured it out mathematically that she could probably do fine on 3/5 of a pill for 51-100 lb. dogs. We were a little reluctant to cut it back that far, so we gave her 4/5 of the pill. Now we'll see how she does. Next time we take her in for her checkup, we'll ask the vet what he thinks. Our vet had told us once before you could probably go every 6 weeks with that stuff instead of every month, so we're optimistic that this could be why Sophie was getting sick. I promise to update everyone here in about a month and let all of you know if this is the solution to her vomiting.

BTW we took a stool sample in to the vet's office already and they found nothing wrong.

Another thing -- the guy who purchases the dog food at the pet store where we often buy her food told us that a tablespoon or two of plain canned pumpkin can help settle a dog's stomach. We tried that first and had a little bit of luck with it. I never knew that, either!

Just thought I'd share this bit of info with all the dog owners here!

BTW, Heartgard makes pills with dosages for dogs up to 25 lbs, 25 to 50 lbs. then they go 50-100. I wish they went 50-75 and then 75-100. Might contact the company and ask why.

[NCjack]

1. My Lab vomits if I give her a heart worm chewable and anti-flea/tick chewable

at the same time. So, I don't do that. Tell us more about your feed, because for years food was the source of my dog's GI problems. A vet recommended a feed to me, and when I fed it, on the first meal, problem was over. Appears that the source of the problem was a food allergy.

[Ohiogal]

2. Interesting

Our vet has a laundry list of stuff NOT to give your dog ... So far she's done well on Wellness Raw Rev. What was your Lab allergic to?

[NCjack]

7. She is allergic to every high grade dry kibble I tried -- probably over 20 of the

most expensive ones. When she had diarrhea and nausea from eating Blue Buffalo, her vet recommended The Honest Kitchen. It has been great for 7 years, beginning with the first meal. Her vet doesn't know what the problem was, but suspects an ill-defined ingredient such as "chicken meal".

[sprinkleeninow]

3. Researched 'Revolution' heartworm med. It's applied topically.

Read all kinds of contraindications with chewables.

Or if they take it in mouth and spit it out behind your sofa, not getting covered. Or throwing it up a short while later and you don't find out.

[populistdriven]

4. Stop feeding biologically inappropriate dry kibble

could be pancreatitis (caused by too much fat in diet) if in pain or has blood in it, If the below doesnt help check karen beckers site

or could be a sensitivity to the ivermectin, many specific breeds (herders, collies some whippets) have this (lacking an enzyme pathway) and teh suympton is vomiting but at the doses in hartgard it is rarely fatal even in sensitive breeds. there is a list of breeds and frequency of mutation here https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/03/10/pet-dog-breeds-that-are-sensitive-to-ivermectin.aspx
you can test saliva or blood for it http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vcpl/breeds.aspx

my coonhound never pukes and all he gets is rewetted kibble with hot water, let it cool for 10 min

If he gets dry kibble he reliably pukes it up

watch this documentary on netflix "petfooled" https://www.netflix.com/title/80164393

and visit karen becker's site for more info on this https://healthypets.mercola.com/

dogs naturally eat raw meat which is far from dry kibble, they can barely digest the stuff

also this book is awesome heard an interview with the author on npr recently
What's Wrong With My Dog

[ladjf]

5. For what it's worth, our two one year old havanese puppies began

to vomit about two or three times a week eating a special dry food custom cooked at the kennel where they were purchased.

For some reason, we decided to mix their food in with a small amount of water. They haven't throw up since and they have stopped eating grass.

[Ohiogal]

6. That's great! Thanks for your story